Boat has been in for a couple of weeks. Weather has not been very cooperative. On the rare occasion the forecast looks decent a couple of days out, the decent goes away and the wind is blowing hard on the actual day. Last Friday was such a day, forecast had promise on Tuesday but by Thursday, the wind was again ON. Having planned to fish Friday and with no one but myself to worry about or complain, I opted to go anyway.
The wind was probably 15kts at 06:15 when I cleared the Wicopesset Passage and hit Block Island Sound. The good news was that the wind and tightly packed waves were square on my bow resulting in some of the most uncomfortable ride conditions for my 2520 Mod-V. It is year sixteen with this boat and I know all about engine trim & tabs, ride still sucked even with many thousands of hours running this boat and being more then willing to slow up.
I fished the Western Shore of the island in a bunch of different locations. There was NOT much of lee to be had to escape the wind and the drift was fast everywhere I tried. Tough to hold bottom in much over 40 feet of water. My drift sock would have helped but with the water still very cold and being solo, I didn’t wanna deal with the hassle and potential hazards of deploying the sock by myself. I had a Fluke bite within the first 10 minutes of fishing which had me optimistic but aside from a big sea robin that was it for my catching on the West Side.
I was hoping the wind would drop off but if anything the wind increased as the morning went on.
Only other boat out there was the 7Bs. They seemed to be moving a lot. I suspect their fishing was about as good as mine. Frustrated with the lack of fish on the West Side, I decided to try my luck South with both the wind and the fish. First drift, in one of my go to spots, yielded a keeper. Unfortunately holding bottom was nearly impossible and after spending 15 minutes cranking up a monster skate, I’d had enough “fun” and headed for home.
Nice downhill run on the way home, until a dead low tide docking at my marina with the wind cranking. Got her in the slip without smashing any gelcoat or dinging the propeller but it wasn’t easy or graceful.
I was in bed at 20:00, swallowing a handful costco ibuprofen PMs for my aching back, the bed was still moving when I passed out for a 12 hour nap.
Hopefully things improve moving forward and while conditions were far from ideal, it was a mildly enjoyable day in a painful sort of way.......
The wind was probably 15kts at 06:15 when I cleared the Wicopesset Passage and hit Block Island Sound. The good news was that the wind and tightly packed waves were square on my bow resulting in some of the most uncomfortable ride conditions for my 2520 Mod-V. It is year sixteen with this boat and I know all about engine trim & tabs, ride still sucked even with many thousands of hours running this boat and being more then willing to slow up.
I fished the Western Shore of the island in a bunch of different locations. There was NOT much of lee to be had to escape the wind and the drift was fast everywhere I tried. Tough to hold bottom in much over 40 feet of water. My drift sock would have helped but with the water still very cold and being solo, I didn’t wanna deal with the hassle and potential hazards of deploying the sock by myself. I had a Fluke bite within the first 10 minutes of fishing which had me optimistic but aside from a big sea robin that was it for my catching on the West Side.
I was hoping the wind would drop off but if anything the wind increased as the morning went on.
Only other boat out there was the 7Bs. They seemed to be moving a lot. I suspect their fishing was about as good as mine. Frustrated with the lack of fish on the West Side, I decided to try my luck South with both the wind and the fish. First drift, in one of my go to spots, yielded a keeper. Unfortunately holding bottom was nearly impossible and after spending 15 minutes cranking up a monster skate, I’d had enough “fun” and headed for home.
Nice downhill run on the way home, until a dead low tide docking at my marina with the wind cranking. Got her in the slip without smashing any gelcoat or dinging the propeller but it wasn’t easy or graceful.
I was in bed at 20:00, swallowing a handful costco ibuprofen PMs for my aching back, the bed was still moving when I passed out for a 12 hour nap.
Hopefully things improve moving forward and while conditions were far from ideal, it was a mildly enjoyable day in a painful sort of way.......
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