BigBendFishing.Net

BayGator and I met up yesterday morning and made the trek to Keaton for the Relay for Life tournament. We signed up, launched and headed north again to the same general area that I fished last week in the tournament. The tide was rising and the fish were present.

BayGator threw a Gulp! shrimp on a flutter hook / jighead and I threw topwater and we stuck with this pretty much the whole day. We fished around rocks in less than 2' of water and had some success catching fish. Unfortunately none were worthy of weighing in for big fish.

The first red of the day was exciting though...BG had forgotten to tighten his drag and so when he locked up on the fish, the fish just kept on going. We thought we had on a tournament winner! About halfway to the boat, he realized what was up, tightened the drag and brought in a good one, but not a 27" like we both thought it was going to be.


We caught 13 redfish to 23" and 12 trout to 19.99". Our big five trout were 19.99", 19.5", 19.5", 19.25" and 19". It would've been a solid tournament stringer, we just couldn't find the big bite.



The adventure didn't start until the ride home though. Idling out about 3/4 of a mile offshore, I was in 3.5' of water going about 4 mph. BAM! I hit something hard and the motor cutoff. We both said cuss words and then trimmed the motor up...it looked fine - the prop was a little bent, but nothing other than that. We start it up and again go another 400 yards out and I go to hammer down and the boat wouldn't go above 3400 rpm's. Once it got to 3400 rpm's (which was 12 mph), it would jump back down to 3000 rpm's and then slowly rise up again. It was almost acting like when you have water in your gas tank and the motor's not getting enough fuel. I don't know, I'm not a mechanic.

BG and I limped home 15 miles going 8-12 mph...niiice. I had a great time fishing with BG, but it was a bummer to end the day like that. I guess I was long overdue though - the dragons bite back hard.

T - 54 , R - 43

Solid day Check your foot oil, might of damaged a seal, increased friction will bog motor down.

Dayum Casey, that sux. Had a very similar experience, bent shaft wouldnt allow the cogs to grip at higher rpms, solution, new foot. Hope youve got good insurance. Youre more than welcome to join me and CT on BB april 5th if youre out of a ride. We'll more than likely be headed to C'belle and some of those bars I told you about. Good luck with the boat Nice day with the fishes!!

Another solid day fishing, Casey. Hate to hear about the motor, though (would like to hear the outcome when you get it checked out).

I had a blast fishing with ya CC on my first trip to Keaton and I appreciate the invite! Like Casey said we caught alot of fish but just not any big enough to weigh. Casey was bummed on the ride in but I assured him that it won't be the last time something goes wrong on the boat, its just the way it is!! Good day on the water, alot of fun, can't wait to do it again!!!

The quote of the day from CC on the ride in - "look, we are getting dominated by a pontoon boat"

Sorry to hear about the motor Casey. Don't you have a porter guard on there? Mojo's boat has sufferred a few strikes like that about same speed but so far the rock guard has held it together. I'm sure it's only a matter of time before we get lucky too

Great job on the fishing though. Thanks for the report!

Fish are good. Rocks are bad. Hopefully something easy to fix.

CC. It ain't the dirty 30 club, but you are now in THE CLUB.

To quote Birddog: "There be dragons out there."

to the fish

to the dragons.

Hope it's nothing major.

Dude sorry about the accident that really sucks, hope its not all that bad.

Stinkin' rocks!

My guess is...the NEW cup on your prop is your only problem.
However, I would check for water in the foot grease.

Nice fish. Hope the hog gets well soon

Man I am sorry to hear about that Casey. Good luck getting it fixed. Mine is on it's way to the G3 plant in Missouri as we speak.

Hate to hear about the motor. You gonna be alright for this weekend?