It is with a sad heavy heart that I report the passing of the Cholla Bay Sleigh Ride to a new owner. I'd been messaging this guy that had a center console for sale since the start of the pandemic. Every time the guy would respond with yes it is available. I would then ask can I come look at it? Every time, yes. Then the conversation would just go nowhere. One of these guys that has something to sell but seemingly doesn't want to sell it? You know, the type of assholes you message and they get back to you 36 days later... Like yooooo my man, what am I missing here??? I have money and you have something for sale. Why is it this hard??? Anyways, I was persistent. Some times I went months without messaging the guy. Ad was taken down a couple of months ago so I finally let go of the dream. Then, with no reasoning the ad was back up!!!! So, finally a couple of weeks ago we took the jet ski down and for shits and giggles right when we arrived in town I messaged the guy. We had an hour to kill before we could check into our AirBNB. The guy responds with yes you can come look at it call me. This was the first time in a year we got passed first base. Dude met us at Pollo Lucas and we followed back to his house. There she was!!! 1997 Seaswirl Striper 1730 CC with a 90 horse Evinrude. I climbed up into the boat to inspect. I knocked all over the transom and deck and it was solid. The boat mainly needed elbow grease. Elbow grease is my middle name. We said we were extremely interested and left it at that. A couple of days later when we were back in Phoenix Claudia told me that the only way we were getting this boat is if I sold the jet ski first. I pressure washed it Tuesday after work and waxed it Wednesday when I got home from work. I put the pictures and ad on Offerup at about 1030pm Wednesday night. I woke up to 10 messages and by about mid day Thursday it appeared that it was going to be sold after work. Guy and his wife met me at my place Thursday evening after work and liked what they saw and more importantly in any sales position, the couple liked me. The bought the ski. I was sad to see it go but my focus now turned into anxiety because I was only selling to bank roll this into the center console in RP. I immediately contacted the seller and told him that I sold the ski and now had cash in hand. He was going to be in RP for Memorial so I told him that I would be down Sunday morning to pick it up. Sure as shit, I left Phoenix at 6am, RP by 940am. He was still working off a hangover from the night before so he told me to give him 30 minutes... I went and had brunch at Manny's while waiting. 45 minutes later I was back at the guys house to pick up the boat. We bullshitted for a couple of hours and his wife made some really good ceviche from some Sierra Mackerel, had lunch and then hooked the boat up. Exchanged cash and I was on my way back to Phoenix with my first ever center console boat!!!! Got to the border and the agent goes, where's the rest of your crew?! I said, no crew I just drove down to buy this boat. Obviously that's a red flag!! LOL So like 3 guys hop into the boat and start looking into every nook and knocking on the hull in various places... No registration on the boat and only god knows what AZ plate was/is on the trailer but after their search dude told me, have a good day. I made it back to Phoenix by 6pm. I only got about 11 miles to the gallon towing.... Definitely not a light ass jet ski back there any longer LOL... I was still making passes with the boat though so... LOL
We can't wait to get her out on her maiden voyage but first I need to address some things that I've already seen that need to be done in a "correct" non Mexican manner. I mean that in the least racist way ever but you know how these Mexicans roll down there... Wires tied together and shit... None of the electronics are coming on so I have to see what is up there... All in all, the boat is running and in decent shape. After I get done with her she's going to be a head turner!!! So far the only thing I got done Monday was cleaning the inside of the boat with soap and pressure washing it. No wax yet and she's already looking pretty fricken good.
I'm going to create a list of things that we need to address and maybe a few of the pros here can help me out with a few things...
Congrats on the new boat and one of the two happiest days of your life! That boat reminds me of my first boat which was a 21 foot Hydrasport with a 150 Evinrude. Those skiff style boats will give you a wet ride in a chop. Just bring your mask and snorkel and you will be all good. Does it have trim tabs? Much needed in the choppy waters of the SOC. If you travel back and forth with it, be prepared to be x-rayed a lot at the border.
Curious, is the salt water boat market pretty active? I thought about selling mine since I rarely use it but it would bring me to tears to sell it as well.
Congrats on the new boat and one of the two happiest days of your life! That boat reminds me of my first boat which was a 21 foot Hydrasport with a 150 Evinrude. Those skiff style boats will give you a wet ride in a chop. Just bring your mask and snorkel and you will be all good. Does it have trim tabs? Much needed in the choppy waters of the SOC. If you travel back and forth with it, be prepared to be x-rayed a lot at the border.
Curious, is the salt water boat market pretty active? I thought about selling mine since I rarely use it but it would bring me to tears to sell it as well.
No trim tabs but I'd like to add them for sure. In Phoenix I think it is because they can't be found but honestly, I wouldn't be the one to ask. I think the ones that do get sold in Phoenix typically get sold for a lot more than similar boats in saturated markets like San Diego, Florida. I also think that if you were going to sell anything, now's the time to do it. The secondary market is on fire right now because new unit sales are down due to shortages. People are paying new prices for used Can Ams right now... Nash Powersports hasn't had any new units in a while because the factory in Quebec is either shut down or behind. Not sure exactly but I know right now that the used car market, used boat market, jet ski, mountain bike, motorcycle /UTV is EN FUEGOOOOO... Pretty insane. I got $3100 for my 97 Seadoo GTX. Some on here might remember what I paid for it... It was the perfect storm. I had to unload it now and try for this boat. Strike while the iron is hot as they say...
Good job. I finally got my Hobie Pro Angler 14 and have been driving it around the lagoons in Islas. I’m going to build up some more strength and endurance before I go out into the bay. I’m also thinking about getting a Can Am. The websites for Nash Powersports suggests some limited inventory in Arizona.
Congrats, Joe! Fatten up your wallet, you're going to need to -- you're a boat owner now!!
:teehee:
LOL yea that's what I hear but I do plan on doing almost everything myself. Lower end service, water pump (impeller), trim motor, spark plugs... I'm sure there's some things that I may not be able to do but I'm assuming that would be complete engine failure. I've done fiberglass repair on my truck so that's in my bag as well... I think we might be ok but the trailer is definitely not in the greatest condition. The bad part on that for me is that the trailer is aluminum and I can't weld aluminum. The leaf springs and hangers are rusted to shit. Same with the axle. Eventually I'd like to buy an AC/DC Tig machine to start learning how to TIG weld so I can weld aluminum and stainless steel.
I think the immediate issues are:
Go through the wiring and clean it up to my standards. I will solder and shrink wrap connections.
Figure out if the battery is good. It has 12v in it right now so I think it just needs charged. We might just scrap it for two brand new marine batteries. Regardless we are going to run 2 batteries with an electronic isolator to automatically manage the batteries. All accessories will run off acc battery and then the motor will have it's own for the starter/ignition.
Figure out why bilge pump isn't working and or replace bilge pump. Still need to figure out where the bilge pump is. I thought it was always at the back of the boat under deck some times in the battery compartment. I will have to look again.
Figure out why the water pump/water inlet for the bait tank isn't turning on.
One of the deck drains at the back of the boat the hose on the inside of the battery compartment down inside the hull has been cut off so when I was washing the boat last weekend the hull ended up having about 10 gallons of water in it. The water was going into the drains at the back of the boat but one on port side was just dumping down into the hull. I need to see where that hose it supposed to be routed.
I think that will be enough to get us out to PLEZ to do our first lake test. On the hose the pisser appears to have good pressure but I want to make sure the water pump is in good order as well. I think the first lake test we will simulate a 10-20 mile run and then shut off motor. Then start her up to make sure we don't have any no start issues. I still haven't put the multi-meter on the battery yet with the engine running so that is another thing I have to add to the list above to make sure that the stator/rectifier are charging the battery (batteries).
It's actually really crazy/cool that the Seadoo 2 strokes have so much in common with these 2 SMOKER outboards. I'm so glad I started with the Seadoo first. It gave me ample opportunity for education and hands on learning. Now I can apply that to the boat.
Future additions include:
Trim tabs
New Decals (wax hull)
Seadeck (or more than likely cheaper substitute product on Amazon)
Stereo upgrade. Pry 2 more speakers and small 8" subwoofer.
LED gunnel lighting
transom underwater LED light
LED light bar or LED pods on the T-Top
Upgraded Sonar (Side scan, Down Scan imaging)
New anchor (electric winch)
One of the rocker switches on the dash says shower but I don't see anywhere that we have a fresh water tank. That would be a nice addition if we don't actually have a fresh water tank right now. Unless the "shower" is salt water to wash the deck????
I'm pry missing a few things but that's the direction we're headed.
You gots your work cut out for you! I used to do all my own maintenance, too. Cheaper, and I know it was done RIGHT. Get those electronics working. VHF and sounder at minimum. My handheld GPS was more accurate than the big chartplotter I had on my boat.
Good job. I finally got my Hobie Pro Angler 14 and have been driving it around the lagoons in Islas. I’m going to build up some more strength and endurance before I go out into the bay. I’m also thinking about getting a Can Am. The websites for Nash Powersports suggests some limited inventory in Arizona.
Yea, they're having some difficulty receiving new units from factory. I believe Bombardier is out of Quebec Canada so maybe still some after effects of covid. If you want to talk to Claudia let me know. She'd be able to tell you more than I can. I know it's not a Nash Powersports problem at all. They are actually a platinum or I forget what they call the top priority dealers in America but Nash is a top priority dealer like Ride Now as well. They receive units before 90% of any other dealers in America. Crazy fact. AZ is the number one market for SXS in America. Nash and Ride Now are basically the cream of the crop in terms of priority for new units coming out of the Bombardier factory. Same with Robbie Gordon. Nash is one of 2 or 3 top dealers for the new Speed SXS. When they actually come out that is. Product still in testing.
The last couple of months Claudia has been telling me that people are coming from Oregon, Texas and surrounding states to buy new units. I think that is the other part of the problem. Supply chain is fractured so only top tier dealerships are getting new units so Nash powersports market has effectively just become the entire southwest instead of the state or metro phoenix area.
But if you have any questions I would hook you up with her and she can get you squared away with someone at Nash that can answer those questions or guide you through the buying process. She can answer a lot of those questions but she manages the service department and new builds. So when you buy a unit and accessorize it. Now, if you buy a unit from Nash then you definitely want to just contact Claudia for anything that you need. She's a human parts catalogue, accessories, what's popular, what's BS... She runs the schedule too and she's on top of her game so no having your car there for 2 months and it hasn't been touched yet or anything like what you'll hear about at RIDE NOW. Apparently people buy units at RIDE NOW and have them serviced at Nash Powersports. Claudia has built up a fairly large and loyal clientele just because of her professionalism. She's a type A like me...
You gots your work cut out for you! I used to do all my own maintenance, too. Cheaper, and I know it was done RIGHT. Get those electronics working. VHF and sounder at minimum. My handheld GPS was more accurate than the big chartplotter I had on my boat.
Yea I already do pretty much everything auto related anyways, jet ski was all me so I figure with the exception of replacing the power head or something major, I'm going to be able to do the maintenance. It's not like there's not a wealth of information online if you search hard enough. Last summer I did a head gasket on my old Honda Civic and decked the head myself to the FSM tolerance of 2hundred thousandths. Water pump too. Thing was good until a couple of months later when a rod bearing let go and rod knock developed. At this point in my life I know for a fact I could rebuild the motor but I have too many things going on right now and my girlfriend says that we have to sell it. I keep joking that I want to turbo it but we have 5 cars right now so it has to go. I'm thinking $600 just to get it out of here. It's been sitting for 6 months now. That's BOAT MONEY right there!!! LOL
I would put number 9 as number 2 on your to do list. Maybe even number 1. Dealing with an anchor sucks. Like really sucks. I use the anchor ball method and even that, well you know... If I was to add anything to my boat it would be a windlass. I have gotten to the point where I just drift over points of the reef rather than deal with an anchor. It works ok but you are susceptible of losing some terminal tackle. What few shit shows I have had on the water can typically be contributed with an anchor.
Your shower is more likely a raw water shower. It's great for washing your hands and rinsing the blood and guts from your boat. Once you get to shore, then get a fresh water rinse and flush the motor.
Don't be in a rush to do all of your underwater lighting unless you plan on using it on lakes. Fishing shuts down at dark and coming in at dark can be a little unnerving because your truly driving blind and using your electronics, as you cant see beyond your bow. I have done it many of time as I have had no bites all day until an hour before dark and the bite finally goes off. This typically results in a dark ride home and you pray you don't hit something lurking on the surface on the way in.
congrats on your new boat!
you do know what the acronym means, right? Break Out Another Thousand
Have fun, make sure that drain plug is secure, and an extra on board.
congrats on your new boat!
you do know what the acronym means, right? Break Out Another Thousand
Have fun, make sure that drain plug is secure, and an extra on board.
Bro! Have you seen my truck?! Boat guys think boats are expensive. Try building and maintaining a prerunner!!
I would put number 9 as number 2 on your to do list. Maybe even number 1. Dealing with an anchor sucks. Like really sucks. I use the anchor ball method and even that, well you know... If I was to add anything to my boat it would be a windlass. I have gotten to the point where I just drift over points of the reef rather than deal with an anchor. It works ok but you are susceptible of losing some terminal tackle. What few shit shows I have had on the water can typically be contributed with an anchor.
Your shower is more likely a raw water shower. It's great for washing your hands and rinsing the blood and guts from your boat. Once you get to shore, then get a fresh water rinse and flush the motor.
Don't be in a rush to do all of your underwater lighting unless you plan on using it on lakes. Fishing shuts down at dark and coming in at dark can be a little unnerving because your truly driving blind and using your electronics, as you cant see beyond your bow. I have done it many of time as I have had no bites all day until an hour before dark and the bite finally goes off. This typically results in a dark ride home and you pray you don't hit something lurking on the surface on the way in.
Where would the shower hook up be? I see where the water is drawn from the back of the boat for the bait tank. Also, anchor and LED lights are for lake Pleasant. We are avid Plez users. Ocean we plan on drift fishing and or trolling mainly. I wouldn't mind Windlass but they're expensive. I've seen electric winch for boats that are in the $150 range that I'm thinking about trying. On the subject of anchor, any of you use a drift sock? Drift anchor? I guess just more shit to deal with. Trying to KISS!!! Keep It Simple Stupid
Went out there this afternoon before the Suns game and got on my knees and stuck my head into the battery compartment. It's an absolute shit show! The bilge pump was underneath about an inch or two of sediment, mud and sand. I'd say it's toast. The connections are either butt connected or just tied together so not ruling out open circuit in the wiring but if I had to guess the pump is toast. The best part. They had the bilge pump being powered by the stern light!! LOL so I guess if you turned on the stern light the bilge pump would run??!!!!!!!!! Obviously we have to fix that to be legal out at Plez. I'm going to re-wire everything so no worries there. The bait tank pump/filter housing thing is back under there too. Not sure if it's not hooked up either or just burnt out. The boat has some kind of battery charger/isolator but it's an old one. The size of a brick! LOL The new ones these days are small enough to fit in your hand. They had added a harness for a second battery but the best part about this is that the accessories were still being run off of the primary battery so when you hook up another battery in the second spot it does nothing to boost the primary because it's being isolated which is the opposite of how the system should work. LOL so this is an absolute shit show but the good thing is, I'm anal and this will be corrected and fixed appropriately.
Any guesses on how big this gas tank is???? I've read that it is likely poly too which would be good if that's true. I'm hoping 60 gallons... Is that a stretch? I can't find shit about this boat online. The VRO system was deleted as well. Still not sure how I feel about that. Just like Seadoo the oil injection system is a variable rate system. The only thing though is that I read that the VRO pump is like $450 and to not skimp out. PO deleted the VRO and installed a regular fuel pump in the location but still left the oil tank and lines hooked up so oil is spewing out of somewhere into the engine bay at the back of the boat. Oil tank in the battery compartment is full of oil so I guess I'm going to take it out of there to free up some room. I guess these motors don't load up at idle or trolling with the VRO removed. I can't find any info that says premixing is worse than VRO so I guess we'll run premix for now.
Well congrats Joe! I've been eyeballing the idea of a jet ski set up lately especially after your monster sleigh ride with the corvina or sea bass the other year. That and with the extreme tides I was kayak fishing last week sure is a lot of work paddling back in where a jet ski can get me anywhere regardless of tide lol. Also been looking at that 21' center console in Cholla just before JJs. Good luck with the new ride!
Well congrats Joe! I've been eyeballing the idea of a jet ski set up lately especially after your monster sleigh ride with the corvina or sea bass the other year. That and with the extreme tides I was kayak fishing last week sure is a lot of work paddling back in where a jet ski can get me anywhere regardless of tide lol. Also been looking at that 21' center console in Cholla just before JJs. Good luck with the new ride!
I felt so bad. I broke some poor bastards heart when another guy offered full price and I knew that I couldn't pay someone else to buy my jet ski, AKA give this guy a deal and leave money on the table. Guy wants it for 28, another guy says 34 if it's good. I can't pay someone $600 to buy my jet ski so I had to break this poor bastards heart and then he took offense to it! I was like, brother, is this your first OfferUp/Craigslist experience??? Some you win, some you lose. I can't pay you to buy my shit. I needed every dollar to bank roll into the boat.
My advice on the jet ski after 4 years.
If you can do the work yourself and you just want it for Cholla Bay and staying within a couple hundred yards to maybe half mile then any 96 + Seadoo GTI/GTX is your uncle. Preferably you'd find one that just needs a little TLC and get a decent deal on it.
If you wanted one that you could take out further reliably and start every time no matter what. 4 stroke. You'd have to sack up and drop twice as much but twice as much reliability. The only other thing that I would have done. Right before we sold it, I was shopping Amazon for a battery isolator and second battery because the Seadoo starting system is BASURA!!!!!!!! The 20ah battery is just not enough. If you read on the forums for Seadoo EVERYONE experiences this 12v LOW reading on the dash with brand new batteries!!! I just think they needed like a 30ah for cranking amps. After doing the top end I had so much compression that the thing barely wants to start cranking. At the end of the day you could tell the battery was taxed a little. All of this was with a working magneto/rectifier. When motor running battery confirmed charging using my multi-meter. Two battery set up and I wouldn't be stressed. We did take that jet ski out 5 miles straight west out of Cholla Bay the first year we had it. I never did it again though because I never truly believed in the battery capacity. It never didn't start (double negative) but there were times I could tell that it was close at the end of the day. I don't think they charge well at idle speed and that jet ski spent 90% of it's life with me at idle speed trolling lures... so....
Great advice Joe, thank you, I was seeing they started introducing the 4 strokes after 2002, so I've been hunting for one around that year! 5 miles seems kind of scary to be honest haha but maybe experiencing fast travel time might make me change my mind. I'd love to troll around and find some rock piles to get the big one! When are you going down again Joe?
Joe, I finally got a Jet Ski set up! Going down this coming Sunday to try her out, gunna go look for some structures out there probably nothing more than 7-10 miles out!
Joe, I finally got a Jet Ski set up! Going down this coming Sunday to try her out, gunna go look for some structures out there probably nothing more than 7-10 miles out!
That's awesome brother! What were you able to get your hands on? I'm jealous! I want to be there getting a line wet but I have to wait a little while longer...
I haven't been on the forums for a minute due to my absolute obsessive work ethic to get this boat ready to start fishing RP. In the two months that I've owned it, only in the last week and a half has she seen her first two lake trips. I have well over 100 labor hours into this boat so far. Honestly, I've lost track at this point. I think I've hand scrubbed the boat and hand wet sanded it in total 5 or 6 times. I had to become a contortionist to start the electrical inside the center console. Holy shit that's fun! Same with the battery compartment. All deck screws were a complete B!tch to get out because the PO used regular steel screws... SMH. That was fun! I broke multiple impact rated phillips head trying to get all the rusted screws out of everything they used them on. That was fun! Multiple rounds of taking the hose inside the hull and spraying out the CUBIC YARDS of dirt, sand and 2 stroke sludge mix... That was fun!
Just when you're ready to stop having so much fun something funny happens. You start to see glimmers of a boat. You start to see glimmers of a vision and it peaks the brain again!!! FUCK YES!!! I'm having fun!!! So then I finally was able to get to the fun stuff... I cut all the holes in the glass that I needed for 4 speakers and a 10" subwoofer for the center console. I had to run 4 pairs of 14g copper to the front of the boa for the 2 bow speakers and hatch lights that I wanted to put in the hatches for lake nights. I snipped one of the existing navigation lights for the bow at the battery compartment and used it to pull through my new pairs as well as a replacement for the nav light and additional mason/construction string for future pull throughs. We plan to get an electric winch in the future. I also had to run 4g beefy copper from battery compartment to center console for the sound system. That actually was rather easy as those wires slid on top of the gas tank along the factory harness all the way to the back unimpeded. I was then able to get the stereo system installed with 4 true 150w rms 6.5" speakers and a 600w RMS 10" sub... My truck is still under the knife right now so for the time being I jacked the amps from my truck system to get this going. Running a 4 channel 1000w amp that realistically is about 150w RMS per channel and a 2 channel 1000w amp that I'm only using one channel for maybe 400w rms. I'd have to look. THIS SYSTEM IS LOUD AAAAAAFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF!!! LOL damn!!! Pry overkill for a fishing boat but we do use this at PLEZ as well for our float/lake days so it's par for that course at least. I also installed a knockoff CHINA (DT voice) Switch Pro switch pod to control some future additions and GPS/FF VHF radio and some hatch lights. Those things are so legit! $100 and you get 8 switches and solid state relay to keep the wiring super simple and clean.
Once I had the music installed it became much easier to do the rest of the work. The vision was becoming clear. I got the hatch lights all done. Two up front in the bow deck hatches, one in the battery compartment and one in the center console. The lights I chose to use are LED rock lights for jeeps and off roading. They were like $20 for 4. They are super bright! Perfect for the hatches. Around this time I also purchased one of our new batteries for the starter and got the automatic battery isolator dual battery set up done. I went with a standard Autozone $100 unit. 1050 cranking amps which is overkill for our 4 cylinder but why not right? The battery also has 180 reserve minutes. Largest for the price that I could find. It is an absolute monstrosity. Right now our house battery is the pedaso de mierda battery that came with the boat. Genuine RP special that looks like it would barely start my Honda Civic but it's getting replaced soon with an marine/rv deep cycle anyways.
So I got the electrical done and started tuning everything else in to my liking. I got the center console rearranged how I'd like it. I got the chrome bow rail and helm cleaned up of any rust and oxidation. Also around the time of wrapping up electrical I got the bilge pump installed with automatic float switch and a second inline switch on the center console to manually operate the bilge pump. I did find out that the raw water pump for the bait tank does work but the original copper from the CC is too corroded and I was getting way too much resistance in the copper to turn the pump on. If I wiggled or held the wire at a certain angle I could get 12v but as soon as I let it go, no continuity! So I will have to run more copper from CC to battery compartment later to get that thing wired in.
A few of the finishing touches. We wanted to do a deck matting for anti slippage and really more for aesthetics. I think it looks good and makes an old boat POP. We got that laid down. I installed a swim ladder on the back of the boat. After we got the deck done I was able to get the T-Top and cooler seat remounted with stainless steel hardware this time. No rust, no frozen bolts ever again!!!! DO IT RIGHT FOR GOD SAKES!!! DAMN. I was then finally able to wax the boat and damn she's wayyyyyyyyyyyyy better than before but I know it could be better so I plan on doing it again or maybe two more times to cut more of the haze. We got our AZ REG stickers applied and my new SEASWIRL decals for the back of the boat. Before we could get her out for the first lake test I had to take care of a few trailer issues. New winch. New LED marker lights and LED tail/brake/turn.
Shit I completely forgot that I rebuilt the carbs, put on a new (fresh water exlc condition used) engine harness, spark plugs and wires and added a fuel water separator... I'm sure there are more things that I'm forgetting but it's been an absolute tiring two months of hard labor on this love affair...
First lake test was semi satisfactory. This boat is a B!TCH to start! I don't know what it is but I guess these things are known to be hard starters but damn!!! Once it starts it idles fine and goes into gear fine, no issues there. Really smooth shifting, no clunk at all. One immediate concern or question was the boat was really laboring to get up on plane with it punched. My other note to self or concern was that our top speed was only 32mph on the GPS. The water was glass smooth too so I kind of thought that was weird. I thought it would have been 38-40. It's a 17ft boat with two smaller than average adults and a dog. It's a 1995 Evinrude 90... The tach is old and kind of bouncy but it looks like we're spinning 5200 +-200 and the factory says peak power is 5500 with this motor. After playing with the trim a little I was able to get it to plane a little easier but I've been on boats in my life it just seems to me that this thing is taking more time than it should to plane. I don't know. The just is still out. We launched from North Ramp PLEZ Harbor and went straight up the agua fria to the no wake zone. I'm about 98% sure that's a 9 mile ride. We then decided to enjoy driving the boat for a bit and did a complete perimeter lap of Lake Pleasant going 30mph the entire time. I need to know the difference between regular miles and nautical miles. I can't remember which one it was but one lap around the lake in the fashion we did it was either 15 regular miles, 17 nautical miles or vise versa. We ended up going to a few of our float spots throughout the day but in total we did 3 complete laps around the lake doing the almost identical perimeter pattern. I think we logged over 45 miles of cruising at 28-32mph that day in total. Our only concern was/IS that the boat is just extremely hard to start. You sit for 30 minutes and go to start her back up and it's almost like it's so lean, like it's getting no fuel.
Lake day 2 this past Sunday. Again, boat was stubborn and took a minute to start but again, once started I motored off of trailer and pulled out into the bay to wait for Claudia to go park the truck. In Neutral the boat is idling at about 1000rpm. To me is sounds better if I advance the neutral throttle to 1100 or 1200 but I don't know. I put it in forward and go pick up wife and dog at the dock, no issues and my dock game is strong. We motor out and go. Before this weekend however, I thought I was messing with the idle and I ended up messing with the timing on accident. It was a minimal change but the boat felt better initially. It felt like it was getting out of the hole quicker to plane. Top speed was down however to 29 or 30mph. We stopped briefly to jump in the water before heading back to Plez Harbor to pick up my late arriving sister. I go to start her back up and again, just a labor intensive butthole tightening experience because she's getting more and more stubborn. Again, she starts but now this bullshit is starting get worse. Now when you go from neutral to forward she dies. She will restart and once restarted you have to advance the neutral throttle to rev her up a little then back down into neutral then into forward and good now we're moving. Get to the no wake zone, down to idle maybe 1500 or so 1800... all the way to the dock, no problem, I'm pulling up at my steep approach angle, turn into it then do the classic throw it into reverse and move the ass end over to the dock while you throw her back into neutral and glide into the dock sideways like a complete BOSS!!! Nope! As soon as I put her into reverse to move the stern over she stalled... we floated the 6 feet to the dock where my sister hopped on board. Again, she was a B to start. But again, with enough finessing she starts. Neutral idle up to get the fuel pump going and then into gear and away we go. But every time we stopped throughout the day the same bullshit and then towards the end of the day it was stalling out every time you go to put it into forward gear. Then restart the delicate process over. It got bad enough that when we made it back to the dock at the end of the day we were waiting for dock space to open floating in N in the bay and it stalled and this time it almost didn't start. When it did I immediately made way for the dock to get us tied up, right before the dock I put her into reverse for speed check and stalled. We floated into the dock and tied up. EMBARRASSING!!!!! I felt like a NEWB!!!! I figured for sure we were walking this thing onto the trailer. It was Sunday so while we were waiting for Claudia to go get the trailer and get in line for the ramp I decided to take off the hood and unscrew the screw back out to where I thought it was before I had played with it previous to our outing. I realized the screw is for the idle but it's not an idle stop screw like I thought. On these motors the idle is controlled by advancing the idle timing. The the screw is for the idle advance rod. I pulled it back out to a place I thought it was previous. When Claudia got the ramp for shits and giggles I thought I'd rather try to drive this on the trailer than walk it if possible so I tried to start it and reluctantly, it did start. I put her into gear and forward I went for about 30 feet right as I was about to come around the dock and line it up with the trailer she died again. I yelled fuck, put it in neutral and turned the key again and she fired right up and went into gear again without stalling. I had the boat pretty much onto the trailer perfect right as she stalled again. DISASTER AVERTED!!!
My take aways thus far. I believe this idle problem lies with two things. Fuel delivery and timing. I have a new fuel pump coming and I'm reviewing the factory service manual that I purchased to make sure that the timing is set up correctly. LYNC AND SYNC ?????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Just new BS I have to learn all over again. After 4 years I became a SEADOO PRO and now I feel like I'm in first grade again.
All in all we have had smiles on our faces the entire time so I know this boat is here to stay. I just have to iron out some of the wrinkles before we can reliably take this out in the ocean.
Sorry for the long winded update. That's two months worth of information and I'm a full on bullshitter so if you got through this one you're my hero!!!
That thing looks way different than when you first got it Joe, amazing work! A lot more than I would have tried to take on that's for sure, can't wait to see it on the ocean after you get your idle/time issue resolved! Also I fudged bad I bought a seadoo fish pro, went all out with it, my Tacoma couldn't pull much more than this so a boat was out of the question. What happened to lucky Chuck??? So sad to hear the news!
Joe, The new boat looks great. You have a sound system that will blow away the all the locals partying in front us on Pinto point.
I hope to see that in play. :cool:
That thing looks way different than when you first got it Joe, amazing work! A lot more than I would have tried to take on that's for sure, can't wait to see it on the ocean after you get your idle/time issue resolved! Also I fudged bad I bought a seadoo fish pro, went all out with it, my Tacoma couldn't pull much more than this so a boat was out of the question. What happened to lucky Chuck??? So sad to hear the news!
NO WAY?! THAT THING IS SIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OMG... Hey, if you need any service on that thing let me know because my girlfriend is pretty much the service manager at this point for Nash Powersports Phoenix. She's technically the assistant right now but the manager is about to be demoted as she is the one running everything. Congrats man!!!! That thing is sooooooooo sexy!!! Damn!!! HUGE PURCHASE!! Now let's see those fish!!!
If you want any GPS marks I have a bunch in the 3-8 miles range that are mostly on the 270 heading out of Cholla Bay.
That thing looks way different than when you first got it Joe, amazing work! A lot more than I would have tried to take on that's for sure, can't wait to see it on the ocean after you get your idle/time issue resolved! Also I fudged bad I bought a seadoo fish pro, went all out with it, my Tacoma couldn't pull much more than this so a boat was out of the question. What happened to lucky Chuck??? So sad to hear the news!
Is that Canyon or Saguaro? So happy for you brother I can't stop looking at that thing! What a UNIT!
NO WAY?! THAT THING IS SIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OMG... Hey, if you need any service on that thing let me know because my girlfriend is pretty much the service manager at this point for Nash Powersports Phoenix. She's technically the assistant right now but the manager is about to be demoted as she is the one running everything. Congrats man!!!! That thing is sooooooooo sexy!!! Damn!!! HUGE PURCHASE!! Now let's see those fish!!!
If you want any GPS marks I have a bunch in the 3-8 miles range that are mostly on the 270 heading out of Cholla Bay.
It was super intimidating I won't lie, my gut hurt for about 2 days after splurging like that, I have been listing it for rent on Roosevelt to help ease the pain a little bit.
I will definitely take you up on the service at Nash Powersports!
I sent you a message as well I'm curious about some spots if the wind and rain will allow it this coming sun-wed.
I have a sabiki rig I'm going to use for some bait, then hopefully I'll get on a spot to bring something good in for dinner, trolling along the way too. Got a few hard plastics to try out may pick up a few other things.
The plan for when I'm out is to essentially use the same rigging set up I use for Flatheads here, 100lb leader 200lb 3 way swivel and a 20lb bit to my weight.
I've only been there once when I was about 14 or 15. Beautiful lake. Always wanted to get back but it's the furthest aside from Rosie. PLEZ is like 36 miles for us so we never get to the Salt River chain. Went to Saguaro once with the jet ski and Claudia didn't like it so we never went back. I've never seen water that stained/spotted the boat worse than Sag. I'm assuming it's loaded with minerals hence, Salt river....
One of Claudia's customers has two Fish Pro's that he apparently rents in Rocky Point. Never seen him or any advertising. How do you make money if nobody knows about you?!
Did you get the service package?
I saw your PM about marks. I had them written (typed) into a document about 3 years ago but now I can't find it on my computer. I have 3 or 4 that I can open on my BackCountry Navigator app and send to you...
Do a Google search for key words Like GPS COORDINATES ROCKY POINT or GPS MARKS ROCKY POINT... ROCKY POINT FISHING... I sub in Puerto Penasco too to see if the search results in more leads.
There is a page on this site that I found a handful if they were accurate. They in a thread from YEARS AGO. There is also a Garmin app in the Android play store that allows you to try for 30 days for free and somehow surprisingly it had a handful in the RP waters area as well!!! I noticed a while ago that somehow the app is giving me another free trial so I haven't opened it yet until I plan on using it or taking time out of my day to write down all of the GPS coordinates.
Do a Google search for key words Like GPS COORDINATES ROCKY POINT or GPS MARKS ROCKY POINT... ROCKY POINT FISHING... I sub in Puerto Penasco too to see if the search results in more leads.
There is a page on this site that I found a handful if they were accurate. They in a thread from YEARS AGO. There is also a Garmin app in the Android play store that allows you to try for 30 days for free and somehow surprisingly it had a handful in the RP waters area as well!!! I noticed a while ago that somehow the app is giving me another free trial so I haven't opened it yet until I plan on using it or taking time out of my day to write down all of the GPS coordinates.
I'll do some searching on there for some spots appreciate that tip!
Apache is definitely a beautiful lake, not to populated either. Of course I'm not really set up for the bass fishing mostly salt water and cat fish stuff here.
No I did not get a service package through ride now. All the warranties and insurance though lol.
I have been considering renting it out in RP around the holiday weeks, just got to figure out the logistics of how would I get my renter if something happened out in the ocean to them? Lol need a 2nd jet ski!
I'll do some searching on there for some spots appreciate that tip!
Apache is definitely a beautiful lake, not to populated either. Of course I'm not really set up for the bass fishing mostly salt water and cat fish stuff here.
No I did not get a service package through ride now. All the warranties and insurance though lol.
I have been considering renting it out in RP around the holiday weeks, just got to figure out the logistics of how would I get my renter if something happened out in the ocean to them? Lol need a 2nd jet ski!
You can have your warranty and service package work done at ANY SEADOO dealer so get this... A lot of Claudia's customers/clients actually bought their units at Ride Now but absolutely will not service them there so they bring them to her at Nash.
I was able to fix the hard start/low idle issue by adjusting the idle timing advance. The boat starts and idles really well now. You can leave it idling for 30 or 40 minutes. The only concern now is that it may be "loading up" in no wake zones and during longer periods of idle. I've been advancing the neutral throttle right after start up to clear out excess oil on the plugs. Huge plume of 2 stroke smoke after you rev it up to clear it out then it's just normal to minimal smoke after it's cleared up. Otherwise if you don't do this it's still bogging and dying. I've read they will load up in no wake zones and during trolling after you delete the oil injection pump. The oil injection is variable so at idle and lower rpm the engine isn't getting as much oil as higher in the curve when it goes full 50:1. I'm pre-mixing oil at 50:1 so it's getting that at every point in the power curve. I might try switching plugs to the factory recommended Champion and see if that helps with the loading up issue. Other than that she is running really well.
Lake Test Day 4: After advancing the idle timing the boat starts and runs well. We hit 34mph which was a +2mph gain over the previous three lake tests. The RPM has increased 500rpm to 6k at top speed. Overall the engine sounds like it's singing on top at 6k and I'm now pretty happy and confident that we're almost ready for the ocean.
Awesome news Joe! Looks like it will be sea worthy very soon! Can't wait to see you out there again.
The Sea Doo did good this week, had a hard time finding a spot. But I did find maybe a reef at about 5.5 miles that yielded us some good triggers, and rock bass. Thought we had a good bite or my baitfish got wedged into rocks but that line started dragging out pretty good off the back, I pulled it hard and reeled up all my gear and no bait on the hook.
Let me know how it does in ten foot swells and a forty knot crosswind.
Anyways give me a call and I'll make you a copy of the Super Grouper book.
928-343-9216
Later,
JJ
I study the wind report religiously before we leave Phoenix so hopefully that never happens. Now, 20 knots and 3 foot seas???? Pry 50% of the time lol. I told Claudia that during our lake tests the water condition was NOT a realistic expectation of what we will encounter heading off shore. The end of the video the water was getting a little choppy and the boat still cuts fine but I really want to take it out to PLEZ on a windy day to get more experience in really bad water. I've had the jet ski in 3 or 4ft seas in RP. That's really not fun when you're taking every wave off of the chest as it crashes over the bow. One time the wind came out of the West seemingly out of nowhere and we were all the way over at Wrecked. We couldn't go more than 5mph because almost every wave was breaking over the bow and slamming me in the chest. It took us an hour or more to get back into Cholla Bay...
Another thing to think about is how well your boat sheds water. Head-on or god forbid a broadside of a wind lashed swell can easily dump many gallons of water into the boat. Self draining scuppers at the stern deck only work well when you have forward momentum. Once there is fifty or a hundred gallons of water in the boat nothing is going overboard through the scuppers. Better make sure that all hatches are water tight from foot deep water sloshing across the top of the deck. Want to get a good dose of that "sinking feling?" Just open up the hatch over your batteries (did I say batteries, like in at least two?) and see them under water. That dinky little bilge pump will be totally worthless without power from the shorted out batteries. I keep a third fresh fully charged in my cabin along with jumper cables for just this occasion.
Another thing to consider, especially in an open boat is hypothermia. Even eighty degree water will cool you into a stupor with the wind chill factoring in. We always carry full wet suits with this in mind. Be sure you have them on BEFORE it's so rough that you can't stand up to pull it on.
I have spent many afternoon hours chugging away on my way home form Isla San Jorge in gale force conditions watching the Mayan Palace off of my right shoulder and never see it move, meaning that all of that time and fuel was only keeping me in one spot.
Another thing to think about is how well your boat sheds water. Head-on or god forbid a broadside of a wind lashed swell can easily dump many gallons of water into the boat. Self draining scuppers at the stern deck only work well when you have forward momentum. Once there is fifty or a hundred gallons of water in the boat nothing is going overboard through the scuppers. Better make sure that all hatches are water tight from foot deep water sloshing across the top of the deck. Want to get a good dose of that "sinking feling?" Just open up the hatch over your batteries (did I say batteries, like in at least two?) and see them under water. That dinky little bilge pump will be totally worthless without power from the shorted out batteries. I keep a third fresh fully charged in my cabin along with jumper cables for just this occasion.
Another thing to consider, especially in an open boat is hypothermia. Even eighty degree water will cool you into a stupor with the wind chill factoring in. We always carry full wet suits with this in mind. Be sure you have them on BEFORE it's so rough that you can't stand up to pull it on.
I have spent many afternoon hours chugging away on my way home form Isla San Jorge in gale force conditions watching the Mayan Palace off of my right shoulder and never see it move, meaning that all of that time and fuel was only keeping me in one spot.
Be prepared Joe!
JJ
Solid advice. Have had a couple scary things happen out there. Shit you just in no way even considered would happen. Nothing worse than that sinking feeling, especially at the 51.
The other protip here? Keep a cool head and don't panic. Panic causes really bad decisions. My dear wife would immediately go into panic mode which can be more contagious than Covid. But I'd always stay rational and figure out my best option.
We always managed to limp back in, one way or another.
Let me know how it does in ten foot swells and a forty knot crosswind.
Anyways give me a call and I'll make you a copy of the Super Grouper book.
928-343-9216
Later,
JJ
Also, does that look like 32mph to you?! I really feel like the boat is going faster than 32mph. It takes the Humminbird like 5 minutes to get a GPS lock because it doesn't have an external antenna and I think the T-Top is blocking the satellite connection. I'm starting to wonder if that is effecting the speed reading??? I also noticed this last time out that the total distance isn't accurate. I watched the unit say we went one nautical mile after traveling a quarter of the lake which I know for a fact that one way around Lake Pleasant is 17 miles... Starting to think that we're actually traveling faster than 32mph...
Another thing to think about is how well your boat sheds water. Head-on or god forbid a broadside of a wind lashed swell can easily dump many gallons of water into the boat. Self draining scuppers at the stern deck only work well when you have forward momentum. Once there is fifty or a hundred gallons of water in the boat nothing is going overboard through the scuppers. Better make sure that all hatches are water tight from foot deep water sloshing across the top of the deck. Want to get a good dose of that "sinking feling?" Just open up the hatch over your batteries (did I say batteries, like in at least two?) and see them under water. That dinky little bilge pump will be totally worthless without power from the shorted out batteries. I keep a third fresh fully charged in my cabin along with jumper cables for just this occasion.
Another thing to consider, especially in an open boat is hypothermia. Even eighty degree water will cool you into a stupor with the wind chill factoring in. We always carry full wet suits with this in mind. Be sure you have them on BEFORE it's so rough that you can't stand up to pull it on.
I have spent many afternoon hours chugging away on my way home form Isla San Jorge in gale force conditions watching the Mayan Palace off of my right shoulder and never see it move, meaning that all of that time and fuel was only keeping me in one spot.
Be prepared Joe!
JJ
JJ,
You know I come from the desert trucks. Number one rule with desert trucks is REDUNDANCY. I have multiple pumps on board with two batteries. Both brand new. 29 series house battery with 850CCA and 210 minute reserve capacity and 27 series crank battery with 1050CCA and 180 reserve minutes. I have the batteries isolated as well. I've thought about a third battery on board as a backup. I have a wetsuit as well. The boat is dry right now without crashing water. The hatches are not water tight right now because they came with broken latches. They will be replaced soon.
We made it down Friday night arriving about 7pm. Got gas in the boat and went and bought beer/ice and prepped for Saturday morning. Windfinder.com showed Saturday and Sunday being the best bet with Monday 30+. We stayed up a little late on the patio bullshitting and at midnight we were licking our chops because the wind had gone dead flat.
Saturday morning we woke up at 5am to 30+ wind and an angry sea. Decided to sleep in and see if the wind would pass. Saturday turned out to be a no go with wind out of the south at 20+. We ended up doing a beach/pool day instead. One of the nice things about staying at Bella Sirena vs air bnb in town. At least you still have something to do. Windfinder.com had another update for the 69th time. Saturday night it appeared that Sunday would be virtually good or at least doable all day. Maybe wind in the afternoon.
Sunday morning we got up at 5am with dead flat sea and no wind. It was definitely on! We got the boat ready and headed for Cholla Bay. Unfortunately Hippie couldn't or wouldn't launch us until 8am so that kind of sucked but all in all we launched the boat near 8am and were finally on the water for our first trip in our own boat. We stopped and made bait south of Cholla Bay about 1.5 miles on the 180° heading. We caught about 10 Bonefish, one +12'' Sierra a Rockbass and a couple of small Leatherback Jacks. All were caught on size 4 Sabiki rigs with 4oz weight. One of the only things that I haven't gotten around to on the boat is the bait tank. I've put 12v to the bait tank pump and it turns on so the pump is good but the copper from center console to pump is shot. It has an intermittent open in the circuit so I opted to wait until I can run new copper from center console to pump. With that being said, I tried the 5 gallon bucket method which I knew was futile but it was all we had. Unfortunately, the bait rolled before we could get to our spot.
I chose to take us south on the 180° heading because 8 miles or so out I had 3 marks in my phone on my Backcountry Navigator app. I believe I got this mark from the internet and possibly this site. When I first bought the jet ski I scoured the internet and found a number of marks from various sources including this site on Google. I swore I typed them all out in a word doc but now I can't find it. I still have about 10 marks that were saved in my Backcountry Nav app.
The mark: 31 13 13.5,-113 40 27.29
Can anyone confirm this mark? I will edit the post later and take the mark down if it can be confirmed legit.
We started out and for the first 4 or 5 miles it was pretty rough. I could only go about 18mph because the swell was spread out instead of being a tight chop. It didn't look bad at all but the 2 or 3 foot rollers were making the boat smack down the bow every other wave. About 4 or 5 miles out we saw 4 charter boats all in the same area so we slowed down and put out two Mackerel/Dodo rigs to surface troll. Mainly because we were over smacking the hell out of the boat and anything under 15-18mph the boat falls off plane. We trolled for a mile or two with no takers so we put the hammer down again and headed for the mark.
Got to the mark and I put down three rigs. One whole LIMP BONER on a Grouper rig. One cut bait Grouper rig and one double dropper loop rig with cut bait on both hooks with small scampie tails. I kept an eye on the sounder but I just really did not feel confident that I was either in the right spot or that this mark wasn't a spot at all. Fishing is all about confidence. I also just didn't feel like I was seeing enough life on the sounder for this to have been a structure spot. The drift was rather fast for a slack tide at .7mph so we made a number of drifts and repositions with no luck. We only had about 2 hours of bottom fishing before the wind started picking up. I think we would have been ok staying out but Hippie wanted us back around 1pm because the boat ramp in Cholla Bay gets filled up with cars and people who have no mutual respect for anyone.
On the way back in with the wind and waves at our back and the chop a lot tighter we were able to do about 25mph the whole way in to Cholla Bay. We definitely got a little wet on the way in but it was hot and we were having fun so it was all good! After we got back into the bay Claudia went and got the dog from the resort and we dropped anchor outside of JJ's and hung out for an hour or two before Hippie finally pulled us out onto the trailer and our first day on the Sea of Cortez came to an end.
All in all, the boat ran excellent and we learned a little bit more for our next trip. We just have to keep building on each experience and have fun while we're doing it. Hopefully we're catching quality Grouper sooner rather than later but I'm essentially self taught.
Take Away:
Wire Bait Pump IMMEDIATELY. This absolutely has to be working for our next trip.
Obtain confirmed MARKS. Beg, barrow, steal. I have some marks but lord knows where I found them and if they're even legit. I want to start hitting some marks that others have fished to increase my confidence in at least being in the correct location.
Getting on the water at sunrise. This is imperative. We wasted too much time in the morning.
Fixing (buying new) windshield for the center console. It's another one of the last things that I need to do that hasn't been addressed yet. This would have helped with the spray on the way in. 90% of the spray would have been blocked with the windscreen set up that we plan on running on the T-Top.
VHF radio confirmed to work at least 8 or 9 miles out. I bought a 4ft antenna mounted at least 6ft high on top of the T-Top. That made us more comfortable as well.
I'll be damned, you did it man! That so awesome!! Looking like a pro already. Great set up on the sabiki too! I feel you on the confidence of location thing, I expected the sonar to show more marks on the bottom so I was never really sure, I started kind of looking for anomalies such as a rapid change in depth and of course I'd slow my roll to look for activity on the bottom. Man I'm super stoked that the Maiden Voyage went like it should! And the speed you were able to get on that thing going back in!
I was thinking about tying a bucket for bait to the ski and using a bubbler like I do for bluegill, just keep the water fresh.
Hopefully see you down there in October! Once again good job!
I'll be damned, you did it man! That so awesome!! Looking like a pro already. Great set up on the sabiki too! I feel you on the confidence of location thing, I expected the sonar to show more marks on the bottom so I was never really sure, I started kind of looking for anomalies such as a rapid change in depth and of course I'd slow my roll to look for activity on the bottom. Man I'm super stoked that the Maiden Voyage went like it should! And the speed you were able to get on that thing going back in!
I was thinking about tying a bucket for bait to the ski and using a bubbler like I do for bluegill, just keep the water fresh.
Hopefully see you down there in October! Once again good job!
Thanks brother! I still have my 5 gallon kayak bait tank that's self contained with 12v battery and 500gph bilge pump that I could always hang over the side when not under motor but I'd like the one on the boat to work or at least see how well it works.
When we were out by that mark I posted drifting I did find a ledge that dropped off considerably, 8 to 10 feet. It was very visible on the screen so I marked it on the Humminbird for another time. I repositioned on it a few times but I'm still learning how to set up the boat for the drift. The wind was out of the SE/E so you would have thought the boat would have been pushing W/NW but the tide was incoming and the boat was actually drifting N straight towards Cholla Bay. We also didn't have much time once we got out there. Need more time on the water. Time = Experience.
If life goes our way we'll be down in October as well. I'd be down to buddy boat somewhere assuming water condition is ok for the ski.
Thanks brother! I still have my 5 gallon kayak bait tank that's self contained with 12v battery and 500gph bilge pump that I could always hang over the side when not under motor but I'd like the one on the boat to work or at least see how well it works.
When we were out by that mark I posted drifting I did find a ledge that dropped off considerably, 8 to 10 feet. It was very visible on the screen so I marked it on the Humminbird for another time. I repositioned on it a few times but I'm still learning how to set up the boat for the drift. The wind was out of the SE/E so you would have thought the boat would have been pushing W/NW but the tide was incoming and the boat was actually drifting N straight towards Cholla Bay. We also didn't have much time once we got out there. Need more time on the water. Time = Experience.
If life goes our way we'll be down in October as well. I'd be down to buddy boat somewhere assuming water condition is ok for the ski.
Great idea for the pump, think that would be a better option for me, keep that water recirculating and oxygenate at the same time. Just have a weight for the suction line holding it in the water.
I would think the wind against the boat would be more effective than the tide against the boat as well. Yeah I need a lot more time as well, I'm working on getting some numbers, I just need to see a legitimate spot to guage further exploration. That whole confidence thing you mentioned in another post I would say. A lot more practice reading the sonar. I always thought it would make every fish even when I change my gain but seems like the bottom dwellers don't show up as more than just "activity" on the screen.
I'd be down to chase fish around down there with good weather!
Seas were at least 3ft at 2 or 3 seconds and it was a little wet but the ride was not bad at all. Going out the rollers were 3 or 4ft but at like 7 seconds. Harder ride because of bow slap but not wet at all. I wouldn't want to be getting wet in February. August it wasn't a problem...
Finally got my hands on, The Secrets of Super Grouper!!!! Huge thanks to Gowdy at Phoenix Fishing Supply for hooking me up with it. Those guys are so awesome!
My gift to the forum.
One reef for Nicolai to get to.
Tight lines brother!
I also talked to the GOAT of Penasco, SHAWNO last night on IG and got some good information. We're looking to get out this weekend and hit a few of these legendary marks from SUPER GROUPER!!!!
Got the bait tank wired in and tested at Plez last weekend. Hopefully we have more luck this trip!!!
Well, we struck out hard on our last trip down a few weeks ago because the wind ended up being a little bit more than what windfinder.com said it would be. We made it about a mile or two short of the 16-180 reef and decided to turn around because the 3 or 4 ft seas were rocking the hell out of our little Cortez Dingy. It wasn't dangerous but it was uncomfortable.
When we arrived back in Phoenix we talked about one last redemption trip maybe the weekend before Thanksgiving. As the days went on and viewing the wind report daily it appeared that November 14 and 15th were going to be good to very good in terms of wind. Monday the 15th being the better of the two with possible GLASS OFF conditions in the middle of the day!!! So, as we've done so many times before on a last minute whim we booked our stay and headed down Sunday morning. We left Phoenix at 430am and had smooth sailing. At the border we got the Red light Aduana/NatGuard combo search which was helpful. As we started through the Sonoyta gauntlet there was already a approximately 30 minute wait at the border at 715am from bikers heading home from bike week. Sonoyta's FINEST were out in full force with already two people pulled over in the first 1 mile. LOTS of bikes and RV's, toy haulers and SUV's going North the whole way down. No FEDERAL MINISTERIAL POLICE checkpoint at 8am so our trip down was uneventful. Got 13mpg towing the boat.
Once in town we took the boat straight to Safe Marina so we didn't have to keep dragging the boat back and forth from Cholla Bay. Once I learned from Shawno THA GOD that overnight boat storage is $5 per night we pry won't do it any differently from now on. The Safe Marina operation is so easy and professional and it was damn near the exact same price we pay to launch in Cholla Bay and we stored the boat there 2 nights and got a fresh water wash down and engine flush Monday night in prep for leaving Tuesday morning. The best part about SM is that you can just leave all your shit on the boat. Rods and reels, everything. I didn't put one thing away. It's 100% secure. So much easier than having to put all your gear away out of fear of it being stolen in CB. It saves so much time at the end of the day and it was so much easier, less energy spent for me climbing in and out of the boat. So we definitely like the Safe Marina operation for sure.
After getting settled in we were back at SM to launch the boat around 11am if I remember correctly. We really didn't plan on going out very far because we wanted to be in around 4pm so we went out by Whale Hill to catch bait and then I was going to try a few of the inshore reefs near the PDO area. We caught some rock bass, sardines and a few greenback mackerel and went out to find a few of these spots. After an hour or so of not catching anything and the sea starting to get a little white cappy we decided to go anchor out of the wind on the East side of the Home Port Jetty. We anchored in flat calm water 40ft deep on the East side of the end of the jetty. While anchored we caught another 8 or so greenback mackerel. We also got to see some Dolphins that had come in close to eat near the jetty. That was about it for day 1. Arrived back in the port by 4pm and prepped the boat for the next morning and left it secure with SM and went and had dinner at Pollo Lucas.
Day 2, Monday November 15. We woke up on Pinto Point to absolutely DEAD FLAT conditions at sunrise. Our goal was to be on the boat at Sunrise but we made it to SM by 720 on the boat by 730am so not too bad at all. We filed float plan to go to the 14 and headed straight for the Home Port Jetty to catch bait. We wanted more mackerel but alive. I put the day befores on ice to use as dead bait or cut bait. Unfortunately we had a harder time catching greenbacks this day as it was mostly Sardines. The shitty part about the Sardines is no matter what you do, they do not keep in the bait tank. They roll almost immediately!!! Not sure if I should still be keeping the Sardines for whole dead bait?????? Finally we decided to move to a few more spots near CB to see if we could find some live greenbacks. After trying to catch bait for too long we had mostly rock bass and one or two live greenbacks. It was time to head out wide. Went to motor up and the motor was acting like it was getting choked for fuel in like pulses. Brought the stick back down to neutral and it was idling fine but again under load it was making this weird intermittent choking where the engine would die for a split second then come back in and repeat the process. I was able to get the boat to plane but again we could just tell that the motor wasn't running right. After motoring west trying to figure out what was going on I made the call to turn around and start heading back to harbor. Because the boat was running fine at idle and under 3k and had absolutely zero starting issues I decided that we shouldn't waste our great day because of this and that we'd keep her close to CB and fish some of the inshore reef marks that I have. After doing this for an hour or so and not getting any bites it was getting frustrating. I told Claudia that I wanted to drive the boat for a bit to see if anything had changed. I also said that if it seemed fine and the tune of the engine sounds good then we should still go to the 14.
Started the boat and started running west from around the Pelican Point area. It seemed to be fine. I couldn't hear any deviation in the sound of the motor under almost full load so I knew it was getting the fuel. It's a sound thing mostly. You can hear the difference in the tune the motor is making when it's having fuel issues. This is more or less the problem we had with the boat during our lake tests. I believe there is still some shit that every now and then makes its way into the tank pickup screen or possibly some small particle makes its way into the high speed jet circuit of the carb. Hard to say but the problem has always been intermittent and hasn't shown itself since July. Now more than halfway to the mark I was completely sure the motor was fine and whatever was causing this weird temporary issue was gone...
We arrived at the 12 mile reef first and decided to fish that fist. This time I was more organized and had a better plan of what I wanted to do. I sat there for a minute or two under idle to get a sense of the drift line. Once I had that I made sure that we were completely ready to go and reset the boat for the first drift. I set the boat to give me a minute or two of time before drifting over the mark to get the live bait out of the tank and hooked on the line. As soon as we approached the mark I would give the ok to drop. I believe the first 2 or 3 drifts we didn't get any bites but it allowed me to understand my drift pattern better on the GPS which allowed the future drifts to be better and closer to the mark.
Now it gets good. At this point it's about 2pm. Here we go. Same process. Set the boat way past the mark but on course to drift over the mark in 2 minutes. Get live rock bass out of the bait tank. Hook live rock bass through the nose on a 3 way rig. 80lb braid main line, 40lb mono leader. 4/0 hook I believe. About ready. Ok drop! We drop down. I put the live bait rod into the gunwale rod holder for extra security and start jigging right next to it with my heavy duty spin set up, 50lb braid, 40lb mono leader with 6 or 8oz Ahi Assault Diamond Jig (Silver Hologram). All of a sudden the bait rod starts going BENDO!! We're on!!! I picked it up and starting reeling down fast on the fish to get it up off the bottom. It began pulling and I immediately knew it was a Grouper! I told Claudia to get the gaff ready. Sure enough, I got him to the surface and it was a nice approximately 15lb Spotted Cabrilla (Leopard Grouper)!!! Gaff shot was a sticker and we boated our first ever, self produced GROUPER!!!! We were absolutely ecstatic.
We reset our drift and now I had an even better idea how close to the mark the hit was so I started aiming for that and BOOM. ACTION GOT HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Immediately we had 2 back to back breakoffs!!! Same deal. Set the boat, hook the bait, drop and wait. This time it was a little different. I set the Penn309 live bait rod into the gunwale holder and began jigging. Almost at the identical spot where we had just hooked up I got HIT HARD on the jig. I mean, just a runaway train hard. It felt so fricken cool!!!! I can't forget that tugging sensation now. Same deal. I reeled down on the son of bitch hard and started jerking him up out of the rocks. I was getting him up and this was about to be GROUPER #2 but all of a sudden a thorough tug from the fish and boom! Nothing. No weight on the line whatsoever. Every fishermen knows that feeling. Snapped the line. Got the line up and yep! Snapped the 40lb mono leader. So that sucked. Losing a $15 jig and what was surely a better fish. Well before I could even be upset or realize what just happened the live bait rod went BENDO again! We're on!!! Got the fish off the bottom and again mid way up after a few strenuous tugs by the fish boom!! Snap! I reeled up to see that the fish had snapped the 4/O hook right in half. So that was likely a better fish as well. The leader line from the 3 way swivel to the hook was all beat up from teeth I believe. I changed the leader line to 80lb mono and added a waaaaaaayyyyyyyy bigger hook not sure of size but double I'd say. I again reset the boat for another drift. This time it was the live bait rig and on one of the heavy duty spin set ups we went with a dead whole greenback mackerel hooked to the scampi jig head just like the SUPER GROUPER book says to. We dropped down and again, we both hooked up this time. My line got all wrapped around one of the MANY floating 2 liter bottle markers for the panga pots which absolutely screwed me and the one Claudia was fighting came off. When she reeled it up the rather big greenback mackerel had a huge bite impression in it and from midway down the fish had locked on and just drug it's teeth down the mackerel ripping the flesh from half way up down the tail. I didn't have any secondary stinger hooks otherwise I think we win there. The main hook from the jig was through the macks head and the fish never got it's mouth that high. I guess that's why the book says to use a secondary stinger hook near the tail of the bait. After we got my line untangled from the crab pot line I was able to real it up and the live rock bass I was using for bait was now just a rock bass head with some intestines hanging out. So needless to say the action got hot and heavy for an hour.
At about 330pm after making a few more drifts with no action we decided to call it a day. I did 26mph on the way in and we were back in Safe Marina by 4pm. Put the fish on ice and cleaned the boat up a little and prepped it for travel the next day. Had Pollo Lucas again for dinner. Tuesday morning we woke up at 430am to start getting ready to leave. The drive from CB to Safe Marina in the harbor was NO JOKE. There was DENSE FOG. I could only go about 10-20mph because you couldn't see 10ft in front of the vehicle. Got to SM at 530am and hooked the boat up. Went and got gas and were on the highway at exactly 6am. Again, no checkpoint. No issue in Sonoyta however, the cop was radaring immediately after cresting the hill with the 40kph sign. I was only going 18mph. Cop didn't even budge. Border was 2 minutes. Right up to the window. Agent was friendly and quick. Got the large X-ray again for the second trip in a row. No issue. Back in central Phoenix, 51freeway and Glendale by 950am.
We are beyond happy to have finally produced a fish and having others on the line as well was a huge confidence boost. I was starting to get into the headspace of doubt but now I know we can do it and we're learning fast. Incremental gains. Hopefully now, the fish just start getting bigger and bigger!!!!!
EVERY TIME you get a hit with a trolled jig reel her in and cutoff four or five feet of line and retie the lure. The smallest ding on mono is where it is going to break. I have a habit when fishing in any environment to put two fingers on that last few feet and give it a feel. You are going to save a lot of expensive lures and bring in more lunkers like the fine one in your pix.
I guess we will be eating beer battered Sardinero manana en la noche after you setting off my grouper alarm!
Great catch Joe and you didn't even have to run forty miles out.
EVERY TIME you get a hit with a trolled jig reel her in and cutoff four or five feet of line and retie the lure. The smallest ding on mono is where it is going to break. I have a habit when fishing in any environment to put two fingers on that last few feet and give it a feel. You are going to save a lot of expensive lures and bring in more lunkers like the fine one in your pix.
I guess we will be eating beer battered Sardinero manana en la noche after you setting off my grouper alarm!
Great catch Joe and you didn't even have to run forty miles out.
JJ
Hey JJ, btw good seeing you in Cholla Bay a few weeks ago. Are those Sardines good for whole dead bait or don't even mess with them? Rock bass and greenbacks damn near last all day in the bait tank. I was doing what the book says and cutting off the dorsal spines for SENOR Grouper. For bait, it's absolutely amazing how much fish a SABIKI rig catches. Someone at SM told us that if you touch the Sardine or handle it they will die immediately in the bait tank so we started using our little sabiki de-hooker tool to just do it right into the tank but they still rolled almost immediately.
Do NOT put sardines in your bait tank. As you learned, they die immediately and they shed a lot of scale that clogs shit up. We usually throw them in a five gallon bucket with ice. They make good dead bait. Biggest black seabass I've ever caught was on a dead sardine. Halibut will chow them, too. Elephants love eating peanuts!
Also, I never deadstick a live bait. Have had 130 lb graphite roller guide rods snapped like a toothpick doing that. Expensive way to learn!
I admire your dedication and you're obviously learning the ropes! Nice fish, the effort is paying off. Safe Marine is the only way to go in my opinion. Convenience is worth It. Glad ya got your fish itch scratched, sounds like a great trip!
Do NOT put sardines in your bait tank. As you learned, they die immediately and they shed a lot of scale that clogs shit up. We usually throw them in a five gallon bucket with ice. They make good dead bait. Biggest black seabass I've ever caught was on a dead sardine. Halibut will chow them, too. Elephants love eating peanuts!
Also, I never deadstick a live bait. Have had 130 lb graphite roller guide rods snapped like a toothpick doing that. Expensive way to learn!
I admire your dedication and you're obviously learning the ropes! Nice fish, the effort is paying off. Safe Marine is the only way to go in my opinion. Convenience is worth It. Glad ya got your fish itch scratched, sounds like a great trip!
So Stu, when I'm live baiting do I hold the rod in free spool or something with thumb pressure? I assume this is to take the initial hit without snapping a rod in half. Also, thanks for the Sardines tip. And yea, the scales come off immediately and get all over the boat.
So Stu, when I'm live baiting do I hold the rod in free spool or something with thumb pressure? I assume this is to take the initial hit without snapping a rod in half. Also, thanks for the Sardines tip. And yea, the scales come off immediately and get all over the boat.
When I'm live baiting, I drop til I hit bottom, then lock the reel with heavy drag and just ping the weight off the bottom as we drift. The rigs you have are perfect. I make my own and use 80 lb. mono to the hook and three ft. of 20 or 30 lb. that runs down from the tri-swivel to the weight. Keeps your bait swimming a couple feet off the bottom and if they try to rock you, the weight line breaks easily but the hook line does not.
Also, those first few seconds when they hit is critical. If you're dead sticking it, they can run and will cave you. If you're holding the rod, you can quickly reel hard and get them off the bottom and you'll usually win that battle. Otherwise, they'll break you off. Takes a little practice, but is easy enough. I remember telling a guy on my boat the minute the weight hits the bottom, lock the reel and get ready to get hit by a freight train. He thought I was bluffing. He dropped and locked the reel and just stood there with a dumb look on his face then BAM! He wasn't expecting the strike and it brought him to his knees on the deck and the rod against the rail. He hung on for dear life. The grouper got off. After he stood back up, he looked at me and said "I've never felt any fish strike like that in my life!" I just laughed, yup, tried to warn you.
When I'm live baiting, I drop til I hit bottom, then lock the reel with heavy drag and just ping the weight off the bottom as we drift. The rigs you have are perfect. I make my own and use 80 lb. mono to the hook and three ft. of 20 or 30 lb. that runs down from the tri-swivel to the weight. Keeps your bait swimming a couple feet off the bottom and if they try to rock you, the weight line breaks easily but the hook line does not.
Also, those first few seconds when they hit is critical. If you're dead sticking it, they can run and will cave you. If you're holding the rod, you can quickly reel hard and get them off the bottom and you'll usually win that battle. Otherwise, they'll break you off. Takes a little practice, but is easy enough. I remember telling a guy on my boat the minute the weight hits the bottom, lock the reel and get ready to get hit by a freight train. He thought I was bluffing. He dropped and locked the reel and just stood there with a dumb look on his face then BAM! He wasn't expecting the strike and it brought him to his knees on the deck and the rod against the rail. He hung on for dear life. The grouper got off. After he stood back up, he looked at me and said "I've never felt any fish strike like that in my life!" I just laughed, yup, tried to warn you.
Live bonefish draw the most vicious strikes.
We did have one Boner in the bait tank but it rolled on the ride out to the mark. My bait tank system is kind of pissing me off. The pickup is near the motor bracket on the transom which I've learned is a low pressure area so under motor I can't pump water. Then, not every time but usually most of the time after motoring and coming to a stop you go to turn bait pump on and it's air locked. Won't pump water. So I have to open the battery compartment hatch and reach down in there and quickly open and close the cartridge while the pump is on and then it starts pulling water. The other problem is water level and keeping the water fresh. Under motor the water is sloshing around so bad that we only have half a tank of water when we get to the mark and then I usually either accidentally leave the pump running and flood the hull or forget to turn it on periodically and the water is stagnant and not being circulated enough...
I might try this. Looks pretty cool. It's wifi capable so you can configure all these settings on your smartphone on the fly. You can change the duty cycle so the pump runs lower, pumping less water flow. You can configure intermittent cycling of the pump for specified periods of time and frequency. So I could have the pump come on for 30 seconds every 10 minutes or whatever to keep the water fresh. Basically a fully automated bait tank system.
They always put the pick-up in a screwy place. Used to have a similar problem until I replaced the pick-up (a brass mushroom) with a clam shell pick-up thru-hull facing forward. That forced water through the pump as I ran.
They always put the pick-up in a screwy place. Used to have a similar problem until I replaced the pick-up (a brass mushroom) with a clam shell pick-up thru-hull facing forward. That forced water through the pump as I ran.
My understanding is the hi speed pick up is always under the hull. Just not sure I'd have any access to even attempt an installation. Plus cutting a hole in the bottom of the boat is nerve racking to say the least... I wanted to see if there was a way to adapt the hole in the back of the transom but not sure it's possible.
My understanding is the hi speed pick up is always under the hull. Just not sure I'd have any access to even attempt an installation. Plus cutting a hole in the bottom of the boat is nerve racking to say the least... I wanted to see if there was a way to adapt the hole in the back of the transom but not sure it's possible.
Not a biggie. Use a hole drill and cement it in with MarineTex.
Well... forum gets a little quiet this time of year but for pros like us the fun never stops no matter what time of the year it is so I figured I'd give a little update on the CORTEZ DINGHY. I added a few things to make the boat more user friendly for the captain, me. First, on every one of our first 4 trips we keep leaving the bait tank running and forgetting to shut it off at various points throughout the day. The water overflows into the dry bow storage under the deck which then drains into the bottom of the hull and then the bilge pump kicks on to evacuate. Not necessarily a huge problem but getting fishy bait tank water on our clothes kind of sucked a few times... So. I started looking to see if there were any bait tank timers out there. I found this really cool product from Timershops.com. It's pretty much a solid state relay that is programmable. Has WIFI built into it so you can connect it to your phone and change any of the parameters you want. You can change the duty cycle so the pump can run anywhere from 1-100% and then there are 4 periods you can select for intermittent use.
We had a chance to take the boat out to the lake a week ago and test the bait tank situation using the new Timer Shop relay that I wired into the system. I found a setting that seems to be pretty good. I have it run for one minute at 40% duty cycle, every 3 minutes. The water reaches the top of the drain pipe right as the pump kicks off. Usually within a few minutes of the boat rocking a little the water fluctuates a tad but every 3 minutes it fills back up. This should keep a lot more fresh oxygenated water in the bait tank. And more importantly, once I turn the system on we can forget about it the rest of the day while we're out there. Pretty cool I think. Can't wait for the real test!
The second item that I added for our next outing is a really stout, billet aluminum phone mount. I finally made the smartest decision ever and purchased NAVIONICS by Garmin. You can basically rent the software now instead of having to buy a card for $200... The yearly subscription for US Coast and Lakes which surprisingly covers the ENTIRE gulf of California and the Pacific side of Baja was only $15/year. It's INSANELY good! You get contour mapping with color shading. It's absolutely amazing. Not a lot of contour relief in the Upper SOC but the coast from Cholla Bay to La Pinta has some pretty good mapping and I've already found some amazing spots with this software. My plan now is to run NAVIONICS from my phone and then use the Humminbird for only sonar. If you're a Kayak or Jet Ski fisherman out of RP/Cholla Bay you absolutely NEED this software! I have found some amazing 10ft ledges around Cholla Bay and right out of the Harbor towards the Malecon. Some 10ft drops and ledges near Cholla Mountain. This could be a game changer for INSHORE fishing and snorkeling.
No more fumbling around with the phone looking for my marks in my phone navigation while trying to drive the boat and keep my eye out... Definitely stoking to see how these two additions make our fishing trips more enjoyable and productive.
We're looking to get down this weekend hopefully if the wind report holds true which I believe it's going to. It's supposed to be 80 on Saturday so boating should be fun. If it's calm enough we might even try and make a run towards Bird Island to see if we can find some YellowTail!!!
Well... forum gets a little quiet this time of year but for pros like us the fun never stops no matter what time of the year it is so I figured I'd give a little update on the CORTEZ DINGHY. I added a few things to make the boat more user friendly for the captain, me. First, on every one of our first 4 trips we keep leaving the bait tank running and forgetting to shut it off at various points throughout the day. The water overflows into the dry bow storage under the deck which then drains into the bottom of the hull and then the bilge pump kicks on to evacuate. Not necessarily a huge problem but getting fishy bait tank water on our clothes kind of sucked a few times... So. I started looking to see if there were any bait tank timers out there. I found this really cool product from Timershops.com. It's pretty much a solid state relay that is programmable. Has WIFI built into it so you can connect it to your phone and change any of the parameters you want. You can change the duty cycle so the pump can run anywhere from 1-100% and then there are 4 periods you can select for intermittent use.
We had a chance to take the boat out to the lake a week ago and test the bait tank situation using the new Timer Shop relay that I wired into the system. I found a setting that seems to be pretty good. I have it run for one minute at 40% duty cycle, every 3 minutes. The water reaches the top of the drain pipe right as the pump kicks off. Usually within a few minutes of the boat rocking a little the water fluctuates a tad but every 3 minutes it fills back up. This should keep a lot more fresh oxygenated water in the bait tank. And more importantly, once I turn the system on we can forget about it the rest of the day while we're out there. Pretty cool I think. Can't wait for the real test!
The second item that I added for our next outing is a really stout, billet aluminum phone mount. I finally made the smartest decision ever and purchased NAVIONICS by Garmin. You can basically rent the software now instead of having to buy a card for $200... The yearly subscription for US Coast and Lakes which surprisingly covers the ENTIRE gulf of California and the Pacific side of Baja was only $15/year. It's INSANELY good! You get contour mapping with color shading. It's absolutely amazing. Not a lot of contour relief in the Upper SOC but the coast from Cholla Bay to La Pinta has some pretty good mapping and I've already found some amazing spots with this software. My plan now is to run NAVIONICS from my phone and then use the Humminbird for only sonar. If you're a Kayak or Jet Ski fisherman out of RP/Cholla Bay you absolutely NEED this software! I have found some amazing 10ft ledges around Cholla Bay and right out of the Harbor towards the Malecon. Some 10ft drops and ledges near Cholla Mountain. This could be a game changer for INSHORE fishing and snorkeling.
No more fumbling around with the phone looking for my marks in my phone navigation while trying to drive the boat and keep my eye out... Definitely stoking to see how these two additions make our fishing trips more enjoyable and productive.
We're looking to get down this weekend hopefully if the wind report holds true which I believe it's going to. It's supposed to be 80 on Saturday so boating should be fun. If it's calm enough we might even try and make a run towards Bird Island to see if we can find some YellowTail!!!
Great report. Sweet new set up you have there ! Good luck with the new fixes
I've spent many a-days fishing and Scuba diving that rock pile. There is more meat available there than any other location within a hundred miles of PP.
The general layout there is that the "island" is actually a couple of peaks on a submerged small granite rock mountain range running north west by south east as almost all of the desert ranges on land in this part of Sonora.
On a "calm" flat sea morning you can make that 26 mile trip from the harbor in an hour or so. I always approach it from the west after doing the run farther offshore to avoid the swells that build in the shallow water along the coast. Also, beware of the "Widow Maker" it is another very dangerous rock pile to the north of the range that is under water at high tide. Dive that peak and you will see the remains of several boats that met Senior El Diablo long before they expected to.
The Gringo name " Bird Island" is an example of the general ignorance of the masses as almost every ocean island in the world is inhabited by sea birds where they can avoid land predators. The correct namesake Saint George Island is equally ignorant as that dude was obvious nothing more than a religious Fairy tale about some guy that drove the snakes off of the British Islands where no snake ever lived anyway. Another tale is about his dragon slaying days in the same area.
Anyways the killer spot around La Isla for sure is the steep cliff and fifty foot under water drop off at the southern tip. The rushing currents during tidal changes bring sea bird shit from one side and Sea Lion shit from the other side where they meet as a stinking poop soup that attracts dozens of types of crap eating filter feeders like sardines who are then targeted by apex predators like Barracudas, two species of Sierras, Ladyfish, Leopard Groupers and Yellowtail.
We run the rock face as close as we can doing a speedy troll with deep diver lures and get a fish or two on EVERY pass! You will get burnt out hauling them in Joe. On the westerly side of the island is a deep trench blown out by the changing tides. The depth in that hole is around 100 feet or more and at this time of the year the cold water in that hole forms a layover for Yellowtail, Sierras and the ultra rare Monterrey Sierra. Drop a few diamond jigs there and every hit will be a mind blower. Right now the female Sierras there are fat and loaded with eggs.
If you still want to do a real "meat run" try trolling the ridge to the south east. I locate the ridge with my finder maybe a mile or two out and drop a marker bouy that I made one from a four foot yellow pool noodle. I put a weight and line on it, do the drop then run the ridge back and forth to the cliff a few times until I'm loaded up.
Don't get too greedy as the early afternoon winds from the north will stir up shit so bad that it might take two or three hours to get back to the port if at all!
Don't even consider doing the run home close to shore as it will totally beat the shit out of you and your boat. Solid advise...take a wet suit with you!
Just a thought Joe is the bilge pump duty rated? Usually when motors are in variable use they create more heat.
I'd have to look but I don't believe so. These pumps are your standard bilge pump and many people run 6v to these pumps instead of 12v to lower the duty so it doesn't flow as much water. They draw less than 2ah... doubt there is any heat created with this pump. If my intervals end up being to frequent I can toggle the WiFI and change the parameters while we're out there so not too concerned. I ran a similar set up for a few years out of the kayak for it's bait tank that I had made out of a 5g dog food container. The unit was self contained. I mounted a 6v battery (forum suggested) onto the outside of container inside a small dry box, fused with switch flush mount on the dry box. Never had problems...
Essentially, these small bilge pumps aren't like traditional water/well pumps that need water flow to keep it cool. You can dry run these things and they don't burn up or get hot so I don't think it's a problem. Now, if you're a home owner in Cholla Bay, we all know someone who has burned up their pump because the tank ran dry and they pump kept running with no water to cool it.
But hey, only time will tell.
OOOO father time.... one swell of a guy!
PS: Who wants to put in orders for Grouper and Yellowtail?????? We hardly have the capacity for a 20lb fish right now let alone a big boy OR TWO if we get into them. I told Claudia we're going to have to be handing out fish if we get a few big boys. Or buy a freezer for our little 20x10' Townhouse backyard that we have!
I've spent many a-days fishing and Scuba diving that rock pile. There is more meat available there than any other location within a hundred miles of PP.
The general layout there is that the "island" is actually a couple of peaks on a submerged small granite rock mountain range running north west by south east as almost all of the desert ranges on land in this part of Sonora.
On a "calm" flat sea morning you can make that 26 mile trip from the harbor in an hour or so. I always approach it from the west after doing the run farther offshore to avoid the swells that build in the shallow water along the coast. Also, beware of the "Widow Maker" it is another very dangerous rock pile to the north of the range that is under water at high tide. Dive that peak and you will see the remains of several boats that met Senior El Diablo long before they expected to.
The Gringo name " Bird Island" is an example of the general ignorance of the masses as almost every ocean island in the world is inhabited by sea birds where they can avoid land predators. The correct namesake Saint George Island is equally ignorant as that dude was obvious nothing more than a religious Fairy tale about some guy that drove the snakes off of the British Islands where no snake ever lived anyway. Another tale is about his dragon slaying days in the same area.
Anyways the killer spot around La Isla for sure is the steep cliff and fifty foot under water drop off at the southern tip. The rushing currents during tidal changes bring sea bird shit from one side and Sea Lion shit from the other side where they meet as a stinking poop soup that attracts dozens of types of crap eating filter feeders like sardines who are then targeted by apex predators like Barracudas, two species of Sierras, Ladyfish, Leopard Groupers and Yellowtail.
We run the rock face as close as we can doing a speedy troll with deep diver lures and get a fish or two on EVERY pass! You will get burnt out hauling them in Joe. On the westerly side of the island is a deep trench blown out by the changing tides. The depth in that hole is around 100 feet or more and at this time of the year the cold water in that hole forms a layover for Yellowtail, Sierras and the ultra rare Monterrey Sierra. Drop a few diamond jigs there and every hit will be a mind blower. Right now the female Sierras there are fat and loaded with eggs.
If you still want to do a real "meat run" try trolling the ridge to the south east. I locate the ridge with my finder maybe a mile or two out and drop a marker bouy that I made one from a four foot yellow pool noodle. I put a weight and line on it, do the drop then run the ridge back and forth to the cliff a few times until I'm loaded up.
Don't get too greedy as the early afternoon winds from the north will stir up shit so bad that it might take two or three hours to get back to the port if at all!
Don't even consider doing the run home close to shore as it will totally beat the shit out of you and your boat. Solid advise...take a wet suit with you!
Later,
JJ
JJ, thanks for the write up. Why is the Super Grouper mark right near the Widow Maker?????? I thought the good fishing was the West side for trolling and a deep drop on the South as you mentioned??????? I have the WM marked in Navionics so no F#cking with that and dying. Shawno has given me some good advice there too. Trolling the west for Sierra and YT, South for Sardineros... I have plenty of plugs for trolling. Various deep and shallow divers. I have some Tady Iron Man 5's for YT. Just bought a few more butterfly jigs and a huge 300g long skinny jig for slow pitch jigging. Just upped our stash and bought 6 16oz Diamond Jigs with hollagraphic wrap. Also re-upped our weight stash with 6 16oz jig heads and big scampi tails and 6 16oz cannonball sinkers with some new Mustad 10/0 live bait hooks for the live bait. I have a few 13/0 hooks if we need to go bigger and a few 7/0 for more inshore like the 12 mile reef... Pretty confident we have everything we need to be successful. Can't win if you don't play.
Is wire leader essential for the Sierra? I've caught them in CB without but also had a few breakoffs too. Trolling we'd have 40lb mono as the leader down to the plug.
On weather. Wind report seems to be holding true with Saturday and Monday looking to be calm-dead flat and Sunday looks to be calm-fair with some small chop in late afternoon. If we head to ISLA SAN JORGE it would be on Monday unless Sunday seems good... I'm only heading out that way if the water is dead flat or pretty flat because we never got around to reinstalling our console windshield and definitely don't want to be taking spray to the upper torso, head and neck area for an hour and 10 minutes in the winter time. I think the wind is out of the North so depending on sea conditions will determine if we give it a go. If not out there I'm looking at the 16-180 on the South ledge it goes from 100ft down to 170 pretty quickly. I want to try that drop off and see what we get.
Rule of thumb on trolling rigs....................use as little terminal tackle as possible. Every thing added forward of the lure will effect it's track under water.
Wire leader on a trolled lure will almost guarantee no fish will ever touch it. I tie my mono directly to the lure with those expensive tiny but heavy duty ball bearing barrel swivels. I'll have to look in my boat to get you the brand and size. They sell them at Cabelas in Glendale.
With every hit or hookup I always cut off at least six feet of line and re-tie it to the swivel. Every time I reel in the lure I slide the last three or four feet of line between my spit wet fingers. If you feel anything other than slick smooth line cut off at least six feet and re-tie it.
The Sierras out at the island are the biggest ones in the Gulf. The big gravid egg filled females get up three feet long and over fifteen pounds. Three or four of those hefties will fill up your fish box fast. The Mexican Barracudas are thick at the cliff. They are worthless as a food fish as are the Machetes (Lady Fish) even my wolf pack turn up their noses to them.
Keep an eye on the hooks. Sierras will bend them out of shape then the lure will not track true. I regularly check the lure track by watching it run alongside the boat at trolling speed. The deep diver spoonbills should shoot to the depths as soon as they hit the water, if they don't they will never track true at depths and never catch a fish.
Sierras have a hunting method that I call a "broadside" they body slam larger prey fish, your larger lures and their own buddies when hooked. When your lure hooks them on their sides the hooks will almost always be damaged. I have a box full of Rebel Jointed Spoonbills that I rebuild with new trebel hooks and repaint after every run as out there as they get a real beating from the Sierras.
Be sure to either have your rod in your hands or in your rod holder with a cord securing it to the boat. If and when you get hooked up to a Yellowtail or Sardinero consider it a "sudden stoppage" depending on your trolling speed it's gonna seem like you just hooked an under water boulder.
Make sure your drag on your reel is tight enough to make solid hook-ups but loose enough to handle that sudden stoppage that will allow you to pull the boat around while keeping constant tension while reeling in the line as you make your return. It's a good idea to make sure your first mate knows how to operate the boat as you can't possibly do it alone.
Plan on loosing expensive lures, take plenty of extras as you will need them out there. Big Fine Scale Triggers will take a trolled lure out there and they are all to be considered delicious keepers. No matter what any of the so-called "experts" out there say, the Sierra is one of the finest eating fish in the Gulf they may be distantly related to a lowly Mackerel but are an entirely different fish. The popular King Fish or King Mackerel of the southern east coast are the same genus as our Sierras and no one tosses them back.
