Chocolate bayou

[jjime1203]

We took our boat to Chocolate bayou on saturday. We put it at the 2004 bridge and were lucky enough to have a couple of gentleman stop and help us with a few things! If either of you are reading this, please let me know who you are We really appreciate the help.
We only caught a few undersized reds but we still had fun. We did realize that our anchor is not doing its job.. We have 4ft of chain on the anchor and still could not get it to keep us still. The boat was supposed to come with 2 anchors according to the ad on craigslist, but the guy who sold it to us took both of them out of the boat and replaced it with brand new cheap anchor. Anyways, it is not working very good and I was wondering if anyone could give me an idea of what kind of anchor(s) we need!
At the end of our trip we went to start up the motor and it wouldnt start! The battery that came with the boat had the date etc. taped on it, like it was off of a different battery! Very strange. We ended up buying new ones today and everything is running good. It was an eventful trip for only our second time taking the boat out! We had to troll back to the boat ramp, and with the wind, that was a challenge. Hopefully next time everything goes a little smoother because we want to catch some fish!

[Gulfcoast13]

Lesson learned. I have been in your shoes, and have had to have help on the water. Always check your gear before you leave my friend. There is nothing worse than be stranded out there, unless you got a cooler full of beer. If you get stranded you can try to post on here and I am sure someone will come out and help. Get you a slip ring anchor and you will be fine, unless you want to invest in a power pole.

Good luck on your next outing.

[B&P]

Bad trips make good captains. Your luck will improve.

[H.Maier]

Bad trips make good captains. Your luck will improve.

Well said.

[corndog]

Glad you all are OK. Always carry two back up batteries. You can get some good inexpensive batteries from eagle batteries in Alvin. Also carry some jumper cables. That way you can just get the spare near the main and jump it off or if you are helping someone you just hand the spare battery and the jumper cables to them then thecan deal with it. This is really true in rough seas.
Heres a link and info for the anchor issue. Just use the heaviest one you can carry!

http://www.anchorbuddy.co.nz/anchoring.html

In normal conditions, a safe minimum anchor scope ratio is 5 to 1 (warp or chain length to depth). In heavy weather 7 to 1 or more. Depth is the depth of water at high tide, plus the height from water line to the bow roller. Scope is the actual amount of anchor line paid out when the boat is safely anchored. For example, if high water is 20ft deep and your bow roller is 5ft above the water, you need 125ft (i.e. 5 times 20 + 5ft) of scope to anchor

[GoldSpoonGeneral]

You know if you have a trolling motor you can unhook the 24volt cuase ususally trolling motors have a charging system in place. i know our boat has 4 batteries 2 for the tolling motor and 2 for the cranking system.


oh and welcome to the hood.

[Rollo]

Hated hearing about your bit of bad luck,kinda skunky of someone to advertise a rig and then juke out on the little things.But batterys they are way to important and not considered small things! I would suggest having your rig over to Mr Evans,he's a member on this site a sponser and a pretty good all around boating mechanic & trouble shooter he will go over your new boat and help you rid it of its gremlins! he can also add anything you want to keep ya fishin and not paddlin,it gets better Stay safe!

[Curmudgeon]

Glad you made it back safe.

[Booyah Red]

Learned a few lessons over the years myself. Make sure you have a few tools on board as well, SAE and Metric.

[SUPER SPOOK]

always have a back up! been there done that,never again.

[Texfish]

Bad trips make good captains. Your luck will improve.

Nice !

[jjime1203]

Consider the lesson learned. Now we have 2 new batteries and we have one we can use as a spare. Plus jumper cables. We are ready to go back out Firday if the chance of rain disappears..
We did find Chocolate bay to be overwhelming, which is when we just went up into the bayou to fish. If anyone has any advice to offer about where to go once you get into the bay that would be greatly appreciated. It seems like you almost need to have someone show you around the first time before you venture out on your own.

[Robalo]

get a Danforth type anchor-not sure what your boat size is, but a 8-12# anchor should work-and carry a spare (same as batteries). Make sure you have all the USCG and TPWD safety items covered (flares, lifejackets, registration, horn/whistle and carry a good flashlight and Q Beam, plus a medical kit.

[NBN]

We were there at day break Sat... Had I'D seen you I would have lent a hand and gotten you up and running again. If you carry a smart Phone you can always jump online and post up. Someone will read it and get you taken care of. And dont feel bad about the fishing, we through back a dozen or so reds to find a couple of keepers. But thats what it's all about.

[Lori77563]

I have 6' of 5/8" chain on my anchor with 100' of 5/8" line. I keep an extra 6' of chain I can add for rough seas condition as well as a 2nd smaller anchor with 6' of chain and 50' of line. I replace my batteries every 3 years and have a dual battery system with on-board charger that is plugged in all the time. Be prepared.