Avenger
Well-Known Angler
I wasn't going to do a full report because there's nothing to report. But a few things happened that may be worthy of discussion, or at least a chuckle.
Last week my pack of misfit friends and I determined this would be a good time to go shark fishing. The weather looked good so we picked Friday as the best day. There's a minor problem because the other two are out of town. So I was instructed to go to the local tackle shop on Tuesday and order mackerel and chum. The local shop's counterman informs me that they have neither, but would look into ordering in for Thursday afternoon and call me later with an update. Okay. So I call the other two and advise them of same. And one says he'll check with his local shop and see if they can supply us. Simple, right?
A little while later I get a call back and proceed to have about the daftest conversation I think I've ever had in my life.
We need to digress briefly to familiarize you with the cast of characters. A: Will be yours truly. C: Is the Captain. It's relevant to know that neither of us eat fish.
L: Is a friend of the captain who has become a mutual friend over many years. And P: is the passenger. He really doesn't figure in this much, except he seems to have extremely bad luck on the boat. Maybe he's a jinx, but he stayed in the boat this time, so we'll withhold judgement for now.
Anyhoo, I get a call from C: while I'm driving. On the speaker I can hear L: in the background. I can also hear that they're in a tavern. What could possibly...
C: L's guy may be able to get mackerel, but he's only got slimy chum.
A: What do you mean slimy chum?
C: It's fresh bunker, not frozen. We need frozen.
A: Soooooo, ask them to put one in the freezer?
C: Why don't you check with the fish market and see what Bluefish is selling for? It can't be more than $1.99 a pound. Maybe we can use that for bait.
A: ARE YOU LISTENING TO YOURSELF?! What makes you think I've ever walked into a fish market in my life?!
C: Well, it's a low value fish it can't be more than $1.99 a pound.
In the background - L: Get The Fu¢# Out of Here! $1.99 a pound.
A: to L (Guessing I'm on a speaker, or at least audible) "GUESS WHO ELSE HAS NEVER SET FOOT IN A FISH MARKET IN THEIR LIFE?!" $1.99 a pound they're not even keeping it on the boat, let alone bringing it to the dock.
C: Okay, then cancel the chum order.
A: Well, if he can get it shouldn't we just get it from him? I mean we have no guarantees yet anywhere else.
C: Oh,... yeah,... okay. Let me know what the local shop says.
A: Right.
So, we got all of this resolved but it leads to a question for the nyangler crowd. We used to get a cube of frozen bunker that lasted all day, but now we got a couple of smaller bricks which pretty much dissolved in a couple of hours. Is this shrinkflation, or have things changed in the bait industry?
We ran out to the windmills to set up. Fishing was uneventful. We certainly weren't disturbed by any sharks. There was one hit that ate a bait, but was probably a bluefish. The captain and L both claimed to have seen sharks jump, but I missed the show. Maybe they weren't making it up. We persisted for an hour or so after the chum ran out, because otherwise we'd have been home by noon. But no chum slick = no sharks so we eventually gave up.
On the way back we elected to stop at a gas dock to top off so we could divvy up the cost of the trip. Leaving the gas dock, when we were out of the 5 MPH zone we throttled up and horrific screeching noises combined with zero acceleration looks like the hub we just replaced has failed again.
This is the curse that hangs over my life. NOTHING ever goes right on the first try. Tomorrow we're going to pull the prop and have a looksy. I don't have a good feeling about what were going to find.
So, no sharks and another slow ride home on one engine. I guess we should have left when we ran out of chum. We could have gotten home at a more reasonable hour.
Phooey.
Last week my pack of misfit friends and I determined this would be a good time to go shark fishing. The weather looked good so we picked Friday as the best day. There's a minor problem because the other two are out of town. So I was instructed to go to the local tackle shop on Tuesday and order mackerel and chum. The local shop's counterman informs me that they have neither, but would look into ordering in for Thursday afternoon and call me later with an update. Okay. So I call the other two and advise them of same. And one says he'll check with his local shop and see if they can supply us. Simple, right?
A little while later I get a call back and proceed to have about the daftest conversation I think I've ever had in my life.
We need to digress briefly to familiarize you with the cast of characters. A: Will be yours truly. C: Is the Captain. It's relevant to know that neither of us eat fish.
L: Is a friend of the captain who has become a mutual friend over many years. And P: is the passenger. He really doesn't figure in this much, except he seems to have extremely bad luck on the boat. Maybe he's a jinx, but he stayed in the boat this time, so we'll withhold judgement for now.
Anyhoo, I get a call from C: while I'm driving. On the speaker I can hear L: in the background. I can also hear that they're in a tavern. What could possibly...
C: L's guy may be able to get mackerel, but he's only got slimy chum.
A: What do you mean slimy chum?
C: It's fresh bunker, not frozen. We need frozen.
A: Soooooo, ask them to put one in the freezer?
C: Why don't you check with the fish market and see what Bluefish is selling for? It can't be more than $1.99 a pound. Maybe we can use that for bait.
A: ARE YOU LISTENING TO YOURSELF?! What makes you think I've ever walked into a fish market in my life?!
C: Well, it's a low value fish it can't be more than $1.99 a pound.
In the background - L: Get The Fu¢# Out of Here! $1.99 a pound.
A: to L (Guessing I'm on a speaker, or at least audible) "GUESS WHO ELSE HAS NEVER SET FOOT IN A FISH MARKET IN THEIR LIFE?!" $1.99 a pound they're not even keeping it on the boat, let alone bringing it to the dock.
C: Okay, then cancel the chum order.
A: Well, if he can get it shouldn't we just get it from him? I mean we have no guarantees yet anywhere else.
C: Oh,... yeah,... okay. Let me know what the local shop says.
A: Right.
So, we got all of this resolved but it leads to a question for the nyangler crowd. We used to get a cube of frozen bunker that lasted all day, but now we got a couple of smaller bricks which pretty much dissolved in a couple of hours. Is this shrinkflation, or have things changed in the bait industry?
We ran out to the windmills to set up. Fishing was uneventful. We certainly weren't disturbed by any sharks. There was one hit that ate a bait, but was probably a bluefish. The captain and L both claimed to have seen sharks jump, but I missed the show. Maybe they weren't making it up. We persisted for an hour or so after the chum ran out, because otherwise we'd have been home by noon. But no chum slick = no sharks so we eventually gave up.
On the way back we elected to stop at a gas dock to top off so we could divvy up the cost of the trip. Leaving the gas dock, when we were out of the 5 MPH zone we throttled up and horrific screeching noises combined with zero acceleration looks like the hub we just replaced has failed again.
This is the curse that hangs over my life. NOTHING ever goes right on the first try. Tomorrow we're going to pull the prop and have a looksy. I don't have a good feeling about what were going to find.
So, no sharks and another slow ride home on one engine. I guess we should have left when we ran out of chum. We could have gotten home at a more reasonable hour.
Phooey.
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