My buddy Chris has been helping me a ton with the new boat. He's fixed up boats with his dad growing up and rebuilt two boats from scratch in recent years, so he is my chief advisor with upcoming boat projects. He let me know on Thursday that he was free to fish this weekend. On Friday, he helped me to finish installing the rod holders on the stern, and Saturday morning, pre-dawn before we left for Dana, he helped to get the kicker outboard off of the stern, which became complicated when the clamp was seized, the winding handles broke off, and still the outboard was bolted to the stern.
We got to the ramp around 0700. Later than planned, but happy to have those projects behind us. He was gonna give me pointers every step of the way and that started with launch procedure. I was guided during the sea trial, but hearing any extra bits of info and having a 6 pack captain on hand would help things along immensely.
The boat seems to want to stick onto the trailer, at least with the grade of the Dana launch ramp, so some kind of slicker hard plastic on the bunks will be a project in the near future.
She floats in saltwater!
(https://i.imgur.com/JvWP81gh.jpeg)
The plan was to head to the 267 and then down toward Oceanside. Lots of exciting reports from the general area, so we hoped for the best. A messy, mixed, short swell in the 3-4' range greeted us head on for the first 5-10 miles, but the boat had no issues blasting through around 18-20mph while not slamming and keeping us dry.
(https://i.imgur.com/U6aAUzHh.jpeg)
We put out a daisy chain and a MadScad 190, soon to be switched out with a Yozuri High Speed Vibe. Almost as soon as I switched to the Vibe, Chris saw and heard a short bite. I did not notice it, but that gave us some energy.
There were at least 20 boats over the 267. Better than the Horseshoe right now, which has looked like a Bills tailgate party the past couple months. We didn't see dolphins or kelp. We zig zagged through boats around 12-15mph looking for anything at all. The dilapidated fish finder on the boat was on the fritz, so I had no FF and had to run all my GPS and speed through the Navionics app on my phone.
We SW toward Oside then toward the Domes. The wind died and it was a slick calm for all of an hour. With no more bites or signs of life, we kept trolling right on past the coastal ledge and into shallower water, hoping for a bonito bite on our way to get some slime on deck with some bass or bonito on structure.
We pulled into about 40' of water and started casting colt snipers. Second cast and I was bit. Happy to get the first fish on my boat!
(https://i.imgur.com/DOeZLBXh.jpeg)
I picked off another then we moved a little shallower, then up to San Mateo Point. In 30' of water, I was able to pick off a couple short turd rollers. Then I heard a big splash behind me. I turned and saw about 15' of white water. It was on Chris's side of the boat and I asked him, was that a whale?? He said "no dude!!!! That was a 7-8' white shark that just went full aerial and landed broadside!!! Craziest thing I've ever seen in my life!!!" He said it got at least a full 3' of air before landing and he could even see red scars on its face. Wild! I know Tom's seen it a few times, and I'm glad that when I have a confirmed white shark near me, I'm not in the old Mosquito.
The wind was picking up so we headed in. At the harbor, Chris wanted a few casts on the bait barge. So I entertained it and we made about 15 casts. I got me a cooter in the boat!
(https://i.imgur.com/QV890Kvh.jpeg)
At the ramp, I was a bit of a helmet and put the bow corner into the dock and there was a stranger catch it a little bit while Chris reiterated how to reverse and pull into the dock. As we were prepping to put it on the trailer, the engine died out twice for lack of fuel. We were able to prime the bulb and power the boat up the trailer, and home we went. Learned a lot and didn't get skunked. Chris did get skunked, but he couldn't stop thinking about that white shark and how amazing that was, so I think he was happy with the experience and boat as well.
On to 9/20....