Stripers galore - then a mishap

[J.A. Veil]

I had some good fishing Fri afternoon on my center console and returned to the same spot again on Sat morning. MKF member jffoley (John) accompanied me today. It is hard not to catch fish when the sonar looks like this:

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We both caught plenty of stripers -- most were 12" - 15". Yesterday I had one at 20" and today we had another just below 18". We headed back into Sandy Pt about 11:30. We had just passed through the inlet channel and were entering the open lagoon in front of the ramps when my engine alarm went off. I immediately checked the pee stream -- it was flowing intermittently. My engine does not have a separate oil tank, so I knew this was not the low oil alarm.

We had only a few hundred yards to go, so I aimed for the nearest ramp and ran at idle speed. About 100 ft short of the ramp, the engine dropped revolutions and stopped a moment later. Our momentum was not quite enough to reach the pier. John tossed out the anchor and retrieved it several times to move us over to the pier. At that point I tilted the motor up and saw a large white plastic bag wrapped around part of the lower unit.

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We made it in safely. I think the alarm was a temporary problem that was resolved when the bag was removed from blocking the water intake. Among the many good things about kayak fishing is you never need to worry about engine failure.

[Southerly]

nice report. possibly a temperature alarm?

[archeryrob]

With the water cut off like that I would check your water pump. Did you start it again once the bag was off? I used to have trouble with mine running it trough weeds for hunting and they would pile up on the rock guard and cut off the flow. No water to the water pump does not just mean no cooling water, it also means no lubrication for the water pump impeller, which then can need replacing. I hope yours is still working fine. You're right, Low Maintenance is why I like my kayaks so much.

[jffoley]

Thanks John! Great fishing with you along with terrific action on light tackle. Got my striper fix in that's for sure. Glad the engine alarm was temporary!

[J.A. Veil]

With the water cut off like that I would check your water pump. Did you start it again once the bag was off? I used to have trouble with mine running it trough weeds for hunting and they would pile up on the rock guard and cut off the flow. No water to the water pump does not just mean no cooling water, it also means no lubrication for the water pump impeller, which then can need replacing. I hope yours is still working fine. You're right, Low Maintenance is why I like my kayaks so much.

My theory is that the bag wrapped around and covered most of the water intake causing the engine to overheat. We could see hot water vapor/steam coming from under the cowling. A few minutes after removing the bag I tried starting the motor again. It caught and ran, but the alarm was still sounding. When I got home (and by now the motor had cooled off), I put the hose and earmuffs on the engine and started it again. This time it ran well without any alarm. I am cautiously optimistic that the engine shut itself off before any permanent damage was done. I will certainly be more attentive to engine alarms the next time.

[Goody]

Nice going there on the stripers. I'm glad your motor seems to be ok.

[DOGFISH]

I had a friend have that sort of thing happen to him. His engine seized up. Glad you had better luck.

[J.A. Veil]

I am happy to report that my engine started up right away today and ran flawlessly for 2 hours.

And by the way, I caught approx. 50 rockfish in 2 hours at the same location where jffoley and I fished last Sat. They ranged from 12" to 17" and hit 12 different lures that I tossed at them today. After catching a few fish on each different lure, I put that rod down and tried something else.

[jffoley]

That's good news, John! Glad to hear the motor was working well. And that there's still a lot of, what? Year 2 stripers out there!