GillBilly YouTube Video: How Bad Can the Spill Get?

NOAA has released animation depicting how wide the oil spill may spread if the loop current in the Gulf of Mexico is in a typical configuration. It suggests the oil may spread up the Eastern Coast and well into the North Atlantic.

The trout do not rise in the cemetery, so you better do your fishing while you are still able.
Sparse Grey Hackle

Pablito Launches GillBilly Fish Conservation Public Service Campaign

Ever faithful to the cause of fish conservation and ocean awareness, our friend Pablito has again thrown his angler angst into the fray. He reminds you to only catch and keep what you can eat and to always practice the GillBilly creed...

Catch and release to keep the ocean's peace!

Pablito has also contributed his time when not on the sea baiting a hook to appear in this fish conservation animation...

PLEASE ALWAYS REMEMBER!

The charm of fishing is that it is the pursuit of what is elusive but attainable, a perpetual series of occasions for hope.

Pablito Launches GillBilly Fish Conservation Public Service Campaign

Ever faithful to the cause of fish conservation and ocean awareness, our friend Pablito has again thrown his angler angst into the fray. He reminds you to only catch and keep what you can eat and to always practice the GillBilly creed...

Catch and release to keep the ocean's peace!

Pablito has also contributed his time when not on the sea baiting a hook to appear in this fish conservation animation...

PLEASE ALWAYS REMEMBER!

The charm of fishing is that it is the pursuit of what is elusive but attainable, a perpetual series of occasions for hope.

GillBilly Chronicals: Olympic swimmer - Oceans need our help

It's no secret that U.S. Olympic swimmer and gold medalist Aaron Peirsol has a deep love for the water. That's why the California native has parlayed his interest — and status as a sports figure — into causes to save our planet's oceans. Here, he talks about environmental awareness, education, and his most recent project, Race for the Oceans.

Q: When did your relationship with the water really begin?

A: I have always had a very natural connection to the water, and that connection stems from the ocean itself. I think a more pertinent question would be “Did I ever not have a relationship with the water?”

Q: Can you give a quick rundown of the ocean/water preservation programs and organizations you’ve been involved with?

A: I began working with Oceana, which is the largest international organization that is dedicated to solving the oceans’ problems, about three years ago. As opposed to spreading themselves thin over many environmental issues, Oceana's decision to solely work on the world's oceans enables them to work toward achieving measurable change by conducting specific, fact-based campaigns with fixed deadlines and articulated goals.

Q: What made you decide to lend your time and effort to these causes? Why oceans?

A: I grew up in an area of a lot of growth, in Orange County, California, and spent most of my youth on the beach. I had witnessed the degradation of our Back Bay and the increased number of closed beach days over the years and had come to my own realization that people should make a stand for the things they love and want to see survive infinite generations.

Q: What are you trying to achieve with your involvement? What do you get out of it, personally?

A: I think the best thing I can hope to achieve is to educate, or make aware, as many people as possible on how the little things they do every day really do affect our environment, and how easy it is to fix some of those things. Bringing a canvas bag to the grocery store is a simple and incredibly effective solution. So is being aware of what you dump in your storm drains. Other things include knowing which fish you buy at the store are sustainable. It's no secret our fish populations are dwindling more every year.

Q: What made you decide to become a spokesperson for Oceana?

A: I was incredibly impressed with their scope of what they could do on the international level for conservation. The fact that they used lobbying as a tool to get their message across also seemed extremely effective. And they were really receptive to me when I came to them and asked what I could do to help.

Q: What’s happening to the Earth’s oceans? Why is it so important to save them?

A: It's a case of many oceans around the world being degraded by negligence. The ocean is the lifeblood of our world. If we were to lose our fish that we appreciate so much by overfishing; or if we were to lose some of our favorite beaches to overbuilding and pollution, then how would we feel? It's become a case of not knowing what you've got until it's gone. But by no means is it too late. We can still maintain our coasts and oceans for the generations to come, who deserve what we have.

Q: What needs to happen to clean them up? What can the average person do to help?

A: I believe it's a matter of collective involvement. What I said about the little things making a big difference; I believe that to be very true. I’m a part of a program called Toyota’s Engines of Change Program. The message is that anyone can make a difference in their community or for whatever cause they feel strongly about. Everyone can be an Engine of Change.

For me, I work with Oceana to help save the oceans. But anyone can help. The canvas bags at the grocery market; the buying of sustainable fish at the market; and even the knowledge that every river does lead to an ocean. It really is the easy things that can add up to be a lot. They don't cost a lot of money, just a little time, and a willingness to make a change. It doesn't matter that you live in Oklahoma or Iowa; everyone has a profound effect on the ocean, and the environment in general. Recycling seems easy enough, but here in Austin we only just received recycling bins large enough to take all of our recyclables. There is still a long way to go.

Q: Your Race for the Oceans event just happened last weekend (congrats!). What was the goal of the event, and how did it turn out?

A: On top of just being able to spend a long weekend at Fort Myers Beach, the goal was to raise awareness of the state of our oceans, which I do feel looks incredibly promising. The Lee County government and their sports commission supported this event and helped us get it off the ground. That was a wonderful partnership for us and I can’t say enough great things about their support for this cause and this event. And sponsors like PureSport and B of A [Bank of America], who truly cared about this cause, made all the difference in the world. They had volunteers there to help and made donations to the cause. Truly those supports made all this possible, and hopefully will help us continue for many years to come. With this past weekend being the inaugural event, and it going as well as it did, I think that maybe I can make a positive impact on a much larger scale. The folks that showed up for the event and even the ones just on the beach seemed real receptive to the cause.

Q: Do you think your celebrity status has helped get your message out?

A: The original goal was to get the swimming community involved in the event as much as possible, and I think that my past accolades have helped a bit in that regard. Nonetheless, I think people would be receptive to this cause regardless. The folks at my Race for the Oceans last weekend seemed quite enthusiastic about the event and the cause it represents, to the point where it reinvigorates me to continue to make a difference.

Q: What’s next for you, as an activist? As an athlete?

A: This was only the first Race for the Oceans, and I hope and plan to have many more. As an athlete, I'll be wet, and I’ll be back in the water soon enough to train.

A scene from Peirsol's Race for the Oceans event at Fort Meyers Beach, Fla.

If people concentrated on the really important things in life, there'd be a shortage of fishing poles.
Doug Larson

GillBilly Chronicles: Cigarette Butt Litter Facts

Most cigarette filters are composed of cellulose acetate, a form of plastic. The white fibers you see in a cigarette filter are NOT cotton, but a plastic that can persist in the environment as long as other forms of plastic. Cigarette butts are the most common form of litter in our everyday world and are estimated to last in your local gutters and in our sea for up to 15 years before they biodegrade… Have you ever looked down at the street gutter at a busy red-lighted left hand turn lane? Everyone seems to think this is the place to empty his or her ashtray- YUCK.

Next time you have a family gathering or take a walk along an ocean or bay jetty, look between the jetty rocks and you will see piles of cigarette butts. Mother Earth is not happy, as demonstrated by the recent natural calamities that have befallen our global society. One who smokes a pack a day can potentially litter the earth by the mindless flick of their 20 butts per day, 7,300 items per year. In fact, over 4.5 TRILLION toxic, non-biodegradable cigarette butts are tossed into the environment annually by smokers. Please think before you discard your next butt into our environment. Better still, STOP SMOKING for yourself and the family you love and the family of man we hope to preserve.

________________________________

Bass fishermen watch Monday night football, drink beer, drive pickup trucks and prefer noisy women with big breasts. Trout fishermen watch MacNeil-Lehrer, drink white wine, drive foreign cars with passenger-side air bags and hardly think about women at all. This last characteristic may have something to do with the fact that trout fishermen spend most of the time immersed up to the thighs in ice-cold water.

Pablito Launches GillBilly Fish Conservation Public Service Ad

Ever faithful to the cause of fish conservation and ocean awareness, our friend Pablito has again thrown his angler angst into the fray. He reminds you to only catch and keep what you can eat and to always practice the GillBilly creed...

Catch and release to keep the ocean's peace!

Pablito has also contributed his time when not on the sea baiting a hook to appear in this fish conservation animation...

PLEASE ALWAYS REMEMBER!

The charm of fishing is that it is the pursuit of what is elusive but attainable, a perpetual series of occasions for hope.
John Buchan

GillBilly Chronicals: Know Your Cost of Fuel Numbers

Remember the phrase fish or cut bait? Now the question is eat or buy gas. Did you know if your road rig gets 20 miles to the gallon, you driving 60 mile per hour costs you $12 an hour at a cost of $4 per gallon at the pumps… ponder that for a minute, and convert the equation to what your vehicle gets per gallon and what you are paying for fuel. The numbers go like this – speed in miles per hour divided by miles to the gallon your vehicle gets (averaged over the hour), multiplied by the cost per gallon of gas. So if the same rig listed above getting 20 miles to the gallon at $4 per gallon at the pumps drives at a pace of 80 miles per hour, it costs you… $16 an hour to drive that hour. And so on… down the road you go with a greater realization of the money you are hourly burning into polluted thin air.



These same numbers can be applied to your water borne rig, and to most efficiently operate that craft, you have to be very aware of the speed you are traveling across the water and the resultant gallons of fuel you will be consuming at that speed. In a boat, the fuel consumed is directly related to your speed across the sea. Consult your engine manufacturer for a spec sheet as to how your particular engine make is fuel rated. Before you buy a new or used boat be very aware of these numbers, do some research on the most fuel efficient propulsion units that are on the market. Engine manufacturers have made great advancements in engine fuel saving technology, and you want to be sure you as a consumer are fully aware of what you are going to encounter in fuel consumption during the period of time you own your new pleasure yacht or fishing craft… that will determine just how much each of those fish you landed and cocktails you enjoyed while on your cruise actually cost in fuel dollars.

BIG FUEL NUMBERS HERE!

NO FUEL NUMBERS HERE IN PARADISE!

Reading about baseball is a lot more interesting than reading about chess, but you have to wonder: Don't any of these guys ever go fishing?

Dave Shiflett

Yet Another Exciting Series of Designs Introduced in our GillBilly Store!

We keep outdoing ourselves here in GillBillyville as we continue to improve our store and introduce new staples of the “GB BRAND”. We are having great fun discovering the innermost essence of this “who knew?” marketing contraption known as “internet marketing.” Though these designs are not ready yet for public consumption, er, for you to buy as of yet… we know these 2 new designs will thrill both young and old in their unique appeal. Been there, done that, I know, and now we are showing the results of our many days toiling at sea feeling you in our implementation of the creativity we are sharing.

Soon we will be placing your photos on this site wearing our GB gear. Feel free to e-mail us your collection of fish photos caught while wearing and soiling our designer concepts. Your kids we are sure will love both Lindy and Fish Eye Ty, soon we will be sponsoring kids fishing adventures and supplying our shirts at a wholesale price for those events. If you have a youth outing in mind, please contact us and we will make it possible to supply your entire crew with a shirt as a memento of their day out catching fishes. We are available always at the e-mail address billy@gillbilly.com to discuss your needs in this regard, keeping the kids stoked fishing and always aware of the conservation and beauty of our Mother Ocean.

As we gear up we will be offering you more design configurations; tank tops, shorts, and other stuff all replete with the famous GillBilly logo here on this site. Click the title above to be instantly transported to our GillBilly store… and visit our CafePress store linked on the right hand margin of this blog to find more choices already made available in the spirit of the GillBilly creed! As our spokesman Pablito says, “Catch and release to keep the Ocean’s peace!”

Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish and he will sit in a boat and drink beer all day.

GillBilly Chronicles: Fuel Rationing in Ensenada!

PEMEX is the world's fifth-largest oil company and Mexico's state oil monopoly, engaged in both upstream and downstream activities. The company accounts for approximately 30% of the Mexican government's revenues. Its vast oil and gas reserves include proven reserves of 34 billion barrels of oil equivalent. It is protected from competition in Mexico, where it enjoys a legal monopoly on the exploration, processing and sale of petroleum. And its privileged status in national mythology affords it a certain immunity from criticism. PEMEX is also in deep trouble. It's heavily-indebted and unable to provide the capital necessary to locate and exploit Mexico's oil deposits. In 2004, then Energy Minister Felipe Calderon announced that, without more investment, Mexico's known reserves could be depleted within 13 years. This wasn't the future envisioned by President Lazaro Cardenas, who expelled the foreign oil companies and founded PEMEX in 1938, to give Mexico's oil to "the people". Annual production has dropped each year since 2004. Furthermore, it has been reported the 2005-2006 daily oil production was down by approximately 500,000 barrels a day (a large proportion of the country's 4.5 million barrels) on the previous year.

The grades of PEMEX gasoline are "Magna" (Regular Unleaded 87 octane - green pump handle) and "Premium" (92 octane - red pump handle). Previously, PEMEX offered a leaded gasoline called "Nova," but this has been discontinued for environmental reasons (Nova gasoline, like many other leaded gasolines, have been discontinued due to stringent health regulations). Diesel fuel is readily available due to the large number of trucks on the highway - however, don't confuse the green Magna gasoline pump with a diesel pump as might be the case in the U.S.. The diesel pumps are often purple or red, and are usually sited on a separate island - the marking is "Diesel" or "Diesel Sin."

In the June 13th blog on this site an article described the huge run on fuel here at the Coral Marina in Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico by luxury yachts and north of the border sportfishing craft. This has concerned Baja residents as there is a fear that this will force the price of fuel up locally, to the near $5 per gallon for diesel north of the border. Diesel fuel here is near $2 a gallon and many locals wondered how this glut of traffic trending south to fuel would affect the cost and supply of fuel here in Mexico.

Now we know the results of this recent run on fuel, the PEMEX oil company is going to ration fuel to the Coral Marina PEMEX fuel dock as of yesterday. The fuel dock had been pumping an entire PEMEX tanker truck per day, some 5000 gallons per day! As of now, the fuel supply will be rationed and quoting Fito Espinoza, the dock master here at the Coral Marina, “the fuel will be conserved for those in the marina’s use as top priority.” Already the activity at the fuel dock has lessened and the affects of this fuel rationing program are already being felt. This news will quickly filter through the yachting and commercial fishing community and soon the stream of yachts will abate visiting the Coral Marina only for fuel and not for the pleasure of enjoying the Coral Hotel and Marina’s many amenities.

Below: the luxury yacht Shana visited the Coral Marina PEMEX fuel dock for an all day process of taking on a huge quantity of diesel fuel. This entailed a wait for another tanker truck to deliver more fuel to complete the transaction. Yachts like this will now find it more difficult to find the fuel they desire at low local prices.

"Rivers and the inhabitants of the watery elements are made for wise men to contemplate and for fools to pass by without consideration."
Izaac Walton

GillBilly Chronicles: Pablito Saves the Fish

GillBilly Chronicles: The Cigar Crazed Polluter Clan

One of the current most fashionable of fads, next only to the ownership of an SUV and cell phone - choking, er, smoking a cigar. Reminds GillBilly of all the yea-hoos in the early 80's he saw attending San Diego Charger football games on TV when GillBilly lived in Seattle. Fresh off a mechanical bull, and chewing on a hayseed, were 55,000 spur wearing fadits knocking off each other's cowboy hats in response to a completed Dan Fouts pass. Truly noteworthy was that now forgotten Urban Cowboy Era.

Smoking a cigar wouldn't be such a noticeable event if it weren't flaunted with the usual absurd flourish of seemingly understood importance, wealth and stature. The little cough in between puffs is a comical completion to the Renaissance Man painting hanging on the wall of this guy's mind's parlor wall. And of course, each flick of the ash goes into our precious Mother Ocean's mouth. And when done carefully rolling that burning rope around in between those yellow fingers with little finger extended, and blinking at it with burning eyes, without a thought in the drink it goes, now resembling that floating tootsie roll in that old Bill Murray movie Caddy Shack. The ocean is not an ashtray or a trash can - would you like it if GillBilly dumped all that refuse you uncaringly toss overboard into the ocean into your SUV, making it impossible for you to find your cell phone somewhere heard ringing in the big wet pile which surges out of the door in a gush onto your new suit as you open the driver's side door?

Protect our Mother Ocean, and always remember- Catch and Release to Keep the Ocean’s Peace!

Fishing Conservation Public Service Announcement Sponsored by GillBilly.com

In line with doing good, GillBilly.com is sponsoring a campaign to promote save fishing in our worlds oceans. Through the character PABLITO, GillBilly.com is releasing a new series of animated features whereby Pablito will be talking about fishing conservation. The aim of the series is to get people to listen up and conserve our fishing stocks worldwide. For more information, contact us at billy@gillbilly.com