Granny Fish
07-22-2008, 08:25 PM
There is a first time for everything, and no matter how old one gets, the first time can be fun, exciting, scary, confusing or indifferent. This weekend we experienced a few firsts in our boating/fishing in Long Beach channel and it was all of the above.
Saturday - Mike drilled his first hole in the boat to install the electrical for the light on our new compass. http://64.62.190.109/new-site/Smileys/default/wootwoot.gif
Sunday - We met up with Bruce and Olfishergal at 7am for a fun day drift fishing. Got bait at Nacho's and headed out to a spot the Bruce determined was Halli alley. Having never caught one before, I was hoping today would be my day.
After we drifted a while, the coast gaurd pulls up to let us know that there is a jet ski race and about 100 jet skiers are going to be racing through our fishing spot, so we should move or be careful not to get hit. We chose the first option and moved out of the path. Not long on he next drift and we notice a huge ship coming out of the channel, and even though we were far enough away to determine his actions and our saftey, the water police came and told us to keep our eye on him and which way he would be turning. About that time, we all decided a new location was in order.
http://64.62.190.109/new-site/Smileys/default/fishing.gif
The weather and water conditions couldn't have been much better and we were enjoying the day. Bruce caught a short hali, and we got a lot of short bites, and Mike caught a shark (he is getting accustom to handling them now). Made our final move and soon after I had my first hali to the boat. It happened when I least expected it and when my drag started screaming, I knew it was different than anything else I'd caught ever caught. http://64.62.190.109/new-site/Smileys/default/wootwoot.gif The same instant, Mike gets hooked up too, but his is much smaller and he gets his to the boat first and I hear it flopping behind me and Mike keeps saying he doesn't know what it is and its got a lot of teeth. http://64.62.190.109/new-site/Smileys/default/lmao.gif Mean while I keep working at my fish and get it to the boat. I was excited! Measured it out at 19 inches even, so took pictures of both fish and back in the drink they went. Bruce later told us the small toothy one was a lizard fish. Another first time species.
Not long after that we said our goodbyes to Bruce and Olfishergal as they headed in. We were not long behind them. As we are cruising about 15 kts we here a flop flop sound but were unable to determine it's source. A little longer and then the engine alarm is screaming and we shut everything down to determine what the problem was. The belt to the altinator was shredded. Not exactly a perfect ending to a near perfect day, but we were close enough to the gate by that time that we determined we could get to the launch on our own power and didn't need to call Seatow to bring us in. We had just discussed a week ago that we should get some spares to keep in the boat just in case we might need them.
Got home and had the boat cleaned by 7:30pm. New belt installed Monday and ready for fishing next weekend.
Close up of the lizzard fish' teeth.
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c323/cairnst/First%20Halibutt/IMG_0623.jpg (http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c323/cairnst/First%20Halibutt/IMG_0623.jpg)
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c323/cairnst/First%20Halibutt/IMG_0625.jpg (http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c323/cairnst/First%20Halibutt/IMG_0625.jpg)
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c323/cairnst/First%20Halibutt/IMG_0619.jpg (http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c323/cairnst/First%20Halibutt/IMG_0619.jpg)
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c323/cairnst/First%20Halibutt/IMG_0626.jpg (http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c323/cairnst/First%20Halibutt/IMG_0626.jpg)
Saturday - Mike drilled his first hole in the boat to install the electrical for the light on our new compass. http://64.62.190.109/new-site/Smileys/default/wootwoot.gif
Sunday - We met up with Bruce and Olfishergal at 7am for a fun day drift fishing. Got bait at Nacho's and headed out to a spot the Bruce determined was Halli alley. Having never caught one before, I was hoping today would be my day.
After we drifted a while, the coast gaurd pulls up to let us know that there is a jet ski race and about 100 jet skiers are going to be racing through our fishing spot, so we should move or be careful not to get hit. We chose the first option and moved out of the path. Not long on he next drift and we notice a huge ship coming out of the channel, and even though we were far enough away to determine his actions and our saftey, the water police came and told us to keep our eye on him and which way he would be turning. About that time, we all decided a new location was in order.
http://64.62.190.109/new-site/Smileys/default/fishing.gif
The weather and water conditions couldn't have been much better and we were enjoying the day. Bruce caught a short hali, and we got a lot of short bites, and Mike caught a shark (he is getting accustom to handling them now). Made our final move and soon after I had my first hali to the boat. It happened when I least expected it and when my drag started screaming, I knew it was different than anything else I'd caught ever caught. http://64.62.190.109/new-site/Smileys/default/wootwoot.gif The same instant, Mike gets hooked up too, but his is much smaller and he gets his to the boat first and I hear it flopping behind me and Mike keeps saying he doesn't know what it is and its got a lot of teeth. http://64.62.190.109/new-site/Smileys/default/lmao.gif Mean while I keep working at my fish and get it to the boat. I was excited! Measured it out at 19 inches even, so took pictures of both fish and back in the drink they went. Bruce later told us the small toothy one was a lizard fish. Another first time species.
Not long after that we said our goodbyes to Bruce and Olfishergal as they headed in. We were not long behind them. As we are cruising about 15 kts we here a flop flop sound but were unable to determine it's source. A little longer and then the engine alarm is screaming and we shut everything down to determine what the problem was. The belt to the altinator was shredded. Not exactly a perfect ending to a near perfect day, but we were close enough to the gate by that time that we determined we could get to the launch on our own power and didn't need to call Seatow to bring us in. We had just discussed a week ago that we should get some spares to keep in the boat just in case we might need them.
Got home and had the boat cleaned by 7:30pm. New belt installed Monday and ready for fishing next weekend.
Close up of the lizzard fish' teeth.
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c323/cairnst/First%20Halibutt/IMG_0623.jpg (http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c323/cairnst/First%20Halibutt/IMG_0623.jpg)
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c323/cairnst/First%20Halibutt/IMG_0625.jpg (http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c323/cairnst/First%20Halibutt/IMG_0625.jpg)
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c323/cairnst/First%20Halibutt/IMG_0619.jpg (http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c323/cairnst/First%20Halibutt/IMG_0619.jpg)
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c323/cairnst/First%20Halibutt/IMG_0626.jpg (http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c323/cairnst/First%20Halibutt/IMG_0626.jpg)