Re: Boat sizes for ocean fishing
I had a 14 foot Nichols "back in the day" with a 12 horse mc culloch motor, decent motor, once I figured it out ... I put in at cape may harbor, figured I would run it around a bit .. well, it went up on plane with ease, and I was surprised how fast it went (bear in mind, this is a early seventies, smoothbottomed semi v with a narrow beam style boat, not one of the brawny high wide deep boats of today)<br /><br />one of the four hour boats comes past, loaded with fish .. where??? right off the concrete ship!<br /><br />for those unfamiliar with Cape May NJ, the concrete ship sits right off the beach at the tip of cape may, where bay and ocean meet<br /><br />So I go down the canal, past the ferries, and out into the glassine bay<br /><br />Beautiful day, light wind, flat water - and the fish are ON, whew, sweating a bit<br /><br />ah, that feels better, a little cool breeze, and the sun isnt beating down anymore.<br /><br />Then I heard it ... that deep rolling bass of thunder - and the thunderheads are INLAND, but no way to tel which way they are running<br /><br />twenty years later, DUH, head right into the beach, its a johnboat for christ sakes<br /><br />but at the time - I was torn, head to the inlet on the ocean side, which was swells or the ferry side which was rapidly chopping up - I chose the bay side, and started making my way back ... the boat was pounding like hell in the chop, I was soaked, and bailing spray out like wild, and the waves kept getting bigger - since I was in the back, the bow was elevated, but STILL ... it was a foot deep boat! I was already mourning the loss of a good running motor if I sank the damn thing, never even considering it would be ME taking a header too<br /><br />after a roller coaster ride thru the inlet, where a big foamer dropped its top into the boat ... a few inches of water worth, my new boat slid into the relatively calm waters of the canal, with me bailing her out some more, lighting striking all over the place - the purring mc culloch went dead.<br /><br />only then did I bother to check the gas tank - it was empty.<br /><br />I switched over to the full one, and the implications of what could have happened if the motor had cut out five minutes ago. one SECOND of lost power and it would have been taps time for yours truly - but I had wanted to run the partial tank out, lol, sheesh the things you think of<br /><br />prime it, pull it (behave) and it cranked right up.<br /><br />the funny thing .. I wasnt scared out in the bay, too concerned with not making any MORE mistakes that would kill me (and drown that beaut of a motor)<br /><br />Approaching the cape may bridge, I saw it get hit with lighting ... and was deathly afraid to go under it, I read that lighting could "git ya" under a bridge<br /><br />Eventually, I did not die<br /><br />I might not have kissed the dock when I got back, but I was glad to get off that boat and into the shelter of the rubber insulated van -<br /><br />and thus was born the perfect name for a little tin boat used fairly regularily out in Delaware Bay ...<br /><br />Hydrophobia
