Tugboat Bill at St Jeromes

[kevinfry]

Met Chexone Mike and Ictalurus Bill at St. Jeromes today and it was largely uneventful. Fishing an out going tide at SJC is kind of weird. We all caught fish but they were all short. Lots of boat traffic, too, since there was some tournament going on.
The VERY low tide resulted in a extremely shallow bar in the bay outside the creek.....sadly a good sized power boat cut the corner coming into the creek and SLAMMED it. As he limped in, Bill went to check on him and found the guy barely able to make way.....so he grabbed the bow line and towed the guy to Buzz's!!!!!!!!! Is there nothing a Hobie Revo can't do??
Sadly, I have no pics of this landmark event, but you can imagine.

[Shady]

A kayak towed a boat = Awesome! Before I actually read your report I just glanced over it and saw "SLAMMED it" and thought that it was going to be referring to a nice fish. Sorry the fish weren't that cooperative, but atleast everyone caught some...

[Southerly]

congrats on being able and willing to lend a hand.

[J.A. Veil]

That is a great story. Bill -- you must have some mighty powerful legs.

You ought to send the story to Hobie corporate or at least some local dealers. Perhaps Hobie will sponsor you, feature you in an ad campaign, or send some free merchandise!

[ictalurus]

Ha ha. It's actually not as impressive as it sounds. His motor still ran a little bit. I was hoping that they just broke the shear pin. I thought he was going to be able to limp back to the dock, but then I saw he had trouble navigating the little channel near the entrance of the creek, and then I saw his paddle come out. It would've been easy for them to run aground again. I just gave him a little boost and helped him steer a bit. Plus, the current was behind me. The engine started making a worrisome noise when we were farther up the creek, so he turned it off, and the towing got much tougher. Fortunately, Mike from Buzz's pulled up right as I was starting to run out of steam.

I had towed a boat once before at Solomons, but it wasn't nearly as far. It takes a while to get started, but then it's not too bad. The only bad thing is there's no easy way to slow the boat down as you get near the dock. You have to start slowing down early and then just give little tugs to pull forward bit by bit. If the boat's motor is in the water, they can still steer a little even if it's not running. It probably wouldn't be possible if there were wind and/or waves.

I managed to pick up two 15-inchers trolling a 4" X-Rap inside the creek, and that was it. It was an expensive trip for me. I lost an X-Rap in the creek and bent the front mast and tore the bottom of the fin on my new turbo fins by running aground not long after I launched. There's a shallow spit near the first red marker coming out of Buzz's. I knew it was there and went wide, but I was trying to stay out of the channel because of all the traffic. The tide was really low, and I didn't go wide enough. It was my first day out with the turbo fins, too. Grrr... So, I identified with the boater I assisted, though his bill was going to be more expensive than mine.

It was good meeting CHEXONE and fishing with Kevin again. It's too bad the boat traffic kept the fish away. I completely forgot about the tournament. It might be time to start checking out Piney Point because there's deeper water closer to the launch.

[chex]

I managed to pull in 4 small ones and Kevin got 7!! (we were there much longer than Bill though). SJC is a beautiful place, and the weather was awesome. Nice meeting you guys, and thanks for the fishing tips!

[CAGE RATTLER]

Now that would have made for an excellent video ..... lol.

[ronaultmtd]

Glad to hear you are back on the water, Bill- just got in after midnight from Portland, Oregon- my butt is dragging this morning- Piney Point sounds fun- I am putting away 22 pounds of fresh caught wild salmon filets in my freezer this morning I caught in Tillamook Bay, Oregon Sunday.

Last time I fished in SJC with Kevin, I lost a XRap XR12 mackerel color lure- that was a $12 lure!

Hopefully, this is my last business trip of the year and I can get out on the water again.