Decided due to the holiday weekend and less than favorable conditions to stay at the dock and get some work done on the boat and of course some adult beverages and plenty of snacks and food that accompany bad weather on our dock.

I installed three new rod holders.  One just off center in the transom, would have liked it to be in the center but could not due to the transom fish-box.  The other two were installed foreword up near the pilothouse.  These will be great for the rigger rods.

Also installed the outriggers I picked up last fall.  They got installed on the aft part of the pilothouse roof.  The poles are collapsible so the poles can be installed and the angle of deployment can all be adjusted while standing in the cockpit, despite them being top mounts.  I really like the placement, you don’t have to climb up on the gunwales to deploy them which is great on a narrow beam boat.

The only thing left is to get new release clips and re-rig the lines and I will be all set for trolling this fall.  Can’t wait!  Now all we need is some decent weather for a change.

I had to go to the dentist for emergency work the day we were supposed to leave for our first canyon trip.  That was not the worst though…I woke up with  a major crick in my neck, so bad that I could not look over my shoulder to drive.  Got my chompers worked on and headed home to pack.  Tried to get some gear in the car but was unsuccessful and with no improvement in my neck decided it was probably a bad idea to go offshore in such a state.  Mark and Tommy understood as they have been in similar situations before with aches, pains, broken bones etc.  Capt. Yappy on the other hand was his usual grumpy, ornery self and I just let that be as it may.

I am hoping to feel better later today and head down for Sunday to see what the boys caught and maybe get in a little fluking and drag some lures for bonito before they get in.

I unfortunately did not get a chance to sail this past weekend.  Though it seems as if striped bass have really started to make a showing.  With Sunday being Mother’s Day and only having Saturday to fish, and then the AC breaking I had do deal with home repair issues.

I received many reports of bass and some good sized fluke with some bluefish mixed in were caught both inside and outside over the weekend and early this week.  Fish have been caught on various jigs, bunker, herring, spoons and umbrella rigs.  One common theme seems to be that you needed to search them out.  There might not have been tell tale signs of birds diving and fish busting but if you searched out structure, bait and kept an eye on the sonar you found the fish.

Hopefully I will get out this weekend, it all depends on if I can get my current work project done early…if I really move my butt, which I am planning on doing I may be able to fish both Saturday and Sunday.

Some years we have a dry spring and some years you think you are living in Seattle.  This year we are having a very wet spring.  The forecast from the night before had the showers ending around 10 am so we figured we would be able to get a solid half day of fishing in.  Wrong!  The raid did not stop until I got into my truck to head home around 5 pm.

I did get cabin straightened out a little more and got some ideas for gear storage which I will implement next weekend.  I also picked up a five foot length of 5/16″ BBB or short link chain to add to my rode in what seems to be a never ending attempt to anchor the boat easily.  Hopefully this will do the trick.

Once the little chores were done and some other guys showed up it became a boat hopping beer drinking day.  Shotting the shit with good friends and making plans for the rest of the season.  This coming weekend looks to be much nicer and I may even get out Friday and Saturday which would be awesome!

I was hoping to get out around noon for a few hours but as the morning went on the winds got stronger and stronger so despite their Westerly direction and reports of the seas being just a swell along the beach we decided to just work on our boats.

We did a group trip to West since we all had 20% off coupons and the stores had tables of stuff 40 and 50 percent off due to the stores closing and moving to a mega store. I was able to grab a couple of items I was in short supply of for half price plus 20% off…score!

Anyway back at the marina I removed the old factory rod holders, sealed the old screw holes and the hole for the rod holders themselves. Then covered the gunwale cap with masking tape to make out the new holes. They ended up a little close to the old ones but I am not too concerned as we are installing a backing plate and through bolting them instead of just using lags as they were originally installed.

Installation went fairly easy and once installed they looked great. The stainless rod holders with white liners looks much better on the boat than chromed ones with black liners. Over the winter I will order five more and replace the other two existing ones, add a center transom rod holder and two forward for the outriggers.

I also retooled my shelf for the bilge heater. After converting the raw water intake the new through hull and hose is slightly in the way of the old shelf. Plus the newly installed battery boxes cut down on the width in the motor well. Once I cut down the shelf length and made its feet longer it was a perfect fit once again. And just in time for this cold front coming through.

Next weekend looks to be very promising weather wise…lets hope the forecast holds.

I gathered up all the leftover parts from projects over this season and returned them to West in exchange for a second Dr. LED Mars Dome, the 1 watt/3 watt white dome. I powered it up with a 12v power supply in the basement with low light in the room and total darkness. I was very impressed with the light output of both the 1w and 3w settings.

I was skeptical about LED replacements, and frankly the more common replacement bulbs seem to be very weak but the Dr. LED products with their built in drivers are awesome. It will be nice to be able to leave the lights on all night or for even several hours at a time now and not worry about draining the battery. I always hated turning the lights off and coming back to dark boat and straining to step on in the darkness.

Now I just need to get a motion sensor activated light for when I arrive to the boat in the dark.

We had high hopes of at least wreck fishing this weekend but with the NE blow the seas were just too much for us to get outside. I did however change the oil, check all the other fluids.

Having the urge to catch something Tommy and I decided to head over to the banks of the Point Pleasant Canal. We grabbed some clam out of the freezer, headed over to the bait shop for some crabs, grabbed a sandwich and headed for my favorite spot.

Knowing the current would be very strong we got there a little early but it is a must to get a prime spot. We got into position and ate lunch waiting for the current to slow. With the strong N to NE wind I was by about an hour with slack current but we had no where to be so we waited it.

Getting anxious I decided to give it a shot while the current was still racing, I had two or three subtle taps but that was about it in the first hour. Once the current started slowing though the fish turned on.

We probably had sixty to seventy blackfish between us with about twenty five sea bass mixed in as well. Unfortunately we had not one keeper between us. There were about a dozen others fishing withing view and out of all of them we only saw one legitimate keeper caught.

We did not get our limit of one fish per man but it was still good to have non-stop action and catch a mess of fish despite the conditions. To top the day off Tommy caught his first blackfish among the many caught today.

Due to weather yet again we stayed tied up. I did however get some PM and other odds and ends taken care of this weekend. I also tried to get fuel while out for a boat ride in the Metedeconk and the bay but no fuel docks were open.

Originally my raw water wash-down pump suction side was routed around the outside of the motor well. After installing the sea strainer we redirected the suction line under the motor. At the time it seemed like a good idea. However the hose that was used did not hold up to heating and cooling from the motor. I replaced the nylon reinforced tubing with wire reinforced wet exhaust hose as well as installing a sea strainer on the wash-down pump. This was probably overkill but two buddies had their pumps die this year and after dismantling in attempts to fix them they were pretty loaded up with crap.

We went for a quick boat ride in Mark’s 37 Bertram to test the new gaskets on the sea strainers prior to running offshore this weekend. After that we took a quick ride in my boat.

Next I performed the 100 hour service including: torquing nuts, bolts, clamps, servicing the batteries, checking all lamps, bilge pumps and electrical circuits for functionality, checking fluids and an oil change.

The marina was pretty void of life, similar to the waters along the coast prior to the big blow. By early afternoon I was the only one left at their boat.

 I finally put each electrical circuit on its own breaker. Something I have been putting off for some time. Of course I left a brand new package of terminals at home on the workbench so off the hardware store I was…luckily they have an expanded marine section and carry waterproof electrical terminals and are only a half mile down the street. After getting back I also realized I left the spool of red number 14 primary wire on the bench at home as well. Luckily I found a three foot scrap in the bottom of my spare parts bin and began installing all the breakers.

I have to redo the labeling, I was in a rush and did not cut them even or stick them on straight but at least I know which breaker is for which and they are all on their own complete circuits now.

After much hype she was not much more than our average Nor’easter. But everyone pretty much prepared for the worst and fastened storm lines to pilings not already occupied by their everyday lines. I had thought about fishing but with the early morning fog I decided to stay in and work on the boat. Later on I found out there was a mad dog fluke bite right at the mouth of the inlet, pretty much anyone who went had limit catches in no time.

I did accomplish something I have been putting off for some time though. I replaced my main rear bilge pump with a much larger model and then replaced the froward bilge pump with old main pump. Also a big upgrade in pump size…from 360gph to 1500gph. I am not sure what they were thinking with only installing a 360 pump, it would not do much in an emergency that is for sure.

After making sure everything was in order if the storm did come through I headed down to Sun Harbor Bay Club to pickup some tackle I had ordered and also pickup a birthday present. Joey was having a ball with the wind and rain, but most others did not want to be bothered. Joe was hunkered down in the bait shop that seemed to be taking on a little water under the door from the wind driven rain. Not long after my arrival did the chop in the bay start breaking onto the fuel dock. Conditions were very different from Beaverdam Creek with their facing East and being closer to the inlet with no land mass or buildings to break the wind or sea coming in from the storm.

The ride home was pretty uneventful until I reached the Driscal Bridge where it seemed the heavens opened up and everyone forgot how to drive in rain. The rain and wind was no match for the RainX wiper blades and Venco Marine rain and water repellent though once I was able to break free from the traffic.

Got down to the marina at about 6:30 and unloaded the cooler and bag, and new rods to the dock. Went and got the bait out of the freezer, stepped aboard to unlock her and got a real strong whiff of gas. Opened the engine hatch to discover gas in the bilge. I am quite sure the auto censor on this site would not stop all of the obscenities that were probably heard in Barnegat from Point but will leave it at that.

Got out a few diapers, got the fuel absorbed, let the bilge vent for an hour and vacuumed up all the bilge water. After further investigation we could not find any leaks on the motor side. Started her up, let her idle for an hour and then let her cool off. Still no leaks on the motor side.

Best we can figure is a bad weld in the tank. The fill, vent, and senders are all on the top of the tank, nothing wet on top, and only a half full tank so the likelihood of it sloshing out of the top is low. Tried pulling the deck cover off but not only were the joints siliconed but they put a hefty bead under it before it was put in.

Poked around with a Rigid SeeSnake micro camera best we could. Below the tank on the hull liner it was pretty nasty looking…stained pretty bad. Looked like rust on the camera but hard to tell for sure from it. Going to call the manufacturer before we finish pulling the deck hatch to find out if there is any warranty on the tank itself.

On to the title of the post…at least at the dock the weather was not so nice and the forecast a bit off making me feel a little better about not getting out today. Since a few of us did not feel like working on our boats too much with the SE wind in our faces we turned to the next best thing to fishing…complaining about our boats, drinking and telling fish stories. The beer and vodka flowed, tons of snacks and pizza were consumed as well. In the end each of us limited out on slight tans, wind burns and buzzes. Hopefully soon they will finish up the dock work and we can move our tables, chairs and BBQ out onto the dock and get our after fishing and party grounds back in order.

But at least since a line was not wet we did not get skunked!

Boy did I goof when looking at the weather. I committed to helping my mother do some packing for her move later this month on Saturday leaving me Sunday to go fishing or work on the boat. With the hard NE blow on Sunday there was 1 foot of chop with white caps coming West up the creek.

I heard a few guys on the radio claiming they had fish but you know how fisherman on the radio are…more likely than not they had no fish.

In between showers I compounded the aft pilothouse bulkhead and cockpit. I also tried the compound on the interior glass and it removed the three years of sneaker marks pretty well. Much better than anything else has. The difficult part with the interior is it is not gel coated nor smooth. It is splattered with resin and then painted flat white. A surface that I will never own again.

While I was disappointed to not fish, you can not get skunked if you don’t wet a line!

This weekend looks like it id going to blow hard on Saturday as well as T-storms and then pretty much rain and T-storms all day on Sunday too. I was hoping to fish a winter flounder tournament on Saturday and possibly try out my new bunker spoon rods as well. Got them all rigged up today with 200 yards of 50# mono backing, 300 feet of 40# monel wire marked at 150′, 200′ and 250′ topped off with a 12 foot 50# fluoro leader. I guess I have to wait till next weekend unless there is a huge change in weather in the next 24 hours or so.

I am now into my second week of waiting for warranty repair from Volvo Penta. I spoke to the Volvo dealer again…they were supposed to look at it this morning after a sea trial of another boat at my marina. They have not heard back from their tech yet so at this point I will not hold my breath. Hopefully I will be out on my rig this weekend crushing the blackbacks but the 5 day wait till Sunday seems like a year not knowing which boat I will be fishing from.

Unfortunately I did not get out this weekend even though it was one of the nicest weekends all season. Due to a lack of crew I was forced to stay tied up and listen to all the fun on the radio. Several boats returned to the marina with multiple fish in their boxes. Double and triple headers were the norm instead of rare. Most of the fish ranged from 24-28 inches. No one came back with anything larger than 28″. Almost everyone reported catches of from thirty to over one hunderd fish caught for the day. There were also a few tog caught for those who anchored up in the afternoon. The white chins were all only just legal fish, nothing of notable size. I have also received word of some inshore cod and ling catches….come on cod make an inshore comeback! It would be nice to be able to catch ling in the surf again in December through March. I think the last time I had ling in the surf was over 10 years ago.

We just got past the gale warnings, small craft advisories and downpours over the last two weeks and now Wilma is coming. I have heard some reports of tidal surges of 7.5′ but have not been able to find and confirmation on this. I sure hope we do not see that as the marina will be a busy place with people keeping their boats off of pilings and the docks. I have only heard tales of legendary hurricane parties from others that have been at my marina for years. I guess I may experience one of these hurricane parties first hand this week. Hopefully I and all others make it through the storm with no damage.

Despite the small craft advisory and high winds the inshore waters were quite flat. I was all set to head out to several bridges to try clamming up some stripers and possibly trolling the beaches just outside the breakers but could not put a crew together this morning. I ended up hanging out with a bunch of guys from the marina. Hopefully hurricane Wilma will not stir things up too much for next weekend.

I decided to get some much needed work done to the boat. With it being brand new I have been very leary about drilling holes through the transom and the pilothouse roof. But I finally drilled all but one of the holes for the four antennas that I have (VHF, AM/FM/Weather Band, GPS and XM Satellite Radio). It was not nearly as bad as I though except for the five or so trips to the hardware store obtaining the proper length bolts. The thickness of the fiberglass seemed to vary a bit depending where on the roof you were. So instead of only needing two types of bolts in one length I needed two types in four different lengths. It is a good thing the hardware store is only a few blocks away and open till 5 PM on Sunday. Now all that is left is to move the VHF antenna from the rail mount to the fixed mount and mount the AM/FM/Weather Band antenna to the fixed mount.

Well NOAA was not far off with their forecast and it was real snotty outside. One guy from my marina went out for a sea trial and said it was 5′-7′ with heavy chop. I decided to get some work done on the boat. I got the speakers installed in the cockpit and the pilothouse so we will now have tunes for wreck fishing!