St Marks Friday the 7th, a trip of first's

[T Smith]

Well I wanted to try something new today and unfortunately I did wind up doing a few things for the first time.

I didn't pick up any shrimp from Jerry's I planned on fishing topwater all day whether it worked or not.

First new thing: Pick one method of fishing and stubbornly use it all day.


Managed to get about 8 boils on a mirrolure top dog. The fish just seemed to be slapping at it though and I didn't hook any of them. But once I got the first strike it only encouraged me more to be stubborn and stick with topwater. Tried changing to a different color and a chug bug with no more strikes. Watched a boat about 30 yards from me catch 4 nice trout on jigs or something.

About 1:30 I finally decide to try a jig and catch a 14 inch trout on the riptide jerk bait that came in the lure sample pack from the raffle at the social. That means I have now caught a trout on everything in that sample except the crab (haven't used it). Unfortunately the trout swallowed it and was hooked deep in the throat so it died anyways. I hated that I don't catch any fish all day and finally do but it's wasted cause it was short and died.

But at least I didn't get skunked which would have been a bad first thing to try.

The other first thing that happened to me is my Yamahama conked out on me on the way in about 2:00. It dropped RPMs like it was running out of gas or overheating and ran at about 1200 RPMs for a few minutes before dying. So now the wind is really starting to blow, I'm about halfway between the Rock Garden and the lighthouse and my motor dies. So I figure I'd better open the cowling and see if I can monkey with anything to get her going. But first I need to drop anchor before the wind has me beached. I take my anchor out and give it a toss and the anchor flies out in the water but the chain and rope stays in may hand. Another first I literally "threw out the anchor"
I guess the bolt in the shackle that holds the chain to the anchor came loose or something.

So now I have to drop the trolling motor and pray the battery lasts to get me to the lighthouse. I go in to about two feet of water so its calmer and make my way in. It took bout 40 min to get in to the ramp.

I saw Tin Can pulling away just as I was coming in to beach the boat.

Sure was windy, I think I'm gonna buy another drift sock and use two of them for days like this.

Thats Fishin, I still can't wait to go again

[Chalk]

I like to use the topwater to locate fish...if there swiping at it and not commiting to the lure...drop down in the water column with a jerk bait or suspending lure...even a cajun thunder with a short leader.

Did you get the motor figured out?

Beat working...my next boat project is gonna be one like yours

[AJ]

Tough day, I'm glad your trolling motor got you to the hill. Let us know what happened to the motor, hope it is minor.

[Eerman]

If your coordinated enough (I'm usually not), toss a jerkbait right at the boil as soon as it happens. Sometimes the fish will take it that way. Hope you get that motor running. Glad you made it back ok.

[Will_Fish_4_Food]

No yamaha alarms before shutting down?

[mjsigns]

Sounds like a tough day on the water..... Did you mark the area (GPS#) where dropped your anchor? Too bad about the short dying.... It has happened to each one of us occasionally. Sticking with the same tactics seems stubborn, but I also do the same thing occasionally.
way to stick with it..hope your motor ain't burnt-up. That's spooky

MJ

[tin can]

I saw Tin Can pulling away just as I was coming in to beach the boat.

T, if I had known you were there, and having problems, I would have giiven you a hand.

[T Smith]

Thanks guys,
I knew I'd get some sympathy on here

TC: don't worry, I meant pullin away in the truck at the ramp while I was beaching the boat next to the ramp, not out on the flats. Luckily I didn't get to wavin my arms or using the radio for help.

Mj: I thought about marking the spot after the fact. It fell in a hole and dissapeared. I didn't have a gaff to snag it with and with the wind blowing so hard it was a little chilly for me to go diving in. I just hope someone sees it on a low tide and takes it home. I'd hate for someone to hit it with their lower unit.

Will_fish : nope nada she just dropped the rpms way down and then cut off

As for the motor, I took it over to my father in laws (mechanic) yesterday and we checked fuel system and spark(coils) off the list. It is actually running rough, it misfires once it warms up. It was hard to hear when the exhaust was under water but in the dirve way you can tell its not firing right. Friday we're gonna put the multi meter on everything and try to pinpoint the problem. Right now it's looking like the pulsor coils $200 or CDI unit $400, hopefully the former. If anybody else has suggestins they'd be welcome. I've heard just a simple temp sensor going bad can mess up the timing on Yamahas but don't know.

Earman and Chalk: As for the fishing I did toss a jig under a CT and a plain jig some. I didn't get a hit on those and with them swatting at the topwater, It was hard to keep trying those. But next time I'll definately pretend I'm a Pro Bass angler and have six rods laying on my casting deck ready to go, so I can flip a jig out after the boil.

So chalk you gonna build an XF20?
they're not the prettiest or the fastest and sometimes I wish I'd built the phantom 16, the 20 is just a little big for me sometimes. But I tell you what, don't worry about the seas beating you or getting wet in the chop. The beauty of the tunnel with a jack plate is you can run her in 1' of water if you want and there aint no chop in 1' of water. I usually run in 2-3' just to be safe but have run full speed in 1' just to see if it would do it. I see alot of boats head out to the bird rack and hand a left, with the xf20 you can hug the shore and cut quite a bit of time off the trip.

Keep us posted on the Bucaneer I might want to build one someday. That looks like an excellent throw a trolling motor on the transom and hit the creeks boat.

[birddog]

Hell, you can hang a left out of the LH in any boat if you know where to run.

[tin can]

Hell, you can hang a left out of the LH in any boat if you know where to run.

Yup. I do it all the time.

[Koenig]

Funny enough, I almost did the same thing Sunday. We put in at the fort before light and headed out. Stopping to see what was happening at the bars, I grabbed the anchor and prepared to toss it when I realized the rope had come undone from the chain. The bolt had come out of the shackle.

Guess you and your trollin motor got to be real good friends, huh? Glad you made it back.

KEEP THEM BATTERIES CHARGED FELLAS!!! Ya never know.....

[T Smith]

Well this is kinda embarassing but I have to confess,

The good news is I fixed my motor at no cost.
The embarassing news is nothing was wrong with it.

I was reading the forum on yamahaoutboardparts.com trying to figure out what was wrong with my engine.
I kept finding posts that described engines RPMs dropping way down while going full throttle.

One guy kept replying and saying make sure the vent on your gas tank is open.

So I'm thinking Duh, who leaves the vent closed.
Turns out I do.

I called and had my father in law go look at my gas tank (I keep the boat at their house under a shed). Sure enough, The vent was closed.

I closed it at the gas station to shake the can when mixing the oil in and forgot to re-open it. I am amazed it ran almost all day before the vacume in the tank was too much for the fuel pump to overcome.

So the moral of the story is don't forget to reopen your fuel tank vent if you close it for any reason.

[Chalk]

Glad you found it....I had thought about that, but didn't know if you had a fixed or portable fuel tank.