Quote:
Originally Posted by MITCHELL
Butterfly
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Did your dog get seasick?
I used to take my German Shepard but she always got really sea sick. One beautiful day I kept going further south. I had caught two big Yellowfin early at gray light, and then followed them around all day trying to get another one to bite. They were line shy, but it was a big school and easy to meter, so I kept on them hitting paddies as they passed them. Lots of Dorodo around and a few Yellows on the paddies so they kept me busy. Glass calm, You could not imagine a nicer day. I finally managed a third Yellowfin about 30 minutes before sunset, then got two more before before it got dark.
Here's a pic of the conditions at sunset.
Nice huh!!
I like coming in in the dark on a flat night. Stowed all my gear cleaned up the boat. I set up a course home. I was 34 miles out on a 194 heading, so 14 degrees right past the nados, almost due North, roughly 4.5 hours to the point running a single outboard to conserve fuel at 8 knots. Half that if I wanted to run both outboards.
It was mid October and we had yet to have a good cold front. The forecast was flat seas and and variable wind under ten knots, but the forecast was wrong. I just had everything stowed when the wind kicked up out of the North blowing hard at 15 to 20 knots. the seas built and with thirty minutes I was facing eight foot head seas. By then I had slowed to under 6 knots, but it got worse and eventually I was down under 5 knots getting showered with spray threading my way directly into the big seas in the dark.
My dog baby took it worse then I did. she audibly moaned, vomited on the deck, then shit her guts out, eventually she was just laying on the wet deck sliding around as the waves shifted the boat shivering uncontrollably. I really thought she might go into some kind of systemic shock and die.
At that point I pulled her in the space behind the console, took off my rain gear and wrapped her in it, and I held her between my legs the rest of the trip. I can't describe how cold I was. After eight hours I made it in, through the eight to ten foot seas, but I kept shaking for another hour, even though the first thing I did when I got to the ramp was jump in the truck and put the heater on. When I got to the dock she lifted up her head and gave me this look like: "Is this over" and though I had to lift her over the rail on to the dock but she walked to the truck under her own power. Once I warmed up enough to retrieve the boat I put the trailer in the water, jumped out of the truck and she followed me to the dock. Then amazingly she jumped right back in the boat with me. Such is the loyalty of dogs. For all she knew I was headed right back out there, and she did not care, she just wanted to stay with me.
I never took her on a offshore trip again, and every time I started loading the boat with tuna gear she'd get upset. Not at the prospect of bad weather, but because she knew I was going to leave her behind.
She was pretty hot as dogs go, but got a little too cold that night
