Offshore 4/29, YFT's and dolphin

[PhishingPhanatic]

I've barely fished for the last 6 months, been busy as hell with our new house and a bunch of other things. Had a good weather window on Friday to make a run to the Corner (northern Bahamas about 100 miles out of Jupiter) on my friends boat and I jumped on it. Left Jupiter at 3 AM, hit the cold water break around 6 that we were looking for. The ocean was alive out there...birds everywhere feasting on bait, whales, huge tiger sharks, and lots of debris.

Started trolling and it was slow for a while, then we found a pallet that every time we passed, we picked up a nice dolphin. Ended up getting 7 dolphin off it, including a 35 lb bull, my biggest. Found more birds in the afternoon and found the tuna, ended up with 6 yellowfins to 80 lbs, a blackfin and a skipjack. Got back to the dock at 11:30, ran almost 300 miles, it was a LONG day but well worth it.

[Rare]

Great trip, bud!!!

[Kingofthesea]

Friggin Boatless legend are you

[Kingofthesea]

Psssst you interested in my standard trade deal for the blackfin F.O.B. Newport Beach?

[PhishingPhanatic]

Psssst you interested in my standard trade deal for the blackfin F.O.B. Newport Beach?

You'll have to fight my German Shepherd for the blackfin (that's the trash fish)...don't worry, she's harmless, unless you get between her and my daughter

[gruntking]

awesome bud

[Green Tide]

Good day of fish. That water looks like you could really make some time when you wanted to move. One pallet and seven fish they thought they found a good place to hang out. what were the surface temps out there?

[xtremeh18]

Nice yellow fins, dolphin, and dog!

[Miami_Chris]

Awesome, looks like that tuna ate a plug

[STRIZ]

Hot damn

Yummi Sushi

[kblue]

nice awesome catches.... 300 miles... that is real hardcore fishing...dude

[snapperfanatic18]

Sashimi on board!

[fishnfool73]

Nice trip can't wait to get my boat

[PhishingPhanatic]

Awesome, looks like that tuna ate a plug

Most were on Yozuri bonita lures. A couple came on skirted ballyhoo.

[PhishingPhanatic]

Good day of fish. That water looks like you could really make some time when you wanted to move. One pallet and seven fish they thought they found a good place to hang out. what were the surface temps out there?

The temperature break where the tuna were was 77 degrees. It was 79 degrees on the other side of the break. Amazing how just 2 degrees makes such a difference.

[kblue]

3 am to 11:30pm is 20 H 30 min.
Do you know 300mile run burnt how much fuel?
How much fuel capacity is required to do that kinda of trip?

[PhishingPhanatic]

3 am to 11:30pm is 20 H 30 min.
Do you know 300mile run burnt how much fuel?
How much fuel capacity is required to do that kinda of trip?

We burned about 275 gallons. His boat holds 300 gallons. You can get to the Bahamas on much less depending on your boat, and then refuel over there (for about twice as much money as you'd pay in the US). Some people also bring fuel bladders to transport an extra 50 gallons or so.

[shos260288]

Wow, $600 bucks in fuel alone. Not an inexpensive trip, but nice haul of fish however.

[cudaman]

That's one hell of a trip, and you guys did a hell of job

[crashmister]

Made up for lost time I see. What was the boat Rory?

[PhishingPhanatic]

33 Worldcat

[lkatze2]

great job, definitely worth the long day. i have been to Bimini quite a few times and always wanted to make the run north to the canyons in the northwest channel but did not want to run the risk of not finding the tuna and burning all the fuel. and time. Did you use radar to find the birds?

[PhishingPhanatic]

great job, definitely worth the long day. i have been to Bimini quite a few times and always wanted to make the run north to the canyons in the northwest channel but did not want to run the risk of not finding the tuna and burning all the fuel. and time. Did you use radar to find the birds?

Yep, that's the only way to do it. The tuna are there year round, but you'll never find them unless you can find the birds. Birds are only really around March-May or so. If you don't have a good radar (and know how to read it), you're wasting a lot of time and fuel making the run over there. My buddy's radar can pick up a single bird from 6 miles out, it makes things a LOT easier.

[swordfish]

So much win in this post!

Just awesome... I keep telling my boss I am clueless on the radar and he still wants to go get some "tuna en las Bahamas". I need some lessons Rory!

-Swordfish

[kblue]

Did you use radar to find the birds?

Yep, that's the only way to do it.

Yes for now...but drone may find birds and a school of tuna in near future... Cheaper than radar... Lol

[Kingofthesea]

Not really Blue......I'm testing all kinds of drones for a new business out here and they just don't have close to that kind of range ...........especially over water. You're thinking of the kind of drone the Army uses to kill the camel turds over in Iraq. Can't buy or afford those birds but they are the cat's ass huh?

[crashmister]

Once they're out of site they're much harder to control as well. The 2.4 gig receivers have the range of a cell phone, maybe 3 miles on the outside. Used, a killer radar system will run 4 to 5k. So KOTS is spot on here. You can buy better or "commercial" drone platforms. But the control systems are still limited. Military uses Sattlite links to control their drones. But you can't access those so range of signal transmission is always going to be your limit. And transmission delays at distance can create serious control issues. The further away you are from your drone, the longer it takes for signal to reach the drone. This creates a control response delay of only a few seconds, but if you're not used to it, it seems like the unit is not responding causing the operator to over control and crash. This was a huge problem for RC helicopters when they first came out with FM control systems. FM is much slower than 2.4 gig control systems. 2.4 changed everything. But the distance used remains a few hundred yards. Even 2.4, which under those conditions is considered instant, starts to fade as distance between transmitter and receiver increases.

One advantage of drones is the ease of operation. Gyros keep them level and stable. Any problems, just let go of the control sticks and it hovers in place. Another innovation from RC helicopters. Biggest problem over water, if it goes down its gone. Even if you manage to find it, the control systems really aren't water proof. The motors, not at all. Once flooded, they're junk.

Radar on the other hand does much more than find fish. It's your eyes at night, in foul weather, or fog.

[kblue]

I am supposed to be familiar with (or subject matter expert) on antennas...but no idea about drone...so just talking with my big mouth...lol

Due to the nature of its application, it appears the type of antenna on the drone has to be omni-directional.
Then I could see 2.4GHz link (5 Ghz is better) could become very hard to maintain connectivity over even a few hundred yards as the omni-directional antenna picks up all the possible interference from countless terrestrial wifi devices... But in the middle ocean, there is no interference so it appears it can go pretty far...But still not as far as 3 - 4 miles...but water reflection will be problem...creating multi path problem...maybe new LTE (MIMO) may be able to handle it better...
US Navy uses USV (unmanned surface vehicle) with 2.4GHz and it goes pretty far... And if they need to extend the communication range beyond whatever their limit, they can remotely control USV to launch mini-aerostat with 2.4 GHz radio up to 500ft air... then it can go really far and clean up the enemies... bla bla bla

You're thinking of the kind of drone the Army uses to kill the camel turds over in Iraq. Can't buy or afford those birds but they are the cat's ass huh?

But technology is changing ...Google (oneweb owned by google) is launching micro-satellites only 1200 km above (they already got FCC and ITU-R appoval)... Interestingly, they are building their manufacturer (http://oneweb.world/) around Port Canaveral, FL... It won't be too far that we will have several thousand micro satellites all over the sky...
Drone can be equipped to communicate with micro-satellites at substantially cheaper cost, then your limitation is battery life not communication range...technically you can control the drone on the other side of the earth...lol

KOTS
How is your new drone business? How many dropped on ocean floor?

[fishnfool73]

RORY do you guys have to check in with the locals ? This will be well within the range of my boat so interested in sorting out the logistics now.

[gruntking]

RORY do you guys have to check in with the locals ? This will be well within the range of my boat so interested in sorting out the logistics now.

Yup you have to check in plus you have to pay for a fishing permit