Ok here we go, My son Jonathan and I decided to fish the SBS series this year after we found out that my nephew had a boat we could use. I went to pick it up last a week before the tournament to check it out. I was a lot surprised to see it in such bad shape. This thing was pretty beat down, as he only used it to hoop in SD bay. I started to second guess the decision, but thought it was worth a try to un f*(k it. List of things to do. fix all bilge pumps and bait pump, re wire the batts. and install batt boxes, fix fuel and volt guages, fix under dash wiring, replace two scuppers on rear of boat, install vhf radio, antenna and mount (he had the radio and antenna) install fish depth/fish finder (thanks Kelly for the underwater eyes) and find and install a live well. So needless to say lots to do. it was all small stuff but time consuming and left lots of bruises working in the tight spaces. It took us about four days to get it where we needed it.
Tuesday we took her out for a shake down run along Point Loma. everything was working as it should and we got into a great calico sand bass bite. we fished the Big Pancho and Pearl swim baits along the inside reefs from 6 to 15 ft of water. The inside and outer kelp looked good but we didn't spend a whole lot of time looking for the active fish. Then it happened. on a move to another spot the motor was missing and losing power. It was running well enough to buzz back in, but dded another thing to the list. A quick call to my outboard guy he figured it to be the o2 sensor. A relatively easy fix and common problem with the yamaha engines. After a little research we pulled it, cleaned it, and replaced it. Hoping that it would be ready to run on Sat.
Sat the 21 was game day and we were as ready as could be. we launched and it was game on. We tried the MB jetty in the dark for about 45 min without a bite. we then moved out along PL in the deeper reefs to see if we could drum up some business. Lots of short bites no takers. grey light brought us the ability to move inside where we had a decent bite but just couldn't find the big girls. A few bites that were the ones didn't make it to the boat. We plugged away for 8 hours but couldn't put it together missing bites ect. As the day ran on we hit one last spot and the fish bit. we culled two of our calicos, and I once again missed a giant. time ran out and we headed in. Lots of teams struggled, some found the active fish. We placed 12th out of the 21 teams not to bad not too good. I couldnt be more proud of y son, this was his first tournament and our second time time out in the boat. He stuck to it and plugged away to help our bag by putting the first 4 in the well. We made some mistakes, learned some lessons, and had a great time on the water. Game day sure is a different animal..lol
Thanks for reading.
Team Lobalz
The boat.
Dash rebuild added radio and finder.
tuesday we had a few good ones
Jonathans PB Calico
another one fell for the 7in Pancho
Game day weigh in Pic..
All fish but one caught on the inside in 6 to 18 ft. one on the weedless in the kelp.
