Relaxing day ruined!!! Bank account suffers....

[Stryker20]

Sunday was a pre-planned trip to launch from Gig Harbor marina and troll up and down the narrows channel for BM's with an old friend whom i'd promised to take fishing in return for favors in the past.

Essentially, I left the house in Spanaway about 0530, and hit up wal-mart for a couple extra spoons and snaps, some ice and a spare spool of big game 20lb for leaders and such. Arrived at his house in Bremerton around 0730 and parked the truck across the street alongside the road so i had a nice easy exit when we were ready to leave.

I ran up to the kitchen with him as he had just made a fresh pot of stout coffee, pounded a good sized cup, helped him gather up his stuff and headed out to the truck. We jumped in after loading his gear and when I hit the key, ALL CRANK AND NO FIRE!! Long story short, diagnosis led me to fuel pump failure because the motor would run on ether.

Best part about all this was the fact that I was parked alongside the street, and this created a very unsafe work environment when I was going after changing the pump. I was extremely lucky in the fact that i was concerned with making it to his house on time, so i didn't bother filling up the tank on my way out. I snagged a new pump for just under $300 and 2.5hrs later I was back up and operational.

Right about then it was 1330, and Rich was saying "If you wanna just can the trip, I completely understand." I responded with "Seriously? I didn't drive all the way to bremerton to change a fuel pump on the side of the road and head home with my tail between my legs. We're going fishing if it kills me."

So, we headed out to Silverdale and put in at the old town launch. We immediately laid eyes on a couple jumpers about 300yds out from the floating dock, and proceeded to drag a couple 5x5 rigs due to my ongoing lack of downriggers. Trolls produced two unclipped and one clipped which were all released. Bite fell off after an hour in the same location. We moved out in search of visual cues and happened upon a ton of birds tearing up what seemed to be a bait ball near the Wheaton Way bridge. Casts into the area produced nothing so a lure change to a small twin tail jig started producing decent size flounder (you guys call them Sole up here?) Brought up four @ roughly 2-4 lbs each. All were also released.

Here's where the day became "that kinda day" again. Fuel line crimp starts leaking and and I smell fuel fumes just in time to turn and see smoke from the engine cover on my out board. I immediately shut the engine down and grab the extinguisher. I felt the cover with a couple quick touches of the hand and it was rather cool to the touch. I pulled the engine cover off and luckily, no fire. I sourced the leak with some powder from some make-up stuff the wife had left in the boat and found the poor crimp. Grabbed some pliers and a pair of combination strippers to make a sound repair and checked the rest of the motor for shoddy assembly. All good, so the fishing continues.................momentarily.

We got fired up and proceeded back to our previous spot, when the sounder picked up some rather large signatures right near the bottom. I decided to throttle back and turn back on the soundings to get a couple jigs off the bottom. No sooner than I cast out and touch bottom, my oil alarm goes off. I'm literally about to blow my brains out at this point. I stopped the engine and ripped the cover off yet again, only to find that the oil is clean and the level is only slightly low off the upper limit. I swipe the stick in my bare hand and the temp is not excessive, so I flip the key on and the alarm is still active, so I dropped the battery switch and reconnected on the second battery. Alarm is still active, WTF!!?? I shut everything down, and grabbed the manual.

GOD DAMNED OIL CHANGE REMINDER SOUNDS EXACTLY LIKE THE FAILURE WARNING!!!

Yup, it was just the reminder system. Anyway, packed it in and trailered up due to stress, had a decent fishing day otherwise, but was really just ready to go home and down a couple whiskey's before bed.

If I find that Murphy guy, I'm gonna ring his damn neck........

That is all, carry on.

[Irish Rogue]

Yeah, that is a rough day... But gotta admit you toughed it out and made it happen, which is more than most would do....

I had a VERY similar day with BiggerFish aboard my rig this year (embarassing!) where I had a battery dying, and my kicker won't recharge it, so i start running the main which is charging fine for the first hour, then I look up and the oil light is flashing on the main, I check the levels and everything is fine, WTF? I can't find any reason it's flashing so I give up and we go with the kicker only. Eventually the battery does run down, we have to switch off the autopilot and the fish finder to save juice and still try to fish... Limp home on the kicker if I remember right, I'm afraid to start the main.

In the end? Turns out ALL of it is pilot/previous owner error:

Recharging loop from kicker turns out NOT to be run thru the battery selector, and we were running off the house battery, the kicker only charges the starting battery.

Second, the flashing oil light? That's the same as you -- it's the "service interval" reminder. WTF? Why don't they just put in one freakin extra light!

Anyways, sorry for your stress. Whisky is a good solution!

[goatram]

A one track mind. Slay the fish! Good report and a bit Funny that it happened to you and not me This time ring my bell knock on wood!

[Ducttape]

dude... good to hear mine is not the only luck to be bad. sorry to hear about the mis-haps, but bottom line is when times are good they're are very few that enjoy them to the extent of people like you.

[Stryker20]

I'll tell you one thing, I'm a mission-oriented sum-bitch.

My plan was to get a long time friend out on the water because he hadn't been in over 5 years. He had never been fishing other than on crowded trips on small charters loaded with loud idiots.

I figured I could restore his faith in the sport.

I had no intentions of lifting a finger to do a lick of WORK all day on sunday. But murphy had other plans.

I figured, three to four hours of daylight, could easily extend the trip into darkness due to being in very familiar waters and having a heater in the cabin.

I just wanted to get Rich out and let him enjoy some recreational time on the water without the BS he had experienced in the past. Seems I had my work cut out for me, and he says that if he ever makes another trip out, he won't leave without me.

Seems I have him hooked and he's already shopping for his own gear.

[dragonballs]

I hate the change oil reminder bells they have made my blood pressure rise more than once..

[scott080379]

Well glad to hear no major damage was done and you still got some fishing in as well.

[easydoesit86]

way to tough her out, still sounds like you bought some fish home

[Alaska4me]

Mike, days like that make all of us want to tear our hair out and just give up some times. You made the best out of a bad situation and got your pal out fishing.
This stuff happened to me this year and all we can do is fix, learn and press on.
Good job dealing with the situation.

[Dave's Delta]

Sounds like a day in the life of being a boat owner.

[blackmouther]

It could have been way worse. I don't know why they would put an oil change reminder on a boat anyways. But way to be on the fire estinguisher in such a panic. Good report and good luck.

[Stryker20]

With all my boating time while active duty in the Navy, I don't panic anymore.

Worst boating experience ever? Staring down several AK-47's while at the helm of an R&A utility boat in Yemen shortly after the USS Cole disaster. I had 9mm and 45 rounds around my waist, but the helm in my left hand and throttle in the right were my primary responsibility. Couple that with being the only individual standing up and my chances of surviving a potential firefight with our boats gunners was pretty freakin slim. At that point, I somehow managed to come to terms with the fact that duty and responsibility for all aboard overrode my concern for my life. That was the longest 10 minutes of my life.

Every time I go out in the salt, I make my peace with myself and the ocean and keep my passengers safety in mind at all times.

My mission was to catch some fish and polish off my break-in period on the motor, and thats exactly what happened, all else be damned.

Thanks for all the kind words guys. I'm re-planning the narrows trip for either the 7th-8th weekend, the 11th, or the 14th-15th weekend. Weather depending, of course. Anybody wanna team up for this one?