Bad beginning to a decent day.

acarb

Me,my wife and good friend Earl shot down to Destin fri night.We got to the marina around 5:30 sat mornin.Lil Bit was already in the water and iced up. We loaded the gear and cooler and headed to the pass.I put the boat on plane and instantly hear a noise comin from the back of the boat.I give Earl the wheel and check the noise to find half of my transducer slapping the transom.:banghead
I remove the transducer bracket and decide i can Mcgyver up somthin and we head out.We spent an hour getting bait and not many at that.I head the boat 12 miles s/se to check a coral number and no luck. We head to another # 8 miles s and get into some short aj and ARS that all are over 22". I head w to what i am hoping to be my day maker and it is covered with ARS. Earl hooks up to a nurse shark and get his a** woopin for the day!I didnt get to fish a whole lot but did hook a ufo and lost it after a 5 min fight.My wife gets her fill of snapper fishing and tells me to find some grouper or take her to the hill! I head w again to a number i have not tried yet. Earl drops a live bait and gets a nice red grouper.Wife gets rocked up at least 3 times and then it shuts down.
I am about to call it when Earl hollers MAHI! We spend the next 30 min playin with chicken dolphin and having a blast.The days total was 1 good red grouper and 10 mahi. I dont think that was to bad for fishin half blind and the wife and i got some time together. Was a good day!

Split Shot

Sounds great! We had a similar start for the morning and turned out great!
Glad you made it down for some of the nicest weather in a long time.

acarb

The really cool thing is that the guys at North Light Marina stood tall and took responsibility for the transducer. Mark ,the manager, offered to have it fixed with no argument whatsoever!I was all fired up for an argument and he went and ruined it for me.I dont let anyone touch my boat except me so i declined the repair but we worked it out on storage time. Great bunch of folks at North Light!

Panhandler80

Way to scrape together a few fish.

Bottom fishing in 2012 with no bottom machine is tough. Way to hang in there.

acarb

acarb

My photo work needs some help.

LilOrange

That sucks about the transducer...............been there & done that. Last summer we headed out and got to our first spot about 20 something miles out. Got in close with the GPS, switched over to the sonar......... and nothing. After spending 15 minutes or so checking all connections, batteries, etc & looking over the transom and seeing nothing.....I was volunteered to go swimming in 120-ft of water before breakfast. So, overboard I go and came back up with less luck than you had......only a hand full of empty wire......transducer completely gone! We spent the entire rest of the day bottom fishing completely blind & went home with no keepers. We could get close to our spots with the GPS but could never get right where we needed to be. It really sucked since I drove all the way down from Tennessee & the rest of the crew had come down from Alabama. Now, we keep a spare portable depth finder on the boat at all times. Hopefully that was the last time that situation will ruin our whole trip.

So, I'm glad to see that you were able to salavge the day & catch some fish. Thanks for sharing your "adventure".

Circle-Hook

Stuff breaks- I run 2 combo units and have a spare head in the truck- plus hand held GPS. It does not help though- I still can't catch no fish- but I can see 'em.

Beck

Very nice!

Ever consider a thru hull transducer? I put one in last year.

acarb

Beck wrote: »

Very nice!

Ever consider a thru hull transducer? I put one in last year.

Hell i am considering another boat!

Beck

acarb wrote: »

Hell i am considering another boat!

Why?

acarb

Beck wrote: »

Why?

I have a Thunderbird/Fountain 27 project that i need to start on. I cant afford both boats. Lil Bit needs some minor stuff along with the transducer.I want more boat but Lil Bit is an awsome little fishin vessel. My wife and i are on the fence on which which one to keep.

Beck

What model is Lil Bit?

I spotted a 24 Wellcraft project boat the other day and I was tempted.......

acarb

2004 Sea Pro 206 cc
2010 Yamaha 150 2 stroke (lil bad a** to)
cruise 30-32 top out 41 loaded

Beck

acarb wrote: »

2004 Sea Pro 206 cc
2010 Yamaha 150 2 stroke (lil bad a** to)
cruise 30-32 top out 41 loaded

The only problem with selling one and fixing the other is being without a boat.......my worst fear.

Fountain pics?

acarb

Beck

Both very nice.....only advice I can offer is along the lines of thinking for myself.

Sea Pro is a good boat, and that size is not too expensive to operate......plus, you catch fish in it. Will you catch more fish in the Fountain? It will certainly cost more to operate.

The cost of operation, and the short seasons are the biggest reasons I have not bought an offshore style boat. You can catch Snapper and Grouper with fairly short runs In the panhandle. Not to mention a 40 day snapper season and a 4 month Gag season......

acarb

Yeah the 27 has twin 302s in it, so cost is gonna be an issue.The fountain has a cuddy and a head for my girls and is family friendly. The 27 was given to me by an old customer of mine and i cant sell it. We are gonna ponder on it for a while.

Beck

acarb wrote: »

Yeah the 27 has twin 302s in it, so cost is gonna be an issue.The fountain has a cuddy and a head for my girls and is family friendly. The 27 was given to me by an old customer of mine and i cant sell it. We are gonna ponder on it for a while.

Twin 302s.......yikes!