bertram31.com

The time finally came. Been running all bay beach trips and sight seeing events up until now.

Finally felt comfortable enough to bring her out in The ocean for the first time. Invited my Dad, brother in law and nephew out for a fathers day trip on Saturday.

The inlet was still kicked up from the overnight storms on Saturday, we blasted right through 6-8 in the inlet no problem. A lot of fun and something I have been waiting to do. Smoothed out quickly once we were outside.

The bunker schools that have been consistent with bass along the beach were of course scattered and very few boats out in the ocean with a sloppy inlet.

We managed 6 blue fish all around 15 lbs no bass unfortunately had a blast. We trolled bunker spoons for a while and I had to run one engine to keep my speed below 4kts. I had not issue keeping the boat on a straight course at that speed. With all the talk of the small rudders I thought I may be in for a heck of a time but no problem and no need for the bucket trick.

I'm still getting the hang of things, being captain and mate the up and down from the bridge left me a bit sore. My nephew is getting the hang of rigging and landing fish he had a blast!

Engines still aren't running great but got us all out and back safely. Not sure I'm ready for an offshore adventure just yet but I'm getting there.

Funny thing was a lot of small boats were fishing inside waiting for the inlet to come down. After hitting the head buoy and starting to head down the beach I got a couple of text msgs from buddies who watched me drive right past them. That's what I'm talkin about!

Peter:

I had big four blades with diesels and the "high speed" rudders on my B31 - I couldn't steer straight with only one even with the wheel hard over, so I did the bump in and out of gear trick. I could and did troll at 2kts for Stripers using that technique.

Tom

Here is a shot of me with my nephew Chris and the first fish to hit the decks since I bought the boat.

Tom, wouldn't have wanted to make a right hand turn with the starboard motor in gear only but she ran straight. Both motors in gear at idle was 4.7 kts to fast for bunker spoons.

Trolling is tough with a lot of prop.

Basically need to troll as slow as the boat can possibly go for Bass. Nice to hear you landed one on the deck for the first time on your new boat.

Too bad it didnt have pajama's....oh well, if Bass were that easy to catch then everybody would be doing it.

Then again thats what Montauk is for......

Wire line, 250-300 ft of line depending on the depth, 25' of 60 lb leader, troll against the tide with single spreader umbrella (center lure further back on a bit longer leader), lead headed bucktails or parachutes with red porkrinds. If you jig them, reel in a couple of feet or let out a couple of feet after a few minutes of jigging so you don't weaken the wire at your tip eye. If Blues are on top, keep fishing deep if you want Bass. They're usually underneath picking up the pieces from the Bluefish kills.

Wire Line is a proven method and does work, I just hate fishing with it. Cant stop the boat and on those days with seaweed in the water your arms feel like there falling off.

Is better than a good day at work.

I like to fish mono with down riggers and some custom shad rigs. You can zero in on the depth.

Years ago we had luck with those Big Lip diving plugs as long as we were fishing under 35'.

Many ways to skin the cat, as long as you take one home at the end of the day it really dont matter how you get it.

Personally I don't like to do much more then fly fish. That beng said I was acting more as a host in this case. There had been big schools of bunker and many 30lb plus bass on them. The plan was to snag and live line. The back up plan was trolling bunker spoons. Just picked up the 8' bunker spoon rods.

Friday nights storm scattered the bunker and there were some nice rollers. Being that my dad, nephew and brother in law aren't avid fisherman trolling was an easy answer.

I've trolled wire in montauk on charters more then a few times and I really don't enjoy it. Being the captain made it bearable.

Forgot to say, if a fish hits on one rod, don't stop the boat or you'll hang up the other. If it's a big fish, have someone reel n the other line quickly. Downrigger fishing in the same fleet with wire line trollers is a formula for disaster. The wire line guys have 100 yards of wire out so they need to be given a wide berth to avoid picking them up.

Peter

What are the engines idling at? Sounds like they are up too high. I never had an issue when the props were on my boat. Always trolled with both engines in gear. You should be a little slower then were you are now.

Thanks for the tips Walter. Even though it's not my personal favorite I want to be effective when I have people on the boat.

Tony, idles somewhere around 750

You could get them down to about 6-650 in gear I would think.

Is that just a set screw adjustment on the throttle or is it more involved?

That's really all it should be. First take note of the difference between your idle at the dock (out of gear), and in gear (it will usually drop about 50 rpm in gear) and set your idle accordingly so it idles smoothly at the dock yet doesn't stall out in gear. Do this with a warmed up engine so your automatic choke is off and not affecting your idle speed.

Peter

Walter is correct. I used to idle in gear around 650. That should solve the problem.

If you look at the point where the cable attaches to the Carb linkage, you should see an adjustment screw. If she is idling smooth now in gear you should have no issues with her stalling when you turn the screw. Juat take your time and have someone watch the tach while you do it. When you get down around 650 you are all set. 600 might be a little slow but if she doesn't stall in gear then go to 600. If she stalls, just take it out of gear start it up and increase the idle. Then put it in gear again and now you know when to stop.