Fishing Charlotte Harbor Area (Key West, Holiday: license, bills, places)

[Messing About]

Originally Posted by HarborRat

MA, I don't even own a pair of crimpers as I believe crimp connectors have no place on a boat. Unless they are epoxy filled it is just a matter of time till they fail. I solder everything...it only takes seconds to do and you never have to worry about it. On the connectors that must be used I will remove the plastic casing and solder the wire to the crimp area. A big 50w pencil iron makes it easy and fast. Repairing failed crimps is one of the most common repairs needed on the boats I have bought.

Yeah, I need to learn how to do that. I suppose I could pick one of those up at Home Depot or Lowes? What sort of solder do you use on small boat wires? Do you then insulate the connection with something? Especially for wires located in the wet bilge area.

[HarborRat]

I am not sure if Home Depot sells large pencil style irons, but they carry these: http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1...atalogId=10053 . The gun style is very convenient in that they heat up very quick and get very hot, but they are "heavy" if you are trying to solder in tight spaces, like above your head looking up under a console. Many people prefer them for quick jobs, but if you are soldering up an entire dashboard your arm will get tired.

Just keep the tip clean (wipe on a damp sponge while hot after every few solders), heat the wire first for a few seconds with the iron underneath the wires (heat rises of course) and then just touch the solder to the connection and it will "suck" into the wire strands by itself, remove the heat when the connection seems covered. After a few tries you will be a pro. Use any small (~1/16" - 1/8" tops) ROSIN CORE solder. Rosin is what makes the solder fill any area that is hot. What comes with the gun above is fine.

You can insulate with heat shrink but I prefer good old electrical tape (3m). I stagger the splices if doing more than one wire in a bundle so if the insulation comes off the bare wires are not near each other, if that makes sense. It also doesn't leave a really fat bulge in the bundle. Then I wrap the whole bundle a second time, never had a problem. If using too much solder you will get sharp "drip" that can cut through the insulation, so practice and just use what is needed...not much.

[Messing About]

Thanks...good tips, all of them.

[Big House]

Yesterday, I went out with a friend of mine. We had to go the whole way out alligator creek inlet side. It took about 40 minutes to get out - that is a long long way. But, along the way, mangroves flank most of at least one side of the canal. So I sat up front on his casting chair and pitch out shrimp. We cruised along really slowly, like you would if you used an electric trolling motor. I caught 50+ nice size mangrove snapper. I let them all go. Later the rain kicked up so we went to get some gas at the marina in alligator creek, and had a couple beers at the Riviera restaurant. When the rain passed, we went out to the harbor and he showed me his "honey hole" and declared that he has always caught a snook here. It was getting near the end of the day by then, so we stayed there 1/2 hour. We said it's getting dark, so in 5 minutes we will leave. Bang! "Fish on" 30" snook on! We brought it in the boat, measured it and released it. Oh, I released all the snapper too. Although, I was dreaming about a nice fish fry!

[Messing About]

Nice day. I have a 35 minute ride out each time too, so I know the pain. But if I have someone to steer, it gives me enough time to rig lines up. Sounds like you had a good day out there. Thanks for sharing it with us.

[Foxrivman1]

Originally Posted by Messing About

Yeah, I need to learn how to do that. I suppose I could pick one of those up at Home Depot or Lowes? What sort of solder do you use on small boat wires? Do you then insulate the connection with something? Especially for wires located in the wet bilge area.

MA, when I was a mechanic in my previous life I did a lot of repairs in the field and many on machines that were constantly in contact with the elements, I can tell you with certainty that heat shrink works better than anything to insulate from the elements once you have soldered the connection correctly. Also, their used to be a chemical that came in a bottle called "TinsTyte" which eliminated the need to clean wire prior to soldering. Just something else to use if you are in a bind and need to repair a wire.

I do the same as Harbor Rat suggested when soldering several wires, cut each so the soldered joints are staggered from each other by a 1/2" or so up or down. There are some manufacturers of wire connectors as a side note that have extended heat shrink ends integrated into the connectors, so all you have to do is crimp and shrink. Automotive parts houses such as Napa might have this type of quality connector. I'm an old school guy when it comes to electrical connections, so, I solder them. Tape is ok for a temporary fix, this is the thing I differ with Harbor Rat, sooner or later the stuff comes apart due to water interaction, heat, whatever but, heat shrink if done right is almost as good as the original insulation now a days, IMHO. By the way, go out and buy a good set of crimpers made by Kline, or Craftsman. A good set of pliers makes all the difference in the crimp quality. I used Blue Point, and Snap-On, which is a little pricey for most weekend guys, but if you have a Snap-On or Mac guy that lives near you, hey flag him down.

In about a month and a half I could probably do them for you, since we should be down by October 1st, if everything holds up with our move!

[Harbor Hopper]

My "fishing" weekend included: spending all day Saturday trying to find the cooling system blockage that keeps bursting my port engine circulating pump hose. I flushed the exhaust manifolds, no blockage. Removed the thermostat housing and found a small piece of impeller, but not large enough to be concerned. Removed water circulating pump and flushed it out. Flushed out the engine block. Great water flow. Re-assembled everything and fixed a corroded alternator wire. Then had numerous cocktails in the evening with guests. Sunday we went out on the harbor and drove around aimlessly for 2 hrs. Engine temp steady and NO BURST HOSE (yet). Tied up at Laishley Marina and took 2 yr old son to the fountain splash park to play and get ice cream. Then back out on the harbor, and home. Still no hose problem! yay!! No fish, but a happy boater here! Now, lets go fishing!!

[mrs.cool]

Great news HH! I remember your boat was not running the last time I bragged WE were going boating! Glad you could get it fixed. Hopefully it stays that way, eh?

[Salty Dave]

No reports, has it been to hot? My wife and her sister were just down and said
it was pretty hot also pictures she took there were white caps on the river by the eljobean bridge, huge waves at the beach she said. Hope to wet a line soon!


Dave

[Big House]

Originally Posted by Salty Dave

No reports, has it been to hot? My wife and her sister were just down and said
it was pretty hot also pictures she took there were white caps on the river by the eljobean bridge, huge waves at the beach she said. Hope to wet a line soon!


Dave

I went out the other day, but we have had a few thunderstorms, and it cut our night fishing trip short. It was choppy when we went out, so we found safe harbor in one of the canals and caught snapper, trout, and catfish while targetting snook and red fish. The plan was to go out and fish till dark, then move over under the route 41 / Peace River bridge and target tarpon, cobia and shark. I've heard that the cobia are biting more at night over there.

I stopped in Fishing Franks for some bait, and he had a cobia on the wall. Frank took me over to the fish, showed me its size, and its mouth. He showed me that a cobia has a relatively small mouth, so the bait needs to be about 2 to 2-1/2" in size - otherwise it is too big and he'll have to hit it several times. Using a circle hook the hook needs to be at least a 6/0 because it has very thick / heavy strong lips on the outter ring of his mouth. Anything smaller won't hook the fish. Some of this information explains why my technique for fishing for cobia has not worked in the past. It is great having a very knowledgeable resource there to help you. He hires guides to work in the shop when they are not on the water with clients. They have all the tackle, and knowledge to help any angler.

I learned from some good ole boys in MD how to fish for strippers (Rock Fish) aka stripped bass. The techniques for targeting different fish is what makes a great fisherman successful.

Soooooo...... I thought I'd pass along some information for fishermen. Something to consider, that isn't normally talked about even on the thousands of fishing shows I watch all the time.