My buddy Jay Perrotta of BlackLab Marine & RockSalt boats was in town as of Thursday afternoon.
Bringing that big RockSalt 34 welded aluminum boat www.rocksaltboats.com up from S. Florida. To just show folks. So my dad and I met him over at Morningstar Marina, as he pulled up from the St, Johns. We've been keeping tabs on Jay's travels north through the ocean and ICW via www.aluminumalloyboats.com the forum that's my second home. I bought my boat from Jay when he lived in Maine. And the Rocksalt 34 is a different breed of aluminum alloy welded boat. It's monsterous and can seriously GO FAST.
With twin 350 V-8 Yamaha's, and the yacht quality look of the hull and interior. The boat was a "must see", at this years Miami International boat show in Febuary. And I didn't hit Miami this year. So I missed it. But this was even better. Jay and the Rocksalt being in J-ville.
Painted 1/4" plate alloy with toilet, two sinks, two livewells, racing seats, 700 Horse Power, three electronics boxes, and console and hard top that the crew can do chin-ups on. Nothings coming loose on this boat! Fish "holds", not just boxes, and storage out the ying-yang. This is a awesome offshore fishing machine. And it's all made out of the same material my boat is. 5053 Marine Grade Alloy.
The ride comes later. Jay and his buddy needed nurishment and some cold drinks. They had just run from New Smyrna Beach this morning in the ocean to Jacksonville's St. Johns River inlet. So off we went to Singletons Seafood for fried oyster Po' boys with crunchy onions on top.
My dad and I helped Jay by giving him and Charlie a ride to rent a car in Jax Beach. But my ride would come on Friday. I had nothing else to do. And wouldn't miss behind the wheel time on this big bad ass boat. So I met Jay at the Marina on Friday morning and we went cruising. The spit will roll out your lips when this boats lighting it up out the jetty rocks.
No seas, dead azz flat calm. Bummer.....ya want some "sporte" seas in a boat like this.
This would be more like it.
If I was an Long Range offshore guy and really wanted a boat to get customers there and back fast, I'd only have aluminum, of course. And this would be the boat I'd have custom built.
4/22-23 - Night Fishing shake down.
Hit the river at 8pm after hanging with Jay, Charlie and Pop's, and the Rocksalt 34. Had my buddy Nick who's the drummer for the band, Rathkeltair (Celtic Rock Fusion: www.Rathkeltair.com ) with me. He's a night owl, so he was a good choice. We did a shake down night fishing trip and got back home at 2:30am.
Tried out my LED's I mounted on the top of my windshield. And my new Hydroglow light for fish attracting, yes it attracts! (UPDATE: hydroglow customer service sucks!! I found that my light sinks like a rock, and is supposed to float. Darrel Keith, Mr. Hydroglow himself said he'd replace my light a week ago, and now the phone number doesn't work, and they do not reply to emails sent. I've now read that others on http://www.swordfishcentral.com/ forum that others have had bad customer service from him. There's others, I'd try them.)
The tide was falling and hauling butt. We caught fish, a few Specks, some sand trout (yeah small sand trout), some Blues naturally, and a few Yellowmouth Trout. The hydroglow light is supposed to FLOAT. And it didn't. It sank. So that was an issue. The current was a issue too. And we tried a few docks that have lights on all night. Ones I have been just dieing to try, with not much success. But all was good till maybe mid-night. And that's when it got colder than a well diggers ass out there. And I needed more than I had on.
Yeah, COLD, and a tad windy too. Next time, I'll actually have a game plan, also. But this was just a shake down. Now Hydroglow is sending me a new light, and I'll return this "sinker".
I loved it. NO one around. The whole river to myself. If it wasn't so dang cold it would have been better.
But I can see this summer is gonna be different for me. Because I'm not gonna put up with wakes, jetskis, Poke run race boats and ghetto cruisers, waking me. And every spot will be open to fish.
I'll be heading out in the evening with customers, if they can. Why not?