Thun

Sorry to hear the bad news Devin. They advertise the Deep V's as "Big Water" boats and that was part of the reason I considered the 2011 Targa 18. Well that and the opinions of my sons who loved the boat. Perhaps you should let them know there's quite a few LOU members watching them now.

Beautiful fish! Cape Cod Bay was on fire this fall. We only made it out once this year and only caught shorts but I can't wait to fish it next summer and fall. The preferred method is to drive around at night until you see them on your sonar mixed in with huge bait balls, then shut dow and drift, casting just an eel on a hook tied to 30 power pro. The eels head right for the bottom where the big ones usually are.

Well there you go, I just found out about that buoy, Les has been by it many times...wisdom! And funny you should say that, the instructor mentioned how often NOAA is wrong too. Thanks for the kind words Les. I'm still learning about what to do in different situations, whether I can do it is another question because my boat handling skills are awful.

You're welcome Steve. My son wants to fish Cape Cod Bay for stripers at night and to be honest, I'm a little nervous. Fog and his respect or (lack of) for big water concern me. We've come out of the chutes a few times in the past and turned around, only cause I was at the helm, he wanted to fish. I didn't want to put the two year old boat in the salt either but it sat all summer so...I agreed, pending a boaters safety course and radar. The last class was about weather, cloud formations, the barometer and how with practice, one can predict with accuracy, conditions for fog. He'll be launching in the canal and fishing out in front of it and I don't want to worry about him wanderig out in front blind in a fog. I took the course 15 yrs ago or so with the coastal navigation course, but forgot a lot. This is a refresher for me but my son is learning about respecting that big water. Ya know, discussing fishing techniques and such can be about debatable and differing techniques and such but when it comes to safety, I always refer to the experts, the lives of our loved ones are too important to not know what's up. When it comes to fishing, I always defer to the experts out here, guys like Les, just an encyclopedia of wisdom and knowledge! The pro's discussing some concerns on another thread are inspiring me to dig a little deeper. I'm learning so much out here. And some of those guys have a flair for writing. Thank you Gentlemen for sharing that wisdom! They gave us this link last class and it's pretty neat cause the buoy measures wave height and reports it. Those 1 to 3's and 2 to 4's are averages and the waves could be twice those numbers. When in doubt, don't go out kind thing. http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/station_page.php?station=44013 I should have posted the link for LO, here's one 20 nm off Rochester. At 12:50 pm this afternoon, the wave height is reported at 5'6". Save the link to your phone and from your phones desktop you can see the latest reports and what the waves are doing 20nm off Rochester. It's another tool you can use to determine weather conditions for an informed decision before you go out. (not that you're going that far out but it can be an indication of what's whipping around out there) http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/station_page.php?station=45012

Hi guys, I love these kinds of threads because I always learn something from them. When in doubt, search... so I found these NY State Nav rules on pg 8 of 14 in the following pdf file. Regarding the legality of using lights other than those required, this states, "No other lights that may be mistaken for required navigation lights may be used." And when anchored at night, this..."All vessels are required to display a white light visable in all directions whenever they are moored or anchored outside a designated mooring area between sunset and sunrise." It's also important to know that anytime your vessel is moving, even with engines off and drifting, your vessel is "Making Way" and the required nav lights must be on. https://www.boat-ed.com/abc/abc_specific_images/pdfs/ny_law.pdf

Wow those drums are pretty and look powerful. And I know quite a few people who would love to cook up that octopus. Great pics!

The stand on vessel maintains course and speed so that the give way vessel can predict what the stand on vessel will do. Fourteenth Edition, Boating Skills and Seamanship, USCGA

My little tin is starting to get there...now maybe I can save a little to actually put her in the water and fish!

I also use only one of my two 12 volt trolling motor batteries wired in series for 24 volts to run four riggers, FF, FH, VHF and TrollMaster. That way I can run 12 volt electronics and get only 12 volts to them from a 24 volt system. I have the four riggers fused at the battery with terminal fuse holders and ran 6 guage wire, also fused terminally with a 100 amp fuse, to a separate fuse panel I just installed, exclusively for those things drawing electricty when trolling and not charging the cranking battery. I hope I did it right and it's still a work in progress as I'm waiting for my S-i-L to crimp the battery lugs to the cable. I also took a wire brush and some dialectric grease to all the connections. Then I just plug the onboard charger in when I get home and don't have to worry about the boat starting after a long day trolling. I think I got it right but any and all suggestions are always welcome.