# Does Sea Tow Come out this far



## submariner (Oct 2, 2007)

:whistling:Josh, (Fendbender and captain), Josh H, Jack, Jeff ( Kingfisher#1) and I met at Sherman around 1530, loaded and launched Trigger Happy (,the boat) , but the boat didn’t leave the trailer. Seems the safety chain was still attached. No big deal, took the chain off and the boat was in the water. When the captain went to prime the starboard engine, he realized that when he changed the filter, he forgot to fill the new filter with gas. No problem just need to take the filter over to the gas station, fill it with gas ( we didn’t have a can) and reinstall. Short time later, both engines were running and we were going out the pass. Just as we passed the first buoy, there was a rumble form one of the engines. Power down and a visual inspection of props and cooling identified no problems. Started up again, went couple of hundred yards and rumble again . Another inspection, and restarted. This time the engines ran fine, but I was kind of getting the feeling that maybe someone was trying to tell us something. The plan was to go out to the spur, get some tuna , a swordfish or two, some deep dropping and of course the elusive red snapper. Well we would soon know if the boat was ready for a 60+ miles one way trip.

Saw some neat stuff on the way out.









Saw some birds working and started trolling about 35-40 miles out, picked up a skipjack tuna and a small dolphin. Then it was time to start sword fishing. We put two lines down, one at around 400 feet and the other at 200. A fly line was put out the back just in case some thing was swimming by. And we waited, actually I went to sleep, Jack started singing songs, with the Joshes and Jeff joining in once in awhile. Around 0200, I got up, the singing was not very good, reminded me of a cat in heat. Once I got up, everyone else be came quiet and settled down. Jeff was the only one still up with me and he was still holding that fly line. Around 0300, one of the swordfish poles ( the one around 400 feet) started singing, Jeff yelled fish on, game on and everyone jumped up. After a 15-20 second run the line went limp. Pulling up the line, we could see it was frayed and cut. Reset the pole and put it back down. Everyone settled back down. Jeff still had that fly line in his hand. Around 0400, Jeff started yelling again and this time the fly line pole is bent double- Fish ON! . After a 20 minute battle, Jeff landed his first Yellowfin and it only took Josh 3 tries to gaff it. Josh suggested we start the chum line to keep any other tuna to stay in the area and that we pull up the swordfish poles. When we pulled the poles it became apparent that both pole had been hit by what we think was swordfish based upon the chaffing of the lines. Guess we were more sleepy then we thought.










Time to concentrate on tuna. We kept the chum line going and so daybreak was upon us and we could see surface activity. We tried to start the engines, all we heard was a clink. It appears the lights on the boat drained both batteries. Josh made a very good observation “ we might have a problem”. Let see 60 miles out and dead batteries- no real problem. I asked does Sea Tow come out this far??? Was this another sign??










Then not to be too much of a smart ass, I reminded Josh that I had brought my portable power pack for my electric reel and suggested we hook it up to one of the batteries and use it to start and engine. The first attempt failed, so we tried the other battery and it started. Thie running engine gave enough boost to the batteries that we could start the second engine. We were again mobile. 


So we went after the tuna which seemed to be busting all around us. Next fish was a 22 # dolphin. 







Jack fighting the dolphin


The next hook up was a Wahoo, not super big, but big enough to break the line when we got it to the boat, Still fun to catch and watch.


For the next several hors we watched tuna bust around us but were unable to hook up. Finally they shutdown and we moved on to deep dropping.









Josh , the captain moving us to a new spot, He has some nice numbers, we picked up some nice tile fish













































Look at the bend in Josh H pole









　

Next we moved toward the edge for grouper. We pick another tile and some snowy grouper


　

Then as the day was winding down, we moved in and looking the elusive red snapper. After picking up 6 snapper, some Amoco jacks, an amberjack, a dog snapper and a few other odds and ends, we headed in. Tired but happy- a mixed bag and many first for some of the fisherman.











Thanks to Josh for taking us and sharing his boat.















the motley crew of the trigger happy

Josh will be adding additional pictures later

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## jaster (Oct 7, 2007)

Nice report and story, but I can't see any pictures? Then again, I have had a few problems with my phone, so may be me?


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## PCfisher66 (Oct 13, 2010)

I see red X's


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## blakeb (Aug 10, 2009)

The pictures are cross posted from here: http://www.gulfcoastfishingconnection.com
You must be logged in on that site to see the pictures.


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## ironman172 (Sep 28, 2007)

no problem seeing them for me....nice report Ed....thanks for sharing:thumbup:


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## grey ghost (Jul 24, 2011)

all i see is red x,s also???


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## MillerTime (Jul 6, 2011)

Those are some nice fish!


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## jaster (Oct 7, 2007)

What fish, what pictures. All I see is a great story and blue question marks! Post em here, not a link!


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## submariner (Oct 2, 2007)




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## submariner (Oct 2, 2007)

*picture s*


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## submariner (Oct 2, 2007)

*pictures*


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## lastcast (Oct 12, 2007)

Nice batch of fish guys! Good eats on the Tiles!


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## jaster (Oct 7, 2007)

Holy crap that is awesome. Thankyou mariner!


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## my3nme (Oct 9, 2007)

What did you have on the fly line?


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## FenderBender (Oct 2, 2007)

my3nme said:


> What did you have on the fly line?



I think it was a northern mackeral, we were running late leaving so we didn't stop for live cigs and threadfins like we wanted.




Thanks for getting the great report up Ed, I'll add some pics once I get them off my phone. Lots of good memories!


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## Frenchy (Oct 2, 2007)

Great report as usual Ed, looks like it was a full on adventure out there, the way it should be !!! Well done guys.


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## sniperpeeps (Mar 5, 2011)

Great report! Wish I could have made the trip, sounds like a great time was had by all.


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## grey ghost (Jul 24, 2011)

NICE!! Yall had a day rite there!!


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## Ocean Master (May 20, 2008)

Good time fishing and hopefully a learning curve on being more prepared for trouble on the water. It doesn't hurt to run your engines while fishing. Sometimes it actually attracts the fish.


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## a (Oct 2, 2007)

what kinda Tuna is that?....with the stripes???


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## lastcast (Oct 12, 2007)

Skipjack.


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## marlinchaser (Oct 11, 2007)

Ocean Master said:


> Good time fishing and hopefully a learning curve on being more prepared for trouble on the water. It doesn't hurt to run your engines while fishing. Sometimes it actually attracts the fish.



Great pics and report. I never shut my engines down offshore; they only use .9 gph at idle and to me, just not worth taking the chance on battery drained for what ever reason.


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## lastcast (Oct 12, 2007)

I thought outboards wouldn't charge at idle RPM's. So your running off battery anyways.


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## Ocean Master (May 20, 2008)

Yes they charge at idle speed...


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## Gamefish27 (Nov 13, 2009)

So what about sea tow question


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## submariner (Oct 2, 2007)

Gamefish27 said:


> So what about sea tow question


 don't really know about Sea Tow but I kind of remember that tow Boat Us has words about 20-25 mile from land. Anyone had an experience further than that ??


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## grey ghost (Jul 24, 2011)

lastcast said:


> I thought outboards wouldn't charge at idle RPM's. So your running off battery anyways.


I let my twins run for peace of mind, the yama's are whisper quite anyways. But thats alot of moving parts to idle for all day, duno if i am much better off letting them run or not. I think all or most charters let there engines run all day. So its a preference deal !!?? * close in 15 mi or less i would cut them off, anymore than that i lettum run. LOL:yes: I dont no about towing question, **i thought they would come where ever needed weather permitting, i think i will check and see on that one?**


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## my3nme (Oct 9, 2007)

I thought I heard 40 miles they will come


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## Comfortably Numb (Oct 1, 2007)

I was speaking to a sea tow captain the other day and he said that he has towed a boat in from 88 miles offshore. Not sure if there are additional charges or not, but it seems they will come if you can reach them.


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## TinManMike (Oct 26, 2008)

Sea Tow Capt. in St. Augustine said he goes out 75 miles quite frequently.


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## Mikvi (Mar 11, 2008)

Good report Ed. I wish I could have come with you, but had to take the wife to the Drs in MS. Hopefully, I can make the next trip.


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## eddy2419 (Oct 28, 2007)

Sea Tow Pensacola/Orange beach has no limits other than the range of their boats and sea conditions. Basically if they can, they will, no extra cost. As I understand it.


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## gwillie450 (Dec 21, 2009)

i asked when i renewed they send on limit but they can chose to let the coast come get you if your over 50 miles then they would take over from 50 miles


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