Rodriguez Albacore

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Went the distance after talking to Chad on the 27' Farallon "True Grit" scored 18 albacore and 2 Bluefin out on the Rodriguez. Left 4pm on thursday from Ventura and made the 50 mile run out to Johnson's lee, Santa Rosa Island. Got there before dark and turned on the weather station to confirm that the weather had'nt changed. They were calling for 10 to 15 all day on friday and a 3' wind chop. I buddy boated with Moorefish and we both decided it was a go. At 4am we blasted off for the dome. As soon as we got around the point we both noticed a little bit more than 10 to 15 knots of wind but generally close to the islands there always seems to be a bit more wind. Once we cleared San Miguel Island the wind and swell disappated and we were able to make the dome by 8:30. To make a long story short, I ended up with two 15# jig fish and Moorefish had a lone Jig fish. As the day progressed the seas and wind increased so we both decided to work are way home. The closer to the island we got the nastier the weather got. Basically, other than a few miles between the lee's of Santa Rosa and Santa Cruze, we got are asses handed to us. We mad it back to Ventura Harbor at 10:30 pm. The next day I noteced water leaking from my forward water hold. I ended up removing the aluminum access panel and what I found was delamination on the aft peace of the water hold. The fiberglass delaminated away from the hull. Has anyone had this happen on the Billfisher?.

ZMAN

I haven't noticed the problem yet. What year is your Billfisher?

That Moorefish guy is A-OK in my book, please tell him hi for me!

Glad you got out and caught some, I hope I haven't let my albacore season slip away in one weekend!

Thanks for the report!

Jeff,

It's a 1991 Billfisher. Talked with Steve and he said that he has never heard of any delamination problems with his boats. I have noticed a few other small area's that have started to delaminate only from the hull. Bulkheads and main structures are fine. I have no problem reglassing these areas but have no real working access. I took a real beating on this last trip out to the Rodriguez and will probably in the future not push my boat so hard.

Thanks for the comeback, Zack