Well, I knew something would go awry... already got a text just now saying "I can't make it today".

This literally is mind boggling. 

Yep, I should know the drill right now...  I dropped it off in the morning and he said he would start at 2:00 when he finishes working on another job.  Unfortunately, he wouldn't let me park it in the "razor wired" yard but put me on the street at the end of crack alley where some homeless people were tented out. 

I was not liking this but decided it would probably be good overnight, but I wasn't going to risk anything longer.  He said it should take about 4 hours and overnight to dry and some sanding.  I get home from work and text him how the progress went and if my boat is safe there.  The reply was "I'm not sure how safe your boat is there and I decided I would work on it on Saturday instead"....  Well, after spending an hour in traffic to go only 16 miles home from work... I jumped in my truck during the 5:30pm traffic and drove back down to Morena Blvd to get my boat.  There is no way I'm leaving it there for a weekend on crack alley!

I get home almost 2 hours later and I'm fuming.  Pretty much the entire neighborhood knows that I'm about to explode when my older clueless neighbor walks over and says "How's the boat?  I'm so glad it's fixed....".  She just heard me yell numerous curses out loud and picked the wrong time to walk over.  To make it short, I now have a neighbor mad at me but I guess that's fine.  I wish more people knew how to read the room which would have avoided that mess.  If you see a growling and barking dog, would you go over to pet it?  Seems like an easy answer to me but I guess it isn't to everyone.

Well, I was back on the horn with some other people to fix it and found someone that was willing to do it.  I'm using a friend of a friend, but at least he's been a commercial boat owner for 50 years, so I feel comfortable with him.  Let's see if he comes through or if I have to go to number 7...  I am literally disheartened by all of this and just hope it gets fixed soon.  Work has been more stressful than any job I've had (11 hour days and being micro-managed) with no outlet has been taxing to say the least.

Sorry about the rant, but I needed to get it off my chest before I explode.

Fingers and toes are crossed this time....

I just hung out with him this morning (prior to having to go into work) and he is so excited to do a fishing, whiskey, and Kabob session.  If you are interested, let me know.  It'll most likely be at Santee Lakes for cats, but Homa will literally be manning the grill the entire time yelling at people to eat the kabobs while they are hot!  He doesn't mess around!

I found another guy, so we'll see....

Retired life must be exhausting! lol (I'm so jealous!)

Have a great trip Tim!  I'll be looking forward to seeing the incredible food, scenery and fish pics!  I really need to get up there... I can't believe I never have in the last 30+ years.

You basically showed up late because of socks, got smacked on the second cast, broke the curse, set a PB, and out‑fished Omar like he owed you money. Congrats on both of your PB's! lol

I'm glad the bay finally decided to stop hazing you and let you enjoy a good morning of catching.  I was starting to get suspicious after your last handful of bay reports.  hahaha

I've been not so much stoked to just cast for bass from the shore since my shoulder is getting worse, but I need to get my fix in.

Heading down to the flooding tide and opted to fish the rocks to see if I can find some vina cruising in with it.

Tide was low and the bites were not very aggressive.  I swung and missed on 3, farmed 2, but caught 2 little peepee bass.



I then get a bite which I totally knew was different and voila!  a tiny 12" corvina on the swimmy!  I tried to flip it up the rocks, but that went as well as you could have imagined and back in the drink it went.

It was a few hours of very few fish when I decided to change out my swimmy to a different color.  I already tried creature baits but needed to go with the old stand bye.  I reached into my backpack and ..... no tackle box!  WTF!!!!!

I had like 5 LC's, along with a STUFFED smaller box of goodies in it which would have cost well over $200 to replace.  I walked the entire strip twice when I caught the reflection of the plastic cover... WHEW!



I went back to where I stopped and all of a sudden, the bite turned on as we neared the high tide!  I swung and missed on a few but ended up with 9 of these smedium sized buggers!





Ran across a "Code Brown"...



But finishing strong after that slow start definitely lifted my spirits.





Then something really cool happened.  I saw some mullet jumping and was scanning the shoreline and saw what I thought was a school of 12-14 inch sized mullet.  I cast in front thinking I may snag one (to freeze for bait) and all of a sudden it charged the Swimmy and ate it!  WTF!?!?!

I got it in for a quick picture and saw all of the fish all hyped up and swimming all if front of me.



Next cast I'm on again, but sportmen's release at the shoreline.

Next cast and I get a really small one only about 13".

Next cast and I watch another one grab the swimmy, but it shakes the hook.

All in all, I caught 2 and farmed 3 before they spooked out of there.  Granted, they were small and not much of a fight, but the fire drill of it all kind of gave me a rush.

Well, that was it.  I think I caught my 9th bass just after and started to head back to the truck with a busted shoulder.  I gave Dave a call to fill him in but he was getting ready for the Padre's game to start on TV.

Either way, I'm glad I got out and ESPECIALLY GLAD I didn't lose my tackle box!

Thanks for reading and until next tide!

I called Brick's Marine and felt like I was getting drilled and having this guy say "That's what I get for buying a cheaply built boat" really pissed me off.  Not off to a good start and never got back to me so I'm probably moving on to someone else.

Apparently "Brick's" is a more pretentious place of business.  I don't want to say too much since we all have bad days, but this guy hammered that feeling to me multiple times trying to be hidden by "I'm not trying to say.... BUT..." sort of crap.

Well back to square one.  I'll give the abbreviated version of why it's not getting fixed now. 

The guy is still willing to work on it, but in order to raise the console to clean, sand, and rebond... he wants a mechanic to detach all of the electrical, steering, and throttle cables.  He said he's not a mechanic but more of the fiberglass/body guy.  The shop that lends him room down here was going to do it, but they apparently only work on Yamahas, and my Mercury is off limits.  Apparently if something breaks, they don't have the parts to fix it, and the guy won't work on the boat if it's not all disconnected.  Unfortunately, my shoulders aren't in any shape to do any of this myself so I'm not sure what to do. 

They can't just glass the edges since it will prevent the console from ever coming off and thus making it impossible to get to the gas tank, thus why it needs to be rebonded and not permanently glassed down.

One of these days I would just like something on the boat to be easy to be fixed.  I swear it's always some type of hoops I have to jump through.

Omar just dropped to the bottom on the invite list... sleeping through his alarm to go fishing.... almost cause for a ban.  lol

Quote from: jrodda on June 08, 2026, 05:36:36 PMDo you have a written or typed inventory? I'm super curious about what you've decided to keep.

Even though that sounds like something I would do, it isn't something I do.  I actually kept track about 10 years ago but that quickly faded when I realized how often I switched up setups and never updated that pencil written list.

So, I was at about 110 rod and reel combos.  Many of which were well usable, but more like loaner outfits or retired combos.  The one's that have made my "Hall of Fame" were placed in the shrine and the others were slowly sold off (or given away).  I didn't want to get rid of so many, but it was time.  I also wanted to get to a good core of combos that I can grab at the drop of a hat and know it's from my A-List and not having to check if my line or drag was good anymore on this rod or reel.

Amazingly, I dropped my count to 60 set ups.  Many reels were put in the "spare parts" bin which I didn't want to sell and many of the rods were basically given away that were unsellable.

I am really happy with my current quiver and ready to fish for about everything now.  LOL

Then "someone" came along and offered some deals that I couldn't pass up on gear I really wanted and needed.  So I am back to 80 set ups now and have a new issue.  I want to bring them all on every fishing trip so that means I'll be spending more time trying to figure out what rod combos I'll be bringing on board than actually getting the boat ready for the fishing trip!

Well, I finally had someone come over (Thanks for Jorge's number, Tim).

It looks like I have one viable option... and it will be a little pricey.  I need to have a mechanic unhook all of the steering, throttle, electrical and plumbing in the console.  Once I pay the mechanic, then Jorge will raise the center console to clean and prep the bottom of the console to get 5200'd back to the deck along with 10 small screws to pin it while the 5200 adheres.  Apparently, I have a plastic gas tank and that makes him really nervous drilling and screwing anywhere near that.

Then I pay him and then have to pay the mechanics to re-attach all of the steering, batteries, throttle and bait pump plumbing.   Bring On Another Thousand.... or more.

I'll bring my electric Daiwa if we go deep dropping.  LOL