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Kitty Hawk, NC – (February 8, 2010) – With a TV commercial highlighting vacation rentals having aired in Sunday’s big game, the demand for vacation rental homes on the Outer Banks has soared.  Football fans are discovering why renting vacation homes, condos, villas and cabins is a favorite choice for many versus hotels. Beyond the experiences families and friends build by staying in a home-away-from-home on the Outer Banks, there are numerous benefits to choosing vacation rentals – sometimes in ways you’d least expect.  Don’t miss out on your chance to enjoy an affordable vacation in an Outer Banks vacation rental.

Whether trying vacation rentals for the first time or if you’re one of the nearly nine in 10 travelers who plan to rent again, Seaside Vacations Marketing Director, Adam Norko, offers the following planning tips and insights as a post-game update for visiting the Outer Banks:

CONSIDER BOOKING EARLY: Vacation rental homes can fill up months in advance, especially during busy vacation seasons.  Summer on the Outer Banks is very busy, and many reservations are made months, if not a year, in advance.  If you have your heart set on a particular house, a particular area, or particular amenities, you may want to consider making your reservation early.  Please call Seaside Vacations at 877.219.3794 to book an affordable vacation for this summer.

KNOW YOUR DESTINATION: Whether you are a first-time traveler to the Outer Banks or not, it’s recommended that you become familiar with our special events, seasons and offerings. Here are some activities that guests find most enjoyable:

Every golfer’s body and swing are unique to that individual and that’s what custom fitting is all about. Custom fitting golf clubs involves a quick self assessment of your game and several easy measurements. To custom fit your golf clubs, the following information is needed:

• Your gender (male or female)

• Your height in your stockings or socks

• The distance from your wrist (where it bends) to the floor (without shoes)

• What club you use at the 135 meter marker

• Handicap, age, swing speed

Firstly, your gender is used to put you into the correct fitting scale. Then, your height and the distance in inches from your wrist to the floor are used together to determine the length of golf club that is appropriate for you. (About 80% of golfers are Standard length.)

Your age, handicap, estimated golf swing speed and club you use at the 135 meter marker are all combined to determine the shaft flex that is appropriate for you.

Club Length & Flex

With regards to the length of your club there’s one main point you should consider: a longer golf club will hit further given the same swing speed – so length can be a good thing. But, as I’m sure you’re thinking, it can’t be that simple. And you’re right! Since the swing arc is longer, it often is also harder to keep under control – so length can be a bad thing. All things being equal, most golfers will opt for longer length to the sacrifice of greater control. But there’s still a decision to be made!

The standard length of a steel shafted Driver for a man is 44 inches. Graphite shafted drivers are manufactured 1 inch longer than steel shafted clubs because graphite shafts weigh less than steel shafts allowing us to produce a longer club with the same swing . The proper length of a golf club is a function of your height and the length of your arms. Some golf shop provide a Custom Fitting Wizard that determines the correct length for you with just a few simple measurements.

Flex is the torsional stiffness of the golf club, which is provided by the type of golf club shaft that is used. Generally, stiffer shafts are better for stronger hitting golfers.

The proper flex of a golf club is a function of your strength and golfing skills. Determining the correct flex is most important for your Woods and longer Irons. Short irons, wedges and putters are not impacted very much by the different flexes as the differences between flexes becomes very small in the shorter clubs.

Loft & Lie Adjustments

A lie adjustment requires bending the hardened metal in which an iron is cast. We strongly advise getting your lie fitting done in person. Online fittings while accurate do not take into account your natural ball address. Some players are more naturally upright and some like to lean into the ball. Once you have lie adjusted a club it is usually not a good idea to re-adjust if you later find it was the wrong adjustment.

From years of building experience we find it rare to need more than a 2 degree adjustment upright or flat, therefore we only perform lie adjustments to either extreme.

Woods, hybrid clubs and putters can not be adjusted. The reason these clubs can not be adjusted is because the hosel of each is cast in a way where physically bending the head at all will cause damage. In woods and hybrids it will crack or bend the crown of the club, and putter hosels are not made with the strength required for adjustment after the casting process.

Loft adjustments require a different type of bend than a lie adjustment. Some people receive advice in which they require a certain loft adjustment. We have never understood loft adjustments since it merely changes the loft of the club. We recommend buying golf clubs matching the loft you seek and avoid custom loft adjustments. Bending the loft of an iron weakens the hardened metal and can lead to future metal fatigue, since the actual bend twists the metal to an extent. If the loft of your 5 iron is too strong, use a 6 iron. If it is too weak, use a 4 iron.

I had a rough idea of equipment needed, i knew it consisted of rod, reel, line and tackle. So with this in mind i headed to my local tackle shop for a quick browse.

I’m always on the look out for a bargain, or always trying to do something on the cheap. With a idea of what I wanted I started browsing online, looking at forums and tackle reviews for the best…. but cheapest options. I come accross a rod and reel combo on eBay for only £64, I can’t remember the exact model but i remember it was a shakespeare set up of some sort. I bought some ready made rigs from my local tackle shop with some frozen mackerel and headed off to the west pier in Whitehaven, needless to say I blanked. Blanked but not put off all together.

So your thinking of starting sea fishing? Here’s a head start.

The gear that is a necesity is of course your rod and reel. I would strongly suggest going to your local tackle dealer for help and advice. They may have facilities to test a new rod out. You should wherever possible try to haggle a deal out of them. Try and get some extra’s thrown in such as line. Don’t spend too much on your first set up, you may not enjoy sea fishing. If you do enjoy sea fishing you can always upgrade later.

As mentioned some line is needed, about 18lb breaking strain is about a happy medium. You’ll also need a length of shockleader. Basically a shock leader is a length of line that is of higher breaking strain to take the extra forces during your cast. See my sea fishing tackle blog for more info.

For your first trip buy some ready made sea fishing rigs, you can always use these as templates to make your own if you get the sea fishing bug. A good starting rig would be a two hook flapper or a single hooked rig.

Your going to need some weights. Gripper type lead weights are excellent for sea fishing. There are various weights such as 5oz and 6oz. Buy a couple of each to get you going. Try first with the 5oz, if you find your line drifting around to either side of you or making it’s way back in shore then up the weight to 6oz. Namix leads are excellent sea fishing leads and cheap too.

Around your home you will likely have a lot of things that can help you get started. Something to carry all your new gear in such as a rucksack or small toolbox, a knife for cutting bait and something to wipe your hands on such as a old tea towel.

You will need some bait, if you don’t want to dig / collect your own the tackle shop will likely have frozen worm and fish baits such as mackerel, sandeel, lug and rag worm. Do your research on your planned location. The internet is a valuble source to the modern fishermen especially forums. Some sea fishing forums have catch reports with people saying what bait they used to catch fish with. As a guide you wont go far wrong with some black lug and some mackerel.

Now your ready to hit the shore don’t forget about safety during fishing. Take care when casting that their is no one near by to get hurt. Never go to low water alone, fish with a friend or join a sea fishing club, most areas have a sea fishing club ask in the tackle shop.

Don’t forget to take plenty of pictures, the British coast is very sceanic… and you may well catch a fish!

Goodluck, and if you need help just ask.

Courses to learn new sports recreation skills can be found online and in larger cities. You can learn and participate in team sports through the local Y and other organizations. Team sports recreation activities you might like to participate in include softball, baseball, basketball, and sometimes soccer for younger people. Another team sport you might enjoy is bowling. Regardless of your skill level you can find a bowling team to have fun with.

Individual sports recreation activities you can learn and participate in include golf, tennis, running, aerobic dance, gymnastics, and horseback riding. Don’t overlook bicycling and weight training too. Many of these sports can be learned at the local Y as well. For some of these, you’ll want to have a friend to play against or share the exerience with. Many runners, for instance, like to run with a friend. And games like tennis and handball really need cooperation for best results.

If you’d rather, you can learn about sports recreation skills online. You can find courses to teach almost any sport or activity you can think of including underwater hockey, fly-fishing, and para-gliding in the Alps! Of course, unless you can get some hands-on experience you’ll only have the theories of the sport. Still, online courses are a good way to get a taste of different sports and recreational activities you might someday want to try out.

A really fun sports recreation game you might get a chance to play is ping pong. Ping pong, or table tennis as it is sometimes called, is played on a table with rubber coated paddles and extremely lightweight plastic balls. You must hit the ball with your paddle so that it strikes the table and clears the net before your opponent strikes it and bounces it back to you. One way to become more adept at ping pong and increase your chance of winning is to sometimes hit the ball harder than at other times. This keeps your opponent guessing what you will do next.

Sports recreation activities are a great way to get exercise and relieve stress. They are also a lot of fun. Whether with friends or alone, everyone needs a favorite sports recreation to take part in.

Believe it or not, there are thousands of different vacation home rentals sites out there.  Some are much better than others, such as Vacation Rentals by Owner (or VRBO) and ReserveMy Home.  These sites offer you thousands of wonderful vacation rentals at your fingertips without the worry of them taking your information and selling it or using it in the wrong way.  They have been accredited by several different top travel sources all around the web to ensure that your privacy is the top priority and that what you book is what you get.

When you start looking at a site that you can rent vacation homes from, you want to immediately check to see if they have red flags that pop up.  These can be things like bad reviews on other sites, odd looking or broken English on their site, or links that always pass you off to “unverified” sites.  These warning signs should mean that you pass on this site and head to another asap before you do any damage to your computer.

When you find a site that doesn’t fly the red flag of death at you, you want to make sure that they are really offering you what they say they are.  They should have different guarantees that help ensure your money and information are safe, that they verify their rentals, and that they truly are there to help you find the perfect vacation rentals – instead of just taking your vacation cash.

You will easily see the differences in the sites that aren’t that great to work with, and those that are.  The ones that are good vacation rental sites will offer you thousands of different vacation home rentals all over the US and areas of the world, they will offer to provide specialized information on that area of the US or globe to help you in planning your travel, and they will go out of their way to ensure that you only get the very best in quality service when you book through them.

So before you sit down with your credit card and book any vacation home rental, make sure that you know the site you’re going to use and know that they are a good site to use by researching them online and getting a good overview of what they can offer you in the area where you want to vacation.  Don’t get caught when it’s too late with a vacation home rental that is less than what it was touted to be.

Bass are aggressive feeders at certain times of the day and also when large amounts of bait are around.  This is usually pretty easy to spot, as bait will be jumping as the bass feed upon them.  Its a matter of motoring up and slowing down before you get too close and casting an appropriate lure in among them.  Don’t make the mistake of going right into or through the area of feeding fish, this is the quickest way to put an end to the fishing.  Under these conditions a top water plug or soft plastic that matches the size and shape of the bait is a good choice.  Cast in, and as soon as you hit the water, close up and begin a retrieve.  Don’t move it too fast unless they are bluefish.

Early morning is normally a very good time for bass, they will feed in the shallows near some kind of structure (rocks, drop offs, humps), usually when there is a current to sweep helpless bait past them.  At this time top water plugs can be very productive because of the low light conditions.  If it’s going to be overcast or foggy that day, so much the better for the bass fishing.  Top water plugs should be surface swimmers, poppers, or walkers in white.  They should be worked as if they are injured, occasionally stopping them during the retrieve.  It’s so cool when the fish smashes that surface plug, splashing, rolling, then running like hell.  My favorite kind of bass fishing.

Once there is a good amount of light and the top water plugs stop producing, its time to switch to soft plastics and probably move into an area of structure in deeper water.  Current is again important, the bass depend on this to sweep food past them and when the current is weak or non-existent you can normally expect that the bass won’t be aggressive, you have to bang them off the nose then to get a strike.  When drifting with soft plastics, first you get up drift of the structure with the boat and position the boat so you will drift over it, then turn the motor off.  Next, consider the depth the fish may be holding in.  If the structure is in 30 feet of water, cast out, leave the bail open and count to 15 (one thousand one to one thousand fifteen), then close it up and start your retrieve.  You should also vary your retrieve, try slow, try fast, try jigging and reeling, until you find what the fish like.  If you get a hit and don’t hook up, work the bait very slowly with!

short jigs as if it is injured.  This will normally bring on follow-up strikes.  The tendency is to haul back and reel hard, but this will only result in another strike with a bluefish, if it’s a bass they most likely will not chase it.  It’s also possible to have a bluefish hit and bite part of the plastic off and then as you work it as if injured a bass will take it.  This is because bass love to pick up after the bluefish, who tend to be messy eaters and will chop up a bait without finishing it off, leaving the pieces to fall to the bottom.

What soft plastic do you use?  Well, you try to ‘match the hatch’, as it were.  If you know what their feeding on, use something that approximates that bait.  For sand eels, use green/white zooms, sluggos, or fin-s on a jig head.  If they are feeding on bunker, use a 4″, 5″ or 6″ Storm swim shad bait in bunker color.  If they are feeding on herring, use a 6″ Storm swim shad in pearl.

Trolling is another way to fish for bass.  The hard part is knowing what to do when your not catching them.  Most trolling is done with weights, down riggers, or wire line rods.  This is because bass go into the lower part of the water column once the sun is up, so you need a way to get your rig down to where the bass are.  We fish an area along the RI south shore which has lots of boulders and is around 28 feet deep.  When trolling, we use wire outfits with 200 feet of wire on them.  This gets the rig down about 20 feet or so, which is close enough considering how shallow the area is, and how the boulders stick up.  We troll umbrellas, tube and worm rigs, or parachute jigs.  Usually though we’ll only resort to this method when we having trouble getting soft plastics down to the fish.  It can be very productive.  Speed can be anything from 2 knots to 6 knots, usually we vary it throughout the time we troll.  Its not at all unusual to get hits right after changing speed.  When!

its not working, your speed is wrong, your rig is at the wrong depth, or the fish are gone.  However, I always make the first assumptions before assuming the fish are gone.  If you go half an hour without a fish, its time to hang it up and move onward or try something different.

If you keep some of these tips in mind when you’re out there then success can be yours when fishing for Bass.

This article will talk about some things I’ve learned while hunting deer in the Vermont woods and oak mast ridges of Wisconsin. These few simple techniques can be used on your next hunt – whether you choose to stillhunt or not, the principles are the same. These techniques will also make your deer hunt a richer experience. It’s all about: you’re outdoors – enjoy the scenery, hunting or not.

Generally, as deer hunters, we think of one thing when we hunt, and that is deer. Not deer in general, but that deer. We are aided in this compulsion by our brains, and our eyes. Let’s talk about eyes first.

<b>Hunt Deer with Soft Focus – See Them as They See You</b>

We see as all predators do – forward, and tightly focussed. Take a look at your average housecat and watch it stalk something. It pursues its object with its eyes narrowed and every muscle relaxed, yet steeled at a moment’s notice to pounce. We share with the cat and all predators having our eyes in the front of our head, designed to focus on a single thing.

However, deer, and all prey species, have eyes designed to detect motion. Deer and all prey species have eyes on the side of their head, and this aids in perceiving motion first, long before the animal can make out whether what they see is a threat, or just some pattern-breaking motion in the woods. When stillhunting for deer, we must adopt to the way they see. We must see motion first, patterns out of sync second, and the deer last. The only way to do this is to relax our focus and broaden our field of vision.

Here’s how to practice. Stand facing a wall, about six to eight feet away from it. Stare hard at a spot on the wall. Raise your arms, index fingers extended, fully out to the side from your head (and slightly behind). Now, keeping your arms straight and your index fingers extended, bring your arms slowly in front of your face. Notice the moment when your fingers come into view – this is your field of vision (FOV).

Now, turn to the wall again. This time, soften your focus so that your eyes, while seeing objects or spots on the wall, do not lock on any one spot. Repeat the index-finger practice. You should see your fingers enter your FOV much earlier than before. It is this type of sight – gained through practice, for it isn’t natural to us anymore – that allows us to see changes in woods patterns, motion – in short, to see deer out in the distance, possibly before they see us.
Now, onto walking.

<b>Walk Toe-Heel, not Heel-Toe</b>

You see it all the time – the hunter walking through the woods as if he’s hunting on rice paper.

It doesn’t work. As a hunter, you’re going to make noise. But then, so do deer and other game. So does anything living and breathing in the woods. What you want to avoid is making the rhythmic gait a hunter makes when he’s running, usually after a deer, or doing everything he can to be quiet, when he doesn’t yet see one.

Walking toe-heel is the way to walk, because the palm of your foot can be more flexible in its response to the softwood twigs and deadfall underfoot – like deer, whose hooves make relatively light contact with the forest floor. Walking heel-toe makes for a heavy, stiff step – a human step. Walking heel toe, take a few steps, pause, and, using the soft-focus described above, take in the environment, in a holistic way. Above all else, if you find yourself entering in to a steady, rhythmic gait, break it up. You also want to avoid any obviously human sounds sounds coming from anything man-made, such as metal or hard plastic. Bottom line – brushing past an oak stump is o.k. Marching in cadence is not, nor is that canteen banging against your hunting rifle strap buckle.

<b>Know the Wind</b>

Finally, walk into the wind. Yes, this is rule 1. But many hunters, especially those used to staying in a relatively insulated hunting blind, forget this cardinal rule. I’ve stood with my bow drawn on a buck 10 yards away, with the buck clearly trying to figure out what the heck this would-be rambo was up to – only to watch it spring to life once the wind shifts, and thanksgiving was a bit – thinner that year.

Don’t even bother still hunting on blustery days, with no prevailing winds.
The bottom line, when you are hunting deer in this way, is to get used to is slowing yourself down, for hours at a time, and softening your focus to “deer hunt” for motion – not deer.

But act like, see like, deer, become more a part of where you are, and you will reap many rewards – whether you take a deer or not.

Carp happily devour on the surface as long as you keep the pellets, biscuits, chic peas, bread, and re-hydrated corn coming in, and these are inexpensive baits as well. Just attach them to the hooks, most preferably the bread. Have the biscuits softened by dipping it in the water for about 2 minutes, then, place them in a sealed sandwich bag for about an hour. Since different brands have different textures, just experiment to know which is firm enough to cast. Another way to hook baits is super gluing the pellet into the shank.

Once they get into feeding, let them feel comfortable around the bait. This gives more opportunity for the fisherman since they begin to not feel picky. This tactic can be useful for zig rigs.

As soon as they’re feeding, cast the bait but make sure not to drop the bait directly onto the feeding carp. Cast away from the feeding area then slowly draw it in position. While the bait is till hanging, keep the food coming in so as to keep the carp from going away.

How to Set-Up?

• Use a hair rig to increase your chance of catching. As carp taste food first, if they don’t like the taste, they won’t come near it.

• You may also use a Spider Line, 50 lbs test, then use a leader material that fits the situation.

• Thread the bait on the baiting needle and hook the hair loop. You may also use foam dipped in a flavor as this enhances the attractiveness of the bait.

• Also make a baiting needle by just straightening a long shank hook. Slide the bait on the shank, then slide the bait from the needle onto the hair.

• Using a float is also an advantage because it adds weight for further distancing and the location is easily identified.

• Don’t forget the controller float rig. A leader can be used which is attached to the swivel to its mainline of at least 3 feet length with a 10lbs Drennan double strength. A low diameter mono will do just as long as it floats well enough for visibility.

As experts say, it is not the bait that catches the carp but the method in which the bait is introduced. Pre-bait everyday, in one spot for a few days. This makes the carp think that there is a regular source of food for them and by “word of mouth” there’ll soon be a school of fish around. Just be patient and it will all work.