Mark; I give you credit for using boards solo yesterday morning. I put us in the channel riding with the wind and gave the wheel to Lou. My only request was to keep me in deep water while I put the spread out.
I had some novice guys on the boat and they "helped" me put the boards over and get the lines in. It's quicker if I just do it, explaining why you do everything takes a lot of time. Plus counting bars and talking at the same time gets confusing; especially when you start with my IQ
So, I have most everything out when I hear Lou say, "Chit, a crab pot". I grab the second station wheel (thanks Bill Judge) and slid it past the incomplete side close to the boat where there was a "hole" for it to slid through
OK, crabbers have been moving pots to deeper water, so its not uncommon to find a pot where you least expect it in the fall. Plus, with the 2 ft waves, they were going to be hard to see.
Then Lou says, "Another pot." WTF; I run up into the cabin to look at the chart plotter (wish I had a big 10-12 inch screen so I could see it well from the back of the boat), and we are in 20 ft of water; heading into 17 ft
Luckily, there was an 11 yr old on board. I bit my tongue (somewhat), and told Lou we needed to be in deep water!!!!
I had to make a big correction, dropping all my lines in the mud, to get back toward the channel. As I pulled lines I realized that I had forgot to bring an important part of my trolling tackle with me (my pet hair comb to clean dirty parachutes). So, thank goodness I still have my hair, my comb did an ok job.
I found an old "track" on the gps and told Lou to "follow that line".
The rest of the day, I tried to stay at the wheel and tend to the lines.
Now it appears that I'm dumping on Lou, but that's not really the case. He's a great fishing partner. Always ready to go at the drop of a hat, willing to clean the catch while I tend to the boat, and good company while on the water.
Lou is just not technology proficient. You can tell he never played a video game in his life, and I suspect he can't see the subtly differences in the shading on the map between light blue depths and darker blue shallows.
When on his boat, I always have to reset his Lowrance because he has it so F'ed up.
So the big question Mark, is where did you catch your fish (above or below the bridge)? Were you pulling parachutes (six or nine inches)? What worked best, boards or boat rods? Umbrella's or tandems? Details man, we want to know
5th