sandcasting
08-08-2005, 12:56 PM
With the Gulf grouper regulations set to change we chartered a local captain to take us out for one last freezer filling trip. The plan was to bottom fish for grouper and snapper, and hopefully get a quick shot at some passing dorado.
Got up Saturday morning just after 4, still a bit loopy from all the black and tans a few hours before. Quick breakfast of bacon and eggs and the six of us were off to meet the boat. Loaded our food and drinks just after 6 and made the quick trip out through John's Pass. As the sun broke the horizon and the first strong rays cut throught the early morning clouds the captain went over the neccessary safety items: life jackets, throwable floatation device and the EPIRB.
I was half asleep in a bean-bag chair in the stern when the captain throttled back the engines. I was ready to drop the first baits of the day. But captain asked me to get up so he could take a look in the hatch. When the lid came off the bilge was full of water. He had noticed that the bilge pump came on and wasn't shutting off and wanted to see why. We were 17.5 miles out of JP.
Soon every hatch on that side of the vessel was open the the problem was found. The hull had cracked in two places. One about a foot long and the other crack was at least 3 feet in length. The boat was immeadiatly turned for home. The captain and mate hooked up another pump and by creeping along at 6 knots the pumps were able to keep up with the flooding water. One time we sped up and tried to get the boat on plane, and a wave of water came gushing in. So, dejected, we slowly drove back to the dock.
The captain handled everything very professionally. He made some radio and satellite telephone calls, and had another boat ready to come pick us up if we didn't want to deal with the slow ride. But, we elected to tough it out. And at the end he thanked us for remaining calm and refunded all of our money.
When the cracks were first discovered, I started chugging anything with cafeine and eating power bars for energy in case I needed to swim. Another guy just kept pounding beers, "So I'd be numb when the sharks came for me," he said. I didn't even touch a fishing rod all day, and by 1030 we were bellied up at the only open bar on the beach. Not the trip we were expecting or hoping for, and no grouper fillets for the freezer.
Got up Saturday morning just after 4, still a bit loopy from all the black and tans a few hours before. Quick breakfast of bacon and eggs and the six of us were off to meet the boat. Loaded our food and drinks just after 6 and made the quick trip out through John's Pass. As the sun broke the horizon and the first strong rays cut throught the early morning clouds the captain went over the neccessary safety items: life jackets, throwable floatation device and the EPIRB.
I was half asleep in a bean-bag chair in the stern when the captain throttled back the engines. I was ready to drop the first baits of the day. But captain asked me to get up so he could take a look in the hatch. When the lid came off the bilge was full of water. He had noticed that the bilge pump came on and wasn't shutting off and wanted to see why. We were 17.5 miles out of JP.
Soon every hatch on that side of the vessel was open the the problem was found. The hull had cracked in two places. One about a foot long and the other crack was at least 3 feet in length. The boat was immeadiatly turned for home. The captain and mate hooked up another pump and by creeping along at 6 knots the pumps were able to keep up with the flooding water. One time we sped up and tried to get the boat on plane, and a wave of water came gushing in. So, dejected, we slowly drove back to the dock.
The captain handled everything very professionally. He made some radio and satellite telephone calls, and had another boat ready to come pick us up if we didn't want to deal with the slow ride. But, we elected to tough it out. And at the end he thanked us for remaining calm and refunded all of our money.
When the cracks were first discovered, I started chugging anything with cafeine and eating power bars for energy in case I needed to swim. Another guy just kept pounding beers, "So I'd be numb when the sharks came for me," he said. I didn't even touch a fishing rod all day, and by 1030 we were bellied up at the only open bar on the beach. Not the trip we were expecting or hoping for, and no grouper fillets for the freezer.