Great Expectations for 2012

As the year comes to an end, and I look back, the same question comes to my mind; “Have we seen the worst of the economy?” When I look at the numbers and speak to the captains, I believe we have! The numbers here are up and the domestic charter boats are boasting of much better trip numbers across the board!  A popular quote comes to my mind as I think of the state of our business, “Adversity causes some to break and others to break records”! No words could be more true. With fuel prices at an all time high, fishery closings that keep coming, restrictions on selling fish, and high costs of getting trips - the endurance of a charter boat owner is amazing, and my hat is off to all of you! 

As we close out 2011 and look to next year, I’d like to thank all of you who are loyal to Gray Taxidermy and continue to use us as your exclusive fish taxidermy company.  I would also like to welcome all of the new captains, crews and lodges who have joined us this year and especially thank the captains that have been with us from the beginning as well as everyone in between.  I have to tell you, it’s really cool to see the captains from long ago, bring their kids in as a new generation of captains and mates who now mount with Gray! 

This past year, we have developed several new programs geared toward helping you sell more mounts and will continue supporting you with all your needs as we all move forward into 2012.  We have added many new divisions here at Gray Taxidermy – It’s AMAZING! For those who don’t know, we have Kim in Marketing to help get you the tools you need, we have Joe in our In-House Sales, helping to look out for business and protect your orders, Terry in Customer Service to get the orders to completion, Mango on the docks everywhere - training and supporting the mates and crews, while Scott maintains the entire Lauderdale crew, Jonas who handles our Internet Development, placement and on-line product support, Ashlee who is full time working with new captains in development and training world-wide and last but not least, a MONSTER support staff that starts with the order processing all the way through the shop to the final delivery. 

This is a team of passionate people who live and breathe Gray Taxidermy! 
It just couldn’t be done and thrive without them. Special Thanks to Reactor, Pelagic Gear and Apparel and Costa Del Mar for believing in our captain and crews and supporting all of our new programs!

As we look forward we will continue to look for new ways to assist you in the field with any tools you might need to continue to mount more fish, and can only hope things continue to grow for you and your families. We hope to get MORE feedback from the field and communicate more in an effort for us to support what you’re doing. 

From our crew to yours, I’d like to wish you all a Happy New Year and look forward to 2012!

Bill Dobbelaer, General Manager

Reflecting on 2011

With the start up of this newsletter, we knew we wanted to highlight our captains and bring you information on what’s happening with Gray Taxidermy. The Captain of the Month and the Mate of the Month program has been a big hit! The determination of Captain of the Month and Mate of the Month, comes from a random drawing. For every order placed with Gray Taxidermy during the previous month at the time of the draw, the captain’s or mate’s name will be entered to win. Each month, one name will be pulled from all entries for both programs.
We would like to recognize and applaud the involvement of our sponsors of both of these programs. As you know, REACTOR Watches have given us a really cool watch to give away to our Captain of the Month for each newsletter.

Costa Del Mar also stepped up to supply a pair of Sunglasses for the Mate of the Month. It’s really awesome each month to get the names pulled and let the winners know! So keep up the good work! Another Sponsor we want to thank is Pelagic! They have stood behind every program for Captains and Mates, and they understand how important you guys are to their business. They will continue to support the guys who work in the trade and We Love It! Way To Go Pelagic!! So, BIG Thanks to all these sponsors for believing in Gray Taxidermy and our Captains! Gray Taxidermy would like to once again recognize last year’s winners!!

 

Gray Taxidermy's Captain of the Month

With the start up of this newsletter, we knew we wanted to highlight our captains and bring you information on what’s happening with Gray Taxidermy. The Captain of the Month and the Mate of the Month program has been a big hit!

The determination of Captain of the month comes from a random drawing. Each month, for every order placed with Gray Taxidermy, the captain’s name will be entered in a drawing. At the end of the month, one name will be drawn from all entries.

The winner will be featured in the following month’s newsletter as the Captain of the Month, and will be awarded REACTORS GRAVITON 2 watch (The Official Watch of Gray Taxidermy) as well as a Trophy plaque with an engraved plate showing them as Captain of month. And if you’re wondering – yes, you can win with only one order! Get as many orders in as you can to increase your chances!

We would like to recognize and applaud the involvement of our sponsors of both of these programs. As mentioned, REACTOR Watches have given us a really cool watch to give away to our Captain of the Month for each newsletter. Costa Del Mar also stepped up to supply a pair of Sunglasses for the Mate of the Month. It’s really awesome each month to get the names pulled and let the winners know! So keep up the good work!

Another Sponsor we want to thank is Pelagic! They have stood behind every program for Captains and Mates, and they understand how important you guys are to their business. They will continue to support the guys who work in the trade and We Love It! Way To Go Pelagic!! So, BIG Thanks to all these sponsors for believing in Gray Taxidermy and our Captains!

Click to Check Out Previous Winners from 2011

 

The first Captain of the Month for 2012… Captain Kunta!

Captain Kunta has 35 years of charter and tournament experience. Captain Kunta is known worldwide for his fishing ability and still to this day holds 24 world records and is one of the only to have ever won all legs of the BBC’s in one full year! Captain Kunta knows all the reefs, wrecks and fishing holes from Fort Lauderdale to the Bahamas and on.

Captain Kunta is well known for being a shark and sailfish magnet! There have been times that 5 or 6 of his competitors were all bunched up trying desperately for hours on end to catch a shark or sailfish and Captain Kunta would pull up in the middle of them and drop his bait and before the bait hit the ocean floor or sparkled on the surface out of kite it was… FISH ON!

Congratulations Captain Kunta – what a way to start 2012!
Tight Lines Everyone!!

 

Mate of the Month… Capt. Allen King!

Captain Allen was doing it all – Captain and Mate! We asked him to tell us about his experiences: “My name is Allen King. I am a 100% connected Korean service vet in my late seventies. I still enjoy fishing with my great anglers and seeing their excitement as they catch fish.
I know they take great pride in their trophy catch mounted by Gray Taxidermy.

Thanks Gray Taxidermy! Keep those lines tight with Afternoon Delight III.” For Allen’s luck of the draw, he will be awarded a plaque from Gray Taxidermy as well as a pair of Blue Mirror 580 Fathom sunglasses from Costa Del Mar.

 

 

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