The world is watching and waiting for Hurricane Milton to make landfall sometime today into tomorrow. This comes less than two weeks since Hurricane Helene roared up from the Gulf of Mexico and wreaked havoc from Florida up through North Carolina. Rescue and recovery operations are still underway from the devastation from that storm.
I'm watching and holding my breath as my Mom stays hunkered down at her home in Bradenton which is possibly in the path of Milton. She's been down there "In Paradise" as she calls it for three years now. Her area has been through some storms and she's a brave and tough cookie. Born in New York and raised in Keansburg, where storms and flooding from the Raritan Bay were a common occurrence back int he day. But this may be bit different. Various models are predicting the storm to hit somewhere between Tampa Bay down to Naples. Millions of people have evacuated or are still relocated from the last storm.
The decision to evacuate is a personal one I guess. You can be warned, or threatened, with impending bodily injury or death, but one only has to look to past storms that didn't materialize making ones decision to stay correct in their minds. It winds up being a case of the boy who cried wolf.
The counties that are could be affected have issued various stages of evacuations in their respective areas. Evacuations are laid out in zones using the alphabet. For Mom, she sits in evacuation Zone E, and they have called for Zones A, B, and C to start a mandatory evacuation to a strongly suggested one. Her complex is a series of four story concrete buildings which just recently passed hurricane inspection from the State of Florida following the collapse of the 12-story condominium in Surfside, Florida.
They say this could be the worst storm to hit Tampa Bay, if it lands there, in a 100 years. Wind, rain, and storm surges up to 20 feet could happen depending on the where it hits and how the storm rotates, pulling or pushing water around the bays ands rivers. She's a tad less than 2 miles from the Manatee River at Bradenton and 8 miles from the Gulf of Mexico at Bradenton Beach.
As I've said before it's just amazing what this thing called life can bring of us at different times. People waiting for a life changing storm in one part of the country, or dealing with other life altering events, while others enjoy calm weather and good times. Today, in New Jersey, it's an absolutely beautiful fall day. I guess we just have to roll with whatever the day brings.
And there's some stormy weather in the fly fishing industry as of late. This week several fly fishing companies announced big news. Vista Outdoors, which purchased Simms just a few years ago to go along with other outdoor brands announced it was selling off part of their conglomerate. Simms is slated to be sold along with the brand Camp Chef to a company called Strategic Value partners for $1.25 billion dollars. What was once a small company started by John Simms back in 1980 has become a traceable asset to big investors who've never laced up stocking foot boots nor ever fished. Simms is now just a pawn in the Monopoly Game of big business. and what that means it just comes down to the bottom line, not worrying if your $900 waders leak or not.
And there's some news coming from the Orvis Mother Ship up in Manchester, Vt. Orvis has cut 5% of its workforce, 112 people, will close several retail locations, and eliminate their print catalogues. They are also going to sell their headquarters in Sunderland and move all offices to Manchester. While Orvis may spin this as "...today's challenges are new, and they require us to be bold in order to continue sharing stories, experiences, products that inspire our customers well into the future" as per company President Simon Perkins, the bigger picture is what is the health of Orvis as a company and how is the industry doing as a whole? In 2021 Orvis' revenue was $316 million dollars. According to market
research the fly fishing industry is going strong with anticipated growth heading in the right direction over the next 10 years. Not surprising revenue generated comes more from online sales than brick and
mortar stores. But that's been going on since the late 1990's when the internet and technology came and ruined just about everything known to man. Long gone are the fly shops outside of destination or lodge based operations. In New Jersey we still have Orvis in Princeton and Ramsey Outdoors, but long gone are Effinger's, The Fly Hatch, Down-N-Trout, amongst others.
While I am sure Tom Rosenbauer is safe from the chopping block I do know one Orvis employee who has been let go. Phil Monahan, who ran Orvis News, which is the company blog, since its inception is looking for a new place to call home. Orvis News has always been ranked high in the fly-fishing blog game across the world. As of today it's ranked #2.
I did a quick check to see where The Average Angler might be at since, to be honest, my fishing outings and posts have been less than normal since the spring season. But here we are
coming in at # 21 worldwide just behind Gink and Gasoline and ahead of The Urban Fly Fisher. Hopefully sooner than later this pages will be filled fishing outing stories as the fall run heats up.
And finishing up with storms when I think about storms I think about, good fishing before and after, but also the effect it has on the beaches. We know how Mother Nature gives and takes from the beaches before and after storms and also with normal tides and winds. And you also know how I feel about beach replenishment, or beach nourishment. Right now "The False Hook" is closed as they once again dredge the Sandy Hook Channel which gets all shoaled and filled in from the sand movement north with the littoral currents.
This week the ACOE announced it will be starting a 92 million dollar beach nourishment project down south. earlier this year it was North Wildwood and Hereford Inlet that had emergency work done just before the summer season. Now Absecon Island, including parts of Atlantic City will be pumped. Long Beach Island will also be under attack as Harvey Cedars, Beach haven and Long Beach Township will get 1,750,000 cubic yards of sand dredged up from the bowels of the Atlantic Oceana and pumped onto the beach. Eventually that sand will migrate north and jam up the Barnegat Inlet and shoal up the North Jetty, which will then have to be dredged. We just never learn.
So enjoy the beautiful weather today. Enjoy your baseball and football games. And enjoy whatever fallsy thing you're doing with the fam this upcoming weekend. But keep those in your thoughts and prayers that are still reeling from life, the last storm, and the impending storm down to the south. And of course include my Mom in there as well.