Breaking the stottcraft in at Keaton
Posted: April 3rd, 2023, 8:51 am
Since buying the boat in October, I haven't taken it on a serious hardcore fishing trip, so my normal crew plus my dad decided to rent a house at Keaton. Arriving Thursday afternoon we slid both boats in to be greeted by the weather just as windfinder said, calming with a pickup that evening. We made short work picking up a few reds
We then went our separate ways, we headed off in search of trout while they went looking for sheepshead, we found a few trout and realized I forgot to put batteries in the bubble box so the 5 dozen shrimp I got from Wilson's were all shot.
I called our companion boat to let them know I had stopped looking for trout as I found some Spanish and I was in pursuit of them and the calls went straight to voicemail. Turns out they had found some sheepshead but they were way offshore out of cell range. We decided to head in around 6 to hit Kathi's in steinhatchee which was awesome as always with high hopes for Friday regardless of the weather report and clean a few fish.
Friday morning I was greeted by an early wakeup call as the shrimp boats returned in the canal.
I foolishly decided to roll the dice on a long run north to big spring creek while the weather was nice.
My friends were smarter and went to Yates Creek instead, but I truly got my boat broken in by making the long run, ignoring the fact that my transducer needs to be moved up the transom and coming off plane in shallower water than I was expecting and whopping the bottom, luckily no harm no foul though I really need to remember that a power tech prop won't be nearly as cheap as the props I had for my old seapro. After nothing to show for this long run, I decided to head south only to find the motor won't crank due to a low battery, luckily the previous owner wired the battery switch so the trolling motor battery can be used for a cranking battery and we got back going. After just a rat red from spring warrior, we headed out deeper in pursuit of trout only to find the tax man himself. But we had an exciting fight when this 8 ft bull shark decided to eat a new penny gulp and decided he didn't like the way my boat looked. I wish I had gotten more than 15 secs on video but it is what it is. The shark turned out to be the omen for the rest of the trip, with us catching no trout, our second boat catching 3 keepers and nothing else to show for the effort. But we knew we would be eating good anyway regardless of the catches at the house.
And a good view to go with the meal
Turns out the neighbors to this rental know my boss and used to work with one of our suppliers, it's a small world.
Come Saturday morning with the weather not being great, one fishing partner needing to head to Atlanta and one who was wore out from the boat ride, we decided to call it which seems like a bad idea since it sounds like everybody did better Saturday than Friday but who can turn down a post fishing breakfast at waffle house and fresh fish on the grill for supper.
Lessons learned for sure on this trip:
Aerate the shrimp
Fix the transducer
Fix my anchor light
Buy a new cranking battery
Put in a new switch panel for the lights
I have to admit since selling the seapro something is off with my trout fishing, I've picked up more reds since, but I ve got to get my trout mojo back. The trout we did catch were in 6ft on new penny or sexy penny shrimp. Water temp was 74 but had fallen to 70 when we left.
Sent from my Pixel 6 using Tapatalk
We then went our separate ways, we headed off in search of trout while they went looking for sheepshead, we found a few trout and realized I forgot to put batteries in the bubble box so the 5 dozen shrimp I got from Wilson's were all shot.
I called our companion boat to let them know I had stopped looking for trout as I found some Spanish and I was in pursuit of them and the calls went straight to voicemail. Turns out they had found some sheepshead but they were way offshore out of cell range. We decided to head in around 6 to hit Kathi's in steinhatchee which was awesome as always with high hopes for Friday regardless of the weather report and clean a few fish.
Friday morning I was greeted by an early wakeup call as the shrimp boats returned in the canal.
I foolishly decided to roll the dice on a long run north to big spring creek while the weather was nice.
My friends were smarter and went to Yates Creek instead, but I truly got my boat broken in by making the long run, ignoring the fact that my transducer needs to be moved up the transom and coming off plane in shallower water than I was expecting and whopping the bottom, luckily no harm no foul though I really need to remember that a power tech prop won't be nearly as cheap as the props I had for my old seapro. After nothing to show for this long run, I decided to head south only to find the motor won't crank due to a low battery, luckily the previous owner wired the battery switch so the trolling motor battery can be used for a cranking battery and we got back going. After just a rat red from spring warrior, we headed out deeper in pursuit of trout only to find the tax man himself. But we had an exciting fight when this 8 ft bull shark decided to eat a new penny gulp and decided he didn't like the way my boat looked. I wish I had gotten more than 15 secs on video but it is what it is. The shark turned out to be the omen for the rest of the trip, with us catching no trout, our second boat catching 3 keepers and nothing else to show for the effort. But we knew we would be eating good anyway regardless of the catches at the house.
And a good view to go with the meal
Turns out the neighbors to this rental know my boss and used to work with one of our suppliers, it's a small world.
Come Saturday morning with the weather not being great, one fishing partner needing to head to Atlanta and one who was wore out from the boat ride, we decided to call it which seems like a bad idea since it sounds like everybody did better Saturday than Friday but who can turn down a post fishing breakfast at waffle house and fresh fish on the grill for supper.
Lessons learned for sure on this trip:
Aerate the shrimp
Fix the transducer
Fix my anchor light
Buy a new cranking battery
Put in a new switch panel for the lights
I have to admit since selling the seapro something is off with my trout fishing, I've picked up more reds since, but I ve got to get my trout mojo back. The trout we did catch were in 6ft on new penny or sexy penny shrimp. Water temp was 74 but had fallen to 70 when we left.
Sent from my Pixel 6 using Tapatalk
. I feel your pain on the battery. I gotta get one too. 