As every boat I have owned had twin engines and at some point in time, I have come in on one engine on them all for one reason or another.
The first stop of the day was about 30miles North and 30miles West of Port Richey in about 33ft of clear Gulf of Mexico waters. The sun was up now and a light breeze was just right to offset the warmth of the Florida sunshine, “Ah life is good!” Watching the color display on the large screen of the bottom machine (fondly referred to as the “Death Star” because anything below it is toast), we spotted the large hump and drop off of the ledge, confirming that the DGPS/WAAS had put us on our spot. Tossing a marker over the side and watching the chartplotter, we painstakingly dropped anchor and positioned ourselves right over the spot.
Rocking around on the deck being careful not to roll out of the boat as it is much easier to catch fish from in the boat; we baited up frozen sardines and dropped lines. WAM-WAM, Mike and I both instantly hooked up with some heavy rod bending fishing. A short battle endured and two gag groupers come to the surface and join us onboard. For one of the gag’s it was a short meeting, as he was an inch short of joining our party on ice, which was now under way with the other gag in the fish box.
After catching a few short gags and a load of grunts off the bottom, we decided move to another spot nearby. The starboard engine jumped to life like a wild bronco ready to run, I started the port engine next and instead of that all familiar deep throated roar, we were met with a loud alarm sounding a high-pitched beeping into our ears. My first thoughts were, “Hmm, this isn’t good,” followed by that fishermen optimism “Oh, must be something minor, we’ll just have look see.”
After about 45 minutes or perhaps it was an hour and forty-five minutes, and endless attempts to get a cell signal 30 miles offshore to call a marine mechanic friend for advice (were talking REAL optimism here). We concluded from our up-close investigation and wire pulling that it was the thermostat, as the thermostat housing had developed a small hole and was spraying water out like the morning after a good night of beer bottle lifting.
Faced now with only one engine, it’s only 11 o’clock and the ride home will be nearly five hours; we elected to do what any prudent fishermen would do… TROLL!
We set-up five lines with deep running lures and away we went, a short time later WAM inside starboard rod screams as the pole bows to the monster hooked on far end of the line. “FISH ON” – engine to neutral, we quickly take in the other lines to avoid a tangle that would cause us to lose the fish and have to think about the dead engine again.
The fight was on and this one was not about to give up very easily; with every foot gained we lost half of it back with the drag. As Mike worked the fish, I begin to back down slowly on the fish keeping it on our starboard side and away from the props. The fish was heading into the rocks just as I position the starboard side of the Lady Lyn behind the fish. To the fish’s surprise, we started gaining line and this brute was on the up escalator to the icebox. Mike is winding as fast as he can, the swivel hits the front guide of his pole as we grab for the leader, a large dark object is coming into sight as we lean over the side in great anticipation to grasp a view of this monster. “IT’S HUGH!” Mike yelled as it broke the surface and in one quick motion, I gaffed it onto the deck. We both stood there for a moment looking at it this 3-foot long gag grouper. I picked up the boogie and it weighted out a bit over 16 pounds, not a record, but definitely respectable.
After a quick high five, I quickly turned the boat around and traced our course back over the same route with the aid of the chartplotter (I just love technology) as Mike lays out the lines again. With expectation, we watch the rods, waiting for a pole to drop and for the reel to scream out line. Waiting… waiting… WAM, FISH ON! We repeat the drill, and this fish comes in much faster, but is a just short of a keeper and is released to hook another day. A few more passes produce shorts, and lizardfish, so we move on to the next stop “Palm Tree.” We call it Palm Tree because the shape of the bottom structure resembled a palm tree when we first found it. It is only an hour or so away at trolling speed.
While relaxing and enjoying the ride, we hooked up a few lizardfish along the way and were cut off by a really large King Mackerel that jumped out of the water as he hit the lure, the one without a wire leader of course.
As we approach Palm Tree, we are ready at our stations; we see the bottom structure on the screen as we go over it and WAM, FISH ON! A nice 24” gag grouper joins the party on ice. After a half dozen more passes, we decide that maybe we should think about heading in as it is 5 o’clock and we are still offshore and 33 miles from homeport. So we turn to a southeast heading and make way for home still trolling, looking for that next big fish on that next new spot.
Around 9:30PM, we approach the No. 1 Marker to the channel home; thirty minutes later were in the slip and unloading our gear and fish.
We are down for a few days to do repairs and maintenance, but you know, running on one engine we could go out and troll….
Tight lines,
Capt. Ed Ostrand
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