Friday was a great day to be on the ocean! All the conditions were right and the fish cooperated. Took the new cat boat for her first trip to the ledges. Immediately hooked up as the planer rod went down first,fish skyed and shook its head … out came the hook.
Then the radio chatter started as hookups seemed to be everywhere. Shortly after, I was watching the FRED ARCHER “FAT BOY” doing the SHUFFLE down the center when a SLOB skyed on the Big Green SQUID. Before I could get to the reel he again skyed on it and slapped the bait 10 ft into the air. The HOO turned and picked up the flat line and off it went. After some wrastlin, “BLINKIE” put his first HOO in the boat, not to mention a big smile to boot! Ended up bein 50lbs. Got back at it and had another bite when the outrigger clip popped and sent the Tiagra into overdrive.ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ, HUMDINGER picked it up and the fight was on! Made a couple nice runs and after seein the boat the fish smoked the reel again. The second time he came to the boat I realized he was a better fish than the first and went for the gaff. As HUMDINGER worked his way around the outrigger bungee, the rod tip dropped and the hook just fell out of the fishes mouth. Just inches from the gaff! Oh well, thats fishin. Nice fish though, probably 60-70lbs. Had a half dozen bites on the down planer rod but couldnt keep them buttoned up.
Congrats to THE LAW and DARK THIRTY though, heard they had a half dozen fish each between 50-77lbs. All the boats I saw on the 100/400 were hooked up all day so Im sure many of them caught fish that day.
On the way home, I spun a prop on the PROCAT. Came in on one engine at 9 knots. 10 hours later we limped in to Little River Inlet at midnight. Thanks go out to Little River TOWBOAT US, US COAST GUARD, SEA MONKEY, SCOTT and MATT at the Little River Fish House, JEFF MARTINI, KEVIN CAUSEY and AQUASITION for checking on us and keeping our families in the loop as we made the ride of shame in.
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Sorry to hear about the prop and missed fishies! Glad y’all made it in ok and had some meat also!!
“Miss Amanda”
-KeyWest
-Bluewater 2020CC
-Yammy F-150God is GOOD!! ALL the time!!
The shortest distance between a problem and a solution is the distance between your knees and the floor.
The one who kneels to the Lord can stand up to anything.
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Yeah, we had a Guardian Angel with us. A little spotted porpoise(about 3-4ft long) followed us 40 miles, he stayed in the green nav light all the time! It would come up and roll over on its side lookin up at the light. I think he thought it was his Mommy or something. Only left us as we pulled through the jetties at Little River. I hope to see hime again someday.
I haven’t caught my first hoo yet, and that one has me droolin! Rookie question tho, what causes a spun prop? The bote’s obviously well kept, so it makes me a little nervous with my single engine OB. I’m assuming a spare prop would fix the problem if the seas would allow that kind of change out offshore.
Im told the reason for it could have been I hit something. Its designed to be a weak link so that you dont bust your foot or shaft. Although I found out today that it could be that the load was to much for the prop. Shes got twin 150’s but it doesnt seem to shove her like I thought it should. We were loaded, two 300 lbers and one 270 lber plus ice, fish, fuel, rods, gear and all that. I would have thought it would have done it early on before the fuel burnt off though. I think a upgrade in power is in store for her now. Probably twin 225’s.
Thinking of going to the ledge thurday and trying to raise some hoo. Think its worth the trip this time of year? I wouldn’t think it would matter if I was a little further south than where you guys were fishing would it?
Nice January Fish! Those limp home trips are always fun. Make sure you have a properly installed tab washer on your other prop. Ive sheared the bottom of a skeg off o a 130 Honda and never had the prop come loose. If you hit something hard enough to take a prop off, you would certainly know it. Chances are the tabs weren’t bent over on the tab washer and the prop worked loose when you were in reverse.
