Where to start? Yesterday was my last day of a week off in Wildwood with the family and extended family (great time). Oh, but, that week started with me losing $1,100 worth of business money somewhere in my house (see what I mean about bad luck?). I was originally planning on sharking on Tuesday but, with the forecast I decided to try it out today with my future brother-in-law Dennis who has never shark fished. The plan was to stay close and target threshers. We were on a tight schedule as I had to be at work at 6:30PM in Pottstown, PA.
I went to the boat last night and prepped all the gear, organized a bit, and threw the charger on the batteries for safe measure. They read perfect on the meters. We cast off the lines at 5AM sharp and headed North for a bit. Made it to just shy of the intended area where there are tons of pots and it just looked and smelled sharky. Tuna chicks, smell of bait, and occasionally marked bait. Knowing sharing in the hundreds of pots is nearly impossible we searched for an area to get setup in. The ocean was flat, winds so variable, and just about slack tide. Getting a read on the drift was a bit tricky at first. We figured it out, made a few drifts without even a sniff. Saw some whales, dolphins, and a school of something making a wave, pushing bait (I would consider betting BFT)from their profile but, they were gone as soon as the arrived. Knowing I had to be at the dock at a given time I decided we would move closer to my inlet.
Made a run the SGR to see if there was any bunker and hungry sharks there but found none. Managed to at least catch a few short fluke while using the last of our chum.
At quitting time I turn the key and 'click'.... WTF! Again 'click' now with my VHF yelling at me about low voltage. Voltmeter low... Troubleshooting and found a loose alternator wire on the starter. Yep, you guessed it, another tow for Fred this season!
I assume running the 40+ miles all day with a loose wire took it's toll on my batteries. Now to look at the schedule and see when I can get back and charge them and confirm the only problem was the alternator wire.
On the bright side I got to do some reorganizing of the cabin, tackle, etc. on the tow home. At my marina a couple of guys were cleaning up a 200# mako caught at about 50 miles.
On the down side I am expecting Boat US to call at anytime and advise me my "unlimited" towing has just been limited. LOL
