I'm Joe Payne and
the owner of Solunar Services, LLC. |
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6 pounds, 22 inches...now THAT'S a bass! |
Solunar Services was officially founded in 1986 by my father, Jack Payne.
Jack spent better than 50 years enjoying the Lake Vermilion, Minnesota vacation
cabins with his wife Shirley. Our family spent many long hours documenting
our fishing excursions in and around Lake Vermilion. We then used this information
to chart both the best fishing spots and correlate our results with the Solunar
calculations. The Solunar formulas and formats used today are the result of
these many years of work.
Jack Payne passed away on February 18th, 2007 at the age of 80. He is deeply
missed by all who knew him.
Being a six year-old kid, I wasn't exactly thrilled to be dragged into the Iron
Range, placed on an island and given no electricity for weeks at a time. Armed
with my trusty Snoopy fishing pole, I was able to learn how to enjoy the great outdoors
and the importance of a sense of direction. Fourteen years later, I knew that
lake inside and out, could drop a tree on a dime and had no fear of gas-powered
engines.
I am grateful to have gained the joy and experience of a childhood in the north
woods. As an child, I couldn't wait to get off that island. As an adult,
I find myself longing to return each year. Funny how life does that to you.
Business ownership isn't new to me. My entire career has been spent making
sure the customer is happy. I have been in the computer consulting industry
for over 35 years. I ran my own consulting business in the Indianapolis, Indiana
area until I moved to Southwest Florida in 2010. I will always treat my customers just as I would
want to be treated.
My father ran Solunar Services as much as a hobby as he did a business. Jack
genuinely enjoyed communicating with folks, hearing their stories and learning how
their Solunar tables helped them enjoy an outing. In the short time I've been
managing Solunar Services since his passing, I have already learned why he enjoyed
it so much. Hearing the excitement in someone's voice as they tell how they
"caught the big one" is quite rewarding.
My goals with Solunar Services are several. First, it needs to be something
everyone enjoys. Second, I don't want to get rich. Yes, you read that
correctly. Anyone would enjoy a higher quality of life, but I'm pretty lucky
to have what I do now. Having too much
of anything just makes you lose the appreciation for what it took to gain it.
My visitors need to enjoy Solunar as well. The Solunar website should give
something to each person that visits it, regardless of whether they brought their
wallet.
I have spent the last 12 months modernizing the Solunar website. The latest site design
allows customers to pull up previous orders, re-print tables they've purchased
and shop for over 20,000 other great products specific to fishing, hunting
and camping. Credit card payment was sorely needed and has been added along
with a great shopping cart solution. Precise electronic mapping services
provided by Google are used for the easiest ordering experience on the internet. I am always tinkering, so you might just see a neat
(or strange) addition as I learn more about internet web programming. If anything
seems broken, please let me know using our
Contact Us
page and I'll get it fixed
as soon as possible.
If you wish to contact me, please use our Contact Us page. I don't enjoy those
web forms any more than you do, but putting an email address directly on a web page
just earns you hundreds of junk messages every day.
Please, enjoy my website. I will do my best to make sure your experience is
an informative and enjoyable one.
Thank you for visiting us.
Best Regards,
Joe Payne
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