What kind of boat were you in. I know there was a very nice Hewes boat beside us at the sandbar that stopped very shrortly after the crowd headed out of the sandbar.Atticus wrote:I think we were next to you at the sandbar before we hauled it in. My fuel pump is giving me fits and I thought we were going to get stuck out there too. Gotta leave yourself extra time if you put-in up the river in the City of St. Marks.saltycrab wrote:I am glad you made it back safely.tin can wrote:I got a late start this morning. I wanted to be at the Refuge gate when it opened. Fortunately, I always check my stuff before I leave home. It took an extra half hour to get the GPS working this morning.
I got to the ramp at the lighthouse at 6:40 this morning. I was in line to launch, taking the straps off of my boat, when a truck and trailer eased by me and turned toward the parking lot. As it turned I noticed one of this guy's trailer tires was wobbling. As he straightened up from his turn, the tire, wheel, and hub came off of the axle. The bearings were completely destroyed. Lo and behold, it was Reel Country! His fishing day was done before it started. At least it's a tandem trailer, and the axle wasn't dragging.
I got the boat in the water and headed east. IT WAS FLAT OUT THERE! Not a ripple on the water. There was a haze. You couldn't tell where the water stopped and the sky started. That's the first time I've seen that in a long time.
I got to my spot of choice and started fishing and looking. I was targeting reds this morning. There was very little water movement, and the water was already higher than the tide graph said it should be. Moved all the way to the bank. I stopped on a point I discovered 2 years ago. There was bait skittering everywhere, and all kinds if movement in the water. Turned out to be about a million very large rays. I saw 1 red, but it wasn't interested in playing. I fished around a few grass beds and finally caught a 16" red. I moved on to a small creek mouth. By this time the tide had turned, and the water was just starting to fall out of the creek. I worked the creek mouth for a little over an hour and managed 10 more reds to 24".
Given the recent weather, I kept looking at the skies all morning. Everything looked fine until about noon. The sky to the west started getting dark. Time to go. I headed out from the bank, to deeper water, while watching the sky to the west (right where I needed to go). It was too late.The storm came up in a hurry, and it was big. I headed on out to running water, put my rain suit on, and decided to ride it out. I drifted for a few minutes, but the wind kicked up too much. I started the motor, pointed the boat into the wind, and held on. I've been caught in several storms over the years. But nothing this bad. I don't know how hard the wind was blowing, but there were 4' to 5' waves on the flats. It was raining so hard I couldn't see 10 feet beyond the boat. At least the GPS worked. I kept on my track toward the lighthouse, and kept going. The storm let up when I got about half a mile from the lighthouse. There was a pontoon boat blown up on the bank near the lighthouse. As I got closer to the canal, there was a 16'/17' boat sitting on top of the jetty.
I've never seen a storm that strong, and hope I never see another one. I was glad to put my feet on dry land.
We actually took a friend and his son out yesterday on my little J16 Carolina Skiff. Well, being 4 of us, we knew we werent going to get much fishing done, just not enough room, but we tried for a little while, and gave up and decided to head to the bird rack and hang out on the sandbar for a little while.
We saw it getting bad on land, and at first thought it wouldn't keep coming, but it did, and quick, and about the time we left the bird rack heading for the river, it was bad, REAL bad, especially being in my little boat. All I wanted to do was make it to the island at the inlet to St Marks and wait it out, but before we got there, I was fearing for my life as well as everyone on the boat, as I have never been in anything that bad, especially on a low sided skiff.
The direction we were headed against the wind and waves, and taking on water with almost every wave, the boat just wouldn't plane out with all of the weight, and so that left us going about 9mph going in possibly the worst direction taking on water. I didn't realize how much water we were taking on until we were getting closer to the island, and the 6 gallon gas tank under my seat floated up and hit me in the leg.
We finally got to the island, where there was a 20+' deck boat hiding out that had passed us earlier. They realized how much distress we were in, and threw us a rope and let us tie up and board with them until the storm cleared. I must have stayed in the back of the boat another 15 minutes trying to get all of the water out. I had the 800gph bilge running the whole time after we left the bird rack, and the boat was still almost 1/4 full of water. We hung out with the couple for a good 30 minutes until the storm passed, and then headed back to the Shields Marina ramp, just happy to be back on land. I don't remember the couples name, but I do know they were from Tally and keep their deck boat at Shell Island Fish Camp. I can't thank them enough for reaching out and helping us in a time where we needed it the most.
All I know, is that I am going to start paying more attention to the weather, and at the first sign head in. I don't ever want to go through that again, especially in a boat my size!
I was at the point that I didn't care if the boat sank right when we got to the island, I just wanted on land!!!
We run the motor aground a time or 2 while trying to get to the island, as I was trying to stay out of the channel to stay out of the bigger boats paths, and avoiding any other waves that they may have thrown, but after getting the boat out of the water, the old 30hp Johnson took it all with hardly any scrapes and bruises.
There were 2 kaykers when we first headed out, and on the way back in, there was a gentleman in a small green boat headed into the worst of it. I hope everyone came out of Saturdays storm ok!
I have MUCH more respect for the lady of the sea!
And I think we are going to start watching the tides and start puttin in at the lighthouse.
