1st report of the year, we left Braod Creek Marina around 5am Saturday morning headed to the dehli. making great time in my new to me 300 Marlin w F250 yammies, humming along at around 35mph what a great ride out. We hit about 160ft of water and temp hit 76 deg we saw a good weed line and flyers so we put out the spread and befor we had them all out had a wahooo hit the short line and sky out of the water and throw the hook, then two more short strikes. Then game on, my buddies son DG was on board , his first trip and handed him the rod, he had game on for him, a good fighting 20lb bull and he handled it perfect, great first fish and got him pumped for more action.
We trolled straight out to the dehli, with the seas starting to build and stacking pretty tight, all the while picking up a few short strikes here and there, a few more pulled hooks, and then my son, Bradley landed about a 35 lb bull, biggest of the day we ended the day with 4 between 20 to 35 lb.
The seas progressively changed while we were trolling, it went from 2-3’s at 2-3 sec to 4-6 at 2-3 sec but we trolled on, the old grady is a battlewagon and can take it, saw the bow pulpit dip into many waves while trolling. So we packed it up about 3-3:30 and headin back in, got her up on plane and was able to ride in at 30mph comfortably, it was handling the rough water great was taking a spray occasionally. Then we are riding past R7 (200 yds from it)and talking about hitting it the next day for some bottom fishing and lost speed and the starboard motor reved up, pulled back on the throtles and figured we had a spun prop, no such luck — busted lower! So I trimmed up the motor ran the trim tab down and tried to get up some speed, no such luck. We then proceeded limped back in from thee R7 to Broad Creek Marina. left R7 at 5pm made it to Broad Creek at 11:30 pm, we were making 6-10 mph and fighting the waves the whole way back in, but made it safe
Wives called the coast guard at 7:30 to let them know they have not heard from us and was followi
ltid - been there done that. It’s amazing how agonizingly slow you go when not under full power. Better piece of mind to add this http://www.acrartex.com/products/catalog/personal-locator-beacons/resqlinkplus/ to your safety equipment instead of the SPOT. The only reason it is not classified as an epirb is shorter battery life and allows you to check in with the family. Glad you made it back safe.
“Temptation may lean on the doorbell… opportunity may only knock once”
I have an EPRIB on board, but the SPOT, it would have given a little piece of mind to the new to offshore fishin buddies wives, mine on the other hand works for DNR and knows if she hasn’t heard from me by dark, something could be wrong. When we fish offshore you could do great catch what you want and be back early, or work it all day since trips are so unpredictable, you don’t know when you might be able to get back out there, be it weather or break downs!
SEMPER FI
30 gw marlin
35 donzi sfc (sold)
25 pursuit cc(sold)
45 egg harbor sportfish (sank hurricane)
I really like our SPOT. We paid extra and turned on the tracking feature. The people back at the house can track you and watch where you are and that your making headway safely. WORD OF CAUTION though… don’t go sheepshead fishing, limit out early, and head to the bar to then tell the significant other that your out still fishing when she calls. That tracking feature can bite you back and we found out the hard way. 3 very happy guys with ABSOLUTELY PISSED wives and girlfriends! “But, we had a good time.”
I have a first generation SPOT. There has been a learning curve tho! First overnighter I made the mistake of holding the OK button down too long which put it in Tracking mode. Since we had not subscribed to that and any messages you send while in tracking mode do not send, I got a very chilly reception the next morning specially since I had our two kids with me! Now I send SPOTS every hour and if we are going to be late 2 or three in rapid succession. We prefer the non tracking option since the folks on shore know you are actually alive and sending messages rather than abducted by aliens who leave the tracking feature on to mislead the shore crew! Oh, and the best part…it is ONE WAY communication!
I agree with the Spot not being on tracking all the time lol you may not want them to know exactly where you are!
Also the one way transmit is nice that they aren’t nagging you to get back and start cooking some of the catch! haha!
You take the good with the bad and any day fishin, even with the breakdowns is a great day to me!!!
SEMPER FI
30 gw marlin
35 donzi sfc (sold)
25 pursuit cc(sold)
45 egg harbor sportfish (sank hurricane)
I guess you found this out but one engine out of twins will not get you up on plane in most boats. You can burn it up trying. Some people say that you could change props on the one good engine to make better speed. Glad you made it in safe and with dinner too