Rescuing a 1987 17′ Aquasport Part 7

Rescuing a 1987 17′ Aquasport Part 7

Part 6 of this journey appeared over a year ago, back in March of 2022. So it’s been awhile since I reported on my son’s project to rescue a 1987 17′ Aquasport. Well life gets in the way at times. We originally found this boat in the woods back in 2021 where it had sat for over a decade. As you can imagine it was in sad shape.  Thankfully the majority of the hull was intact, but an ugly repair on the transom required serious attention. The motor was history, although the trailer was decent and the price for the whole shooting match was only $500. Good deal.

Back in Part 5 you’ll see my son successfully rebuilding the transom with modern materials. Quite a job. We removed the hull liner too, so work could start on the stringers. In this photo, you see the rebuilt stringers capped with high density foam. And you can see plumbing being laid out in the bottom of the hull for the wiring.

The deck will sit on the stringers, as you expect. And many of the voids are to be filled with foam for further support. In addition, a 3/4″ cleat is being epoxied to the gunnel where the deck will eventually land. This required some careful measuring to ensure things end up reasonably level. Now its onward to the deck itself, if the rain ever stops.

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Sticker Shock

Sticker Shock

Sticker Shock

More Sticker Shock

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More Clouser Deep Minnows

More Clouser Deep Minnows

Back three years ago, in a post entitled “Fly Tying during a Plague”, I show a bunch of streamers I had done for the salt season. Well as luck would have it, I still have most of  them. Unlike fishing in sweetwater, in the brine we lose few flies, as long as you use decent mono, and tie decent knots. Granted bluefish steal some and fishing around obstacles such as bridge pilings contribute too, but overall we do okay.

Fly Tying during a Plague

A look in my fly box, however, did reveal the I could use more Clouser Deep Minnows. And a post or two back, I started to take care of that. Well I’m still working on those puppies. Mostly of these are size 1#, and a few are size 4#

More Clouser Deep Minnows

 

 

 

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Stripers from Shore are Spotty

Stripers from Shore are Spotty

At the moment, stripers from shore are spotty. Now I’m talking about my local waters here in Connecticut. You absolutely have to find the thick schools of bait – menhaden, juvenile herring or silversides. If you’re not in front of balled up forage, its a slow pick for schoolies.

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AHREX SA 210 Bob Clouser Signature Streamer Hook

AHREX SA 210 Bob Clouser Signature Streamer Hook

Recently I sat down to tie a few of Bob Clouser’s famous Deep Minnows. This is undoubtedly one of the most effective flies ever devised in both sweet and salty waters. A must have. Don’t leave home without it. This time around I felt like trying a new hook. And what better hook to try than one specifically designed by Bob for the salt – The Ahrex SA210 Bob Clouser Signature Streamer Hook.

Made in Scandinavia, this high quality salt water hook has a straight eye, a true micro barb, a long shank, a needle point and a wide gap. Below you’ll see a comparison between this hook in size 1#, and a Mustad C70SD size 1#. (The Mustad is on the bottom.) By the way Ahrex also makes a standard shank length salt water streamer hook as well – Model SA220

As nice as this Ahrex SA210 Bob Clouser Signature Streamer Hook looks, and it does look like a winner, there is one question in my mind. Although this baby is meant for the salt, it is carbon steel,  not stainless. Ummm, odd. Ahrex explains their choice of metal this way.

“We’ve chosen to make the hooks from carbon steel. Carbon steel is stronger and holds a point better than stainless steel. But it’s not stainless. They are however coated with the brand new A-Steel finish, which makes them very resilient and resistant to saltwater – even the high saline salty environments of the tropics.”

Will the A-Steel finish hold up? I can’t say yet, but comments on the internet are encouraging. Expect me to report back as the season progresses. In the meantime I’ll keep my fingers crossed.

 

 

 

 

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