Leaping Into the Leap Year (2/29)

[Latimeria]

I forgot to write this up yesterday as I spent the entire day horizontal and trying to heal up.  Basically, I went on a bender on Friday night.  I half ass got the boat ready, but the spirits were flowing nicely and before I knew it it was midnight and I was going to be a wreck the next morning.  My alarm went off and I hit snooze about 20 times before forcing myself out of bed and taking the boat to MB.  I wasn't sure what the hell I was going to do, but I wanted to see if the boat was fixed or not.  Apparently when I told them to check the thermostat, they did and found it faulty.  They ran it around San V a few times and said it ran like a champ. 

I could already tell that it was running much better when I dropped it in.  It didn't stall or act sluggish and I was feeling good.  I ran it all the way down to LJ with no issues and was pleased with how it ran.  There was little no life out there.  Some small spots of bait, but that is all I could see.  I finally metered something big and decided to troll the Rapala around.  About 15 minutes into the troll and my clicker starts SCREAMING!  In the two seconds it took for me to turn around and grab the rod, it was off.  Ugh.  Not sure if it was a Yellow or Thresher, but It screamed line like a be-atch!





I started to troll more and nothing.  The wind was up bad from the south and I started taking water over the bow so I moved closer to home in case the wind picked up more.  I stopped where Sasquatch last caught his triggers and turned the motor off to deploy Spot Lock.  When I went to start up the boat, there was nothing.  The FF, VHF and everything were dead!  WTF!!!!

I went into the CC and started checking loose wires and connectors.  I then heard a beep from the VHF and knew I had power.  The boat fired right up, but it did this a few more times during the morning, so there is still something I need to find and fix.

In any case, The only rod I tied up was a small 18-20 gram iron tipped with a strip of squid.  Spot lock did its job and The fishing was pretty fast and furious.  Only issue was they were all small to medium sized models and nothing big out of the bunch.  I must have hit the motherlode of smedium sheepshead down there since I reeled up 15 of those fuggers!  Pretty fun stuff on the spinner!



I caught 11 calico, with only one being legal sized.  The rest were all between 11-13.75".  (I also got one really small turd roller to make for 12 bass)



I also had something that felt huge on the 12# spinner, but lost it half way up.  Trigger?  I hooked another one and the same thing happened, so maybe a swarm of triggers down there?

Finally I get one!  It's a lot smaller than the one's Steve got, but still fun as hell and put up a hell of a fight on the spinner!  It busted the hook off and hit the deck.  As I tried to get a selfie with it, it shook, and the anal fin spiked me.  I hit the camera button as it went slipping out of my hands and into the water.  I was saying I let it go, but it also helped in me making the decision.  I could hear those teeth chomping!  I wanted nothing to do with that!



Well, that was it.  That South wind and SW swell was too much for me and I packed it in.  I could have barfed everytime I sneezed or coughed.  I scrubbed the boat down and covered her up as I pretty much stayed horizontal the entire next day and binge-watching the Hannibal Series.

Anyway, things are getting back to normal, or at least I'm trying to will it to be normal again.

Thanks for reading and until the next adventure....

[vdisney]

Well, I'm glad engine ran okay.................electrical can be a bitch to find when it's intermittent.  Think I'd carry a test light with me, should be easy when it's out to find.  When it's working, not so easy   

[jrodda]

Good to hear your luck with the trouble shooting is on the up and up, nice selection of players.

[BenCantrell]

Nice report Tom! Those triggerfish are cool, seems like only the tank models come north of the border.