After alot of ups and downs with the weather forecast, decided to make a run for it early saturday, with the idea of we can always turn around and head back in. Well, glad we went as it was very nice out there.
Pulled out of the slip around 0430, and navigated through DCC with a spot light, to break the inlet right at the first hint of light.
Ride out wasn't the best or smoothest ever, but we where able to maintain 20+mph.
First stop, SeaChelle had to try out the mahi pot,, didn't turn out, nobody was home. Next stop Chicken Canyon.
All the way out keep hearing the boats already out there catching.
Finally, we arrive at the cc and the fleet, stopped a mile out. Had to be 100 boats there. Did not jump right in the middle, but wanted to skirt the outside of the fleet. Boats where starting to pick them up on the edges. Boat traffic had to be killing the bite.
SeaChelle takes the wheel so I can get the outriggers up, and the spread out.
Get a nice spread going, jump back on the wheel, start to watch my sonar,,,, wtf! it's not working. And that will be the story for it for the day, it will randomly work for about a minute, then nothing. Everyone talking about tons of bait balls with fish marks on them and I didn't see a single one on my screen. Only bait I saw was skip jacks on the surface. Couldn't even tell you the water temp, because that went last fall after putting a new transducer on in the spring....
Trolled around changing up the spread with everything I had, couldn't even buy a knock down. Lots of boats still reporting catches, and even more boats losing their waybacks from being ran over in the middle of the fleet.
Time came to start heading back in, threw out a four spreader bar spread and trolled all the way back to the ap.
Made the call to head back in, I really can not complain, not with what I had caught the last trip out. Sometimes your good, and sometimes you suck.
I feel it was still a good trip, the new to me outriggers I installed performed as they should, and the tournament cable bars pulled nicely.
Would really like to have hooked up at least, as I will not be making another tuna run with out sonar, and it may be a bit before that happens, we'll see.
Yea I know, guys have fished for hundreds of years with out sonar,,,,
