Sasquatch
09-24-2007, 01:22 PM
Silent Killer shoots me an email that he's itching to go spearing out of Harker's Island on Sunday, so it is on!
We meet at his place at 6am and make the 3-hour drive down to HI. Stupid how many lights there are at 7am on a Sunday in the middle of nowhere. Anyway, we get to where is boat is trailered and...
TRIAL ONE: The Plague of Vampires
Okay, they're not really vampires. Or are they? They're a blood sucking swarm of parasites, eating at your flesh and carrying off blood.
The huge rain (not complaining, we need it) made puddles everywhere. And the epicenter was where the boat was parked. I have never seen so many mosquitos in my life- and they were big. My shirt ended up being blood splattered from smashing so many of them. And Silent had to get the boat all ready, so we were busting ass getting the trailer hooked up and ready to go before we passed out from loss of blood.
We get to the boat ramp (crowded- what a gorgeous day- 2ft swell in morning, flat on the way home) move the tanks and gear into the boat and head out into the shallow channel. Where the engine starts sputtingering because...
TRIAL TWO: The Flood
The rain that brought the mosquitos, somehow found its way into the fuel tank of the boat. We throw out anchor in the channel. Which brings me to an important point- if someone is obviously disabled and working on their boat, you're not helping by ripping past them, making tools fly all over the deck. Whoever you are: you'll get yours someday.
Anyway, Silent knew exactly what was happening, so immediately shut the boat down and goes diving into the hatch to pull the fuel filter off. We pour it out to find nothing but water in it. Uh oh. And- to put it on it needs to be primed full of fuel. That was interesting- we tried to siphon fuel out of the fuel line, but it wouldn't budge. Finally we pressurize the fuel line and get that topped off. The engine still won't fire. Pulling the engine cover exposes the fuel filter, which unsurprisingly is also full of water. We pour that off too. It sputters, but still won't go. We're running down the battery and are getting really nervous. After a few minutes of discussion, we depressurize the fuel injection system and open up the drain valve on it, letting out some nasty foamy blue junk (that had water in it). With a second battery assisting the first, we get the boat to run.
Not sure how much time we burned, but then the third trial confronts us.
TRIAL THREE: Gremlins
This trial wasn't as bad. But, it was set to ruin our day. Silent had just had his electronics serviced- but that didn't stop the GPS from giving up and saying that no satellites were in the sky. Of course, there were sats flying a few minutes before, so it was doubtful they all shut off. After a lot of plugging and unplugging and cleaning of contacts (we blame the rain again), we got a signal. Then it went out again. Silent asked me if I brought a handheld GPS. Ha- I've read SP boat etiquette threads and know that you don't bring one on as a guest on a boatride. So.. No. :pissed: Which could have really ruined our day. But, more fiddling and hot sunny weather (Silent will tell you the real trial was not being able to buy beer on a Sunday morning) dried the stuff out enough that we were on the way, ripping at a good clip.
The Reward: Fish Galore
Silent had some numbers that he's used and found a lot of hard bottom around it. We basically zoomed from spot to spot all withing a couple-mile radius. It was shallow (48-65'), so I wasn't holding out hope for big fish- saw some sheepies as expected. But then we drop in on structure that had 15' of relief- cracks and overhangs, etc. We end up dropping on the same spot three times and came back with 3x10#+ groupers, and some various other reef fish. The cooler was full!
Vis was good enough- about 20' near the bottom, more clear on top. Water temps were nice- 78 top to bottom. And the seas were as flat as I've ever seen.
Thanks to SilentKiller for taking me out- after the three trials, it was a perfect day. Looking forward to the next one!
(footnote- I shot a fish that I can't identify- body of a grouper, mouth like a sheepshead. Any ideas?)
We meet at his place at 6am and make the 3-hour drive down to HI. Stupid how many lights there are at 7am on a Sunday in the middle of nowhere. Anyway, we get to where is boat is trailered and...
TRIAL ONE: The Plague of Vampires
Okay, they're not really vampires. Or are they? They're a blood sucking swarm of parasites, eating at your flesh and carrying off blood.
The huge rain (not complaining, we need it) made puddles everywhere. And the epicenter was where the boat was parked. I have never seen so many mosquitos in my life- and they were big. My shirt ended up being blood splattered from smashing so many of them. And Silent had to get the boat all ready, so we were busting ass getting the trailer hooked up and ready to go before we passed out from loss of blood.
We get to the boat ramp (crowded- what a gorgeous day- 2ft swell in morning, flat on the way home) move the tanks and gear into the boat and head out into the shallow channel. Where the engine starts sputtingering because...
TRIAL TWO: The Flood
The rain that brought the mosquitos, somehow found its way into the fuel tank of the boat. We throw out anchor in the channel. Which brings me to an important point- if someone is obviously disabled and working on their boat, you're not helping by ripping past them, making tools fly all over the deck. Whoever you are: you'll get yours someday.
Anyway, Silent knew exactly what was happening, so immediately shut the boat down and goes diving into the hatch to pull the fuel filter off. We pour it out to find nothing but water in it. Uh oh. And- to put it on it needs to be primed full of fuel. That was interesting- we tried to siphon fuel out of the fuel line, but it wouldn't budge. Finally we pressurize the fuel line and get that topped off. The engine still won't fire. Pulling the engine cover exposes the fuel filter, which unsurprisingly is also full of water. We pour that off too. It sputters, but still won't go. We're running down the battery and are getting really nervous. After a few minutes of discussion, we depressurize the fuel injection system and open up the drain valve on it, letting out some nasty foamy blue junk (that had water in it). With a second battery assisting the first, we get the boat to run.
Not sure how much time we burned, but then the third trial confronts us.
TRIAL THREE: Gremlins
This trial wasn't as bad. But, it was set to ruin our day. Silent had just had his electronics serviced- but that didn't stop the GPS from giving up and saying that no satellites were in the sky. Of course, there were sats flying a few minutes before, so it was doubtful they all shut off. After a lot of plugging and unplugging and cleaning of contacts (we blame the rain again), we got a signal. Then it went out again. Silent asked me if I brought a handheld GPS. Ha- I've read SP boat etiquette threads and know that you don't bring one on as a guest on a boatride. So.. No. :pissed: Which could have really ruined our day. But, more fiddling and hot sunny weather (Silent will tell you the real trial was not being able to buy beer on a Sunday morning) dried the stuff out enough that we were on the way, ripping at a good clip.
The Reward: Fish Galore
Silent had some numbers that he's used and found a lot of hard bottom around it. We basically zoomed from spot to spot all withing a couple-mile radius. It was shallow (48-65'), so I wasn't holding out hope for big fish- saw some sheepies as expected. But then we drop in on structure that had 15' of relief- cracks and overhangs, etc. We end up dropping on the same spot three times and came back with 3x10#+ groupers, and some various other reef fish. The cooler was full!
Vis was good enough- about 20' near the bottom, more clear on top. Water temps were nice- 78 top to bottom. And the seas were as flat as I've ever seen.
Thanks to SilentKiller for taking me out- after the three trials, it was a perfect day. Looking forward to the next one!
(footnote- I shot a fish that I can't identify- body of a grouper, mouth like a sheepshead. Any ideas?)