Night Mission
It seems I had some time off. So.....it was time for........a fishing trip! Yes, fishing. Why the hell not? My lame friends (who may or may not read this - but of they do they know who I am talking about) are not really into the whole "fishing" thing. They are more into the "drinking" thing. While beer is an important part of a fishing trip, a fishing trip is not exactly a drinking mission.
Actually I do have a group of friends into the whole boat thing and probably fishing as well. Maybe I should kick over some rocks huh? Ill see them later today anyway, so I can always ask.
But for now - I have a good fishing hookup. One of my friends who moved out of State has family that still live here. And it just so happens that this person has a father use used to be a captain on a fishing charter boat. Now how about that? Dude is always up for a trip, and he knows what he is doing. I have no clue. I do not know any really good spots (except for one or two places to catch bait). I do not know anything about bait that is not shrimp, squid, or mullet. Artificial lures? Got em - have no idea when to use em. So it is good to have someone on board who used to captain a fishing charter boat. It was actually a "party" boat, as opposed to a pure charter boat. Party boats typically just leave the dock if so many people show up. On a party boat, you may not even know anyone else fishing with you. Pretty much whoever shows up at the docks and forks over the fee gets on board.
Charter boats usually go out with smaller groups. You have more control. You can ask the captain what fish are running, then pick the fish you want to target. Of course this is not cheap, a 6 person charter may end up costing everyone $300. For a day. It all depends on the size of the boat and how much diesel it is going to consume.
You think fuel for your car is expensive - try buying it at a marina! As a general rule at a marina add $1 - $2 per gallon onto the cost. At least.
Anyway none of this is important. What is important is that the new fishing hookup knows how, when, and where to fish. Very useful info.
This trip landed a mutton snapper. Not a terribly large snapper, but it was at least legal size. I got a photo of it, but the camera is way over there and I am way over here and it is 5 AM and it is time to get off the computer because the day is drawing to an "end".
This is how a night shift life works. When your day is starting, or about to start - my day is over. Or almost over. Or something like that.
I did not catch the snapper, but it is in my freezer. I did catch a few grunt bait fish. Most were released unharmed at the end of the mission.
Fishing buddy also caught a moray eel. I had never seen one of those things caught before.
The GPS chart plotter died. I do not know what is up with that. It was working all the way to spot 1. Once there the GPS was turned off to conserve battery power. When spot 1 was done, the GPS powered on. But when I was running in plane I noticed that the speed on the GPS was 6 knots. I was going at least 20 knots. The GPS was frozen like a Windows XP machine that is not running Service Pack 2. Even worse - it was frozen like a Windows ME machine. The GPS would not power off. So I pulled the power plug. I reconnected the power and it would not turn on. I tried everything. The connections looks good. I tried to jiggle the wires. I tried disconnecting and reconnecting the power cable. Nothing. Not good. The GPS may need to be sent off for repair. Or it may be dead. I hope it is OK. I will try to fiddle with it later.
The wind was too strong to even try to go out of the bay. Seas were forecast to be 2 - 4 feet, but if I had to guess I would say 4 - 6 feet was more likely. The winds have been blowing from the east or northeast for at least a few days. Close to a week. And the winds were stronger a few days ago. It was going to be rough.
Next trip may see fairer weather and therefore allow me to hit other spots in deeper water.
Labels: fishing
posted by The Lazy Iguana @ 04:28
9 Comments:
Maybe your fishing buddy sabotaged the GPS so that you would not know how to get back to his good spots. They are top secret you know.
The GPS was frozen like a Windows XP machine that is not running Service Pack 2.
Excellent simile. You do have a flair for poetry, Lazy Ig.
Conspiracy - I doubt it. The "secret" spot is right where Fisherman's Channel meets Government Cut. I hardly need a GPS to find it again. Showing someone tha spot then trying to keep it secret would be like showing someone the intersection of Bird Road and the Palmetto then trying to keep it a secret.
Scarlet - it MAY be a simply voltage problem. I hope so. A replacement GPS is $400. $400 is not a lot of money, but it is still $400. I would rather get the old one working again. I like the current GPS. It is my friend.
i'm sorry. but i had to laugh at this....you being somewhat obsessed with gadgets and all.
i bought this electronic compass with a stopwatch for my yacht. it was supposed to help with getting a measurable bearing on the wind direction, and to count down to the start of the race, once the starting sequence horn had been sounded. do you know how many race starts i missed whilst trying to work that freakin thing!
My bro-in-law is a naturalist and I was amused to see him try to "discourse" on the science of fishing w/ some simpletons who said, "I just wanted to h ave a fucking beer!"
I do know all about the night shift life--and the people who wonder why I rip them a new one when they call me at 10 AM. If I answer the phone at all. Which I don't unless it's my son or my parents, who are the reasons I keep my phone on during the day. Although my parents know I'd rip them a new one too if they called for any non-emergency reason during my sleeping hours.
Ponder - I actually came off plane and started saying bad words while trying to fix the GPS - while still in Government Cut with the other commercial boats and shrimp boats and stuff all around. I was not really happy about this.
M@ - I was never really that serious about the whole fishing thing. I always figured I would just head out, throw a line over the side, have a few beers, and if I catch something I catch something. And more often than not, I would not catch jack shit. So it is good to have a fishing buddy that knows what is going on but is not one of these "people who do not know how to fish piss me off" types. Maybe now I can learn how to catch shit.
CM - people know better than to call me that early. Call me at 10 AM and I toilet paper your house at 3 AM. If you live in an apartment I toilet paper your car. The point is something will get toilet papered at 3 AM. I am going to have to adjust to a more reasonable schedule soon - so the night days may be coming to a close.
I took my husband on a chartered trip this past summer. He has a boat, but since he's working all the time, he never gets to use it, and the river flows change over time, so the fish aren't biting where they used to. And unless you fish all the time, you won't know where to go to find the fish.
Anywho, we didn't catch a thing. The guy felt bad, but we understood. Sometimes they're biting, sometimes they're not.
Avery - that rocks. My phone has a secret hidden GPS so if I go on a charter trip I can get GPS numbers. I can just pretend to be using the phone as a MP3 player - which it is. And a GPS.
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