Post your 2019-2024 Fluke Pix & Trip Reports Here!
- Thread starter Leprechaun
- Start date
"Boat ran well and got a dinner."
Key take-away from a first trip.
Key take-away from a first trip.
hartattack
Angler
longcast
Well-Known Angler
Some good eats!
longcast
Well-Known Angler
Fantastic eats! Nice haul.
Time to join the party! Splashed this morning. Shake down went perfect. Let's GO!
Snapprhead27
Well-Known Angler
Looking good!
captmike28
Well-Known Angler
The Fluke are already shaking in their boots!!!
Rocco23
Angler
Got out the other morning with some friends, couple here and there made a move and it was good. Well for me for once lol a limit of nice moriches bay fluke 20-22.5 inches .
My younger son was not pleased he couldn’t come because of school and told me flat out you only got keepers because I wasn’t there to get them lol
All on 1/2 ounce jigs tipped with ….. killies
My younger son was not pleased he couldn’t come because of school and told me flat out you only got keepers because I wasn’t there to get them lol
All on 1/2 ounce jigs tipped with ….. killies
longcast
Well-Known Angler
That is a very productive morning! Congrats and good luck the rest of the season!
WhatKnot
Well-Known Angler
Way to go!
hartattack
Angler
Always an adventure - Or, the many joys of owning a "mature" boat
Despite busting my butt this Spring putting my girl into ship-shape condition, checking every possible questionable component for seaworthiness, there's always one more thing that requires attention.
Launched Saturday before last and all seemed fine, ran like a Swiss watch (albeit a watch with 1600+ hours on it), and left her resting in her slip, so to come to terms with the hard running that I'm surely gonna inflict on her this season. Eh, she’s used to it. Don’t even need to steer her much anymore - she knows the way to where I like to spend my Summers.
Went down to the Marina Sunday morning to be sure she was still above the surface (always a plus) and all looked good. Flipped on the bow bilge pump (in a Shammie 26 water tends to run forward, so a bow pump is important) - and that pump ran for a longer period of time than my 26 years of ownership judged correct. There's always a bit of seepage from the shaft's stuffing box when she first goes in, but this was more than that. I did taste it, and sure enough, salt water. Damn - that's not good.
So I checked all the through hulls, transducers and SW hoses, but failed to see anything out of order. Only one other place to look - lifted the hatch to the lazarette and sure enough a slight trail of wetness coming from the bilge plug. I wouldn't call it a "leak," more like seepage, I guess. Double damn.
Because I tend to pay attention when someone with more experience than I tells me how to do something, that's how I’ll do it, until the advice is proven faulty. My boat repair mentor always told me to put the bilge plug in from the outside - so that water pressure would press it tighter to the hull. So despite my lifetime of doing it in the reverse, I listened and complied. Yeah - well not so great, that tidbit of advice bit me in the a$$, because my hull is too deep to reach the bilge plug from my swim platform. She had to come out of the water to change it. Triple damn.
On top of that I found my main bilge pump - the 2000gph Rule under the front of the engine, was not functioning. Strange, because it worked perfectly when I tested it in my side yard just the week before. A bit of diagnosing revealed that the solder joint on its positive wire was bad. How that could happen, what with a "Bell Tel" splice, soldering and doubled-up adhesive-lined shrink wrap, I cannot say. I guess 25 years of faithful service is about all I could reasonably have hoped for.
So I arranged for my Marina (Yachtsmen's Cove in Freeport) to haul her - and of course their "small-boat" lift was down - something about the switchgear or some such thing. They thought they could get it fixed in a couple of days and so I waited for a phone call. Long story short (yeah, right - NONE of my boat repair stories are short), they hauled me Saturday afternoon. Here's a view no boat owner wants to see one week after splashing:
So I picked up a fresh bilge plug at Fred Chall and took it to the boat, removed the old one, and installed the new one from the inside. But something wasn't quite right - did I see some rotational movement of the bilge plug tube? Why yes, yes I did.
Small job just became a considerable larger one. I extracted the bilge plug tube from the hull, which came out far too easily. Take a look - ignore the torn metal on the right, that was my needle-nose pliers doing its thing. Its the OTHER side that was the problem - the flange was completely missing, corroded away, thus allowing the seepage.
Not a toughie to resolve, I've done such a job before on other boats, and I do own the correct tube "crimping" tool. Only problem is that it requires two guys to properly use it, one inside and one outside the boat. No problem, called in a favor and my good friend Mark Kaminski stepped right up. He's the former Golden Tilefish world record holder, btw; and owned the sister to my boat for years. As good a friend as you could ever ask for.
Next morning down to the boat we go, stopping at Fred Chall for a new tube and some 3M 4200 Fast Cure adhesive. Used my handy-dandy plumber's pipe cutter to trim the new tube to the proper size, gave the hole and the tube a good coating of the 4200FC and into the transom she went. Put the crimping tool on it and Mark tightened it down from the inside - and it didn't come close to crimping the tube. Turns out a "party that shall remain nameless" borrowed it last year, damaged the original bolt and replaced it before returning the tool to me. Except the bolt he selected did not have the threads all the way to the head, they stopped half-way up, so no way to complete the crimp.
And the "fast cure" adhesive was showing signs of surface-tightening already. Why do things like this always seem to happen to me? Why can't I ever just do a job and go on with my boating life? Never seems to happen.
So we jumped back into my truck and high-tailed it back to Chall's for fifteen(!) 3/8" fender washers, so to take up the slack in the bolt - naturally they didn't have a bolt that was completely threaded, top to bottom. All this while the schmeared-on adhesive was tightening up by the minute.
Raced back to the boat, re-inserted the tool into the tube and cranked her tight. Nice crimp, but the adhesive, which was about 5 minutes away from turning to concrete-like strength made a real mess, which we cleaned as best we could, inside and out. Important lesson - NEVER use any "fast cure" adhesive if you can avoid it. You never know how a job will go, until you are into it - and this goes double when it comes to boats.
Anyway, went down there yesterday morning, installed the new drain plug from the inside this time, my Marina dropped me back in, and it all worked like a charm.
Fixed the big bilge pump's wiring and I think we're finally ready to go fishing this weekend.
Jeez. About time, I would say.
Despite busting my butt this Spring putting my girl into ship-shape condition, checking every possible questionable component for seaworthiness, there's always one more thing that requires attention.
Launched Saturday before last and all seemed fine, ran like a Swiss watch (albeit a watch with 1600+ hours on it), and left her resting in her slip, so to come to terms with the hard running that I'm surely gonna inflict on her this season. Eh, she’s used to it. Don’t even need to steer her much anymore - she knows the way to where I like to spend my Summers.
Went down to the Marina Sunday morning to be sure she was still above the surface (always a plus) and all looked good. Flipped on the bow bilge pump (in a Shammie 26 water tends to run forward, so a bow pump is important) - and that pump ran for a longer period of time than my 26 years of ownership judged correct. There's always a bit of seepage from the shaft's stuffing box when she first goes in, but this was more than that. I did taste it, and sure enough, salt water. Damn - that's not good.
So I checked all the through hulls, transducers and SW hoses, but failed to see anything out of order. Only one other place to look - lifted the hatch to the lazarette and sure enough a slight trail of wetness coming from the bilge plug. I wouldn't call it a "leak," more like seepage, I guess. Double damn.
Because I tend to pay attention when someone with more experience than I tells me how to do something, that's how I’ll do it, until the advice is proven faulty. My boat repair mentor always told me to put the bilge plug in from the outside - so that water pressure would press it tighter to the hull. So despite my lifetime of doing it in the reverse, I listened and complied. Yeah - well not so great, that tidbit of advice bit me in the a$$, because my hull is too deep to reach the bilge plug from my swim platform. She had to come out of the water to change it. Triple damn.
On top of that I found my main bilge pump - the 2000gph Rule under the front of the engine, was not functioning. Strange, because it worked perfectly when I tested it in my side yard just the week before. A bit of diagnosing revealed that the solder joint on its positive wire was bad. How that could happen, what with a "Bell Tel" splice, soldering and doubled-up adhesive-lined shrink wrap, I cannot say. I guess 25 years of faithful service is about all I could reasonably have hoped for.
So I arranged for my Marina (Yachtsmen's Cove in Freeport) to haul her - and of course their "small-boat" lift was down - something about the switchgear or some such thing. They thought they could get it fixed in a couple of days and so I waited for a phone call. Long story short (yeah, right - NONE of my boat repair stories are short), they hauled me Saturday afternoon. Here's a view no boat owner wants to see one week after splashing:
So I picked up a fresh bilge plug at Fred Chall and took it to the boat, removed the old one, and installed the new one from the inside. But something wasn't quite right - did I see some rotational movement of the bilge plug tube? Why yes, yes I did.
Small job just became a considerable larger one. I extracted the bilge plug tube from the hull, which came out far too easily. Take a look - ignore the torn metal on the right, that was my needle-nose pliers doing its thing. Its the OTHER side that was the problem - the flange was completely missing, corroded away, thus allowing the seepage.
Not a toughie to resolve, I've done such a job before on other boats, and I do own the correct tube "crimping" tool. Only problem is that it requires two guys to properly use it, one inside and one outside the boat. No problem, called in a favor and my good friend Mark Kaminski stepped right up. He's the former Golden Tilefish world record holder, btw; and owned the sister to my boat for years. As good a friend as you could ever ask for.
Next morning down to the boat we go, stopping at Fred Chall for a new tube and some 3M 4200 Fast Cure adhesive. Used my handy-dandy plumber's pipe cutter to trim the new tube to the proper size, gave the hole and the tube a good coating of the 4200FC and into the transom she went. Put the crimping tool on it and Mark tightened it down from the inside - and it didn't come close to crimping the tube. Turns out a "party that shall remain nameless" borrowed it last year, damaged the original bolt and replaced it before returning the tool to me. Except the bolt he selected did not have the threads all the way to the head, they stopped half-way up, so no way to complete the crimp.
And the "fast cure" adhesive was showing signs of surface-tightening already. Why do things like this always seem to happen to me? Why can't I ever just do a job and go on with my boating life? Never seems to happen.
So we jumped back into my truck and high-tailed it back to Chall's for fifteen(!) 3/8" fender washers, so to take up the slack in the bolt - naturally they didn't have a bolt that was completely threaded, top to bottom. All this while the schmeared-on adhesive was tightening up by the minute.
Raced back to the boat, re-inserted the tool into the tube and cranked her tight. Nice crimp, but the adhesive, which was about 5 minutes away from turning to concrete-like strength made a real mess, which we cleaned as best we could, inside and out. Important lesson - NEVER use any "fast cure" adhesive if you can avoid it. You never know how a job will go, until you are into it - and this goes double when it comes to boats.
Anyway, went down there yesterday morning, installed the new drain plug from the inside this time, my Marina dropped me back in, and it all worked like a charm.
Fixed the big bilge pump's wiring and I think we're finally ready to go fishing this weekend.
Jeez. About time, I would say.
captmike28
Well-Known Angler
Yesterday, I had the Neil and his wife along with their close friends visiting from England. We only had a brief window of 3 hours to fish as they had a lunch engagement set up at the majestic Pridwin Hotel on Shelter Island Fished east of the dock and despite a tough wind vs. tide drift we still found the Fluke hungry and willing to take our baits. Managed to boat 5 nice keepers out of 20 fish, a totally new experience for the Brits who were very happy to head home with some fresh Fluke filets for dinner.
Today’s trip found Matt, Kevin, and our host on this board, George S., join me for a combo Striped Bass/Fluke trip. Left the dock real early looking to take advantage of my favorite flood tide at the Race. We arrived just as the tide started to push and after about a 20-minute search, Kevin nails the fist Bass of the day a fat 35” fish, close to 20#. However, despite marking good numbers of fish in a few locations they played hard to get this morning. After the first Bass we ran into the pesky Blues again and landed 3 real brutes in the 10# class. Still a lot more searching and nearly the entire flood tide was needed to land just 2 more 28” Bass to round out our limit. This had to be the toughest Bass trip I have had in a long time on a big moon phase in June.
Back to the bay for the ebb tide and after about 30 minutes of slack water the drift picked up along with the Fluke bite. We spent the next 2.5 hours picking Fluke on each drift with a similar result to the day before, 5 keepers out of about 20 fish total up to 21”. So, ultimately the guys all went home with a nice bag of filet for the table.
Today’s trip found Matt, Kevin, and our host on this board, George S., join me for a combo Striped Bass/Fluke trip. Left the dock real early looking to take advantage of my favorite flood tide at the Race. We arrived just as the tide started to push and after about a 20-minute search, Kevin nails the fist Bass of the day a fat 35” fish, close to 20#. However, despite marking good numbers of fish in a few locations they played hard to get this morning. After the first Bass we ran into the pesky Blues again and landed 3 real brutes in the 10# class. Still a lot more searching and nearly the entire flood tide was needed to land just 2 more 28” Bass to round out our limit. This had to be the toughest Bass trip I have had in a long time on a big moon phase in June.
Back to the bay for the ebb tide and after about 30 minutes of slack water the drift picked up along with the Fluke bite. We spent the next 2.5 hours picking Fluke on each drift with a similar result to the day before, 5 keepers out of about 20 fish total up to 21”. So, ultimately the guys all went home with a nice bag of filet for the table.
Snapprhead27
Well-Known Angler
Thanks again Capt! Pleasure meeting George and Kevin, had a great time. See you next Wed!
longcast
Well-Known Angler
Fished with a great group of guys yesterday. Thank you to Captain Mike!
This was one of those special trips for me. To fish with this great group of anglers that are a huge part of this community was a great feeling. So was the bass, bluefish and fluke we caught. Great captain, great crew, great weather and great fishing. What more can you ask?
📱 Fish Smarter with the NYAngler App!
Launch Now
Launch Now
Latest articles
-
The Great Return: Hard Clams Stage a Remarkable Comeback in the Great South Bay- A Marine Biologist's Deep Dive George, my friend, you've hit upon one of the most...- george
- Updated:
- 7 min read
-
IS THIS THE END OF FISHING AS WE KNOW IT?There’s a new piece of technology making waves, and it’s got the entire fishing community split...
- george
- Updated:
- 2 min read
-
Fishing is About to Change ForeverThe Future of Fishing is Here: Utechwear's U-Track AR Glasses Revolutionize Angling Forever By...
- george
- Updated:
- 14 min read
-
Okuma Introduces the Tesoro Lever Drag Jigging ReelOkuma Introduces the Tesoro Lever Drag Jigging Reel: A Game-Changer for Saltwater Vertical...
- george
- Updated:
- 13 min read
-
Mastering Summer Surf Fishing: Advanced Techniques for Fluke, Stripers, and MoreMastering Summer Surf Fishing: Advanced Techniques for Fluke, Stripers, and More A comprehensive...
- george
- Updated:
- 6 min read