My first tournament

[Kevin]

Participated in my fisrt tournament over the weekend. Technically, it was the first time fish had been brought into the boat with me as the owner. The first day we came up with a goose egg. The wind was from the east, opposing the gulf stream and it was a little sloppy. I was very disapointed with the ride since this was really one of the first times I had "used" the boat other than booze cruise around town with ideal weather. I guess the flybridge will do that to you....I can only imagine a tower on a 28. People in the back had no complaints about the ride until they came up top. The bench seat I had made comfortably seats four, probably making the boat a little top heavy.

The second day we ran out about 30 miles and never even saw a warbird, just the little birds. When we started our run back in around noon and started findind trash with dolphin under it. We cuaght a 34.4 lb Bull, not a winner but a good catch for a bunch of clowns. Brought in some peanuts too. I got to watch a fully grown man fight a 4 lb fish in the cockpit and the fish won. Tried standing on it to get the hook out and it did not work. The luaghs we got on that trip were priceless, mostly at Tim from Naples(not Thudd) expense. He took it like a champ when when the best angler on the boat(her name was Ann) took charge of the situation. I also got a good laugh when they had multiple fish on and someone stuck a rod in the wife's hand to get the line out of the water. What a mess that turned out to be. Never the less, another great luagh when she treated the spinner rod like a fresh water bass rod with a thumb realease. Casting lessons are in order for Kimberly as well as retrieval of the line. I can't do that from the bridge though!

Started with a full tank that morning and logged 80 miles of running/trolling. Ran it hard when conditions allowed at about 25 26 knots with 7 people and lots of gear. Got to the fuel dock at the end of the day and she only took 38 gallons of fuel. I was very impressed with getting over 2 nautical miles per gallon.

I can't wait until next weekend when some of you guys come down to Duck Key. I am sure we will have some fun. I have a buddy coming into town and he knows how to fish.......what a relief. Hopefully Tim comes back down for the weekend as well.

[Harry Babb]

Kevin
That sounds like you and your "Buds" had a hella of good time......Makes all of the hard work worth while.........

I was going to go out on Saturday and take my Daughter and Grandchildren but decided to cancel because it looked like mostly east wind and choppy seas and the threat of afternoon storms here in the Northern Gulf..........I believe now that I made a bad call....should have gone fishing............

Harry Babb

[scot]

Kevin,

7 people, 25 knots + trolling, 2 MPG....and you want a pleasant ride on the flybridge to boot? LOL

Those are good numbers for any boat. At $3 bucks a gallon you and all your buddies/wives, etc covered 80 nautical miles, fished a tornament and all for $16 each worth of fuel?

"Look darlin, a fast, fuel efficient Bertram....shall I hate him"

[Dave Kosh R.I.P.]

Kevin congratulations on getting first fish in the boat. It gets better. All Bertrams do better with "time in the saddle"
Wish I had numbers even close to that. I get 1.1 nautical miles per gallon. I used to get 1.2 nautical MPG prior to my partial redo 2 years ago. I had no idea how heavy the Bertram 1 inch thick cockpit deck was!
We will be down Friday afternoon. There will be five of us including yours truly. The 28 has some advantages over the 31. One being your flybridge area.
Just looking for all the advice on the fishery there. First where do we catch live bait? We have sabikis and a cast net. I just bought a little collapsible live keeper for the dock there. Flares all expired, good thing I checked. I'll be listening on CH 5, 6, 16, 78, 79 & 82 on the way down and while there too. Just got new curtains for my front and port side of the bridge( that's where the sun hits it bad on the lift at the dock)
All excited about the event. Dave K

[Kevin]

Dave, I catch my live bait at the bait and tackle shop. Starting with baby steps here. Reduce amount af time at work and increase my play time. The cast net is something I still have not tried, but it is on my list. See you in a couple days.

[John Jackson]

Kevin, that sounds pretty darn good! What engines do you have?

[Kevin]

John,
I have the Styer 212 hp 6 cylinders. Very happy with the motors and all the people in the support/service network. Going fishing again on Friday!