Category Archives: Company News

Company posts, updates and info.

08.24.22 Our first attempt at a podcast was a complete failure

We failed so hard that I wish we were recording the entire process because it was hilarious. Talk about a comedy of errors…

For a little over a week we struggled to even get on the same schedule. With jobs, side hustles and family lives… it was hard to kick-start a new routine. Once we finally aligned our schedules, we ran into issue after issue and then the booze kicked in for one particular team member. I can\’t say his name, but I will give you a hint… IT WAS JOE!

Joe starts the podcast session… I join and we can\’t hear each other. A few clicks later, I can hear Joe, but Joe can\’t hear me. Click, click, click… still nothing. Joe joins, hangs up… joins again. After a few rounds of diagnosing… Joe can finally hear me. We start chatting up a storm and Jesse joins the session and guess what… he can\’t hear us.

So Jesse starts messing with his equipment and then I walk away for 5 mins to talk to my wife. I come back and they can\’t hear me. WHAT THE FUCK? I changed nothing. So I hung up and re-joined and clicked, un-checked, clicked, clicked… ohhhh I was on mute. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

35-40 minutes have passed and we finally all connect. All three of us could see and hear each other… then Joe\’s internet started to go out. Then his feed was crappy… then we realized how hilarious this whole process was and that Joe had a LOT of Irish coffee.

We gave up and gave it another shot the next day… happy to report that we successfully recorded our first podcast. We record episode number 2 tonight. Stateroom etiquette is the topic of discussion for our first podcast. Smelly feet, farts and naked dudes… hell ya! Our podcast will be live in September… stay tuned!

08.03.22 The Marty Chronicles: 24 hours, 2 counties and 200 miles of driving… yes we are hungover

Marty has been making the rounds across the United States visiting friends, dealers and unsuspecting fish along the way. As always, this means that wherever he goes, fun and hilarity will follow.

We knew he was coming, just not exactly when. At some point he would have to fly to Los Angeles before making the 15+ hour flight back to Melbourne Australia. Well, we got the call the other day and we cleared our schedule because it ain\’t often that our favorite Aussie is in town.

Boy… my head is spinning… like, for reals.

There is no one like Marty. A little past 10 PM last night, Joe and Marty finally make it to my place and the first thing he says to my wife is… \”Hi, nice to meet you, I am Mike\’s Australian wife.\” And the laughs started.

Marty needed to make a couple of stops in our neck of the woods, so we figured that we would take him to the places that he needed to go so that we could make the most of his time here. One of those stops included our home on the water… Pure Watersports in Dana Point.

So… the last 24 hours went something like this:

Timeline

  • Pick Marty up from LAX 8 PM
  • Make a quick stop at a LA brewery 8:30 PM
  • Drive to Mike\’s place 10 PM
  • Beers 10 PM – 2 AM
  • Wake-up 7 AM
  • Breakfast 8:30 AM (really just stared at it, it was a nice thought though)
  • First business stop 10 AM
  • Pure Watersports Noon
  • Bourbon w/ Timmy 1 PM
  • Third business stop 2 PM
  • Back to Mike\’s place 3:30 PM
  • One more beer 4 PM
  • Pics, hugs, goodbye\’s 4:30 PM
  • Tacos 6 PM
  • Drop Marty off at LAX 8 PM

Stats

  • Time in California: 24 hours
  • Time on the road: 4 hours
  • Miles driven: 200+
  • Counties crossed: 2
  • Hours of sleep: 5
  • IPAs smashed: 18 12 oz. cans, 2 Pliny\’s, 2 Pabst
  • 1 Chicago handshake
  • 1 visit from Tommy Ponce
  • 1 bourbon each
  • 1 cuddle waterside in Dana Point
  • 3 room clearing farts
  • No vomit or spew as Marty says

We know how to make the most of an opportunity… just ask the half-dead dude with the funny accent how he feels. Enjoy the 15 hour flight homie. We loved having you, it wasn\’t enough time… until Feb 2023 in Melbourne!

08.02.22 How Is It August Already?

July marked the end of our 2022 kayak mothership season here in California. I could have sworn that was yesterday when in reality that was a few weeks ago. I feel old… all I heard as a kid was how the time flies… the months go by faster and faster… blah blah blah. Well shit… say it ain\’t so.

We have some fun plans for the month of August…

  • Marty Gittens of BerleyPro and Tasline will be in town visiting us before he heads back to Australia
  • News about the 2023 New Zealand season
  • Our first 4 podcasts will be recorded
  • News about the 2023 SCI Kayak Mothership season
  • A custom built Crafted Fishing Rods tuna rod reveal (it is a thing of beauty)

This past weekend we visited with our friends from Heroes on the Water and Mad Anglers down in San Diego. It was the first event for the group under the new chapter leadership. We showed up to support our vets and to support our friends that make this great organization possible. It was well organized, a lot of community support. tons of kayaks with great people talking about healing. We learned so much. We\’ll share more about this event in an upcoming blog later this week.

10.28.20 Without our partners… we would struggle to deliver

The blog title is more than a title… it is a sincere statement. Without our partners, we wouldn\’t be able to deliver the best fishing experiences.

This is not lost on us… we know that we can\’t move a mountain without a team. And our team has grown since the early days of Fish Village and I wanted to take a moment to introduce them to you and say thank you for their support.

NRS

NRS has been supporting Fish Village for the last couple of years by providing the core team with top quality safety equipment, apparel and dry gear.

NRS will continue to provide support for our trip development projects, core team and pro staff.

Z-Man

Z-Man, maker of some of the toughest plastic on the planet and all around artificial tackle solutions ranging from Chatterbaits, spinnerbaits, to limitless plastics, jig heads, and more.

Without hesitation they jumped at the opportunity to support our trip development program.

Matrix Shad

Matrix Shad is a Louisiana company that understands their fishery and demographic. Maker of a variety of plastics, hard baits, corks and more.

Matrix Shad will support our southeastern US trip development projects, core team and pros staff.

Buggs Fishing

Buggs Fishing makes some of the coolest looking fly-fishing style artificial lures for the southeastern inshore fisheries.

Buggs Fishing will support our southeastern US trip development projects, core team and pros staff.


We have been blessed with some long time supporters that understood what Fish Village was trying to accomplish from the get-go. These companies, their employees and families have become an extension of our family.

Pure Watersports of Dana Point / Oceanside

The good people at Pure Watersports have been supporting me personally and my company for the last eight (8) years by providing a home base for our local kayaking adventures, tournaments and guided fishing outings. Tim and Chris are always there to lend a hand, fix our kayaks and even travel + fish with us.

When we told them that we were heading to Louisiana and that we wanted to do a road trip… they offered to let us take their 20+ ft. enclosed trailer so that we can get our kayaks and fishing gear to Louisiana and back safely. Incredible… does your shop support you like that? If they do… hold onto them forever!

Reebs Lures

We have been rep\’n Reebs Lures since the early days of Fish Village. Why?.. well for starters they are rad, they work and we get custom builds. Sooo what is not to like? But the real reason we use them… the people.

The people that make up Reebs Lures are now my brothers and sisters. This company is run by a family that puts nothing but heart and soul into their products. They stand by us, they love us… thus we stand by them and we love them!


Thank you to our new partners and to our trusted ol\’ pals. You make our village what it is.

10.20.20 Fish Village merch is almost here

It is almost time to release our first official round of branded gear for our team members and the Fish Village community. Sure it took us awhile… but we are here now and we couldn\’t be more excited.

Joe and I have had a lot of fun working with Rex of FishFrsh & ActionHat. It turns out… when you have a professional steering you along the way… there are a lot of things to consider when putting your logo on things. He has taught us that we enjoy arts and crafts… because that is what it took to land on some decisions to send some designs to print.

We wanted to start simple and create some designs that speak to our brand. From there we will explore more designs that speak to our personality.

We had to have camo… we just had to. When Rex sent this to us… I instantly connected with it. The simplicity is what I really like. I am a big fan of our logo (sort of attached) and the team loves camo… soooo this was a win from the moment we saw it.

This is just the beginning.

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10.14.20 How do you Fish Village?

Weird question right? How does one Fish Village?

How many of you have been to Austin, Texas? I wish I could say that I was one of them… but what I do know is that they have a cool motto. They like to say… \’Keep Austin Weird,\’ which tells you a little bit about the place the moment you read that motto. Then as you experience Austin you start to understand and live it.

Well that same concept applies to Fish Village. Our community likes to get down differently than others. We fly across the globe to fish for Black marlin on a kayak in sharky waters and we yoke on massive pelagic fish in a tiny plastic boat. We scrounge every penny we have to go on epic adventures only to come back sore, tired and questioning why we did it. Then the ridiculous memories you form while kayak fishing smack you on the back of the head reminding of why we do this.

So… how does one Fish Village?

  • You live life with your heart,
  • You care about each other unconditionally,
  • You absolutely rip each other when you fish, no holding back kind of jokes,
  • You clog the radio waves with hilarious chatter and get yelled at by the U.S. Coast Guard,
  • You might curse like a sailor,
  • 8% IPAs sound good to you at 5:30 AM (safely of course),
  • Just about anyone in your clan would say \”f*** it, let\’s do it!\”
  • You say \”you are a worthless angler\” and \”congrats on a nice catch\” in the same sentence,
  • You love your active duty military and veterans,
  • At a drop of a hat, you are there for your community,
  • Bourbon… it is a must,
  • You lie and tell your buddy that you will get him shrimp, but buy him cooked shrimp instead,
  • You clog the toilet and lie about it,
  • You absolutely laugh at farts,
  • You have terrible tan lines,
  • You never poach, but ninja fishing is cool,
  • You rather skunk than not fish,
  • You lie to your significant other about how much you actually spend on fishing gear,
  • You like good eats, good peeps and good fishing!

If any of this sounds like you… you might know how to Fish Village already and maybe you can teach us a thing or two. If we sound like your kind of people then you might want to keep up with our shenanigan\’s when we take off for Louisiana next month. To keep up, click here.

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I am sure the fish love cooked shrimp… well played Charlie!
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Joe had to adjust the camera to make this work… soooooo white!

10.10.20 Enhanced Trip pages coming soon

With the transition to a new web platform came a learning curve for us. We initially thought that it would take us some time to figure out the new system. Fortunately for us, we were wrong. We flew right through that learning curve as if we already knew it.

The new Trip pages are coming along nicely and are just about ready to be shared with all of you. We still have some testing to do, so we aren\’t going to make any promises quite yet. With that being said… we just had to give you a sneak peek.

The new trip pages will provide a ton of information and features:

  • Location background
  • Trip summary
  • Your options
  • Trip Inquiry button
  • Booking FAQs
  • Trip FAQs
  • Regional Google map
  • Latest trip related news
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10.09.20 Introducing a new way to Fish Village

We have been hustling behind the scenes to bring you a content first website with fresh posts and updates to keep you all in the loop. Updates about our company, trips, events and more. Editorials, trip reviews, insights, behind the scenes by the Fish Village team. How-to articles and videos by the Fish Village fishing team, friends and partners.

Sure we change website platforms like people change underwear… however with each iteration we get better as we provide a more meaningful experience and we simplify our ability to keep it up to date. This is important because if it is hard to keep it up to date… then we will struggle to keep up.

Since we have so much to do, so much to say and so little time… we had to break up this project into three phases:

PhaseDeliverableETA
Phase 1Launch new website10/8
Phase 2Launch updated trips experienceEarly Nov 2020
Phase 3Launch online storeEarly – mid Dec 2020

Good news is, everyone can still go to www.fishvillage.com to keep up with Fish Village. Though we have an upgraded website platform with a bunch of new content, we still have some work to do to get the trips experience up and running again. We expect that to take up to 2-3 weeks.

We thank you for your patience during this transitional period.

10.06.20 Pull up a chair and check out Field Trips

Sometimes you have to take a moment to remember some of the better moments you have had. Fortunately, Robert Field has filmed some of the better fishing moments/experiences in my life and has chronicled them on YouTube for all to enjoy.

I found myself watching video after video, series after series only to want more. Thank goodness we are heading to Louisiana next month to film the next Field Trips w/ Fish Village series because the itch is getting bad!

So if you haven\’t seen our shenanigan\’s with Robert Field or you want to watch some of the series again, click here.

10.01.20 Fish Village merch is on the way!

We are thrilled to tell you that Fish Village merch is coming within the next 30-40 days. Shirts, sweatshirts, hats and stickers for starters.

We knew we couldn\’t do this alone, so we called in reinforcements. Rex DeGuzman of ActionHat and FishFrsh is stepping up to the plate to help Fish Village build our brand. His expertise will help us create a variety of apparel offerings and take our brand to the next level.

To all of you that have been asking for shirts, hats, stickers… we thank you kindly for the support. Keep an eye out for a sneak peak at Fish Village merch coming soon.