Made It to The Big Leagues

Mexico Joe

Cholla Bay 4 Life
That thing looks way different than when you first got it Joe, amazing work! A lot more than I would have tried to take on that's for sure, can't wait to see it on the ocean after you get your idle/time issue resolved! Also I fudged bad I bought a seadoo fish pro, went all out with it, my Tacoma couldn't pull much more than this so a boat was out of the question. What happened to lucky Chuck??? So sad to hear the news!
NO WAY?! THAT THING IS SIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OMG... Hey, if you need any service on that thing let me know because my girlfriend is pretty much the service manager at this point for Nash Powersports Phoenix. She's technically the assistant right now but the manager is about to be demoted as she is the one running everything. Congrats man!!!! That thing is sooooooooo sexy!!! Damn!!! HUGE PURCHASE!! Now let's see those fish!!!

If you want any GPS marks I have a bunch in the 3-8 miles range that are mostly on the 270 heading out of Cholla Bay.
 

Mexico Joe

Cholla Bay 4 Life
That thing looks way different than when you first got it Joe, amazing work! A lot more than I would have tried to take on that's for sure, can't wait to see it on the ocean after you get your idle/time issue resolved! Also I fudged bad I bought a seadoo fish pro, went all out with it, my Tacoma couldn't pull much more than this so a boat was out of the question. What happened to lucky Chuck??? So sad to hear the news!
Is that Canyon or Saguaro? So happy for you brother I can't stop looking at that thing! What a UNIT!
 

Nicolai

Active Member
NO WAY?! THAT THING IS SIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OMG... Hey, if you need any service on that thing let me know because my girlfriend is pretty much the service manager at this point for Nash Powersports Phoenix. She's technically the assistant right now but the manager is about to be demoted as she is the one running everything. Congrats man!!!! That thing is sooooooooo sexy!!! Damn!!! HUGE PURCHASE!! Now let's see those fish!!!

If you want any GPS marks I have a bunch in the 3-8 miles range that are mostly on the 270 heading out of Cholla Bay.
It was super intimidating I won't lie, my gut hurt for about 2 days after splurging like that, I have been listing it for rent on Roosevelt to help ease the pain a little bit.

I will definitely take you up on the service at Nash Powersports!

I sent you a message as well I'm curious about some spots if the wind and rain will allow it this coming sun-wed.

I have a sabiki rig I'm going to use for some bait, then hopefully I'll get on a spot to bring something good in for dinner, trolling along the way too. Got a few hard plastics to try out may pick up a few other things.

The plan for when I'm out is to essentially use the same rigging set up I use for Flatheads here, 100lb leader 200lb 3 way swivel and a 20lb bit to my weight.
 

Mexico Joe

Cholla Bay 4 Life
I've only been there once when I was about 14 or 15. Beautiful lake. Always wanted to get back but it's the furthest aside from Rosie. PLEZ is like 36 miles for us so we never get to the Salt River chain. Went to Saguaro once with the jet ski and Claudia didn't like it so we never went back. I've never seen water that stained/spotted the boat worse than Sag. I'm assuming it's loaded with minerals hence, Salt river....

One of Claudia's customers has two Fish Pro's that he apparently rents in Rocky Point. Never seen him or any advertising. How do you make money if nobody knows about you?!

Did you get the service package?

I saw your PM about marks. I had them written (typed) into a document about 3 years ago but now I can't find it on my computer. I have 3 or 4 that I can open on my BackCountry Navigator app and send to you...
 

Mexico Joe

Cholla Bay 4 Life
Do a Google search for key words Like GPS COORDINATES ROCKY POINT or GPS MARKS ROCKY POINT... ROCKY POINT FISHING... I sub in Puerto Penasco too to see if the search results in more leads.

There is a page on this site that I found a handful if they were accurate. They in a thread from YEARS AGO. There is also a Garmin app in the Android play store that allows you to try for 30 days for free and somehow surprisingly it had a handful in the RP waters area as well!!! I noticed a while ago that somehow the app is giving me another free trial so I haven't opened it yet until I plan on using it or taking time out of my day to write down all of the GPS coordinates.
 

Nicolai

Active Member
Do a Google search for key words Like GPS COORDINATES ROCKY POINT or GPS MARKS ROCKY POINT... ROCKY POINT FISHING... I sub in Puerto Penasco too to see if the search results in more leads.

There is a page on this site that I found a handful if they were accurate. They in a thread from YEARS AGO. There is also a Garmin app in the Android play store that allows you to try for 30 days for free and somehow surprisingly it had a handful in the RP waters area as well!!! I noticed a while ago that somehow the app is giving me another free trial so I haven't opened it yet until I plan on using it or taking time out of my day to write down all of the GPS coordinates.
I'll do some searching on there for some spots appreciate that tip!

Apache is definitely a beautiful lake, not to populated either. Of course I'm not really set up for the bass fishing mostly salt water and cat fish stuff here.

No I did not get a service package through ride now. All the warranties and insurance though lol.

I have been considering renting it out in RP around the holiday weeks, just got to figure out the logistics of how would I get my renter if something happened out in the ocean to them? Lol need a 2nd jet ski!
 

Mexico Joe

Cholla Bay 4 Life
I'll do some searching on there for some spots appreciate that tip!

Apache is definitely a beautiful lake, not to populated either. Of course I'm not really set up for the bass fishing mostly salt water and cat fish stuff here.

No I did not get a service package through ride now. All the warranties and insurance though lol.

I have been considering renting it out in RP around the holiday weeks, just got to figure out the logistics of how would I get my renter if something happened out in the ocean to them? Lol need a 2nd jet ski!
You can have your warranty and service package work done at ANY SEADOO dealer so get this... A lot of Claudia's customers/clients actually bought their units at Ride Now but absolutely will not service them there so they bring them to her at Nash.
 

Mexico Joe

Cholla Bay 4 Life
I was able to fix the hard start/low idle issue by adjusting the idle timing advance. The boat starts and idles really well now. You can leave it idling for 30 or 40 minutes. The only concern now is that it may be "loading up" in no wake zones and during longer periods of idle. I've been advancing the neutral throttle right after start up to clear out excess oil on the plugs. Huge plume of 2 stroke smoke after you rev it up to clear it out then it's just normal to minimal smoke after it's cleared up. Otherwise if you don't do this it's still bogging and dying. I've read they will load up in no wake zones and during trolling after you delete the oil injection pump. The oil injection is variable so at idle and lower rpm the engine isn't getting as much oil as higher in the curve when it goes full 50:1. I'm pre-mixing oil at 50:1 so it's getting that at every point in the power curve. I might try switching plugs to the factory recommended Champion and see if that helps with the loading up issue. Other than that she is running really well.

Lake Test Day 4: After advancing the idle timing the boat starts and runs well. We hit 34mph which was a +2mph gain over the previous three lake tests. The RPM has increased 500rpm to 6k at top speed. Overall the engine sounds like it's singing on top at 6k and I'm now pretty happy and confident that we're almost ready for the ocean.

 

Jungle Jim

Well Known Member
So Joe...........

That thing hauls butt!

Let me know how it does in ten foot swells and a forty knot crosswind.

Anyways give me a call and I'll make you a copy of the Super Grouper book.

928-343-9216

Later,

JJ
 

Nicolai

Active Member
Awesome news Joe! Looks like it will be sea worthy very soon! Can't wait to see you out there again.

The Sea Doo did good this week, had a hard time finding a spot. But I did find maybe a reef at about 5.5 miles that yielded us some good triggers, and rock bass. Thought we had a good bite or my baitfish got wedged into rocks but that line started dragging out pretty good off the back, I pulled it hard and reeled up all my gear and no bait on the hook.
 

Mexico Joe

Cholla Bay 4 Life
So Joe...........

That thing hauls butt!

Let me know how it does in ten foot swells and a forty knot crosswind.

Anyways give me a call and I'll make you a copy of the Super Grouper book.

928-343-9216

Later,

JJ
I study the wind report religiously before we leave Phoenix so hopefully that never happens. Now, 20 knots and 3 foot seas???? Pry 50% of the time lol. I told Claudia that during our lake tests the water condition was NOT a realistic expectation of what we will encounter heading off shore. The end of the video the water was getting a little choppy and the boat still cuts fine but I really want to take it out to PLEZ on a windy day to get more experience in really bad water. I've had the jet ski in 3 or 4ft seas in RP. That's really not fun when you're taking every wave off of the chest as it crashes over the bow. One time the wind came out of the West seemingly out of nowhere and we were all the way over at Wrecked. We couldn't go more than 5mph because almost every wave was breaking over the bow and slamming me in the chest. It took us an hour or more to get back into Cholla Bay...
 

Jungle Jim

Well Known Member
So Joe...........

Another thing to think about is how well your boat sheds water. Head-on or god forbid a broadside of a wind lashed swell can easily dump many gallons of water into the boat. Self draining scuppers at the stern deck only work well when you have forward momentum. Once there is fifty or a hundred gallons of water in the boat nothing is going overboard through the scuppers. Better make sure that all hatches are water tight from foot deep water sloshing across the top of the deck. Want to get a good dose of that "sinking feling?" Just open up the hatch over your batteries (did I say batteries, like in at least two?) and see them under water. That dinky little bilge pump will be totally worthless without power from the shorted out batteries. I keep a third fresh fully charged in my cabin along with jumper cables for just this occasion.

Another thing to consider, especially in an open boat is hypothermia. Even eighty degree water will cool you into a stupor with the wind chill factoring in. We always carry full wet suits with this in mind. Be sure you have them on BEFORE it's so rough that you can't stand up to pull it on.

I have spent many afternoon hours chugging away on my way home form Isla San Jorge in gale force conditions watching the Mayan Palace off of my right shoulder and never see it move, meaning that all of that time and fuel was only keeping me in one spot.

Be prepared Joe!

JJ
 

Stuart

Aye carumba!!!
Staff member
So Joe...........

Another thing to think about is how well your boat sheds water. Head-on or god forbid a broadside of a wind lashed swell can easily dump many gallons of water into the boat. Self draining scuppers at the stern deck only work well when you have forward momentum. Once there is fifty or a hundred gallons of water in the boat nothing is going overboard through the scuppers. Better make sure that all hatches are water tight from foot deep water sloshing across the top of the deck. Want to get a good dose of that "sinking feling?" Just open up the hatch over your batteries (did I say batteries, like in at least two?) and see them under water. That dinky little bilge pump will be totally worthless without power from the shorted out batteries. I keep a third fresh fully charged in my cabin along with jumper cables for just this occasion.

Another thing to consider, especially in an open boat is hypothermia. Even eighty degree water will cool you into a stupor with the wind chill factoring in. We always carry full wet suits with this in mind. Be sure you have them on BEFORE it's so rough that you can't stand up to pull it on.

I have spent many afternoon hours chugging away on my way home form Isla San Jorge in gale force conditions watching the Mayan Palace off of my right shoulder and never see it move, meaning that all of that time and fuel was only keeping me in one spot.

Be prepared Joe!

JJ
Solid advice. Have had a couple scary things happen out there. Shit you just in no way even considered would happen. Nothing worse than that sinking feeling, especially at the 51.

The other protip here? Keep a cool head and don't panic. Panic causes really bad decisions. My dear wife would immediately go into panic mode which can be more contagious than Covid. But I'd always stay rational and figure out my best option.

We always managed to limp back in, one way or another.
 

Mexico Joe

Cholla Bay 4 Life
So Joe...........

That thing hauls butt!

Let me know how it does in ten foot swells and a forty knot crosswind.

Anyways give me a call and I'll make you a copy of the Super Grouper book.

928-343-9216

Later,

JJ

Also, does that look like 32mph to you?! I really feel like the boat is going faster than 32mph. It takes the Humminbird like 5 minutes to get a GPS lock because it doesn't have an external antenna and I think the T-Top is blocking the satellite connection. I'm starting to wonder if that is effecting the speed reading??? I also noticed this last time out that the total distance isn't accurate. I watched the unit say we went one nautical mile after traveling a quarter of the lake which I know for a fact that one way around Lake Pleasant is 17 miles... Starting to think that we're actually traveling faster than 32mph...
 

Mexico Joe

Cholla Bay 4 Life
So Joe...........

Another thing to think about is how well your boat sheds water. Head-on or god forbid a broadside of a wind lashed swell can easily dump many gallons of water into the boat. Self draining scuppers at the stern deck only work well when you have forward momentum. Once there is fifty or a hundred gallons of water in the boat nothing is going overboard through the scuppers. Better make sure that all hatches are water tight from foot deep water sloshing across the top of the deck. Want to get a good dose of that "sinking feling?" Just open up the hatch over your batteries (did I say batteries, like in at least two?) and see them under water. That dinky little bilge pump will be totally worthless without power from the shorted out batteries. I keep a third fresh fully charged in my cabin along with jumper cables for just this occasion.

Another thing to consider, especially in an open boat is hypothermia. Even eighty degree water will cool you into a stupor with the wind chill factoring in. We always carry full wet suits with this in mind. Be sure you have them on BEFORE it's so rough that you can't stand up to pull it on.

I have spent many afternoon hours chugging away on my way home form Isla San Jorge in gale force conditions watching the Mayan Palace off of my right shoulder and never see it move, meaning that all of that time and fuel was only keeping me in one spot.

Be prepared Joe!

JJ
JJ,

You know I come from the desert trucks. Number one rule with desert trucks is REDUNDANCY. I have multiple pumps on board with two batteries. Both brand new. 29 series house battery with 850CCA and 210 minute reserve capacity and 27 series crank battery with 1050CCA and 180 reserve minutes. I have the batteries isolated as well. I've thought about a third battery on board as a backup. I have a wetsuit as well. The boat is dry right now without crashing water. The hatches are not water tight right now because they came with broken latches. They will be replaced soon.
 

Mexico Joe

Cholla Bay 4 Life
BUMP

We made it down Friday night arriving about 7pm. Got gas in the boat and went and bought beer/ice and prepped for Saturday morning. Windfinder.com showed Saturday and Sunday being the best bet with Monday 30+. We stayed up a little late on the patio bullshitting and at midnight we were licking our chops because the wind had gone dead flat.

Saturday morning we woke up at 5am to 30+ wind and an angry sea. Decided to sleep in and see if the wind would pass. Saturday turned out to be a no go with wind out of the south at 20+. We ended up doing a beach/pool day instead. One of the nice things about staying at Bella Sirena vs air bnb in town. At least you still have something to do. Windfinder.com had another update for the 69th time. Saturday night it appeared that Sunday would be virtually good or at least doable all day. Maybe wind in the afternoon.

Sunday morning we got up at 5am with dead flat sea and no wind. It was definitely on! We got the boat ready and headed for Cholla Bay. Unfortunately Hippie couldn't or wouldn't launch us until 8am so that kind of sucked but all in all we launched the boat near 8am and were finally on the water for our first trip in our own boat. We stopped and made bait south of Cholla Bay about 1.5 miles on the 180° heading. We caught about 10 Bonefish, one +12'' Sierra a Rockbass and a couple of small Leatherback Jacks. All were caught on size 4 Sabiki rigs with 4oz weight. One of the only things that I haven't gotten around to on the boat is the bait tank. I've put 12v to the bait tank pump and it turns on so the pump is good but the copper from center console to pump is shot. It has an intermittent open in the circuit so I opted to wait until I can run new copper from center console to pump. With that being said, I tried the 5 gallon bucket method which I knew was futile but it was all we had. Unfortunately, the bait rolled before we could get to our spot.

I chose to take us south on the 180° heading because 8 miles or so out I had 3 marks in my phone on my Backcountry Navigator app. I believe I got this mark from the internet and possibly this site. When I first bought the jet ski I scoured the internet and found a number of marks from various sources including this site on Google. I swore I typed them all out in a word doc but now I can't find it. I still have about 10 marks that were saved in my Backcountry Nav app.

The mark: 31 13 13.5,-113 40 27.29

Can anyone confirm this mark? I will edit the post later and take the mark down if it can be confirmed legit.

We started out and for the first 4 or 5 miles it was pretty rough. I could only go about 18mph because the swell was spread out instead of being a tight chop. It didn't look bad at all but the 2 or 3 foot rollers were making the boat smack down the bow every other wave. About 4 or 5 miles out we saw 4 charter boats all in the same area so we slowed down and put out two Mackerel/Dodo rigs to surface troll. Mainly because we were over smacking the hell out of the boat and anything under 15-18mph the boat falls off plane. We trolled for a mile or two with no takers so we put the hammer down again and headed for the mark.

Got to the mark and I put down three rigs. One whole LIMP BONER on a Grouper rig. One cut bait Grouper rig and one double dropper loop rig with cut bait on both hooks with small scampie tails. I kept an eye on the sounder but I just really did not feel confident that I was either in the right spot or that this mark wasn't a spot at all. Fishing is all about confidence. I also just didn't feel like I was seeing enough life on the sounder for this to have been a structure spot. The drift was rather fast for a slack tide at .7mph so we made a number of drifts and repositions with no luck. We only had about 2 hours of bottom fishing before the wind started picking up. I think we would have been ok staying out but Hippie wanted us back around 1pm because the boat ramp in Cholla Bay gets filled up with cars and people who have no mutual respect for anyone.

On the way back in with the wind and waves at our back and the chop a lot tighter we were able to do about 25mph the whole way in to Cholla Bay. We definitely got a little wet on the way in but it was hot and we were having fun so it was all good! After we got back into the bay Claudia went and got the dog from the resort and we dropped anchor outside of JJ's and hung out for an hour or two before Hippie finally pulled us out onto the trailer and our first day on the Sea of Cortez came to an end.

All in all, the boat ran excellent and we learned a little bit more for our next trip. We just have to keep building on each experience and have fun while we're doing it. Hopefully we're catching quality Grouper sooner rather than later but I'm essentially self taught.

Take Away:
  1. Wire Bait Pump IMMEDIATELY. This absolutely has to be working for our next trip.
  2. Obtain confirmed MARKS. Beg, barrow, steal. I have some marks but lord knows where I found them and if they're even legit. I want to start hitting some marks that others have fished to increase my confidence in at least being in the correct location.
  3. Getting on the water at sunrise. This is imperative. We wasted too much time in the morning.
  4. Fixing (buying new) windshield for the center console. It's another one of the last things that I need to do that hasn't been addressed yet. This would have helped with the spray on the way in. 90% of the spray would have been blocked with the windscreen set up that we plan on running on the T-Top.
  5. VHF radio confirmed to work at least 8 or 9 miles out. I bought a 4ft antenna mounted at least 6ft high on top of the T-Top. That made us more comfortable as well.
  6. Need to look into drift sock.
Any and all HELP is appreciated!




CHOLLA BAY 4 LIFE
 
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