docofthebay
New Member
- Sep 10, 2009
- 461
- Boat Info
- 1985 390 EC
- Engines
- twin 3208TA Cats
Twin disc transmissions
Starting a thread to tell all of you about my planned weekend trip.
I will be entering my 390EC in a sure-nuff fishing tournament. The annual Alabama Deep Sea Fishing Rodeo will be held from Friday at 5am to Sunday at 5pm and will be based from the Dauphin Island Marina. My boat does have some enhancements that allow for fishing (outriggers, removable livewell etc). There are 30 fish species that can be caught and entered but my team will concentrate on the big ones- king mackerel, yellow fin tuna, wahoo, dolphin and swordfish. Marlin is not on the list but we will be fishing the same area and using same techniques as last week's Marlin only tournament so if we get one on the line, we won't cut it off.
I have little experience with this kind of fishing, but the 5 other members of the team have lots of bluewater fishing knowledge. I told them I'll drive the boat, they set up the correct fishing strategy.
We will be heading straight out into the Gulf for about 70-90 miles to get to the area where we will be concentrating on fishing. We will do most of the commuting distance at 8mph and trolling for King Mackerel on the way. I should get about 2.3 mpg at that speed. We plan to be out the first time for about 30 to 36 hours and cover about 300 miles round trip but with the majority of this at hull speed, my 300 gallon fuel capacity should be plenty. My son has done this several times with my boat and generally uses 2/3 of the tanks on the trip. Will still take about 20 gallons in cans just in case ( and keep sea-tow on speed dial).
The oil rigs out there have cell phone repeaters on them and if I can do internet over the cell service, I will upload real time pictures. If not, I'll upload pictures Sat afternoon when we come in for a break. Hopefully will have some awesome fish to show off.
Sea conditions are forecast to be good with 1-2 foot seas but forecast calls for scattered showers and thundershowers, so we'll need to keep an eye on the weather (radar and Sirius weather) and scoot when we need to.
I'll try hard to show all those Hatteras's and Bertram's around me that a Searay can hold its own against them.
I'm heading down to the Gulf tomorrow AM and will post pictures of our preparations and team.
I will be entering my 390EC in a sure-nuff fishing tournament. The annual Alabama Deep Sea Fishing Rodeo will be held from Friday at 5am to Sunday at 5pm and will be based from the Dauphin Island Marina. My boat does have some enhancements that allow for fishing (outriggers, removable livewell etc). There are 30 fish species that can be caught and entered but my team will concentrate on the big ones- king mackerel, yellow fin tuna, wahoo, dolphin and swordfish. Marlin is not on the list but we will be fishing the same area and using same techniques as last week's Marlin only tournament so if we get one on the line, we won't cut it off.
I have little experience with this kind of fishing, but the 5 other members of the team have lots of bluewater fishing knowledge. I told them I'll drive the boat, they set up the correct fishing strategy.
We will be heading straight out into the Gulf for about 70-90 miles to get to the area where we will be concentrating on fishing. We will do most of the commuting distance at 8mph and trolling for King Mackerel on the way. I should get about 2.3 mpg at that speed. We plan to be out the first time for about 30 to 36 hours and cover about 300 miles round trip but with the majority of this at hull speed, my 300 gallon fuel capacity should be plenty. My son has done this several times with my boat and generally uses 2/3 of the tanks on the trip. Will still take about 20 gallons in cans just in case ( and keep sea-tow on speed dial).
The oil rigs out there have cell phone repeaters on them and if I can do internet over the cell service, I will upload real time pictures. If not, I'll upload pictures Sat afternoon when we come in for a break. Hopefully will have some awesome fish to show off.
Sea conditions are forecast to be good with 1-2 foot seas but forecast calls for scattered showers and thundershowers, so we'll need to keep an eye on the weather (radar and Sirius weather) and scoot when we need to.
I'll try hard to show all those Hatteras's and Bertram's around me that a Searay can hold its own against them.
I'm heading down to the Gulf tomorrow AM and will post pictures of our preparations and team.
