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I am headed to Freeport to go offshore in the Whaler 27 tomorrow and possibly Tuesday as well. Seas are predicted 1-2 ft with winds 5-10 knots in the Gulf. I plan on trolling for Wahoo and Tuna out at the shelf. I f anyone local wants to go along for a crew, I would enjoy the company and help. Because it is a weekday, I have no crew currently, looking to pickup before heading out. If I can't get a crew, I am still going, so there would be no expense for anyone wishing to crew/fish. Houston, Galveston, Freeport, Victoria, Palacios, Matagorda, or anyone close enough to get to Freeport by 0600 tomorrow morning is invited. I don't guarantee fish, but it will be likely that we get into Wahoo, my targeted species. Please call today if interested, as I will be definitely leaving the dock at 0600 tomorrow morning and I have no idea when the room will be filled up. I currently have room for a maximum of 3 people, but I have a tentative spot filled already.
My contact number is listed under my personal info, leave a message if line is busy, I am on my way down to Freeport now.
I just got back home after an eventful week after the fishing trip, I am sorry it took so long to follow up here.
Got down to the boat Sunday afternoon, set up the new ATL fuellocker 150 gal auxiliary fuel bag on the cockpit deck first. The bag is large, (4'X4'), but it still fits on the cockpit deck allowing for access to one of the two fish holds that I can use for ice under the deck. We filled the bag with 150 gallons, and I connected the quick connect fuel line to the supply line plug mounted on the inside stern wall. I had the fuel lines from all the tanks on the boat separated and set up with 3-way isolation valves in a header at the fuel filters inside the stern well, and my mechanic labeled positioning for these under the center stern well hatch lid for my convenience.
I started and ran the engines from the bag for about 30 minutes at the dock, and there was no stalling from air in the system at all. I checked all plumbing for fuel leaks and found none. Overall, I was impressed with the setup.
I got the new Iridium satphone in it's dedicated docking station at the helm. The new docking station worked perfectly, and the satphone snapped easily into place. I turned the phone on, and within 3 minute, I had a locked-in, usable signal.
I had problems getting good signal strength on my XM weather module last trip, and I observed that the antennae for this system had been mounted under my radar antennae by the guy at LMC on original installation. I had my mechanic move this to a more open spot on the radar arch, and this improved my signal strength exponentially. Locked onto the service immediately upon starting the electronics system.
Set up all my trolling gear with lures and bait rigs, got my leaders and lures/rigs set up on the spinning rigs, terminated the downrigger lines and got the 12 lb balls and releases installed, plugged in and tested the new electronic downriggers.
Got bait and ice and moved my large igloo cooler onto the boat, got all the tackle and accessories stowed and food loaded by 2000 hrs. I was pretty tired so I hit the rack for an early start Monday AM.
Awoke on the boat about 0500 to a pea soup fog with less than 300' visibility. I got coffee and tended to some last minute preparations, then sat on the deck to eat breakfast. As I was watching, the only vessel that had been out from Surfside over the weekend entered the marina slowly, a 43' fishing Yacht. After docking, the captain saw my running lights on and came over and warned me about the thick fog. Apparently, he had been at the west Flower Gardens area until Sunday about dark, (2000), and he said the fog had rolled in offshore about this time. It had taken him until 0545 to get in due to the fog factor, and he stated he had been underway the entire time at very slow speed. The extremely low visibility had been a problem for him the entire 125 or so miles back in to the marina overnight.
I decided to hold off a bit before leaving due to his warnings, and went over to the fish cleaning area and watched the fish being cleaned from his voyage, and met his crew. One of the crew was a charterboat captain from Galveston, and he stated that this was the worst fog he had seen over the largest area of the Gulf in several years. They had caught several Wahoo and a couple of Tuna on the trip, none were extraordinary, but all had a good time Sunday in relatively calm seas.
As daybreak arrived, it became obvious how dense the fog really was locally in the harbor. I decided to hold at the dock for a while longer in the hopes that it would begin burning off after daylight. Had a cigar and coffee with the Marina fish cleaner, Moony, (No relation:) ), and observed a crew getting ready to head out on a 32' cabin cruiser and went over to talk with them. These guys were some of the folks that I converse with regularly on our local fishing site online, and it was really great to meet them in person. Since they were also headed out to the WFG eventually for their 2 day trip, I decided it would be worth a try to make the trip myself even in the fog. They were going to the Boomvang rig as well as a few other spots enroute to the WFG during the day, but expected to be at WFG by nightfall.
I warmed up the engines, checked all the lights, and headed out about 0800 into the dense fog. The open array radar on the Whaler was invaluable, as there was essentially 0 visibility. I learned a lot about my radars capabilities, and was able to run one of the MFD's in split screen mode with close range (1/4M) radar and long range(72M) radar side by side. The radar worked impeccably, and I was able to run the boat on the electronics alone. The range rings were extremely accurate, I tested them by running to a couple of anchored shrimp boats about 9 miles out of the harbor until I could actually see them in the fog, got really close to them before avoiding them intentionally. I saw every bouy in the ship channel on radar as well. The seas were great, 1-2 with occasional 3' rollers, and I was able to make 25-35 mph comfortably in the Whaler on autopilot.
Trolled a few spots out about 30 miles near the Hercules rigs due to the beautiful cobalt blue water in the area with no luck. The water temperature this close to shore was just too low to hold pelagics, but there were a LOT of marks indicating bottom fish species holding around the east breaks. After wasting :) a lot of time just enjoying the day on the water in the fog, I headed back on course towards the WFG.
At about 65 miles out I started encountering a lot of floating Sargassum weeds as expected, but there was more than I usually see. I drifted around a bit in the weeds casting some sardines but had no takers, again I feel that the water temperature was just too low, so I continued out a bit further.
The sea state was changing subtly and the winds were changing direction and NOAA had issued a severe fog warning during the day as well. At 1400 hours the fog was as dense as it was that morning in the harbor out where I was, even sunlight was having trouble penetrating it. I realized that upon arrival at the W Flower Gardens marine sanctuary area, I would have to visually locate a mooring bouy to tie up to for the night, as no anchoring is allowed in the area. This was not looking good with visibility as low as it was, so I decided to call it a day and head back to the Marina for the night. I arrived and docked in my slip at the Marina about 1800 hrs. I had traveled 159 miles using only the 150 gallons of fuel in my ATL fuel bag on deck, and there was still about 25 gallons of fuel left in the bag when I docked. The twin Yamaha 300 4-strokes amaze me with their fuel sipping.
I went to a local restaurant and had dinner. I returned to the boat and checked my cellphone messages and found that I would be needed on business in Omaha Thursday, made travel plans, and decided I still had a little time to make a state waters, (9 NM from shoreline in TX), trip for some snapper and grouper. I had marked a LOT of these fish earlier in the day, and I figured I could get a limit before noon and still make it to Houston before 1800 Tuesday to set out for Omaha. I really wanted to empty the fuel bag on the deck completely and switch to my onboard tanks to test the system.
Tuesday morning the fog was still just as dense as the day before, NOAA had upgraded the marine warnings, but I headed out of the marina on electronics at 0500. I had no problems with navigating the tricky harbor and ICW through the jetties out into the near gulf with the radar. I really like the Garmin XHD 604 open array, and now I appreciate it even more.
I got about 8 NM out of the jetties running about 28 mph in the 1-2' seas. There were definitely more of the 3-4' occasional rollers encountered this morning than the day before, and the wave period was considerably shorter leading to a bit choppier conditions. I was making way through the intense fog when suddenly I heard a loud WHAP, WHAP WHAP from stern area and immediately cut engine speed and slowed as I looked back to observe my huge Airmar TM-265LH CHIRP transducer swinging by the wiring cable and hitting my Yamaha 300's on the cowlings! This transducer weighs about 15 lbs, and had obviously broken loose from the transom when the bottom hit the water after traversing the last 4' roller!
I stopped the boat, left the engines idling, and went to the stern to retrieve the transducer. I used the Whaler Drive area as a platform and stepped out and grabbed the transducer cord and pulled the transducer up onto the stern. The plastic top of the transducer had broken above the transducer itself, and I now had no sonar :( The cabling was torn in several places, and I could see the shielding around the individual wires within it.
With this problem, I was effectively out of the bottom fishing business, so I returned to the Marina, had the boat removed from the water and set on a stand. The metal mounting bracket for the transducer was intact with all the pins still in place, the transducer top housing had simply broken off due to the weight of the transducer under it. I examined both my Yamaha's cowlings carefully and found only one barely noticeable mark on the starboard engine cowling that had resulted from the transducer beating they had both just taken. I took a bunch of pictures, removed all the bait and ice to my storage locker freezer, washed down all my rods and reels and stowed all my ice chests and rods in my storage locker as well, and departed for Houston earlier than expected.
I have contacted both the business I bought the transducer from and the manufacturer about what I consider to be a deficiency in the design of the transducer housing that has caused my problem, but I still don't have any promises of replacement yet. In their defense, I have had very little time to work with them due to my work in both Omaha and Houston the remainder of the week. I just got back to Houston yesterday afternoon and drove home here in Dripping Springs last night.
I am considering a thru-hull transducer as a result of my transom mount's self-destruction. My boat mechanic in Surfside has assured me he can install one in the extremely limited space at the bottom of the center stern well that will not leak. He would cut through the hull and then fiberglass the thru hull completely in around the transducer. I am interested in any comments about this technique from experienced thru-hull installers in Whalers here, if anyone has actually tried this. The mechanic has stated that the only way to mount this type of transducer in a Whaler is to completely fiberglass the installation and use this to seal off the foam sandwiched in the hull. This fiberglassing is also used to eliminate compression of the foam in the area by the thru-hull and theoretically at least avoid leaks resulting from any compression forces.
All in all I had an enjoyable, for the most part, day on the water of the Gulf of Mexico Monday, although the trip was completely unproductive in the fishing area. I have a LOT more confidence in the electronics and my navigation by instrument skill level has definitely improved as a result of the record breaking fog density. I was able to give the new fuel locker bag a good test, and all the minor adjustments and installations work flawlessly. I will get the sonar transducer problem addressed as soon as possible, and I am looking forward to more productive trips soon.
I apologize for the short notice on the trip to the forum in my original posting here, but there will be many more. It is impossible to give long range notice this time of year due to the quickly changing seastate and weather between fronts here on the Gulf, but I will give as much notice as possible on future expeditions for us Whaler enthusiasts here near and on the Texas coast. I am looking forward to meeting y'all and Whalerin' with as many of you as possible. I am sure everyone has tips they can recommend to make the Whaler 27 even nicer for these fishing adventures after being onboard.
