Anything Can & Will Happen On The Water

live bait

Well-Known Angler
Late report going back to Tuesday past, I was deciding if I was going to post or not. My Son had a rare day off during the week & wanted to fish, it looked like we had the tide before the blow so off we go. Get to the Gut on the flood tide & after a couple drifts we both had on bluefish, well at l guess at least one of us wasn't paying attention & now we are tangled right under the outboard. Long story short we end up both lines cut, I guess on the prop, & one good thing the fish are gone. Tilt the motor up & a fair amount of braid wrapped around & behind the prop, & two 8oz sinkers look like they were tied to the prop. Impossible to reach while standing on the swim platform, tried getting the mess lose with a boat hook & failed, zip tied a knife to the end of the boat hook & one knife donated to the deep. Ponder options while drifting out of the rip, can't start the outboard with the sinkers hanging on the prop, #1 option is call sea tow, #2 option is go in the water. After drifting out of the rip decided on #2. I have about 50' of 1/4" line tied to one of the throwables so we got that out & ready & a good length of 3/8 dock line I would use to tie myself to the boat. Stripped down to my birthday suit & put on a PFD, warned my son about taking photos, tied my self to a stern cleat & climbed down the ladder off the swim platform, keeping one arm around the lower unit managed to get it all untangled, & got the braid out from behind the prop, & back up the ladder in the boat, pissed that I dropped the sinkers. Got dried off, dressed & decided to call it a day. Don't know if that was the right decision or not, but it worked out. I guess if I was along, as usual, it would have been a call to sea tow.
 
Late report going back to Tuesday past, I was deciding if I was going to post or not. My Son had a rare day off during the week & wanted to fish, it looked like we had the tide before the blow so off we go. Get to the Gut on the flood tide & after a couple drifts we both had on bluefish, well at l guess at least one of us wasn't paying attention & now we are tangled right under the outboard. Long story short we end up both lines cut, I guess on the prop, & one good thing the fish are gone. Tilt the motor up & a fair amount of braid wrapped around & behind the prop, & two 8oz sinkers look like they were tied to the prop. Impossible to reach while standing on the swim platform, tried getting the mess lose with a boat hook & failed, zip tied a knife to the end of the boat hook & one knife donated to the deep. Ponder options while drifting out of the rip, can't start the outboard with the sinkers hanging on the prop, #1 option is call sea tow, #2 option is go in the water. After drifting out of the rip decided on #2. I have about 50' of 1/4" line tied to one of the throwables so we got that out & ready & a good length of 3/8 dock line I would use to tie myself to the boat. Stripped down to my birthday suit & put on a PFD, warned my son about taking photos, tied my self to a stern cleat & climbed down the ladder off the swim platform, keeping one arm around the lower unit managed to get it all untangled, & got the braid out from behind the prop, & back up the ladder in the boat, pissed that I dropped the sinkers. Got dried off, dressed & decided to call it a day. Don't know if that was the right decision or not, but it worked out. I guess if I was along, as usual, it would have been a call to sea tow.
Wow, John that was quite the scary story. I'm glad it worked out for you safely.

I had a similar situation happen to me once many decades ago, but I was out on Coxes Ledge. I didn't have the nerve to go over the side that far offshore and instead opted for the tow.
 
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