I I I I

[AllyKat]

Got out early sunday am. broke the inlet at 7:30. East wind 5-10. Got to our spot after some engine issues. Decided to play it close to the ramp just in case, and I didn't want to fight the currents at 11B. Set up in 40 feet of water...very sporadic bite, lots of bait stealers. Couldn't get them going good, and the wind picking up from the SE that had us all over the place as well as pulled the hook twice. Re set the anchor quite a few times. By 11 am the wind was blowing 20 and higher from the south, with higher gusts, but the fishing was picking up as the outgoing started. Tommy again had the big fish of the day with an 18 incher. We had other plans for the day so we left the biting, and the motored home slowly after alarms came up on the ride back. Super high water at the ramp where I cut the fish and made the birds happy. Water temps were 56 degrees...hopefully at least one more trip next weekend if I can figure out what my alarms are.

 

[Roccus7]

Got out early sunday am. broke the inlet at 7:30. East wind 5-10. Got to our spot after some engine issues. Decided to play it close to the ramp just in case, and I didn't want to fight the currents at 11B. Set up in 40 feet of water...very sporadic bite, lots of bait stealers. Couldn't get them going good, and the wind picking up from the SE that had us all over the place as well as pulled the hook twice. Re set the anchor quite a few times. By 11 am the wind was blowing 20 and higher from the south, with higher gusts, but the fishing was picking up as the outgoing started. Tommy again had the big fish of the day with an 18 incher. We had other plans for the day so we left the biting, and the motored home slowly after alarms came up on the ride back. Super high water at the ramp where I cut the fish and made the birds happy. Water temps were 56 degrees...hopefully at least one more trip next weekend if I can figure out what my alarms are.

Boats, the ultimate Love/Hate relationship. Hope you sort things out quickly and inexpen$ively...

 

[captmike28]

As Roccus noted the love/hate relationship with boats is one we all deal with on a regular basis.

Nowhere is it more evident than with Blackfishing where the absolute best spots for Tog are usually the most evil bottom anywhere. The kind that really plays havoc on ground tackle and related systems on yrou boat.

A case in point is what happened to me on this past Saturday’s charter. I was fishing on a favorite reef where I have a couple of sets of numbers that over the years have cost me at least 2 lost anchors and more than a few bent flukes. In fact, I have those 2 spots marked with “skull and crossbones” in my log book to make sure I don’t get too close!!

Anyway, I get the boat properly positioned and my group is picking nicely for about 2 hours finishing off their limit catch by the time the ebb tide is really starting to crank. I go to retrieve my anchor but the combination of a screaming 5kt. new moon ebb tide plus a 20kt. NW wind has the anchor dug in solid to the nasty bottom.

Now I work with a special trip mechanism system I found 2 years ago that almost always breaks the hook free under most circumstances. But this day the hook was really solidly lodged in the rocks. Despite a fair amount of caution in applying pressure to break the shear pin I could not budge the anchor. So, foolishly I applied just a little too much force with my engine and actually broke my heavy cast steel pivoting roller mechanism in half! First time I have ever seen that happen. Fortunately, I also have an anchor ball retrieval system aboard and ultimately it did allow me to free the ground tackle and recover everything. Even luckier for me was I had a spare roller mechanism in my basement which I swapped out today so I am back in business once again.

It is truly amazing how much heartache and expense the dedicated Tog fisherman will put up with just to catch a few good ones!!!

 

[WhatKnot]

As Roccus noted the love/hate relationship with boats is one we all deal with on a regular basis.

Nowhere is it more evident than with Blackfishing where the absolute best spots for Tog are usually the most evil bottom anywhere. The kind that really plays havoc on ground tackle and related systems on yrou boat.

A case in point is what happened to me on this past Saturday’s charter. I was fishing on a favorite reef where I have a couple of sets of numbers that over the years have cost me at least 2 lost anchors and more than a few bent flukes. In fact, I have those 2 spots marked with “skull and crossbones” in my log book to make sure I don’t get too close!!

Anyway, I get the boat properly positioned and my group is picking nicely for about 2 hours finishing off their limit catch by the time the ebb tide is really starting to crank. I go to retrieve my anchor but the combination of a screaming 5kt. new moon ebb tide plus a 20kt. NW wind has the anchor dug in solid to the nasty bottom.

Now I work with a special trip mechanism system I found 2 years ago that almost always breaks the hook free under most circumstances. But this day the hook was really solidly lodged in the rocks. Despite a fair amount of caution in applying pressure to break the shear pin I could not budge the anchor. So, foolishly I applied just a little too much force with my engine and actually broke my heavy cast steel pivoting roller mechanism in half! First time I have ever seen that happen. Fortunately, I also have an anchor ball retrieval system aboard and ultimately it did allow me to free the ground tackle and recover everything. Even luckier for me was I had a spare roller mechanism in my basement which I swapped out today so I am back in business once again.

It is truly amazing how much heartache and expense the dedicated Tog fisherman will put up with just to catch a few good ones!!!
View attachment 27016

So true

 

[Fluke Whisperer]

Got out early sunday am. broke the inlet at 7:30. East wind 5-10. Got to our spot after some engine issues. Decided to play it close to the ramp just in case, and I didn't want to fight the currents at 11B. Set up in 40 feet of water...very sporadic bite, lots of bait stealers. Couldn't get them going good, and the wind picking up from the SE that had us all over the place as well as pulled the hook twice. Re set the anchor quite a few times. By 11 am the wind was blowing 20 and higher from the south, with higher gusts, but the fishing was picking up as the outgoing started. Tommy again had the big fish of the day with an 18 incher. We had other plans for the day so we left the biting, and the motored home slowly after alarms came up on the ride back. Super high water at the ramp where I cut the fish and made the birds happy. Water temps were 56 degrees...hopefully at least one more trip next weekend if I can figure out what my alarms are.

Drew, if both your engines are tied together with the alarm system, it will put both engines into safe mode.
Most of the time the alarms are for over heating, low oil and water in the gas.

My alarm never went off when my oil float in the aux tank got stuck, Saturday I went through the whole engine tested all the connections and cleaned most of the grounds that were corroded.

I installed the new aux switch and replaced the VST filter and installed new plugs, the old ones were soaked in oil.

Started it up and it smoked so bad that my next door neighbor thought my house was on fire, after 10 to 15 minutes of running time, it burned off all the excess oil, started to run better, the engine picked up in rpms and was running with no more missing or sputtering, I put the engine in gear and ran it at 1200 rpms, it eventually got to 2100 rpms on it's own after burring off all the excess so I backed off and the engine was idling nice and smooth, this coming weekend will be the deciding factor.

Because our engines are 16 and 19 yrs old, sensors are gonna go bad, the only way to know is to disconnect the sensors while the alarm goes off, or short them out, I suspect that you may be having false alarms due to faulty sensors.

Anyways, I hope you find out what's going on and you are back in the water this weekend.
Jay

 

[NoFlukenName]

As Roccus noted the love/hate relationship with boats is one we all deal with on a regular basis.

Nowhere is it more evident than with Blackfishing where the absolute best spots for Tog are usually the most evil bottom anywhere. The kind that really plays havoc on ground tackle and related systems on yrou boat.

A case in point is what happened to me on this past Saturday’s charter. I was fishing on a favorite reef where I have a couple of sets of numbers that over the years have cost me at least 2 lost anchors and more than a few bent flukes. In fact, I have those 2 spots marked with “skull and crossbones” in my log book to make sure I don’t get too close!!

Anyway, I get the boat properly positioned and my group is picking nicely for about 2 hours finishing off their limit catch by the time the ebb tide is really starting to crank. I go to retrieve my anchor but the combination of a screaming 5kt. new moon ebb tide plus a 20kt. NW wind has the anchor dug in solid to the nasty bottom.

Now I work with a special trip mechanism system I found 2 years ago that almost always breaks the hook free under most circumstances. But this day the hook was really solidly lodged in the rocks. Despite a fair amount of caution in applying pressure to break the shear pin I could not budge the anchor. So, foolishly I applied just a little too much force with my engine and actually broke my heavy cast steel pivoting roller mechanism in half! First time I have ever seen that happen. Fortunately, I also have an anchor ball retrieval system aboard and ultimately it did allow me to free the ground tackle and recover everything. Even luckier for me was I had a spare roller mechanism in my basement which I swapped out today so I am back in business once again.

It is truly amazing how much heartache and expense the dedicated Tog fisherman will put up with just to catch a few good ones!!!
View attachment 27016

Captain Mike - have you considered using a wreck anchor? They are great for rocky areas and they are “bendable” so they straighten out when trying to pull out of the rocks and then bend back in place to their original shape fairly easily with a PVC pipe. I’ve never lost one (pre trolling motor of course).

 

[AllyKat]

Drew, if both your engines are tied together with the alarm system, it will put both engines into safe mode.
Most of the time the alarms are for over heating, low oil and water in the gas.

My alarm never went off when my oil float in the aux tank got stuck, Saturday I went through the whole engine tested all the connections and cleaned most of the grounds that were corroded.

I installed the new aux switch and replaced the VST filter and installed new plugs, the old ones were soaked in oil.

Started it up and it smoked so bad that my next door neighbor thought my house was on fire, after 10 to 15 minutes of running time, it burned off all the excess oil, started to run better, the engine picked up in rpms and was running with no more missing or sputtering, I put the engine in gear and ran it at 1200 rpms, it eventually got to 2100 rpms on it's own after burring off all the excess so I backed off and the engine was idling nice and smooth, this coming weekend will be the deciding factor.

Because our engines are 16 and 19 yrs old, sensors are gonna go bad, the only way to know is to disconnect the sensors while the alarm goes off, or short them out, I suspect that you may be having false alarms due to faulty sensors.

Anyways, I hope you find out what's going on and you are back in the water this weekend.
Jay

Thanks Jay...glad to hear you got your HPDI running well...enjoy it while you can!!!!
I do believe they are tied in together because they both went into limp mode. I shut off Port and SB revved no problem. I'd be surprised to find that Port has overheat issue because the Impellor, t-stats, and poppet were all replaced this season....although I did notice the tell tale stream was kind of weak on the hose at the house. There was atleast 1/3 tank of oil still so I don't think that was the issue, although I have not pulled the engine cover to see what that tanks was at.
It never ends.

 

[Chinacat]

As Roccus noted the love/hate relationship with boats is one we all deal with on a regular basis.

Nowhere is it more evident than with Blackfishing where the absolute best spots for Tog are usually the most evil bottom anywhere. The kind that really plays havoc on ground tackle and related systems on yrou boat.

A case in point is what happened to me on this past Saturday’s charter. I was fishing on a favorite reef where I have a couple of sets of numbers that over the years have cost me at least 2 lost anchors and more than a few bent flukes. In fact, I have those 2 spots marked with “skull and crossbones” in my log book to make sure I don’t get too close!!

Anyway, I get the boat properly positioned and my group is picking nicely for about 2 hours finishing off their limit catch by the time the ebb tide is really starting to crank. I go to retrieve my anchor but the combination of a screaming 5kt. new moon ebb tide plus a 20kt. NW wind has the anchor dug in solid to the nasty bottom.

Now I work with a special trip mechanism system I found 2 years ago that almost always breaks the hook free under most circumstances. But this day the hook was really solidly lodged in the rocks. Despite a fair amount of caution in applying pressure to break the shear pin I could not budge the anchor. So, foolishly I applied just a little too much force with my engine and actually broke my heavy cast steel pivoting roller mechanism in half! First time I have ever seen that happen. Fortunately, I also have an anchor ball retrieval system aboard and ultimately it did allow me to free the ground tackle and recover everything. Even luckier for me was I had a spare roller mechanism in my basement which I swapped out today so I am back in business once again.

It is truly amazing how much heartache and expense the dedicated Tog fisherman will put up with just to catch a few good ones!!!
View attachment 27016

WOW
That's crazy Capt Mike.
I guess that's why being captain requires being able to transition to mechanic and engineer as needed on a regular basis.
Personally, I consider it a great day on the water any day I get back to the dock with no grease on my hands LOL

 

[Roccus7]

WOW
That's crazy Capt Mike.
I guess that's why being captain requires being able to transition to mechanic and engineer as needed on a regular basis.
Personally, I consider it a great day on the water any day I get back to the dock with no grease on my hands LOL

Great point. In Ireland whenever I needed plant engineers I would go up to Killybegs, a commercial fishing port, and made sure we recruited "Edgars". Talk about Jack of All Trades and Masters of All!!!

 

[captmike28]

Captain Mike - have you considered using a wreck anchor? They are great for rocky areas and they are “bendable” so they straighten out when trying to pull out of the rocks and then bend back in place to their original shape fairly easily with a PVC pipe. I’ve never lost one (pre trolling motor of course).

Hi John,
Yes I have considered and even tried a wreck anchor once or twice. My only problem with those is the rebar can also "straighten out" at an inconvenient time on it's own under a lot of strain. I keenly remember being pushed off a favorite piece of bottom when the force of wind and tide caused the bar to give way and I had to start the process all over again.
Remember I have a lot more weight and windage on my vessel as compared to yours.

What I like about my current trip mechanism is that the "shear pins" are professionally matched to the size of your ground tackle and vessel through the use of a real "load tester" in the factory. In the last 2 years of use it has worked perfectly every time I needed it. I think what may have happened last Saturday was that in the extremely strong wind and tide situation I may not have been running up over the "breaker bar system" directly but perhaps at an angle which did not allow it to break the shear pin cleanly.
Thanks for the input.
Mike

 

[Roccus7]

Hi John,
Yes I have considered and even tried a wreck anchor once or twice. My only problem with those is the rebar can also "straighten out" at an inconvenient time on it's own under a lot of strain. I keenly remember being pushed off a favorite piece of bottom when the force of wind and tide caused the bar to give way and I had to start the process all over again.
Remember I have a lot more weight and windage on my vessel as compared to yours.

What I like about my current trip mechanism is that the "shear pins" are professionally matched to the size of your ground tackle and vessel through the use of a real "load tester" in the factory. In the last 2 years of use it has worked perfectly every time I needed it. I think what may have happened last Saturday was that in the extremely strong wind and tide situation I may not have been running up over the "breaker bar system" directly but perhaps at an angle which did not allow it to break the shear pin cleanly.
Thanks for the input.
Mike

You mentioned a buoy retrieval system, but not sure if that's the one where you run a buoy down along the rode or another technique I'm thinking about for my Danforth, since anchoring here is a constant battle with rock ledges.

What I'm considering is drilling a hole in one of the tripping palms and installing a shackle there. You clip a substantially heavy line, and appropriately long line to the shackle and end it with a buoy. If you can't haul up normally, you grab the "Safety Line", tie it off to a cleat and see if you can back the anchor out.

I've never tried it, but am considering it. Has anyone tried this one??

 

[captmike28]

Hi Roccus,
There are many buoy retrieval and trip mechanism systems employed by those of us who frequently fish the rockiest locations. Most of them work on the same principle as you describe which is setting up a method to be able to pull the anchor free by the crown rather than the shank once it becomes stuck.

My objection to the type that use a safety line is they are pretty awkward to use, especially in deep water, say over 40'.
The anchor ball system has been around for a really long time, is very reliable, and works quite well in most situations. The main caveat here is to learn how to use it properly and be really careful not to run up on your rode at such an angle as to have your anchor line get caught in your wheel. While I always have this aboard my vessel for emergencies, over the years I have had a few situations where even the ball did not break free a seriously fouled anchor.

The commercially made product I have used the last 2 years is called Anchor Saver. Essentially it is a sophisticated way to attach the crown and shank through a stainless steel cable with a carefully "load tested" shear pin attached to the shackle nearest the shank. There is a "breaker bar" that is also part of this system near the shear pin. So when my anchor gets stuck, I run just a little forward of the hook and nearly every time the force generated by the breaker bar on the shear pin breaks the pin and then allows me to retrieve the anchor by pulling it in from the crown. This past Saturday was only time I ever found it to not work as described after about 6 or 7 other snagged situations during the last 2 seasons. As you can tell I fish some really nasty bottom!

I am not a spokesman for the company nor do I get any revenue from this firm. I just think it's about the most effective tool I have found in almost 50 years for boat ownership that actually works as described. The initial investment is about $140 and the replacement shear pins are about $5 apiece. Sometimes you may also have to replace a standard $4 shackle. At a $10 replacement cost for parts vs. hundreds of dollars for a quality anchor or even more if you lose a significant part of your rode, I think this is a bargain.
Capt. Mike

 

[Roccus7]

Hi Roccus,
There are many buoy retrieval and trip mechanism systems employed by those of us who frequently fish the rockiest locations. Most of them work on the same principle as you describe which is setting up a method to be able to pull the anchor free by the crown rather than the shank once it becomes stuck.

My objection to the type that use a safety line is they are pretty awkward to use, especially in deep water, say over 40'.
The anchor ball system has been around for a really long time, is very reliable, and works quite well in most situations. The main caveat here is to learn how to use it properly and be really careful not to run up on your rode at such an angle as to have your anchor line get caught in your wheel. While I always have this aboard my vessel for emergencies, over the years I have had a few situations where even the ball did not break free a seriously fouled anchor.

The commercially made product I have used the last 2 years is called Anchor Saver. Essentially it is a sophisticated way to attach the crown and shank through a stainless steel cable with a carefully "load tested" shear pin attached to the shackle nearest the shank. There is a "breaker bar" that is also part of this system near the shear pin. So when my anchor gets stuck, I run just a little forward of the hook and nearly every time the force generated by the breaker bar on the shear pin breaks the pin and then allows me to retrieve the anchor by pulling it in from the crown. This past Saturday was only time I ever found it to not work as described after about 6 or 7 other snagged situations during the last 2 seasons. As you can tell I fish some really nasty bottom!

I am not a spokesman for the company nor do I get any revenue from this firm. I just think it's about the most effective tool I have found in almost 50 years for boat ownership that actually works as described. The initial investment is about $140 and the replacement shear pins are about $5 apiece. Sometimes you may also have to replace a standard $4 shackle. At a $10 replacement cost for parts vs. hundreds of dollars for a quality anchor or even more if you lose a significant part of your rode, I think this is a bargain.
Capt. Mike

Will check it out. This may be what I'm looking for when I need to anchor in shallow water. I can save $40 by getting the "older" model that doesn't come with the cable, just depending on the chain. What are your thoughts on the differences?

I've delayed implementing the float off the tripping palms for the very reason you mentioned, who needs another long length of line out there?

For the > 100' ft depths, I have an anchor ball system that I picked up from the bargain corner of at Hamilton for a song, but have kept it in the box. When I'm out in the deep, I tend to drift to avoid all the hassles of anchoring/hauling.

 

[captmike28]

Whether you use the chain or cable version of Anchor Saver the principle of operation is still the same. Since I have the cable version and have not tried the older chain variant I cannot say from personal experience if there is any difference in performance.

Obviously the cable version has a smaller overall profile so I would suspect it may be a little easier to work with if your boat is equipped with a windlass. I have a Good Automatic, free drop style windlass on my vessel so the cable version seemed like the best choice for me.

As I mentioned above, I also have a ball aboard at all times. In fact, before getting the Anchor Saver it was the main tool I used to free an severely stuck anchor. Just like the benefit of redundancy with your marine electronics it certainly can't hurt to have another option at your disposal when it comes to saving your ground tackle.