I headed down the Parkway to exit 98 for the last trip of ’07-as I normally do as if I were off to go fishing. It was a very sad 45 minute drive…I knew there would be no fishing trip but just repair, maintenance and improvement work to be done on the boat.

The marina was quiet with only the few in-water storage boats left bobbing the chilly 41 degree waters. A small 13′ tender did go past in the creek, not sure what he was thinking being out int hat cold water with a boat like that.

After talking to Tommy for a while and then helping Ryan setup his ice eater I decided I have to get some work done as much as I did not want to.

On the to do list today was a short list of small things but they all included removing the head liner which is a PIA. You have to take down the stereo, satellite radio, GPS and fishfinder prior to taking down the headline that is held up by the chart rack, and numerous strips of teak.

Once down I proceeded with running a new duplex wire to power the CO2 alarm, let out a length of coiled GPS sensor wire and installed and auxiliary speaker for the VHF to the starboard side of the helm seat. The proceeded to put the headliner, teak and electronics back up.

I still have to connect the CO2 alarm, fuse and circuit breaker together but the hard part is done running the wiring. Same with the VHF speaker.

It is too bad the rain let up early in the day. I had planned on working the entire day inside the pilothouse due to the morning rain. Otherwise I would have washed and polished the boat, it was in the mid 50′s and quite pleasant all day.

Hopefully in the coming weeks the weather will be fair again after this cold front coming in the next few days and we will be able to get the raw water pickup and sea strainer installed.

I hope Santa was good to everyone. He was good to me…although he did not bring a new 4 man offshore life raft he did bring a few new things for the boat. For starters he brought a Fluke mini infra-red thermometer. This will come in really handy in reading surface temps at any speed, especially with my transducer thermometers on the fritz.

I also got a new horn for the hailer and a macerator pump. It will be so nice to not have to climb halfway into the fish box to clean it out anymore. And also not have to remember to put the plug in so the blood, guts, scales and regurgitation does not end up in the bilge.

The 2008 tide and current table books were also under the tree, but not Eldridge this year…somehow left it off my list. I did get some money for Christmas so that will be one thing it is used for.

One of the stocking stuffers that I can’t wait to try out is a new pair of gloves…they are supposed to be waterproof. We will see. I have tried probably two dozen so far that claim to be waterproof and are not. So far the best for warmth and being completely waterproof are the Kenai gloves from Glacier Glove. They are a little bulky and slight pain to take off and on when you need to tie knots. But you hands will never be cold and wet with them.

Merry Christmas!

Since we are now on the hard and Will be doing repairs, maintenance and improvements till February if we can’t fish or use the boat we might as well look. I will be heading up to the NY National Boat show. I have given up going due to the cost of going and the lack of boats, tackle and accessories. But this year I received two free tickets so I am going to make the trip.

It will actually be good to see some of the new sportfish type boats that should be on display this year. That and what I really want to do is spend some time picking the brains of the safety gears vendors. I am starting to do my research on purchasing a raft and what better time and place than when most of the major manufacturers and bigger vendors of them will be all in one place.

So far I have been fortunate enough to borrow a raft from friends when needed. But I would prefer to have one on the boat always and this year I am going to take that step. The first big decision I made was to go with a canister model that will get mounted on the pilothouse roof. This will serve two purposes. One it will free up precious space in the pilothouse and two it will allow for auto-deployment in the event of a sudden sinking or capsizing.

Lets be realistic, if the boat were to capsize, and in frigid water what would the likely hood of someone getting into the pilothouse to retrieve the raft, exit and deploy it. The canister style makes deployment much easier in more dire situations. I will just have to be careful with placement in preparation to add a radar unit.

For those still in the water, good luck, fish on and stay safe.

It was a sad day today…I removed all my gear from the boat. Cleaned the wheelhouse and the bilge. There is something to be said for a bilge area that you can eat off of. For one, you know right away if there is a leak of any kind as it is clearly visible. I am fortunate that my entire aft bilge area is gel coated. It makes for quick and easy cleaning.

I usually take the all the cushions from the dinette and v-berth out and shampoo them but I had no idea I had so much gear on the boat. Last year I was able to fit the gear and the cushions in the truck. This year I could barely fit all the gear, and I actually left a few things on the boat and in the dock box. I think I am going to have to trim that down for next year.

Now begins the task of going through all the gear checking it to make sure it is up to snuff and storing it till the spring…well March anyway. Restocking tackle, checking all the rods, breaking down each reel and servicing them. Lots of work to be done. It is worth the effort though, makes the season go smoothly with perfectly functioning gear.

I just want to thank everyone we had out this year. It was a great season, we caught tons of fish , had a great time and made some memories. Out of the 50 plus trips only once did we return to the dock without catching a single fish and only three times without anything in the box!

Originally I was not planning on coming out of the water due to the weather but since my chronic running hot issue needs to be rectified we pulled her yesterday. She is winterized and on a trailer waiting for a high speed raw water pickup and sea strainer retrofit. I received all the parts yesterday and should be doing the install weather permitting next Tuesday. If all goes well, the weather stays mild and bass stick around we should be re-splashing her soon!

What really surprised me though was that my zincs were pretty well intact. None of the metals, (drive, trim tabs, through hulls, risers, manifolds, etc.) show any electrolysis either. Strange because the previous year I had to have them replaced mid season and I was in the water for less time. In any event I will be replacing them regardless since we will be adding a substantial amount of bronze to the equation with the new through hull, sea cock, sea strainer and three 90 degree elbows.

Arrrgggg…..being tied up and soon to be on the hard is killing me. With the fall run just getting into high gear and some of the best weather in the last two months I am out of commission. Hopefully someone in the marina is sailing on Sunday and I can jump aboard and get at least one more striper trip under my belt. I would like to get into some bigger fish before they are gone. This fall all we have seen basically is schoolies.

At the very least I should be running down to Indian River soon for a blackfish slaughter on the Bandit. They do well every year down there and the average fish for them is a trophy in Central NJ.

We looked into the chronic overheating issue and so far have come up empty handed. Checked the heat exchanger-nothing clogging it. Checked the raw water impeller-in excellent condition, not burnt and not missing any vanes. Checked the raw water pump-excellent condition. Checked all the hoses-free and clear and fastened tightly. Checked the thermostat-operating fine.

The only other thing it could be is a clogged or broken intake on the outdrive. Since I have not hit anything since last haul out that I know if it being broken or cracked is not likely. There is a possibility it is clogged but then it would overheat all the time. Last Saturday the motor was running for over 4 hours before we had a problem.

Volvo-Penta had service bulletins on other drive models for chronic overheat problems in heavy load/use applications. For my drive however there are no such bulletins.

After speaking to several mechanics they suggest installing a similar kit to Volvo’s sea water strainer kit for the DPX drive overheating issue. Basically it bypasses the raw water pickups in the drive using a high speed raw water pickup thru-hull and intake sea strainer like on an inboard engine. This has several advantages. It is higher in the water column and less susceptible to picking up mud and debris churned up by the wheels and also allows for a visual inspection of how much debris is being picked up and when it needs to be cleaned.

After running this idea by a Vovlo-Penta dealer they say it will should not help the situation and I should just continue to clean out the heat exchanger when needed and not boat in an area where there may be weeds and mud. Unfortunately I think that rules out pretty much everywhere boats are present. I know the past few weeks we have had very low water but I had overheat issues when the water was very high.

The whole thing is very frustrating. I wish there was a bad part somewhere. At least then spending money on a fix makes sense. In this situation it is all speculation that it will fix the problem but it is speculation by the area’s best mechanics so I have to go by their word.

I will probably be hauled out later this week or early next week and begin repairs and upgrades on the cooling system. If the weather is still somewhat mild and some bigger bass show up I will go back in the water for a while.

We broke the inlet about 6:30 and looked around. With no bird activity and no marks near the inlet we started to run South towards Seaside and IBSP. I had great reports from during the week from that area and with a spotty forecast we figured we would take the shorter run to the South over the longer run to the North.

We had constant bird activity all day but they were very temperamental. If anyone motored remotely close to them they would scatter. The smarter guys realized with the quick drift that you could stop 150-200 yards away and be on top of them in no time. We picked up a couple of shorts on the first couple of passes.

Once we learned that Eric had again brought a banana aboard and it was promptly offered to the fish gods we had a double hookup as soon as the offending fruit sank beyond view. It was pretty steady short action from there.

The birds broke up and there was scattered activity but did not seem worth chasing. At this point we decided to go on the troll. The wind had also shifted direction and was picking up a bit. We had fish on before we could get the second line in. A double header of shorts on a tube rig. We finally got both lines out and were heading inshore for a wind break and North towards home and the intermittent overheating issue decided to rear its ugly head.

After reeling in the lines, taking a beating in steep 4′ seas drifting while looking into the issue she had cooled enough to test. Started her up pointed towards land and attempted to get up on top of the seas. Once up on plane the temp dropped to normal. We all decided to just pack it in and head for the barn.

Despite the mechanical troubles it was an enjoyable day on the water. We were greeted to flat calm seas early in the morning and once back above IBSP it was mainly just chop. My cousin had two personal bests with the short stripers-his largest bass to date and also the most caught in one trip. In the future we will be sure to frisk Eric to make sure he is not attempting to smuggle an offensive fruit on board.

I know the Cape May guys have twenty to forty pound bass stacked up down there. I have also heard reports that the CT and RI guys have big fish to the North. I wonder if we will see some bigger fish soon.

http://www.seainsure.com/

Saturday was a slaughter! I had fish all day, now the day was only about two and half hours of fishing but it was non stop action. I made quick stops at Shark River Inlet and the mussel beds of Monmouth Beach on my way up to the Rocks but there were only very small fish in both places.

Once at the rocks there were gannets diving everywhere! It was the mother load….and mostly bass. Most fish were 25-27″, and in total I had about seventy fish with eighteen keepers. I kept three for the table and they were 10lb 9oz, 12lb 4oz and 12lb 10oz. And only five to seven bluefish, so few I did not bother to count.

I wish I could say Sunday was just as good but most likely due to the South winds and the full moon it was not. We headed to the same area and looked for marks and birds. The bait, fish and birds were scattered and it was difficult to stay on fish for any period of time. The water had also dropped three degrees since the day before. We had three bluefish and two short bass and that was it for the trip.

Later I heard that chartreuse shad rigs were producing on an East to West pull a little North of where we were. We gave it a shot but only had bluefish. There were also several boats that were attempting to pull North to South with the current and crossing everyone else that was going East to West and West to East making it very difficult to troll so we called it a day and headed towards home.

We did make a few more stops where we saw promising marks and birds, I had a couple of hookups but dropped the fish before getting them to the boat. Sunday was just not our day. And from the sound or the radio chatter and other reports I read later in the day it was an off day for most.

I arrived at the boat at 5:15 AM and it was cold…33 degrees and no wind to speak of. All of the flags within view were totally limp. The water level was very low due to the strong west winds and the gunwale was about six inches below the dock…luckily there was enough water to float out of the slip. We had to cancel a few trips last year this time due to not enough water to get out of the slip. I started the engine and started loading the day’s gear onto the boat. Soon the engine was warmed up and with the heat on the pilothouse started warming up to a nice and toasty 68 degrees.

After finishing storing gear and readying some items for the trip we were ready to shove off. Once the crew arrived we were underway.

We broke the inlet about 6:15 just before sunrise. There were birds starting to take flight in anticipation of an easy meal. The fish finder was all lit up and we started jigging up shorts and bluefish right away. As soon as the sun started to rise above the water’s edge the birds started diving and screeching. And the fleet of boats soon showed up. As it started getting more crowded we started moving south chasing the fast moving schools of migrating fish.

We continued to see fish breaking the surface all over and the spray of fleeing peanut bunker from the ravenous bluefish. Moving from pod to pod of bait we just followed the marks and jigged most of the day. Eventually we ended up off Top of the Mast where we had our best bite of the day. On one drift we produced about a dozen short bass, one nice 31″ keeper and only one bluefish. Continuing to work that area produced non-stop action of mostly short bass with a few bluefish mixed in. At one point I reeled up leaving five or ten feet of line out, leaving my jig in the water to net Anthony’s fish and a follower just slammed the jig.

By the end of the day we ended up just North of the bathing beach. We must have reached that area just as the bite died off as we had little luck in that area. It also started to cloud up a little more and the temperature was starting to drop. Which seemed to signal the end of the bite for us. We continued to work our way North and worked several schools of bait and fish but did not have the action that we had earlier in the day when it was a few degrees warmer. This seemed strange to me since the water was still 53 degrees. Usually we see this type of action when it is later in the year and the air and water temps are much cooler.

I would have included a picture of myself holding my fish here but there was an unforseen camera malfunction…or user error. We are not clear on what really happened.

It was a great day on the water with very pleasant sea conditions despite NOAA’s forecast (no surprise there) and the non-stop action only topped off the day. We ended the day with a total of two keeper bass-with 9 and 12 pound fish. We had several that were between 1/4 and 1/8 of an inch short and about two dozen or so fish that were 26 to 27.5 inches in length. Mixed in were probably near 40 to 50 bluefish.

We broke Manasquan Inlet at about 6:30 AM to birds working and fish breaking the surface. It was not long after dropping a jig to the bottom that I had my first fish on-a short striper. Then it occurred to me-just caught my first fish that has game fish status. We figured this is going to be a great day having striped bass to the boat right away. The more fish we hooked into the more blues we started to catch. Moving around with the birds and watching the sonar we were able to keep a steady pick going with bass mixed in with the blues.

Nino got his first bass of the season and almost his first keeper, there were a lot of fish 26-27″ and a bunch that were less than 1/4″ short. As always all short fish were returned to grow up and fight another day.

It was a busy day unhooking, measuring and releasing fish. Something nobody ever complains about even when it is hectic on deck with multiple fish flopping around and more waiting for the net.

When there was a lull in the action we decided to go on the troll, covering more ground and it paid off in short time. With one umbrella rig out rigged with tubes and one bunker spoon we soon had fish on. At first it was blues but then we homed in on where the bass were. Again we had many shorts but after switching to both rods running tube rigs we quickly started picking up some bigger fish.

The bluefish were just gorging themselves on sand eels that must have been carpeting the sea floor. I have never seen blues with their stomachs so extended. The bass were getting in on the feast as well as they too had full stomachs of sand eels. It is amazing how much they can fit in their stomachs…this is the contents of a smaller 4-5 pound bluefish.

At the end of the day everyone had sore arms and big smiles. We ended up keeping 9 blues but released dozens of fish. We also had about 15 stripers and kept two for the table. It was a beautiful fall day on the water with calm flat seas, good friends and plenty of fish.

There has been a lot of controversy about Panter and Karcher’s bills A3275/S2041 and sportsmen and women the last few weeks. These politicians were elected with a margin of fewer than 75 votes yet NJ has millions of residents that hunt, trap and fish. Those of you who know me I am a strict vegetarian for many years and I fish at least once a week sometimes more. I used to hunt occasionally but have not in a few years. Panter and Karcher are seeking to end all hunting fishing and trapping in this state because they are also affiliated with powerful animal rights activist groups that fund their campaigns. If just half of the sportsmen and women of this state go out and vote today we can ensure and protect our right to provide food for our families as countless generations have from our lands, streams, rivers and oceans. Our ancestors fought for the right to vote, please exercise your right to vote and make a difference.

I was thinking to myself as I was breaking the inlet that if I had made it this far though the season without being skunked that I may make it through the entire season. After thinking that I should have turned around and only gone for a boat ride. After about 45 or so trips I had the skunk on the boat.

I knew before leaving the dock that the water would probably still be very dirty from the blow that had just finished the night before. Most of the crew that I was trying to line up had reservations from the weather forecast and not the prospect of poor fishing conditions. As usually Buoyweather.com was right on with the forecast. They had predicted a four foot ground swell and I think most of the day inside the three mile line was more like 3 foot.

I ran down to the Seaside Piers are good clip (26 knots) and put out a chartreuse Secret Spoon due to water clarity. After 30 minutes of no action I switched to bunker blue and then white. I was surprised to get knockdowns on the white in dirty water. I also pulled a few different Stretch pugs that also did not produce.

There were a lot of big marks deep and along the bottom. I did not mark any bait to speak of, not like two weeks ago. There were also a lot of small to medium sized fish suspended in the water column between twelve and twenty five feet. I stopped a few times to jig both deep and mid water column to try and entice whatever was there to bit but with no avail.

I spoke to several guys and not much was doing outside on the troll. The guys I spoke to that stayed inside Barnegat Inlet and clammed were producing shorts and slot sized fish throughout the day when the tidal stage was right.

It was a beautiful day on the water, the boat ran great, and I did about fifty nautical miles round trip on twelve gallons of fuel and returned to port safe and sound. Can’t ask for much more out of a great fall day…well maybe full fish boxes!

I can now blog on the fly from my phone…anytime, anywhere. Can even attach photos!

APP: Fishing czar sends a shot across the bow

APP: Commission urged to rethink summer flounder plan

Who attended? I would like to hear you comments on the rally. Below are a few links to press about the rally.

APP Article: Protesters oppose bills to change Fish and Game Council

NJ.com Article: Sportsmen to protest proposed bills

NJ Outdoor Alliance: Who is with us and who is against us

November 6 is coming and we need all hunters, fishermen and sportsmen to vote to protect our right to hunt, fish and trap in NJ. Also vote yes to option 3 to save New Jersey’s preservation programs.

I joined Anthony for a morning of clamming along the sod banks of Barnegat Inlet. We knew it would be a challenging day due to weather and it was nothing short of our expectations. We got setup along the channel edge on a nice ledge quickly and started the slick. Shortly after a boat about 200′ off our stern quarter was hooked up and boated what looked to be a 33 to 36″ striper. We figured this is great there are fish here and continued chumming and cleaning lines. The salad was relentless. We were able to keep two to three lines in at one time while continually clearing the others. By about 9:30 the wind was really starting to kick up. All we had to show was a few bumps and a short run off.
 
We decided to take a short run over to Meyer’s Hole to see if there was a chance at a weakfish bit but the chop and wind over there would have made for a very short uncomfortable drift.
 
At this point we decided to head back to the dock. Once we turned west into Oyster Creek Channel about 20 minutes later we would not believe how much the wind kicked up the swell and chop. It was a long slow ride back to Toms River…at times at only 5 knots. Thank goodness we had the enclosure up otherwise it could have been like driving through a car wash in a convertible with the top down. I have no idea how guys go out day after day in weather like this in open boats.
 
All in all it was a nice day on the water with good friends despite the weather and lack of fish. With our first dedicated bass trip ending with the skunk I am sure it will only get better from here. I did speak to a number of guys as well as tackle shop owners and it seemed that most of the action this weekend with keeper fish was along the beach. This makes sense and is consistent after a Nor’easter tears through and the surf is up as it provides a natural clam slick along the beach where there are clam beds.

This time of year usually offers the best fishing, but yet it seems to be worst right now. The water is too warm for striped bass, sea bass and blackfish to start moving into our area. With bait migrating out of the lagoons, streams, rivers and bays the weakfish are moving out. And the weather this time of usually stinks. For the past few weeks guys have been killing blue fin tuna in the mud hole but the weather just a little off shore has been a little too much for my liking. It is not that my boat can not handle it, she is amazing in sporty and snotty seas but the beating that you take in a smaller boat for only being able to keep one fish is just not worth it to me. Sure there is catch and release but still not worth the following day’s aches and pains.
 
Hopefully we will see cooler water temps soon, this 67 degree water in October may just cause us to miss the fall run of stripers if it keeps up. They will come around Eastern Long Island and stay far offshore in deeper cooler water and pass us right by on their migration to the Carolina’s.
 
We certainly do not have a shortage of forage for striped bass…there is plenty of spearing, rain fish, weakfish, croaker, kingfish and peanuts around. You can drive for miles and make bait and schools of smaller fish like kings, croakers and weaks along the bottom.
 
So far this weekend’s plan is to weakfish outside and troll for bonito if they are still around. If conditions are right and it looks bassy out then we may give that a shot but with the weather the way it is and a lack of reports it is a very frustrating and confusing time.

I had no particular plan except to spend the day on the water. I wish I could have planned on targeting stripers but when I broke the inlet and was created to 64 degree water and the sun was just coming up I figured that would be a lost cause. I marked water as warm as 67.2.

As I started running down the beach there was not a bird to be found except for migrating geese. I made a few quick stops along the way where we had fish last week but there was even a lack of bait on those structures. I continued south and started to mark bait and fish between Mantoloking and Ocean Beach.

There were a lot of boats working the area and all they were doing was working. I decided to drop down some gulp on a bottom style rig. Immediately had a double header of spike weakfish. With the small size of fish I decided to move on.

I setup again off Top of the Mast in 60′ of water and began catching 18-22″ weakfish. I setup on a bait rig and sent it down to see if there were any takers. I continued bail the weakfish and quickly had my limit. I had no takers on the live lined fish.

I stopped on a couple of inshore wrecks on the way in and had more weakfish and hoards of 11.5″ sea bass. I did have quite a few real strong hits that stripped the gulp bait right off a bait holder hook. Didn’t feel like blackfish…there was no tap, tap, wham! Just a single strong hit. Will probably make quick stops on those spots again this weekend to try and figure out what was down there.

Spoke to RTK and John on the radio (From Barnegat Fishin’ Hole)…sounded like they both had small bonito throughout the day. I trolled back to MI with only bluefish on the clark spoons. I would have though 6 kts was fast enough to avoid them, even increased to 6.8 and still picked up blues.

All in all it was a nice relaxing day on the water and fish in the box. Hopefully we will see a drop to normal temps, this 10+ degrees above normal is going to really kill the fall run. I hope the fish when they come south around LI don’t stay out far and pass us by

Spent yesterday rigging baits and lures, sharpening hooks and still have a lot of prep for a local tournament this weekend. It is mainly a bragging rights tourney between a close group of guys that have for the most part met through an online fishing forum on Barnegat Fishing Hole.

For those interested you can get full details and an entry form here. As of the writing of this post there are 30 boats entered and we anticipate 50 plus by the conclusion of the captain’s meeting. With 50 boats the first place payout should be about $3,000.00!

We had originally planned on making a pretty good run and clamming or chunking bunker, it looks like that is all going to change with winds predicted in the 30 knot range and seas topping six feet.

Now we just need to decide on our plan B. I would like to fish two different areas of the bay but not sure about running across the bay for 20+ nautical miles in those winds either. It should be doable but certainly not fast or comfortable like the run last week back to home port was.

I think right now with the lack of a consistent bass fishery the best thing that could happen is that the winds increase and a gale warning is issued. This would cause the tournament committee to reschedule the tournament. With the ASA tournament the following weekend that would push this one back another week and probably into much better fishing as the weather and water starts to cool.

Either way it will be a busy week scouting, preparing and nail biting until the final decisions are made to call due to weather or leave the dock and find some fish.

We decided to do a little scouting for a tournament we are in next week. Anthony and I headed out of Squan in the soup.

A blind man could have located bait. Although with very low visibility pretty much everyone was blind. Our first stop we could hear birds working and splashes but could not locate them in the fog (I had decided not go any shallower than 20-25′ when not able to see the shoreline). The bait was everywhere, I think in the 45+ nm we covered there were only about 3 nm that had no bait. It was on top with birds working it, blanketing the bottom suspended you name it we found. Unfortunately there were no bass working the schools.

We made several stops that had more promising marks on the sonar and jigged. Anthony had two hookups that soon dropped off. Once the fog started to lift a little more we gave up jigging and made the run to our intended destination. With flat seas we made good time at 28kts to our nest stop.

Once there we jigged a little with only a few hits decided to go on the troll. Trolled up the rocks, across, up to the cedars, along the west side of the reef and back down to the rocks. Had one nice knockdown and boated two bluefish with Anthony dropping one boat side. He called it a graceful release or something like that but I wasn’t buying it.

On the way in we made a quick stop on some mussel beds but there were only short sea bass and blackfish. There were a lot of boats drifting and anchored bottom fishing the mussel beds and rocky bottom areas. There were also tons of pots and traps there which was suprising. I have never seen that many there but I guess with the pressure from Reef Rescue we will win the reefs back but lose some other productive bottom in the process.

It was a nice day on the water once the fog lifted. The fog definitely made for an uneasy run out but all in all it was good to be back in my home waters.

Ran the boat back to our home port in Point Pleasant from Barnegat. Had a great stay at Sun Harbor Bay Club for the fall weakfish run. Joe has a top notch facility there. I did not get to use the pool, it was a little chilly out my taste. Speaking of taste…we did have a few meals at Osaka after getting the boat and fish cleaned, it was a real treat to come back and have a good place to eat a short walk from the boat.

After returning home I hauled out to inspect the hull, bottom paint and zincs. Everything was in perfect condition, well the zincs were worn a little but still in fine shape. Had the bottom and drive power washed and also scrapped off any barnacles. With no evidence of water intrusion we let her dry out for a few ours and to see if there would be any water weeping from the outside in…there was none. All good but the mystery of a few pints to a few quarts of water per week in the bilge still remains.

I called the dealer and the manufacturer as well as consulting with the mechanics and fabricators in the marina and everyone is stumped on this one. The only thing we can come up with is that a through hull, seacock, or transom shield is leaking between the hull and the inner liner or tub. But according to the manufacturer if that were happening there would be a lot of water in the boat and it would be sitting very low in the water which I am not.

We will see what happens over the next few weeks and may decide to haul out again and re-bed the seacock to be on the save side and see if that fixes the problem.

Just a reminder that as of October 1 the weakfish or sea trout bag limit changes to 6 fish at 13 inches.

I took the girls out today…had Victoria and Mickie on board for what will probably be our last sea trout trip of the season. We left Sun Harbor Bay Club at 6:10 AM and headed up between BI and BB.

We moved around a bit till we were marking bait and fish. We did not mark the huge schools that we have in the past few weeks. I suspect this is due to the cooler water temps and the bait starting to make their run out the sea trout are also on their way out.

It ended up being a slow pick with many missed hits today. The fish seemed to be lethargic due to the drop in water temp, we read 64 when we left the dock and saw a rise in temp to 67.2. They were not taking the larger BKD’s so we switched to smaller Fin-s and started hooking up more.

Also had a school very large mullet come right up behind the boat. It was a beautiful sunrise and nice day on the water. We ended the day with 5 weaks up to just over 3 pounds.

I have to admit…I was outfished. Mickie was high hook with the smallest fish of the day and the largest.

I spoke to Chrissy T on the radio and he was reporting slow action as well when we spoke I also ran into Captain Mel of Fisher Queen Charters while cleaning up poolside at Sun Harbor and then we ended the day with lunch at Osaka. Life is good!