My first tournament
Posted: May 7th, '07, 09:38
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.
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.