RokLees and Ecoleeser are in Alaska
We are in Alaska, we will be fishing and testing the RokLees. We flew up to Juneau where we will stay 2 nights before heading off to Glacier Bay/Gustavus to go fishing. The flight yesterday on Alaska Airlines was great. When we arrived in Juneau, it was raining, and rained all the first day.
Today, we were tourists in Juneau. We drove south out of town, past the cruise ships in the inlet to check out the view. As we were driving enjoying the beautiful scenery we pulled over to check out activity on one of the creeks, Sheep Creek. There were some people on the flats so we headed down to check it out. There were Chum Salmon heading up the creek to spawn, It was awesome.
After viewing the salmon, we headed back into Juneau and drove around the town checking out the houses and area as it is the Capitol of Alaska. We then headed to visit one of our Retailers, Western Auto Marine, here is their Website, located at 5165 Glacier Highway, Juneau, Alaska 99801. Now you wouldn’t believe the inventory that one of the few remaining Western Auto Stores has, this is like an Old Time Hardware store. Downstairs they have their Auto Parts, Gardening, home and more items. Upstairs is a sportsman’s paradise, it is amazing, full of tons of fishing tackle, marine supplies, hunting supplies, and lots of sports items for things like biking, baseball, hiking and more. And they carry the RokLees!
We really appreciate the time the store owner, John spent with us. This store was one of our early retailers and has provided devices to commercial boats and private boaters. It was great to hear he had been using the RokLees himself, so he has personal experience he can share with his customers.
We then headed out the the Mendenhall Glacier. Hard to describe in words how awesome and big the glacier is, it is about 2 miles from here we were viewing it. The waterfall on the right was about 1 mile away.
We ended out day heading out to the Salmon Hatchery. They were processing Chum Salmon to harvest the eggs and sperm. The raise about 1.2 million salmon to release back to the water.
Tomorrow we leave for Glacier Bay. Hope to have some more pictures and experiences to share.
RokLees now at Cabela’s!!
The RokLees is available at Cabela’s on-line and can be delivered to Cabela’s local stores.
Friday 28 November, went fishing with my cousin Trisan and son Mark off Point Loma, California. You might be surprised but we were targeting Rockfish. We were testing a new fish descender for both small and large fish. We are hoping to get the price way down if possible. The testing went well, but we realize the new design needs more modifications for the bigger lips on the larger fish. The fishing was great, we only released 6 fish, mainly Bocaccio. We kept limits of Vermillion Rockfish, but their size was smaller than expected. The fish were 14″-17″, (1.5-3lbs), we are hoping it was just the location.
Saturday Dec 6, went fishing with my cousin Tristan again. This time we got limits of larger Vermillion Rockfish, they were 16″-20″, 2-4 pounds. We tried out Tristans’ New South African Fishing Reel. This reel is 8″ in diameter and has no gears. We easily released a 6 pound Bocaccio, our biggest of the day using his RokLees Fish Descender on his release rod. We used 2 lbs of weight to get the fish down.
You can check out the below link on YOUTUBE to see the video of the Release using the RokLees Fish Descender by EcoLeeser
We will be attending the ICAST 2014 Show in Orlando, Florida July 16-18. We will be in Booth 1401 and will have our new RokLees Big Fish Kit. Come on by and visit us if you come to the show! We are hoping to try our device on some of the bigger fish that suffer from barotrauma in Florida. If you have any recommendations on a place to catch Snapper or Grouper that have Barotrauma let us know as we look for fishing opportunities
The Scientists
Barotrauma on Bocaccio, notice extended stomach and bluging eyes
I wanted to write up about the trip I took with some Scientists I met through this process learning about Barotrauma. We have met scientists from both the West and East Coasts. Some of the research scientists from Florida were out to San Diego for a conference and we were able to hook up to get out fishing. On the trip we used the RokLees as well as several other methods for descending fish. John Stevely, Brian Fluech, Chuck Adams, Louie Zimm and myself went fishing that day.
Brian showing a Vermilion Rockfish
We left the San Diego Yacht Club on Louie’s boat early in the morning. We headed north of the Coronado Islands in Mexican waters. We targeted Rockfish with very light gear in 300 foot water. The light tackle was alot of fun. We used 20 lb test with medium size Shimano Lucanus Jigs. Louie had a great milk crate fish descending device. He used chain around the open end to weight the box. See photo
John releasing with Louies’ Milkcrate
We also used the RokLees and the Seaqualizer to release fish. It was pretty much a release trip for fish with Barotrauma only a few were kept for dinner that night. Fish released back at depth of capture or at least 1/3 depth of capture have a very high survival rate. You can check out videos on http://www.ecoleeser.com to see the RokLees in action