It was another short week, but I did spend two great days on the water.
The first day on the water was Thursday, with Capt. Cliff Young, who owns Box Canyon Cabins, and charters out of Eagle River, Alaska. We first fished together last year around this time, along with his good friend Dewayne Brantley, and had a great trip. Dewayne couldn't make the trip this time, so Cliff had another good friend, Jim Patchett, along.
It was the first time back in the water for the Talon, after having another fuel tank issue. I'll tell ya! Danny Fowler at Fowler Marine, is a magician. Normally, when a boat has a fuel tank issue, it means pulling the cap of the boat, which is extremely expensive and time consuming, or at the very least, it means cutting out major sections of the floor to access the tank. Either way, it involves a fiberglass man, lots of money and time.
I told Danny I'd seal off the bad tank and run with just one (and a 6 gallon spare) before I'd tear the boat up and have it off the water for so long. He also reminded me that another option would be a four-stroke engine. But, that's a major expense, as well. Danny assure me he would do his best to come up with a viable solution. And, did he!
First, he made an access hole inside the left rod locker where it couldn't be seen and is non-structural. That gave him visual access to the front end of the long fuel tank, and as it turned out also allowed him to get the tank unbolted from its mounting platform. He was able to move the tank to the rear of the boat where there is a large opening for the port-side storage box. He called and let me know that he though he'd be able to extract the tank if they could cut away some of the flotation foam attached to the inside of the hull. I gave him the go-ahead.
Well, as it turned out, he couldn't get the tank out even with floatation removed, but it did allow him to get the tank all the way back to the access hatch and turn it with the filler neck up where a good aluminum welder could removed the leaking filler neck and weld in a new one.
Danny said that welder had the biggest set of marbles he'd ever seen. I asked Danny if he cleared the area while the welding was going on. Nope! He was right there looking over his shoulder. Dittos for Danny!
To my amazement the boat was ready to go by Wednesday, and I was one happy camper. And, the best news was that the bill wasn't at all what I expected. There was no charge for hazardous duty, either!
Ironically, as I told Cliff and Jim this story while we caught bait, Cliff told me about a friend of is that had been killed instantly a few months ago when a fuel tank he was welding blew up in his face. He was an experienced welder who had welded many fuel tanks.
With Jim chumming, bait was great. I was again on the flat on the west side of the second span of the causeway. There were a couple of other boats in the area, as well. Jim kept us entertained while we caught bait. He's a hoot. I think he even had the bait laughing.
I was sure we were in for a tough day. The wind was howling out of the northeast, and would worsen throughout the day. We were on the full moon. Either one of those conditions is usually enough to shut down the fishing. We also still had red tide issues, and the coffee black water dumping from Lake O to deal with.
But, the fishing Gods were with us. At our first stop, a place I love to be when the tide first begins to come in, Cliff and Jim caught 8 or 9 snook. There were plenty of snook there. We caught the dumb ones. Once the tide got up a little, it was over, though. Time to move on.
Our next stop was one of my favorite places for redfish and snook on the incoming tide, especially big tides. The northeast wind wasn't a good direction to try to fish it, but I really had a feeling the reds would be there, so we would try to make it work. The wind and current made it difficult to fish three lines, and impossible to fish four. I had put out a fourth line with a piece of cut pinfish on it to see if we'd get any takers. Although it did get hit once, that was it, and it was basically in the way. I pulled it down.
The reds were there, but they were acting persnickety, just like the snook. But, over the next hour or so Cliff and Jim caught half a dozen or so reds, and another snook, and missed a few half-hearted hits, too. Once things slowed we were again on the move.
SUMMER FISHING FUN!
Our next stop was at a small mangrove key. The violence of hurricane Charley was still evident, and it looked as if it could have happened just the day before. The ride to it was exhilarating, as we rode into the strong north wind. There was a sharp chop on the water, now, it was reminiscent of riding a motocross bike over berms at 80 MPH! Our efforts yielded one more snook.
I decided to head back south for the last part of the trip, hoping to get out of some of the wind. We managed one more snook before we called it a day.
It had been a good day. Cliff and Jim were happy. Cliff had been on the Talon last year, but Jim hadn't. He just couldn't get over what a great boat she is. And, it sure was good to be out on such a miserable windy day in the Talon. It is so good at eating up that nasty chop, and nothing hurts at the end of the day!
Back at the ramp I ran into a friend of mine in his new boat. He was also just hitting the dock after a trip. He also reported a good day, but noted that he'd struggled to catch anything the day before, and expected the same thing on this day.
The next day was beautiful. The wind was down to a nice breeze, and it was a perfect day for a sightseeing and shelling trip with my friend Alison Ward. Over the last few years Aly and I have fished together with both her Uncle Bill and her brother Bill. Aly loves our paradise and the outdoors, and we always have a great time. But, today we were just going out to play instead of fish. I had a route planned to include taking Aly through so territory she'd not seen. Matlacha Pass, Roosevelt Cut, and a ride through Boca Grande Pass across the north of Pine Island. Because of fuel considerations, the Maverick was the boat of choice.
We left the dock in the light of the full moon, which was being ushered down to the western horizon by the sun trying to erupt behind us. It was a magnificent morning. I decided to take a slow ride through Roosevelt Cut, even though we were approaching the low tide. But, it wasn't that low a tide, and the last time I had been in there right after Charley, there had been plenty of water.
But, as I made the last 50 yards through the narrow channel to the entrance of the cut, I realized things had changed greatly. There was no water, but in the low morning light and the coffee colored water I couldn't see that until it was too late. We were in the blow-boat mode, but not in a blow-boat!
Knowing the water was falling fast, we didn't have a lot of time to try to get the Maverick off the mud. We were only about 20 feet from the deep water. We couldn't push the Mav back in the direction we'd come from, so we grunted and groaned inching her along toward the deep water. While I was resting, and with a bit more light, I realized there was a deep prop scar within about 8 feet of us that led right into the channel. Someone had probably ruined his water pump at the very least, making that deep scar. I knew that if we could get the bow swung around and get the boat to that scar, we'd be home free. And, with a bit more pushing and grunting we were there.
We enjoyed our slow ride along the narrow passage, swapping jokes as we went, and it was amazing to me how much different things looked since I was there two years ago. And, there are still places under repair. Once we were through with that little tour, we headed up to Cayo Costa for some shelling. But, that was a major disappointment. I would have thought that after all the northerly wind we'd have had tons of shells on the beaches. But, all we had was rotting fish carcasses. They'd been there for a while, so the odor wasn't overwhelming. We left with only a handful of shells and $5 in sand dollars!
I headed up the outside of Cayo Costa past Johnson Shoals and through the Pass. I hadn't been that far north in years. Many years. The wind had kicked some out of the northeast, and the pass and the open harbor were a bit bumpy, but not bad. We worked our way around to Matlacha, and on down to the bridge at Matlacha, where we looked for a place to have brunch. We were unsuccessful. At ten in the morning, there seems to be nothing open along the water in Matlacha other than the bait shops. We worked our way on south, and arrived at the Waterfront Restaurant in St. James City at eleven o'clock. Perfect. The doors had just opened. We had a great lunch, and lots of laughs with Bonnie and Gina before heading back toward home.
It had been a fun morning with Aly. She recently lost a very close loved one, and I think that our outing was just the therapy she needed. I was good for me, too. It's amazing how being on the water can renew the soul.
One more slow week for me, and then things pick up considerably for a while, at least.
Tight Lines!
NOTE: Again this week, I added more items to my Fishing Stuff For Sale page, including some flyfishing things. The page includes everything from Shimano Stellas that are perfect, to old collectibles, some of which are perfect, and many that aren't. There are some great rods, both inshore and offshore, old bamboo flyrods, and more. Take a few minutes to check it out.
I've also added a new page Cool Non-Fishing Stuff For Sale,which includes collectibles, electronic items, and other stuff. Check it out!
