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The day
that almost wasn't, but one
that would turn
into a day
to remember for
quite some time.
Mako, his bro,
Shane, and I
met up at
Marker 37 for
an offshore fish
death fest. The
weather was absolutely
gorgeous and we
were armed to
the teeth with
spears, one bad
*** speargun, rods and
reels of all
kinds, and scuba
tanks and gear
to go down
and get em
if we couldn't get any
the old fashioned
way.
The day
started out great,
we were making
good time and
there were fish
busting all over
the place on
the way out
to our rig.
We stopped and
loaded up on
some spanish macks
and saw some
sharks busting the
macks in some
of the frenzies.
Some of the
schools of macks
had numbers easily
topping the thousands.
They were just
everywhere.
With our rig
in sight we
decide to hightail
it over there
before someone else
finds it, so
Gabe fires up
the engine, hits
the throttle, and...
nothing. Ok, ok,
for some reason
it didn't
engage. Throttle down,
we hear it
engage, and... lots
of bubbles but
no go. I
just about immediately
thought, **** we spun
the prop, we're screwed, but
maybe Gabe has
another prop.
No
spare to be
found on the
boat so off
we go at
a breakneck speed
of 1.8
miles per hour
back to land.
Mind you we
were 20 miles
out by the
time this happened.
So we set
out some lines
to slow troll,
and I mean
slow, back to
dock. Almost no
time goes by
and Gabe's
line is singing,
got him in
and we were
back on the
troll.
As we
come back to
a shrimper that
we stopped at
on the way
out I see
a boat that
looks familiar... after
getting closer it
turns out to
be my neighbor
(Surfmaster's dad
and one hell
of a good
guy) who confirms
that we have
a spun prop
and we are
screwed. So we
tell him we'll be limping,
no make that
crawling, back in
and he says
he'll check
on us on
the way back.
So away we
go, full 1.6 mph throttle
back to land.
By this time
there is almost
no wind and
the gulf is
slick calm. A
couple hours later
and about two
miles down the
road, four or
five good sized
dorado go cruising
past the boat
. They head straight
for our baits
and I'm
the first hooked
up with a
good one after
I reeled as
fast as I
could to imitate
a decent trolling
speed. Almost as
soon as Gabe
hooks up on
a big cow,
mine spits the
hook but the
fight is on
for Gabe. He
hooked her with
my little spinning
rod.
Gabe fighting
his Dorado
Off we
go again , we
made it to
a rig at
about 2PM . Look
back out to
sea and see
my neighbor Wolf
and his crew
coming back in .
He tells us
about how they
limited out on
snapper , caught a
ling and saw
a bunch of
fish at the
rig we were
headed to .  He then tells
us he ' s
about out of
gas but he ' s gonna go
back in , get
gas , and come
back out to
get us . What
a guy , I
don ' t know
of many people
that would do
that for someone .
Off he goes
and sure enough
about an hour
later here he
comes , back out
into the deep
blue sea in
an 18 foot
aluminum skiff with
a jet drive
80 horse to
save us . Did
I mention he ' s one hell
of a good
guy ?
So that
was our day
to remember, most
of all to
remember to always
have a spare
prop and some
tools and definately
more beer.
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