Welcome!

Welcome to the first in a continuing series of blogs aimed at providing useful and entertaining information and advice for anglers from AFW/Hi-Seas. In the coming weeks and months it will feature ramblings from me, and a stable of guest bloggers. These will include TV fishing personalities like Bill Dance, host of Bill Dance Outdoors and a legend in the bass fishing community, and Dennis Braid, host of TV’s Monster Fish and one of the top big game fishermen in the world. You’ll also find helpful tips, tricks and techniques from our Prostaff of professional and tournament anglers include Cliff Pace, Jeff Kriet, Jeff Connella, Terry Scroggins, Elite B.A.S.S. anglers all, in addition to Kim Bain-Moore, the first woman to compete in the Bassmaster Classic. Kim is equally competitive fishing the SKA Professional Kingfish Tour with her husband, Andre Moore. And those are just a few of the dozens of pros who will be giving up secrets to help you catch more fish!

Fishing is as old as the human experience and as fresh as the latest innovation in tackle and techniques. It is an evolving sport that means different things to different people. To some it’s the opportunity to get on the water and enjoy nature to others it’s the ability to catch a few fish for table. For the more competitive among us, it’s the challenge of pitting their skills against other anglers whether the prize is bragging rights, cash or glory! Some fish from the bank or beach while others employ boats. Fishing is a diverse outdoor recreation, yet when all is said and done we are all members of a fraternity of anglers that is rich in history and tradition.

My name is Gary Caputi and I have been fishing since childhood and been lucky enough to spend most of my adult years working in the fishing tackle industry, writing for fishing magazines and hosting seminars aimed at teaching this great sport to others. My fishing experience runs the gamut—fresh water panfish, bass, trout, walleye, pike, salmon and brushes with exotics like musky and even peacock bass. And while there is nothing I enjoy more than making a delicate presentation to a trout lurking in a stream or the site of a smallmouth bass launching skyward after taking a tube jig presented with ultra light tackle, I must admit to having saltwater running through my veins.

Striped bass are a favorite quarry, as are redfish, snook and tarpon, but I am equally at home bottom fishing for blackfish, sea bass, grouper, snapper, amberjacks and even deep dropping for tilefish. Offshore, in the realm of blue water, I’ve caught every species of billfish including Atlantic and Pacific sailfish, white, striped, blue and even grander black marlin on Australia’s famed Great Barrier Reef! Some day I hope to catch the elusive spearfish, but I am not losing any sleep over it. Billfish are great fun, the fish many anglers feel mark the pinnacle of achievement, but the sheer freight train strength and bulldog tenacity of tuna is an incredible rush, not to mention back breaking exercise keeps me going to the gym so I can handle the punishment!

After more than 40 years on the water I can honestly say I love all types of fishing and I will use my expertise to help readers of this blog expand their fishing knowledge and improve their fishing prowess.

Those are my bona fides. Now a word about our blog hosts, AFW/Hi-Seas, two great fishing product lines under one roof that offer anglers like you and me a fantastic assortment of great fishing products. Based in Pennsylvania and family owned for almost forty years, their goal has been to provide anglers with the very best fishing line, wire goods, rigging components, tools and accessories. All of us on the Prostaff are proud to be associated with this great company run by such fine people.

So mark the AFWHISEAS Blog Spot on your favorites or sign up to receive the blogs regularly by email. We’ll do our best to keep the information coming and make the learning experience an enjoyable one.

-Gary Caputi