OC 7/14/07...NOT MUCH OF A REPORT

[RUGGERDUDE]

I saw a window open up for Saturday 7/14/07 I made a few calls to put a crew together and of course John Rogers was ready, willing and able. A crew of two.

We heard reports of some nice BFT caught out at the bone so we headed out with the rest of the fleet and trolled for the better part of the morning with not even a look from a tasty torpedo. Since we were listening to the antic over the radio, it seemed like a good idea to take the center console somewhere else. Atleast we weren't on a Grady White which was apparently making friends out there. Radio seemed quiet with a few fish caught but nothing for us.

We made our way to the dog and inside the 30 fathom line with the same results....zippo....nada. So what do you do when the weather is nice and fishng is slow??? Fish your way inshore...heck no...you head for the canyons. So we pointed the bow towards the Poormans and headed out to the deep. We set out our spread after a quick ride from the dog. John sees the left long rigger get knocked out and immediately drops back after finding no one home..pulls up tight and we are hooked up. John gives me the rod to fight the fish and after 15 minutes, the darn thing becomes unbuttoned after I allowed the slightest slack in the line (that will never happen again,I promise!). Hear comes the interesting part; I reel up the line and there left on the hook is a perfectly rigged - untouched hoo Foul hooked? Any thoughts? I had the fish up once but we never got a look after it saw the boat and split. Long ride back and made even longer by my miss...We'll get em next time. Thanks John!

Will

[dman25]

Sounds like a pretty tough day. I was out there Saturday starting at the bone myself. Did'nt take long before we left the fleet for plan B. Trolled towards Masseys and picked up a nice cow on the way. A few hours later and bout a mile short of Masseys a nice yellowfin slams the WWFB Islander hoo and it's game on. We land that one and that was it for the day. Lost the starboard engine from some kind of fuel issue and had a 10 knot ride in for over 3 hours. I do believe that the charter guys call all center consoles Gw's. I guess it makes them feel superior to stereotype all of us small boat guys but whatever. I must say I never laughed harder listening to the radio before.

[frankypettolina]

I don't think we "charterboat guys" ***** at small boats for cutting our stuff off to feel superior to anybody or to enjoy a stereotyping.

I know there are many weekend small boaters that do very well and are very knowledgeable, but there are many more that do not realize how far WWWB really is, and for some reason don't understand flailing arms and waving and horns blowing.

I don't believe that anyone intentionally cuts anyone off, but it is very frustrating (and costly) to have to respool 80's and 130's and lose islanders and fluoro and 10/0 mustads on such a regular basis. I try to wind my stuff out of the way, but when we are fishing 2 or 3 reels 300 to 500 yards back it just isn't possible.

Will, sorry you lost the mystery fish. Dman, good going on your yft and gaffer.

[dman25]

Franky I've been on both sides. I see both sides being responsible for both the good and bad. We had two charters cut us off within 10 min that's why we left. No sense getting mad. You put yourself in that situation that's what happens. Challenging guys to fights and the dock is ridiculous. When all the boats are that close someties there is no route that keeps you far enough away from everyone. Then someone stretches out a fish and calls 5 boats on the radio to take immediate action. So if you are on a small boat they call out for a Grady White. If you are'nt hip to the lingo you have no idea you are in somones way. Then they start threatening people. It's a no win deal. We all whant the same thing. Noone whants to cut someone else's fish off. I'll bet not one guy out there was trying to cut anyone else off. Like I said we just left to find our own deal. I get no pleasure from that kind of fishing. Too many friends can be lost from a 5 second mistake. I know small boats are harder to identify but calling them all Grady Whites seems to create more confusion among the weekend warriors. Thats what I meant by the stereotyping thing.

[RUGGERDUDE]

DMAN - I guess you learn something new everyday. I thought the GW reference was toward an actual Grady that buzzed us and then did the same to a larger boat in our area cutting him off. I'll keep an eye out next time making sure they aren't referring to us. Although I give other boats plenty of room expecting them to have a WWWB even if I don't see a bird.We probably could have stuck it out and had as good a chance as any to hook up, but it was just plain crowded out there trying to find the fish. With a morning like we had, we were out there 20 minutes or so before the fleet and the 7:30am start time for the boys in the tourney. But once everything got going everyone's head was on a swivel and the radio got busy. We were fishing our lines back pretty far searching for a BFT. Personally, I didn't have any problems except for the GW....

[frankypettolina]

Total agreement, no one does it on purpose. And some "professionals" are more professional on the radio than others. I personally feel that the radio yelling and threats should be left out of it. I listened to one charterboat get on another one really bad and uncalled for on Saturday. It isn't just singleing out the smaller fleet.

Will, keep in mind, especially amongst the charterboat fleet, the WWWB usually does not have a bird, it is more often a ballyhoo. And I can speak for certain that there were a couple of grady's that were problematic. My cutoffs came from a Carolina classic or an Albe, and some sort of outboard powered catamaran.

[RUGGERDUDE]

Thanks Franky. I'm glad you care about us little guys! Everytime I go down to your boat your Dad's there and your not around...I hope your paying him enough

[frankypettolina]

Will, I show up to fish and thats it

Actually I have been rather busy with the surveying gig, and have not had a lot of time to be around the boat other than when we fish. I'll catch up with you sooner or later. I saw Shelly at the SIpple's anniversary party, always nice to catch up with her.

[RUGGERDUDE]

Sounds good Franky. The condo construction messed up our summer a bit. But I'll catch up with you one of these days.Take care buddy!

[anthony]

I think Franky expressed the thoughts of the charter fleet pretty well (with maybe a few exceptions) as he always does. I can assure you we are not calling ALL small boats GW's, matter of fact we try to be as specific as possible when calling a small boat so they will realize it is THEM we are referring to. I did hear some guy on the radio on Sat and he would only say "center console behind me, you are going to run over my lines!" He said it at least 10 times yet never described the cc, never said where he was or what HIS boat looked like. How the heck is anyone supposed to know who he was referring to. He didn't sound like any charter captain I know so I am thinking it was a private boat...Franky, you may have heard the same conversation. I wanted to smack him in the head as bad as I wanted to smack the guys that were running right up some guys sterns. I think the problems some boats get into (small boats more so than others) is they often have a small crew and the captain spends more time looking backwards than forwards and to the side. When you are trolling in a big fleet with WWWB's you have GOT to look at developing situations and figure out how you are going to avoid cutting someone off OR having your own stuff cut off...you MUST be proactive.

I know that many small boat guys know how to fish WWWB's and do a great job out there but....I was fishing my 2nd tourney day on Sunday on the Hambone and there were about 20 of us there. All bigger boats, mostly charter boats and a few private boats. Everything was as smooth as silk, all of us talking to each other making sure we made the right turn, it is all about foresight and a little courtesy. Next thing you know, a sharp looking CC shows up and starts trolling East and West when 95% of us are trolling North and South and just screws up the whole works. Next thing you know we are waving our arms at the guy, blowing air horns, yelling for him on the radio (of course couldn't get him on ANY channel). He honestly came so close to my beam I could have hit him with an egg sinker...unbelievable.