For more Colt TV.
For More on Bink Desaro.
Check out our Bass Fishing Rods!
Remember, we’re giving away an Autographed Colt McCoy football! Go here!

Colt McCoy signed a football for us and we want to give it away to one of our lucky fans!

Go to our facebook page to enter.

Win a signed Colt McCoy football! Make sure you are a fan of Colt Fishing Rods on Facebook and submit your email to enter. Yup, it’s really that easy.

(Winner will be selected at random from all submissions. Be sure to confirm your entry by responding to the confirmation email you will receive. Your email will not be sold or given away, but you may be added to a Colt Rods mailing list.)

Colt McCoy plays for the Cleveland Browns in the NFL and is an avid fisherman. For more information on Colt McCoy, see his previous blog posts and his personal site.

The last day to enter is Saturday, May 14, so submit your entry and share with your friends! Thanks for participating and good luck.

Colt TV is back! This episode catches up with Colt Rod pro staff Bink Desaro bass fishing on the Cascade Reservoir.

The [Obama] administration has been working on regulatory changes meant to improve safety, oversight and environmental protection standards in offshore drilling. Nearly two weeks ago, the Interior Department issued new rules governing topics like well casing and cementing, blowout preventers, safety certification, emergency response and worker training.

NY Times provides some details on the new offshore drilling rules (guess what? they’re largely focused on safety).

Will the new regulations and oversight be enough to prevent further catastrophes? In this New Republic article featured on NPR’s website, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is quoted as saying, “‘There will always be risks associated with deepwater drilling,’ Salazar explained, ‘but we have now reached the point where we have, in my view, reduced those risks.’”

Perhaps, but it appears new BP CEO Bob Dudley “isn’t going as far as some industry observers hoped” in assuring safety and reason in BP’s U.S. division. An article from a Wall Street Journal blog, The Source, says, “many of the key figures in its U.S. operations, particularly in the Gulf of Mexico, will continue in their jobs.” (BP CEO Shies Away from Radical Change)

National Geographic points out in a fantastic feature from October’s issue that no matter how you look at it, drilling in deeper and deeper waters increases the chances of accidents occurring:

As technology was taking drillers deeper, however, the methods for preventing blowouts and cleaning up spills did not keep pace. Since the early 2000s, reports from industry and academia warned of the increasing risk of deepwater blowouts, the fallibility of blowout preventers, and the difficulty of stopping a deepwater spill after it started—a special concern given that deepwater wells, because they’re under such high pressure, can spout as much as 100,000 barrels a day.

Another article from The New Republic isn’t so sure the risks of deepwater drilling have been reduced enough to justify lifting the ban and weighs the costs of lost jobs due to the moratorium versus the damaging losses of lifting the ban too early.

On a more literal note, Greenpeace says they’re still seeing oil in the gulf. They disagree “with official statements that most of the oil from the BP PLC spill is gone from the Gulf of Mexico” and are worried about blue crab populations among other things. Further, the Christian Science Monitor says that the “likelihood of the Gulf oil spill soon hitting the Keys and the southeastern coast of Florida is 80 percent” due to the “so-called loop current.”

Despite the presence of oil on the seafloor and elsewhere, CCA Louisiana reports that NOAA has reponed another 7,000 square miles of the gulf to fishing (that’s 29% of the current closed area).

Regardless of whether or not technology to prevent and contain blowouts improves and the gulf ecosystem recovers under the watch of new EPA Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Task Force lead John Hankinson, Brad Pitt won’t forget (or forgive) BP for what has happened and implies he supports the death penalty for those responsible for the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. USA Today claims that when “Reflecting on those responsible for the oil spill, Pitt can barely contain his contempt. ‘I was never for the death penalty before,’ he says. ‘I am willing to look at it again.’”

Extreme?

If nothing else, at least President Obama went swimming in the Gulf, right? The President and daughter Sasha swam at Alligator Point in Panama City Beach, Florida in August according to the caption of this photo on the official White House flickr account:

Interested in making a financial donation towards conservation or rebuilding efforts in the gulf? If you’re debating which charity to support, try using Charity Navigator to evaluate the work of charities you’re considering donating to.

I’ve been so busy as of late, it feels like the world forgets important things that happened within the past few months. I needed to catch up on my oil spill news, and to my surprise, for once, it’s not ALL bad. Here are some links and thoughts.

I always ask for the bad news first: NY Times reports that an independent study confirmed an estimated 185 million gallons of oil spilled into the gulf. That number is still so difficult to fathom.

The guy who was seemingly way too busy for the oil spill with his comment, “I’d like my life back,” obviously, and probably rightfully, got fired. Congratulations Tony Hayward, CEO of BP Oil until October 1, 2010, now your life can be as you choose.

Newsweek reports that cleanup efforts are still quite vigorous even though no oil has leaked since July 15. There is quite a task force:

“Coast Guard Rear Adm. Paul Zukunft, who is overseeing the cleanup, said about 23,000 workers are still employed in the effort, about 80 percent of them in Louisiana.”

Hurricane season was an especially scary, ominous thing this year, but the feared onslaught of oil washing up wasn’t so bad after all.

“Small storms did propel some oil into Louisiana’s wetlands and onto the beaches of other Gulf states, but the big blanket didn’t come. Jane Lubchenco, who heads the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, says even though hurricane season isn’t over yet, that risk is gone.” -NPR

And the biggest sigh of relief for us fishermen, early reports say scientists sampling grass beds along the coast are liking their results. Further, as the Mississippi Press reports:

“[Scientists] reported “incredible numbers” of young speckled trout as well as snapper, crabs, tiny juvenile shrimp and dozens of other species of fish.”

Lastly, Mos Def and Lenny Kravitz record “It Ain’t My Fault” with the Preservation Hall Band and others to benefit Gulf Aid — a lively commentary on BP’s disaster and a reflection of life in the gulf after Hurricane Katrina and the Deepwater Oil Spill.

What a disaster! Still, it is good to hear scientists are finding good news and gulf residents are resiliently carrying on in light of all that has happened. What are you feeling post-gushing oil well? Sound off in the comments.

From Texas Fish and Game

We premiered our new technology at ICAST. We also had Colt McCoy join in on the fun for some fishing and hanging out at the booth.

Stay tuned for next week’s installment of Colt TV, “Fishing with Colt McCoy”.