Tell us what's great about your boat-and what's not.

[backman]

Best trip of my life. Fin addiction's 1st canyon trip also.

we found yellowfin the afternoon before up on the bank and at one point had 7 footballs on. A few minutes later we got pack attacked by marlin; it took a couple years to understand it but 2 blues and at least 1 white knocked the entire spread down.

My 1st blue encounter and I broke the 1st one off halfway down a 50 by going to full. I also fried my fingerprints off trying to slow the spool.

Another blue sailed in close across the transom and dumped half of the other flat line before that one jumped off. A white then rolled in; got pinned on something and was photo'd and released by Jeffie.

We picked up yellows all evening and into pitch black and staked out the west wall at Hydro.

I recall a steady pick of yellows at night and Eric telling me at dawn that he had a allison yellow; 150+ at the boat but Jeff couldn't hear him call to get the gaff and he lost it at the transom.

Nice dawn bite in a 72 -> 74 degree break in the western finger at the very tip of Hydro. Yellows and alies; I spun the boat and went from the warm side into the cooler water, passing a slick; I called the "here we go" before it happened. a 5.95$ purple tuna clone long got crushed and turned into a 200# eyeball.

Duane/Kilamanjaro was right next to us and I believe was covered up in yellows; we slid into the deep and Eric had a tough hour fight before Jeff stuck it with the 1st Poon shot from Poon V1.0 serial number single digits. Buttonhole through the neck.

The boat was overflowing with fish; we had to head and tail the bigeye to get it in the box; I think we headed for home at 8:30 AM that day.

[iguana1]

Dunn

There will be a couple SFC/NE forum trips I am sure. Also always seem to be crew cancelling last couple of years (funny that started happening right when I traded the wheelhouse for the Center Console?).

[iguana1]

Backman,

We had non-stop bites with good YFT that morning. Our only 2 non-YFT bites took the spool. Glad you crushed them. We were psyched for you and knowing there was big stuff around gets you fired up.

[backman]

I found the crew cancelling started when the 20-somethings turned 30-somethings and became parents

[storm petrel]

I wanted to buy an Albemarle 28, but ended up with the Bertram 31 (no regrets, trust me!) 'cause I couldn't find an Albemarle in my price range.

I have been messing with my new website; it's very frustrating for me because the hard drive on my last computer burned up, taking the overwhelming majority of my fishing pics, and virtually all of my inshore pics, with it.

So I've been cobbling together whatever I still do have. One of the ones I put up is a short video. I did not know I was shooting video, I thought it was a still. We were out between E.atlantis and Veach during the Tri-State Tournament in 04(?)
There was a hot bite that day. I was trying to get a shot of the guy who hired us for the tournament, he was on a nice fish. We had a couple on the deck doing their tailbeat thing as we fought the las, and much larger fish. You can hear the tailbeats, and my crazy mate, Tom, laughing. Reading about that great day Backman had, and seeing the video clip, has made my mouth watewr for some serious canyon fishing. I'll try to post the video here. If I am unable, just click on my name and check out the homepage of my website.
Anyhow, thanks, guys, for getting me all charged up about fishing in the middle of this crappy, cold winter=)

[iguana1]

I noticed that too, except some of the thirty-somethings don't have kids and still flake out now too. Kind of makes you lose respect for them....

I found the crew cancelling started when the 20-somethings turned 30-somethings and became parents

[FXRScotty]

pros-
Paid for.
Trailerable.
Easy to maintain.
Deep walk around.
Lee riggers.
lee swivel rod holders.
colming pads&toe rails.
hardtop with rocket launchers and great hand holds.

Cons-
only a 23'.
Electronics getting dated.
ain't pretty no more got that been fished hard look.
just got back from the boat hosp. Friday and still waiting for the bill $$$ F-ing new gas sux. Scotty.

[AlloyToy]

So the question is how many dollars do we have here with all of us combined in boats, motors, electronics & gear

Lots of nice everything here!!!! Awesome...

[southport05]

Likes: Very similar to Backman, with a few exceptions

The boat is an absolute tank. Big, heavy, solid.
Running and trolling is awesome. (see Dislikes for addendum)
Twin Yanmar 6LPA-STP 315hp
Fuel economy. Ran Hingham to NWC (trolled) to Scituate Harbor back to Hingham. Did this routine 2 days in a row. Burned 100 gallons total.
Cruise anywhere from 22-28knots, WOT 32knots (although I did get her up to 36.8 knots in the Canal going with the wind at close to slack tide)
Lots of room in the cockpit
Good size fishboxes
Good space in engine room (sorry Larry)
I disagree with Backman, I like the V-berth (but that's because a lot of the girls do too)
Good helm deck seating (up to 6)
Good storage for a 28 footer
Just feels and fishes like a much bigger boat.
Non-fishing: Lots of space on the bow for bikinis to lie out on


Dislikes:

Only a 200 Gallon tank (only 195 USUABLE gallons, found out the hard way about 1/8 mile from the dock)
Needs more insulation around the fishboxes
Roll in bigger seas on the drift, or trolling in the troughs can be interesting.
No genset
Wish I had a little more storage (but I think that's true no matter how big your boat is)

[backman]

I reinsulate my 28's fishboxes every couple years with the rolls of duct insulation and the reflective duct tape. I also carry a piece of extra insulation as a blanket which I put in the box on top of the ice/slurry to keep deck heat out. That makes a huge difference. Its a 2 hr job to strip the old stuff off, apply contact cement and lay new insulation onto it. Great winter project.

The difference between your V-berth and mind is 60-70 overnights on mine. Somehow it isn't so appealing after 3 guys cutting bait and killing fish crash take turns crashing down there.