.Mike
Well-known member
Yesterday, my wife and I were putting the boat in the water as the sun rose, anticipating a nice half-day of fishing. I had put our shiny, new prop on, and we were ready to go.
We motored about 2 miles to a tidal creek, and trolled up it from there. The had tide turned about when we hit the end of the creek, so we rode the falling tide and fished our way out. At about 11, we had caught only one keeper (small 15" red drum... tasty). Our minnows were too small, so we switched to artificials. We didn't bring enough, and quickly found ourselves with no bait. Go home, right? Not so simple.
Where we put in, there is only 1/2 foot of water at mean low tide. Yesterday's tide swung from 7.77ft to 0.58ft to 8.58ft. If we're out for low tide, we're stuck out there until there is enough water to get to the ramp, usually about 3 hours. We checked the weather, and decided that if we could find some bait, we would stay out. We motored another 3 miles to a public dock near a bait shop that has been closed every other time I went there. They were open, but they don't take cards, and I had no cash. The owner of the bait shop spotted me a pint of live shrimp on handshake credit, for which I will pay tomorrow. Let's fish!
We motored about 3 miles back to a tidal creek where I had caught a 25 inch black drum a few weeks ago at similar tide levels. We didn't make it. No more fishing for us.
As I was testing the new prop's ability to keep us on plane at lower speeds/RPMs, something went sideways. We were in 8ft of water, at maybe 3000 RPM and slowly decreasing to see when we lost plane. One of the blades of the prop decided it had enough, and abandoned ship. It sheared right off, without hitting anything. The motor was shaking pretty good, so we decided to troll back to the ramp against the rising tide. I did fire the motor back up for our crossing into the intracoastal waterway, which was pretty stressful on Labor Day. With a damaged prop at idle, and the trolling motor, we were at least able to move in the right direction.
Basically, I got about 8 miles out of my new prop. And, I owe the bait man $12 for shrimp that I couldn't even use! (OK, fine, I fished from the bank this morning with some of them. 1 croaker and 3 juvenile mackerels, I think. All released.) The prop company is sending me a new prop and hub, and I should have them this week.
Photos:
We motored about 2 miles to a tidal creek, and trolled up it from there. The had tide turned about when we hit the end of the creek, so we rode the falling tide and fished our way out. At about 11, we had caught only one keeper (small 15" red drum... tasty). Our minnows were too small, so we switched to artificials. We didn't bring enough, and quickly found ourselves with no bait. Go home, right? Not so simple.
Where we put in, there is only 1/2 foot of water at mean low tide. Yesterday's tide swung from 7.77ft to 0.58ft to 8.58ft. If we're out for low tide, we're stuck out there until there is enough water to get to the ramp, usually about 3 hours. We checked the weather, and decided that if we could find some bait, we would stay out. We motored another 3 miles to a public dock near a bait shop that has been closed every other time I went there. They were open, but they don't take cards, and I had no cash. The owner of the bait shop spotted me a pint of live shrimp on handshake credit, for which I will pay tomorrow. Let's fish!
We motored about 3 miles back to a tidal creek where I had caught a 25 inch black drum a few weeks ago at similar tide levels. We didn't make it. No more fishing for us.
As I was testing the new prop's ability to keep us on plane at lower speeds/RPMs, something went sideways. We were in 8ft of water, at maybe 3000 RPM and slowly decreasing to see when we lost plane. One of the blades of the prop decided it had enough, and abandoned ship. It sheared right off, without hitting anything. The motor was shaking pretty good, so we decided to troll back to the ramp against the rising tide. I did fire the motor back up for our crossing into the intracoastal waterway, which was pretty stressful on Labor Day. With a damaged prop at idle, and the trolling motor, we were at least able to move in the right direction.
Basically, I got about 8 miles out of my new prop. And, I owe the bait man $12 for shrimp that I couldn't even use! (OK, fine, I fished from the bank this morning with some of them. 1 croaker and 3 juvenile mackerels, I think. All released.) The prop company is sending me a new prop and hub, and I should have them this week.
Photos:
