This column is dedicated to the recreational fisherperson who wants to have a good time, get the boat wet, spend time with friends and family, and maybe catch a couple fish.

Once in a while I see something that makes me say, "Gee I should have thought of that." Just recently at the Marathon Boat Show, which was set up and run by Big Time Bait and Tackle from right here in Marathon, I did just that, several times in fact. There was a booth with a demonstration of a new boat anchor. www.revolutionanchors.com. I had the chance to meet a couple of the inventors and owners and they told a story quite similar to several of my own. It turns out, these fellows were fishing one day and had anchored up to fish for snappers. Upon getting ready to head back home, the anchor got caught and wouldn't release. After fighting with it for a while, they cut the line and left their ground-tackle for King Neptune.

Losing an expensive anchor, anchor chain and anchor line is an all too common event. In fact, once is too common. One of the most popular remedies for this is to connect your anchor chain to the bottom of the anchor, assuming there is a hole drilled there for you, and then attaching the chain to the top of the anchor shaft with plastic tie-wraps, stainless steel wire or twine. The idea being that, if the anchor gets fouled on debris, you would drive directly over the ensnared anchor, pull in the opposite direction with the boat, and the tie-wrap will snap letting the chain pull the anchor away from the snag by the bottom of the flukes. What? Huh? Until you've done this a few times it makes no sense at all. Trying to write about it is like trying to write directions on how to tie a knot.

Anyway, these guys have invented an anchor with a built-in resettable snag-release mechanism. I showed it to a friend of mine who is a retired tool and die maker. He was impressed with the engineering, the fine design and the operation of the patented release mechanism. I, on the other hand, was awed by the fact that the whole thing is made of glistening stainless steel and would look great hanging from the pulpit of my boat. It's kind of like the shiny silver hood ornament on a Rolls Royce. Which reminds me of a joke. Have you heard about the new Rolls Canardly? It rolls down hills and canardly make it back up. Have I ever told you I'm a frustrated comedian? Yah yah, I know, keep my day job.

Moving right ahead. This anchor is a terrific product. Last year, I was fishing with my two oldest fishing buddies on the Seven-Mile Bridge rubble, which is just south of the Seven-Mile Bridge in about 110 feet of water. This is one of my favorite snapper fishing spots, and it is about as deep as I'm comfortable anchoring. When we reached my waypoint, I realized I had not replaced the tie-wrap on the anchor from the last time it had been snapped. The water was a bit rough and I didn't want my friends bouncing around in the front of the boat trying to prepare the anchor in case of a snag. So, I dropped the anchor without the tie wraps. We caught a mess of snappers but when it was time to head home, the anchor was stuck solid. We circled the ensnared anchor and hoped it would release. It didn't. We tried driving away from the current, toward the current, sideways to the current, you get the idea. We tried powering the anchor out of the hole, and then tried finessing it out of the hole. No luck.

One of my buddies took the wheel and said, "Here, let me try something." He tied the anchor line to the stern cleat at the back of the boat. This is never a good idea, and this time was no exception. With the motor snarling, churning white prop-wash, and the gunwales getting alarmingly close to the water, I shut the motor down and cut the anchor line. I was thinking about the recent drowning when several professional athletes sank a boat in much the same manner. I pride myself on being a very cautious boater and this situation was going downhill quickly. This would have been the perfect test for the Revolution Anchor. This anchor is designed to release in a situation like this and very easily reset to use again immediately. I haven't had the opportunity to use this anchor yet, but I'm really looking forward to it.

The folks from Chum Buoy www.chumbuoy.com were also at the boat show with a no-freeze, no-thaw, chum that they say will keep in its container until you put it in a special dispenser that hangs from, or floats behind the boat. I would love to find a non-messy chum that really works and they claim this is it.

I also met a woman who has developed miniature stick-on flip-flops that glue to the bottom of your ice chest and keep it from sliding on the deck. The design even keeps the bottom of the chest far enough off the deck so you can spray water under it. Very cool. "Gee, I should have thought of that."

There were lots of boats, innovative fishing lures and tackle, jewelry, boat lifts, nautical furniture and a host of other interesting things as well as some terrific food grilled fresh by the Castaway Restaurant.

This was the first year for the Marathon Boat Show and, although it was small, it was a great show. I'm sure next year will be bigger and even more interesting -- www.bigtimetackle.com will have the details. During the course of the year I keep looking for fun and innovative items and products to talk about in my Christmas Wish List column which comes out in early December with gift ideas for that special fisherperson in your life. If the Marathon Boat Show was any indicator, this year there should be plenty to offer. So, go have some fun. Start preparing your angling Christmas wish list and don't forget, life is good in the Florida Keys; life is very good in the Florida Keys.

C.J. Geotis is a life-long fisherman who followed his dream to live in the Florida Keys more than nine years ago. He lives in Marathon with his wife, Loretta. He is the general manager of Sea Center in Big Pine Key. His e-mail is fishstories@bellsouth.net