Confidence in a Can

[Robja]

First I would like to start with a disclaimer that no animals were hurt in this thread, but 2 fish were kept for food. No falling down drunks, but beer was involved. And this type of boating is not recommended, but we had to get home.

Our day started as the typical day of King fishing in NC. We headed out at 6:30 looking for pogies on the beach. We couldn't have lines in the water till 7:00. After failing to see any bait we decided to head offshore to the Horseshoe which is a nice hard bottom area 80 ft deep that holds kings in the fall. About 7 mi off the beach plans changed (little bouncy) so we headed back to the beach to look bait again. That was our first mistake. Quite a few fish were caught where we were going. Instead the plan was get live bait and head southwest(our island runs east to west). Bait was skiddish and hard to catch so after 30 min we decided to head out and if we saw some pelicans diving we would head to them. We headed to a spot called the 390/390 which is about 30 mi sw of our home port. I jigged up a few live bait but mostly we trolled dead cigar minnows. After a couple of boring hours with not even a brown marlin we picked up an ran back to the beach to a little inlet south of Little River to see if we could find some live bait. Nothing so we trolled out past the LR sea bouy towards an inshore reef. Marked a lot of bait but no fish. As the noon hour approached we picked up and headed out about 20 mi to the jungle. We did manage to catch a couple of snake kings late in the day. We decided about 4:30 to head for the barn. Fuel began to be a concern. We waved at Sea Tow a couple of mi from Shallotte inlet. We felt sorry for the boat he was pulling because he was having a bad day. It was an omen to the future. Side note: we have 2 50 gal floor tanks and one 20 gal saddle tank we troll with. Port engine quits, no problem switch to saddle tank. Now we worry because the starboard tank had same amount of gas. Get into the ditch only 5 mi to the marina and the port engine dies again. Out of gas on port side. As we blister up the waterway at 5 kts. I decide to get on my crackberry and see when the marina closes. I got answer machine. They are either on the phone or CLOSED it said and the closing hour was 5. Oh S**t it is 5:15. I check the cooler and real crisis time. Only one beer left and 20 something mi to go. We limp in at 6:00 and we are still 18 mi from home. No 24 hour pumps at the marina so I foot it in the direction of a convience store. The capt. and some good samaritan picks me up and we head to a friends house to get 2 5 gal gas cans. Carry that and put it in the boat the the guy carries us back to the store to get more gas and so we can reload on beer and get some supper(fried pork skins)(you guys up north probably not familair with that). With enough gas to get home the real adventure began. Its dark, no moon, and a spotlight that we can't find so off we go into the black abyss of the waterway. Creeping along we navigated by what we perceived our distance was from either side. Not many docks to worry about to begin with. The captain decides its beer time. Having the best nite vision I am ordered to the bow to watch for unlit bouys at the inlet and for the Spanish Armada of spot fishermen who love to sit in the waterway with no lights on. Traversing across the inlet mouth without hitting anything I am allowed back in the cabin to thaw out until it is beer time again. I said something about how fast the beer was dissappearing and I heard the famous words. Confidence in a Can. As we slowly made our way a spot fisherman cut on a spotlight that must have been an old lighthouse light. Blinded we couldn't see anything so we stopped until our eyes got readjusted. Good thing cause a spot fishermen with no lights on was just ahead 1/4 mi. After another couple of mi. I notice what appears to be a tall tree in the middle of the waterway so i go to the bow to check it out. There is a huge crane on a barge taking up 3/4 of the waterway and only 2 little lights on its starboard side. After getting by we dodge more john boats with no lights and several unlit poles. Finally at 9:30 we arrive at the dock. I was whipped with the 15 and a half hours of fun we had.

[Big Fish Billy]

Call the Coast Guard next time, they'll "help you in"........

[Robja]

Had no trouble getting in. BTW the Coasties don't handle that kind of stuff anymore unless it is life threating

[clt_capt]

And you wonder how Gilligan wound up on an island...

I'm sure you'll never forget that one...

I'll remember my first offshore trip out of Southport. I had just moved the boat there from Swansboro. Heavy fog, but supposed to clear early. We slowly followed the channel markers right into Wilmington...

By that time the fog had cleared enough to find our way out the inlet to a decent day of fishing...