P-Soul Bayfest (5/1)

[Latimeria]

7 months ago, I was on my way to LJ with Steve and had boat issues.  Motor barely worked, trolling motor stopped working and bilge pump was Kaput.  I brought it in to the shop at the end of October and got it back in Early December to find out not a damn thing of the 3 was fixed!  A few weeks later and I went under the knife....

Fast forward a total of 6 months after the last trip I took on it... and it's May 1st and I'm testing my boat and shoulder for the first time both of them are fixed!  I was having trouble powering up my fish finder due to a corroded terminal, but got it going with a quick band aid, but otherwise everything seemed like it was running great.  I added a hydro stabilizer on the back since I could not pop up onto plane with Steve on board and was thinking I needed a bigger motor.  I opted for a $100 experiment over the $13,000 final option and it worked like a charm!  I lost about 3 mph on the top end, but the boat pops up right onto plane with little to no hesitation. 

It's great to be back out again!  I still have my 5# limitation on my shoulder, so I stuck with my Rainshadow light gear which worked like a charm.



Sasquatch and I did okay at the start for bass.  Not as good as usual, but the tide was slacking at a very low tide so there was very little water movement.  The grade of fish we were catching though were much better than usual for the back bay.



I basically was throwing the underspin for 95% of the time and had some of the best action that I've ever had on it.  Problem was I lost as many as I caught from what I'm guessing was the damn blade itself.



I tried calling for JRODDA and The Ass Rack on the radio and didn't hear any replies.  A little while later and I hear Tim calling out to the Curmudgeon and we finally met up to buddy boat!



Tim tosses a spinnerbait and gets one on the first cast, so we know he's in for a good day.  We kept working a few of our favorite areas and the bass count started mounting.



Steve and I were getting doubles on almost every cast, but missed all opportunities at anything exotic, until he yells "Corbina"!  On the swimmy???





Tim and the boys were still getting them!



Squatch and I ended up with a halibut each.  Mine was about 20", so a few inches short of a keeper, but shoulder was ready to drop off, so we called it quits.  I kind of overdid it, but felt like it was worth getting out on the boat again.  I also found that I do have a fresh water bait pump on the boat and it works!  There was a valve that was off for a few years and when I found it, I opened it to see fresh water shooting into the well!  That was exciting and a possible game changer there!  The trolling motor plug also worked better than I hoped as it was a heavy duty and expensive plug, but well worth the money.

Ended the day with 83 bass, 2 halibut and a corbina.  Not a bad first morning in half a year to get back out there.



Bummer we didn't run into Jeremy, but glad he got to meet up with Tim at the ramp.  Next time Jeremy!

Thanks for reading!

[sasquatch]

Felt really good to be back to old times on the water.

That fin on the motor worked like a charm and I can't wait to try out the bait well. Two huge upgrades to the boat.

Hope the shoulder feels ok today.

[jrodda]

I was hoping to catch up to you guys once we'd run out of shrimp so we could buddy boat on bass, but the bait stealers left as soon as I considered the idea. Hopefully I'll catch you next time. What a great day for the first day back with the boat and shoulder!

[vdisney]

You know it's a good day when you have to use a 'clicker' to count fish.  But, I'm more excited about the bait tank...................awesome

[Tim524]

 Great to see you back in action and thanks for allowing us to join you and Steve, the boys had a great time. Hopefully your shoulder bounces back and you can get back to open waters soon 8 The Ass Rack looks different when viewing it from someone else's lens

[Latimeria]

The Ass Rack looks different when viewing it from someone else's lens

The Ass Rack needs to make a trip 20 miles offshore and start paddy hopping!

[skrilla]

Looks like my kind of floatilla.