AFW

By Jason
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Saturday, January 21, 2006

The temperature was warmer this weekend than it has been in the past so I decided to go on a fishing trip....FINALLY!!

We picked up 2 dozen live shrimp and left land about 11:30am.  It would be Tito, Pipi, and myself and we weren't just going to hang around the river again.

We headed out just past the Sanibel Causeway A span and fished that shallow area for a bit.  Nothing.

Then we headed out and fished between the Sanibel light house and Fort Myers Beach in hopes of hooking up a shark or two.  The water was a bright green, and clear, as we have seen a very few times in the past.  Tide was incoming. Pretty soon I hooked up this little Hammerhead:

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1:51pm

Check out the dorsal fin.  This fin and the others have pieces missing from them...the edge of the fins are not smooth.

We moved around this area and I saw several small fish chase my biat a couple of times but no further bites.

So we decided that we were going to try to catch some fish or bust...and that meant heading to Redfish Pass where we have seen a variety of fish at times, especially on the incoming tide.  Tito took us from the light house to blind pass:

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3:39pm

The water was remarkably calm!  Smooth as glass!  The wind really died down.  I have never seen the Gulf so calm.

We stopped near blind pass and dropped the lines in but no hits.  So we went on to Redfish Pass.  We drifted the pass several times.  I managed to catch this what appears to be a Pin Fish.  But that was it.  
Revision 1/26/06: After further inspection I believe this catch was a Gray Snapper, not an oversized Pinfish.

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4:47pm

Here is our GPS track as we approached from the outside of Captiva (left) drifted in and drifted Redfish Pass again 2 more times before leaving South through Pine Island Sound (right):

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Well we were about to call it a day.  Now you would think that catching 2 fish all these hours we were out was punishment enough.  We continued south in Pine Island Sound turning toward the east, slowed and passed by Picnic Island, when all of a sudden there in the miserable mile, the engine starts clanking and making just a horrible noise.  I immediately put the boat in neutral, and the noise was still present.  Then shut it down.  When I tried to start it again, the engine wouldn't even turn over.  The battery wasn't dead.  I dropped the anchor and called Seatow.  I pulled the engine cover and the engine was hot, although I don't know if it was abnormally hot, it was just hot.  I tried to crank it, and I saw the starter engage and attempt to turn the flywheel, but once again the flywheel wouldn't turn (just a half inch maybe).  Great; it has seized.  

Seatow arrived about 20 minutes later (fast!) and we were under tow all the way back to Cape Coral.  Here is Seatow Barracuda towing us:

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6:42pm

We still managed to catch a phenomenal Florida sunset, although I was not very thrilled at the time.

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7:00pm

While in tow I just thought I would crank the engine and this time it did turn over although  that clanking sound was very present.  I didn't attempt to crank it enough to start it.   

We got home at about 7:30pm with what would have been a $529 Seatow billed was no charge per my yearly membership.  Thanks once again Seatow.

• Wind: from the east

• Seas: moderate chop

• Precipitation: none

• Water Temperature: 66F-68F

• Distance Traveled (mi): 55

• Hours out: 8

For further discussion on this engine problem click here.

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