I'll take that "non-productive day" over many! I am also not a wahoo expert but I would guess that your madmac got shredded by one, that's pretty gnarly.

Vive El Concolor!

I took a personal day and wanted to get out fishing before the offshore storms start to kick up the seas again.  The plan was to fish for marlin and wahoo.  Anything else was a bonus.

Dropped the boat in and as I was walking back from parking the trailer I passed 5 sets of underwear.  I don't even want to know.



My buddy needs to take less coffee grinders...



It was a little windier than predicted and quite a bit more bumpy.  We got out to the 178 and metered some fish.  We probably should have just started fishing there trolling Mad Macs, but we decided to just run to the 182 instead and hit the 178 on the way back.

Water was gorgeous!  No birds or signs of life.  An occasional gull and flying fish, but we trolled all over and around the FAD.  No one was there so it was pretty nice having it to ourselves.

I finally get a quick hit but it never stuck.  I reeled in my "Megabait" to see the steel hook attachment snapped!  Everything was gone and this was a solid piece of steel that ran through the lure!  WTF?



We would reel in at any paddies we saw ,which wasn't much, and see who was home.  We did pick up some nice marlin baits in case we decided to fly line one in their face if we saw them!



We had one knockdown that I was sure was a marlin, but it took off and never charged again.  We also 2 more out there just free jumping, but couldn't make it happen.

We decided we were going to troll the 178 to the 9-mile border on the outside then troll back up on the inside to see if we could find something.  The marlin guys were all over the 178/9 so we still felt we had a shot.

As we were trolling to the 178, we spot a beauty of a paddy!



Dodo, yellows and little nerf footballs all over the place.  My first cast with the jig and I hooked the dodo which proceeded to use the jig as a bullet at my head as it made its final jump next to the boat.  It was pretty good fishing and then it just literally shut off.



We continued the troll when we saw something really close to us just pop up out of the water!  My buddy said it looked like a water heater with a pipe.  I was like Holy f@ck!  Look at that Sub!



It was huge and kept maneuvering at us.  I'm not sure why but the radar said it was less than 3/4 of a mile away, so we decided to get some more distance between us just in case.

We trolled the entire outside to the border for nothing.  Wind picked up and now it was just plain sloppy out there.



We started trolling home when one of the trollers for tuna went singing!  It was totally a nicer grade YFT... the boat near us just caught a 50# model and this one seemed from the same school, but like everything today, we lost him.

Then we started boxing the area and I got SMEARED on the Mad Mac!!!!  f@cking violent hit and run but it never stuck.  WTF... this was getting annoying.  I reeled in the mack to investigate and Holy Hell!



It looks like wahoo, but I'm no wahoo expert.  Tombo saw a bunch of makos out there so it could have been one of them, but the lure was hit in the middle so I'm leaning towards a hoo.

We finally call it quits as it was 6:00 and headed in.  As we passed under the bridge, I realized we had our limits of yellows in the bait tank and they were all strong and hardy!  I dumped them in the bay for someone to catch.  How cool would that be to fish for bay bass and catch a little yellow!  Hahahaha

Anyways, a non-productive trip for pelagics but it was worth the PTO to spend all day on the water.

Thanks for reading and until next tide!

Things are coming along. Got the 12 gallon tank, changed the leaking fuel line.

I decided it's time to get to the trailer bunks. I'm going to put slides on the bottom and carpet on the sides. The bottom bunks are horizontal which changes the calculus a bit compared to most other boat trailers. The boat sticks to the trailer a lot already so instead of making that worse with carpet, I'm going to have 16"x5" slides on each side of the bunk where the keel touches.



The slides normally go with the direction of the boat going on and off the trailer so the minimal contact points had me concerned. However, the keels have protectors which helped me make the decision that slides shouldn't be any harm.



There is a huge transom roller at the stern, roughly 7' wide and one piece. It doesn't roll due to immense corrosion though. Haven't figured out where I'll find replacement parts but I'll clean it up with some PB Blaster and a metal brush this week and see what happens. Probably not much!



I'm going to install the carpet on the side bunks Sunday and the slides will arrive October 2.

I'm hoping this global warming thing sticks around and this is new normal since I'm missing out on this year.

That looks almost exactly like my "Square Boma" project.  Tackle some of the cheaper and easier things first because once you are at the end game and put a coat of paint inside, it's going to make that baby dazzle!

Thanks for the post as it's bringing back a lot of old memories of the Boma.  I probably have a few things for your boat in my garage.  I'll look for a few things and send you pics if you want any of them.

This hull is my dream boat, but boy do I have my work cut out for me. I will put all of the projects big and small right here. Right now I'm tackling a bunch of the small stuff.

One of the first things was getting some rod holders in so I could troll for pelagics. Got it done last week. Used a 2" hole saw bit to get through the gunnel and made sure to f@ck up the gel coat along the way just so people know for sure I was there.



Put a G10 fiberglass plate on the bottom that my buddy Chris helped cut with his circular saw. It already felt pretty solid with just washers but that made it great.



There are a zillion holes in this thing to the point where I think the old owner was just doing it for weight reduction. I can't even fathom what they were trying to do here.



Also random sh!t that never got removed, like this. There are 3 wires that were cut short on the backside so it seems like a toggle switch but it's seized and doesn't move. The flat heads are corroded to hell so it will be awful to remove and then I'll just have a hole in the gunnel, so I might leave it. Or I could remove it and put a cool sticker over it...



The cleats are a bit corroded but they will hold for a while. Medium term project.

I still need to wrap my head around the electrical work on the boat, which is not my forte. I also need to capitalize on this space a bit more as it's one of only 4 hatches. Just need to find the less flammable things to put in there.



I like the rail but it could use some more reinforcement. Also pictured here are two of too many fenders on the boat (6). I am replacing all 6 of this style with 2 EVA foam ones which are smaller, more modern looking, and can double as a seat cushion. The black 4 prong thing on the rail in the middle is a downrigge ball holder which the previous owner said he never used because it was too far forward. Why it was ever put near the bow is beyond me.



Console is interesting but needs work. FF is old. It works, but doesn't give me a temp reading as far as I can tell. It was also on the fritz this weekend, though did work on day 2. I replaced the broken compass for my own slightly less broken compass for now. Maybe make room the FF level for my phone so I can have my phone up with Navionics. the steering wheel is a bit low so I'm going to try a suicide knob first, but might put a spacer under the wheel.



I find these chairs not very god looking, but it is surprisingly comfortable. It sits a bit low, though. I would like to eventually build a box for storage under the seat. Chris was saying I should build the box a bit long going astern so my mate can sit behind me and monitor the rods. Not a bad idea, though the dimensions are a bit tight.



I removed a bunch of grommet fasteners for tarps today that were phillips heads, though some are pretty seized and I'm gonna have to go back through with Corrosion X or something. I'm going to fill those and some other holes wit h bondo short strand fiberglass putty once I watch a video on how to do that.



Then there are these. Idk wtf I'm gonna do about them yet.



The hatches never got their hinges fully assembled because previous owners realized the hatch runs right into the gunnel as you open it. The latch holes are 1" and 3/4" which don't really fit the universal 2" latches and are gonna be awkward to keep drilling out with a 2" bit for those. But, I need to do something about them, because these corners are the only wet part of the boat.



Need to put carpet on the side bunks still, and more likely hard plastic type stuff on the floor bunks.



I do like this boat though, one picture of admiring instead of bitching. Op! Just kidding. Those little corners to hold a cooler need to come off. That bow floor either needs to be reinforced with coosa or removed and totally redone, but I won't be standing up there myself.



I wanna put horizontal rod/gaff storage on at least one side of the hull. I was originally thinking something like a putty adhesive and a DIY plastic hook hold system, but Chris said I should really fiberglass it in.



Trying to sell the Honda 8hp kicker outboard that came with it so I cleaned the carb. PITA but it runs good now and ready for a new owner.



After fishing it, the fuel line had a crack, so I have a fresh fuel line now to install tomorrow. I think there's a male connector installed into the boat right here so I can just take the primer bulb kit and cut it shorter on the one end.



Chris installed these rod holders onto the rail overnight while it was at his house. Very generous and a great touch.



The nonskid currently on the DIY side floors was made for shoes, not barefoot. I will redo that eventually. But I didn't slip.

Quote from: jrodda on September 22, 2026, 11:30:26 AMExciting trip! Never a saw a paddy this weekend so hopefully some of those drift up this way.

It was only a manhole sized paddy, but held a TON even 50 yards away!  As for the one I found when the navy threw me out, well that was as big as your boat!

Great report, that's some real bullsh!t with the navy. I would have done all the same as you. At least you found a ton of willing biters.

Exciting trip! Never a saw a paddy this weekend so hopefully some of those drift up this way.