Well here I am again – I have not posted in almost a year. There is so much that has taken place, that I don’t even know where to start. So I think I will go backwards a bit. No promises that I will keep this updated, but I actually think about it a lot, and will try. For now though, my family is healthy, the keys are still in lockdown, spring is here in full, and the fishing is off the charts.
The biggest news of the past year is Laura and Kyle had our granddaughter Lilly on August 30th last year. So 8 months old already!!!!! Crazy cool stuff right there! Do I insert a ton of baby pics? Why not a few!
Let’s get back to the program here. On my last post, I was talking about the good news and bad news story of our Parker the Woody Too. As the year went last year, I spent a ton of time chasing reliability issues. We fished it some, but I really got less and less comfortable with it in the deep. Then right after the first of the year, the old Yamaha finally blew and we ended up limping home with some really scary sounds coming from the engine. Result – the Woody Too got a major upgrade and we put a new Suzuki 300 on the back.
What a difference! The change from the first generation 4 stroke outboard technology (2002 Yamaha 225) to the new 2020 variant is unreal ( Suzuki df300a). Fly by wire controls, NEMA 2000 networked engine gauges, full controls at both stations, and a ton of horsepower! I went from a 20 knot cruise to 25 knots at the same fuel economy.
One of my favorite parts, when I hit the throttle coming out of the hole the bow does not rise! She just goes and accelerates on to a plane. I also notice that I hardly put any trim tab in, and I am jacking the engine trim way up on the flat. So I am a pretty pleased pup! It has taken time and effort to dial it in. We went through a couple prop iterations, with me finally settling on the 16 inch wheel turning a 17 inch pitch. Truly amazing how different the boat handles.
Taking advantage, Robin and I have spent the quarantine time breaking in the new engine and burning a lot of gas getting to know it. We also have capitalized on fishing opportunities when weather windows present themselves, and there are fish out there! Even more fun, with only Robin and I on the boat, when we get in the fish, absolute mayhem begins!
We got offshore 4 times in the past month and a half, and have done really well on 3 of the 4 trips. Let’s get to it!
The keys are still the keys, check out the water …
1st trip, Bull dolphin day – The weather man lied to us (happens a lot in the winter/spring) and we headed offshore on our virgin trip with the Suzuki. What was supposed to be 2-3 foot seas ended up being a full 4-6 rolling in from the south east. We had really pretty water right off the reef in 300 feet of water, so we put the seas to our back and trolled it from Big Pine to Key West. We had several hits that did not come tight, but finally got nailed with a double and had two rods bent in half drags screaming. In the cooler – 2 big bull dolphin! Even though I was holding the trophy pictures, Robin did all the catching!
Second trip – Mr Wahoo came to visit! This was our prettiest day, the forecast actually was accurate and we headed offshore with 1-2 foot waves, into good clear water. As we were headed out to sea we saw birds working small bait, and I threw a small squid daisy chain out and put it way back hoping for a tuna. Robin went up to the tower, and I was in the cockpit cleaning and rigging ballyhoo. Sure enough the daisy chain got nailed tons of LGO (line going out). I got the rod out of the rocket launcher on the tower and put it in a rod holder and started clearing lines. The rod that was hooked up just kept screaming out line, it was hooked on a tld 25 so I had 600 – 700 yards of 30 pound test line to work with. We knew it was big, so I had Robin fully stop the boat, and come down to join me in the cockpit. We finally started to gain line and got it back toward us. The fish sounded deep so we had no idea what it was, util it came into sight and we realized what we had beside the boat.
Robin took the rod and I gaffed it and pulled it aboard. Problem – it was too big for the cooler! We decided to open the transom fish box and in it went, ice transferred … done! Result – personal best wahoo for me, and delicious! Other fun fact – we caught that on 30 pound test mainline, and it ate a tuna chain on a 40 pound floro leader. We were flat out lucky to land a fish full of teeth on a rig like that!
Third trip – Rounding it out. Forecast said 2-3 feet and settling down through the day, scattered thunderstorms. I rousted Robin up early and as I was loading the boat the scattered thunderstorm parked right over our heads and it poured. So we waited and watched the weather radar and finally we saw it lifting so off we went. When we got out, the seas were an absolute mess, 3 to 4 foot and sloppy as a washing machine. The fearless crew we were, we pushed on out anyway. We made it out to 650 -700 feet and were working the humps out there (and kind of dodging storms) when we got surrounded by a front, and had to fish through the rain and wind.
The front finally moved through and the seas did start to calm down. We steadily worked our way west and stayed out in the humps and bumps in the 700 foot range. We ended up picking up a couple tuna, but all in all really quiet.
Later in the afternoon I was in the tower and Robin was in the cockpit. Boom shortrigger hit but did not come tight. Robin threw the reel in freespool and I saw a streak come across the wake and eat the bait. Robin put the reel in gear and hooked up – chaos took over from there, drag screaming, fish jumping, tail walking beautiful Atlantic sail! I threw the boat in neutral, climbed down and cleared lines. Robin handled the fish all the way to the boat, and I got the release for her! Well played dear!
There you go, my first update. Now hopefully I will take the time and do some more catch ups about happenings in the last year. Maybe just a picture fest! Hope all are staying safe out there, and the fishing stays on fire!
Gorham Fishing Team 