News:

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Amazon Link

Main Menu

Appetite insufficiently whetted

Started by rbphoto, December 16, 2013, 13:39:23 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

rbphoto






I blame my newest obsession on the following on :

1.  Matt

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


2.  These boys

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


Allow me to remind you how much boats can suck, even if they aren't yours:

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


He has spent countless hours patching fiberglass, learning how to apply gelcoat, buying this-n-that for an endeavor that initially seems like a whole lot of effort for an unknown amount of reward.  We have been on the floor of the boat in the cold & the rain running wiring, drinking beer, dreaming of flats fishing.  All the while not having a real clue what we might be getting ourselves into.

We have organized fly boxes, bought rods, bought reels, bought lines, bought leaders . . . what feels like a single-handed driving of the economics of saltwater fly fishing.

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


We spent almost the entire day the weekend prior chatting up the LCFS crew, the guys from Mystic fly rods, and nearly anybody else who had an opinion about Charleston flats fishing.  Who'd a thunk that the WNC Flyfishing Expo held so much interest in saltwater fly fishing in Charleston?

I had a project to go review in the lowcountry, so Thursday morning saw me watching the sunrise in Columbia traffic, around mile marker 105, wondering how big the red fish we would catch this weekend would be.

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


It's not nearly as nice as this view:

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


Thursday was a beautiful day and I finished early enough that I could should have gone out with a guide, but one can't plan these things very well all the time.  Instead, I went to LCFS and pestered Paul Puckett about flies, and winter flats fishing; Scotty having dispersed to parts unknown. 

The boys with the boat weren't showing up until well after dark and I couldn't get into the condo until then; so I hung out eating a grouper sandwich, enjoying some Holy City Porter and picking a couple of locals about some areas in the general vicinity of where we were staying.

It should have been epic.  It should have been grand.  It should have been a whole lot different than reality proved.

I had to be at the Summerville office at 0700 to update some corporate portraits then bug out for a day on the water.

That's about the only part that worked.

I did learn a few lessons:


1.  Never go fishing on a falling tide in a boat that pretends to be a flats boat. 

2.  Never go flats fishing without a poling platform.

3.  Never go full-throttle through a channel you've never been through before knowing full well you don't know how deep it isn't.

4.  Never trust a non-electrical person to properly wire up a trolling motor (24v vs. 12v)

5.  Charleston area flats stretch for somewhere in the vicinity of 734gabillion sq miles - don't expect to catch fish on the fly your first time out.  Unless you spend $ with people who can put you on 'em.

6.  Never underestimate the ability of a psychiatrist to completely screw up your loved ones medications, requiring crisis intervention and hospitalization when you are 3+ hrs from home.

Yep, got a phone call  and quickly said goodbye to the Lowcountry for a while, thinking all the while that I need to explore this area for an entire lifetime.

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


Raymond
"maybe procrastination is another word for fishing..." ben
"Just butchered my first silk kitty...." Wooly Bugger  January 26, 2018, 12:41:27 PM
You can't land an otter on 7x. Now I know - Dougfish

Transylwader

Boats are a bitch, brah. Better luck next time...

rbphoto

The boat will be good with a wee bit more work.  I'm planning to design a poling platform and working on material selection/coating choices this week.

We may even design a motor lift (having machine designers as friends can be a grand thing).

I will enlist the assistance of the shop's electrical techs and their cabinets of connectors and other goodies to rid ourselves of the rat's nest under the center console.

The trolling motor will be working before that boat goes back in the water with me on it.

And, Lord willing, we will have more than 3 hrs on the water over the course of a weekend to actually look for fish.

Raymond
"maybe procrastination is another word for fishing..." ben
"Just butchered my first silk kitty...." Wooly Bugger  January 26, 2018, 12:41:27 PM
You can't land an otter on 7x. Now I know - Dougfish

Michael Toris

Buy a 65 liter yeti. I was in your boat (figuratively). Poling platform or yeti? Yeti kicks some major ass

sanjuanwormhatch

If it's a v-hulled boat there's only so much any mods will do.  Just an observation.

rbphoto

Quote from: wildmttrout on December 18, 2013, 23:08:18 PM
Buy a 65 liter yeti. I was in your boat (figuratively). Poling platform or yeti? Yeti kicks some major ass

There's already a good cooler built in to the seat behind the center console and you can't pole from on top of that one.

The back of the boat has storage compartments formed into either side of the motor - one for batteries, one for stuff.  The transom is accessible between each of those and the motor.

Since I work at a fabrication shop it's cheaper to build a platform out of stainless pipe than to buy a big enough, tall enough Yeti (not certain they make one quite that tall and one could most likely purchase a nicer flats boat for what one would cost).

Yes, it's a v-hull.

But (and this is the best part) - I didn't buy it.

We've had it in some rather shallow water, but it ain't no Hell's Bay Whipray Classic, that's for certain.



"maybe procrastination is another word for fishing..." ben
"Just butchered my first silk kitty...." Wooly Bugger  January 26, 2018, 12:41:27 PM
You can't land an otter on 7x. Now I know - Dougfish

creekfreak

Just got rid of my 5th Effin boot, and I don't regret it a bit. Now I can scrounge off of my buds who scrounged off of me for so long. 30+ years of all that shit was enough. Scrounge, borrow, rent or pay a pro (best). My son says that I can borrow the old Shy-Poke.... yeah....when I can find his arse! I really do cherish my peaceful trips to those streams in ole VA
Guinness! Good God!

rbphoto

Quote from: creekfreak on December 19, 2013, 13:58:55 PM
Just got rid of my 5th Effin boot, and I don't regret it a bit. Now I can scrounge off of my buds who scrounged off of me for so long. 30+ years of all that shit was enough. Scrounge, borrow, rent or pay a pro (best). My son says that I can borrow the old Shy-Poke.... yeah....when I can find his arse! I really do cherish my peaceful trips to those streams in ole VA

Every time I work on a boat, I remember why I love stream fishing.
"maybe procrastination is another word for fishing..." ben
"Just butchered my first silk kitty...." Wooly Bugger  January 26, 2018, 12:41:27 PM
You can't land an otter on 7x. Now I know - Dougfish