Posts by hank

I had one of the floppers that would stick closed. It's hard to tune them. Bend a little here, then there. And then the hydrodynamics change and it may curve the flight.
You're right about the tuning. I have to practice with an old one. All the new ones flop freely, but all my other ones do too. As long as the shaft is pointed down or horizontal, it stays open when a fish is on.

I checked a couple more of the barbs. The first one obviously had a smaller hole on one side but the next one fit the pin on both.
There is no head on the pins.
So.....I put the pin through, laid it on top of a vice and gently pounded with a ball pean hammer. Then switched to the other side. Looks good with a little "mushroom head" on both sides and the flopper "flops" freely.

many thanks.

I believe it was Don Paul who mentioned a while back that charters may require free diving certs before long. Make sense.

Any secrets to this?
I just received some replacement barbs. I can see that one hole is bigger than the other on the barb. Pin easily slides into one side, but not the other.
I can probably figure something out but I'll give my 43rd born son to anyone willing to pass on a trick or the trade or two. many thanks.

Nice fish. I've been seeing more of those parrot fish around here lately. I hear there used to be a lot. Jake shot one a few weeks ago. Really nice eating.
Beautiful fish but not as big as the one you got.

Boat cover....or chain saw.
I keep my boat under my house on a concrete slab and it gets dirty. I live about 2 miles from the sea with salt water shrimp ponds about 50 yards behind my house...upwind. Nothing really dries and dirt sticks to it. But if I take the boat out every week....which is pretty much the case, I wash it once a week. If it sits for 3 or more weeks, it collects all kinds of dust and dirt.

Nice and what a shot. I NEVER stone those jacks. I stun them and they recover and off they run.

Thanks, Cancunspearo, come on down. I'd like to come up there too.
Lunker, I got the T shirt in Orlando Guitar Center. I was up there when Jake was going to Marine Mechanics Inst. and they had a sale on Martin strings. By one box of 4 sets and you get a free T shirt. I got three shirts. haha.
I have a really nice Martin copy that my friend made from scratch. It really sounds nice. Drowns out my other acoustic. But that's what Martins were made for....to be loud as the banjo playing bluegrass. yep.

The green water is all the way out to Turneffe now. I hope that the cool waters of November make it go away.
Found a little clean water north of our hot spot. There was a school of permit and horse eye jacks which are usually very close to the big school of dog snappers but I think the snappers were hiding in the green haze. I saw a couple dogs and a couple small cuberas.
I shot a couple nice ceros, a good size barracuda, two yellow jacks, one horse eye and then this fish came along. African pompano. Strong fish. He pulled me under a couple times, down to 15 or more feet. hah
When I got him to the boat, I stuck my finger in the spear hole and touched his spine. Almost a dead stone shot but man, he fought like hell. Great fish. Good eating too.

Quote from Marco

Well, I don't know Roberto, but my house was without power from Sunday night until today at noon.

The tropical storm was bad, but the rain fallen all these days was worse.

Today 95% of the island is back to normal.

For the records: I went out on saturday and saw the thickest concentration of fat mutton snappers in my whole life! Got some and then left them alone. It was really insane! The smaller I got was 9 Lbs. Maybe the upcoming storm had something to do with that?

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PICTURES !! haha. Good to hear you made it though ok.
I went out here the day after TS Harvey I went out to one of my favorite spots. Lots of snappers....and sharks. Some muttons but mainly cuberas and some dogs.

Post tropical storm Harvey dive. Went out to try and find some clean water yesterday. All green along the reef. So we crossed over to Turneffe and found nice semi clean water on the east side.
Jake had just shot a cubera and was swimming it back to the boat. I went down to look around and on the bottom a decent cubera came by. I hit it and it bolted for a hole. I pulled the line hard and just as I got it free and the fish was coming up with me about 4-5 sharks came in real fast.....moving like fish that haven't been fed for 3 days in your aquarium.....and this was all they left for me.
It was a little sketchy going back to shoot the next fish but after about half hour Jake hit another one and no more sharks.
We got on top of a nice school of dogs but one of the guys with us got sick. So.....we headed home.
The Yamahas burn a bit more gas but I'm getting used to them. It's a lot more playing with the throttle when in open sea to keep the engine from "dogging" on the back of waves. Coming home though I only burned about 2 gallons more than the ETEC.
I love the safety of these......but there is a lot to be said for modern technology. hah.

I hope all is well my friend.

Very true. It's all give and take with boats.

Finally got the Yamahas wet yesterday. Did the break in and test runs and going out tomorrow.
Quite a difference. The twin 40s are noticeably slower. More than I would thought with 10 hp reduction. And they're LOUD ! haha. But, it sure looks nice having those gray smokers on.
I put the ETEC on the other panga that belongs to the company. It looks identical to my Pesquero...like they were made from the same mold. But if feels a lot lighter. And it rides a lot softer with the ETEC on it than my boat did.
And there is a lot to be said for the conveniences of modern technology. Instead of pushing a button, I have to lift the motors up and put a piece of 2x4 under them to "trim" them up coming in and out of our canal. Hand starting is no problem. Mixing the gas....eh......although it is a bit more gas. I'll se what I burn tomorrow.
But I love those smooth Yamaha shifters. And for whatever reason.....maybe from riding dirt bikes when I was young....I just love that "popping" sound of those Enduros.
Amazing though the difference in how the two boats feel. I hate to say it, but my boat is the worst. The other one is old and I'm not sure how strong it is after sitting on the beach out in the weather for a few years. But it sure rides softer.
Now I just have to see how lucky the Yammies are at getting fish. ....It's nothing to do with ME.

NIce report Marco. Great you did the trip with your son.
$1 for 60 liters of gas? wow.

Quote from Roberto Reyes

My 276 pound Yellow fin tuna.

I did got another fish that day.

I had posted a 23 pound black jack, but dont see it on the records.

I looked at the picture a couple times and then I noticed, "THAT'S A FRICKEN MARLIN LAYING IN THE SAND"!!!!
haha. No mention of that fish? What a day.

The twins are on. But if you look at the graphics on the cowlings, you'll notice they're not identical twins. Only in Belize. I believe one is an 011 and the other a 010. Inside they're identical though.
No auto tilt so I cut a couple pieces of old spear shaft to use in the manual tilt bracket to hold the motors up coming in the shallow canal. The shifters seem a little flimsy on the side mount....I hope someone doesn't grab them while trying to climb in the boat. But they're smooth, Yamaha shifters. Nice.
Now I can sleep better even though my wife is a little pissed. She wants another pickup truck....sorry honey. :)...in a couple months.
Love the sound of those little two cylinder motors. ya man...

Thanks Don.

Quote from Mariner

Yes you can rig them up to charge your batt.
Tachs do not come with motors.
Separate fuel supply would be best, if one gets contaminated, you can still make it home;)

Yep, I got the rectifier for one motor to charge the battery.
I got used to using a tach with the ETEC but no need. With twins you listen to the pitch kind of like tuning a guitar. When the waves get long.....waaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwwaaaaaaaaaaa, they're on the same RPM. It'll take a little getting used to I guess.
And Yamaha shifters are the best. ETEC made a nice one but they want $1000 for it here.

I have two fuel tanks. And carry two other 6 gallon containers. Thanks.

Quote from Don Paul

What could be better than twins.......

Cheers, Don

You got that right. hah.