# All too Skinny



## kaioticone (Aug 1, 2010)

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_This thread is for those of you including myself to share stories of perhaps the first time or only time you ran out of water. Common' make me feel better! haha_
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So here's my story:

I recently had some fiberglass work performed on my boat, basically fixing all imperfections. While I was at it I performed a 100hr inspection on my engine and replaced all filters, oil, impeller, and such. All and all the boat was down for probably about 3 weeks.

I headed out about 6:45am and headed straight for my stomping grounds out at Rattlesnake Key and Miguel Bay (Tampa Bay). Everything was running perfectly, I was very pleased out how my boat was performing. I was able to squeeze an extra 2mph out of the engine by my quick little tune up.

Anyhow, heading through waters I thought I knew quite well, as I'd traveled through the same areas every time I've been out. I should have taken heed from the standing birds, however that has never meant much to me in the past, as I've cruised right by them before.

Normally traveling in about a foot of water - heading to a skinny patch of around 5"-6", that is maybe 20 yards wide. I normally never have any issues crossing the area, low tide,  high tide, any tide no problems, except for this time.

So I was cruising at about 27Mph ready to hit the known skinny spot, I pushed the engine up just a little bit more just to make sure I'd skim right over it as usual, and to my surprise I was stopped dead in my tracks. You can imagine my surprise as I flew about 3 feet. I was happy my cooler broke my short flight and I quickly popped back up. Tilted the engine up and started contemplating how the heck I'm going to get my boat off of this sand bar prior to the tide going out even further. It was now around 7:30am and low tide was set to hit around 10:30. So I quickly jumped out to find the water was at most 2 inches -- It wouldn't even go over the top of my deck shoes... That's how shallow it was.

I spent the next 40 minutes frantically digging and pushing and didn't get anywhere as around 30 minutes after the dead stop the boat was completely out of the water. At that time I gave in and knew I'd just have to wait for the tides to change. Thankfully I was not hurt, only minor scrapes bumps and bruises. So you know I only lost the right trim tab through this, other then that the boat is perfect. No noticeable damage to the engine.



PICTURE 1 Hour after hitting the dead stop










You might think water that shallow would be noticeable, but It wasn't as I was heading East Bound, I had the sun in my eyes and the glare of the water... or I would have known prior to running aground I was actually cruising in 6" - heading to 2". For that area it's normally cruising in 12" heading to 5"-6". 

PICTURE My feeble attempt to dig a small trough to push the boat back into the little canal pushed out by the out flowing river.










I peaked around the side of the boat after digging for near 30 minutes to realize the entire boat was now out of the water. -- LoL -- You can also see the remains of my broken right Trim Tab.

So, someone, make me feel better, share your story, and your photo's if you have them, this could be a entertaining post for the community.

Thanks!


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## cvilt (May 31, 2010)

I learned a lesson thank you. Put a shovel in the boat ;D. 
Glad you could laugh about it


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## aflatsnut (Feb 12, 2010)

Must be something about Pathfinder tunnels.










Just kidding, I did not run aground, this is low tide at POI.


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## Brett (Jul 16, 2008)

Back when I was running around Flamingo in my outboard jet beer can,
I once tried to run the "no-foots" direct from Man-O-War Key to Carl Ross Key.
I'd of made it too, except that I forgot to check
the level of my fuel tank before attempting the run.
Yep, ran out of fuel approximately halfway there.
By the time I'd hooked up the spare tank it was too late.
Got to spend a tide change in a pothole waiting for the incoming tide.
Turned out to be a good afternoon for a nap...

                                    [smiley=fun_84.gif]


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## anytide (Jul 30, 2009)

been there/ done that... :'( -i ran aground coming out of a creek with the tide dropping for 3 more hours with a STRONG north wind in Tampa Bay .giving me the option of 6-8 more hours of sitting COLD in the winter or doing the 200 yd. empty the skiff of everything and slide it on its nose..to deeper water, thats what i did -i wasnt cold ANYMORE after that ,, thats one benefit of a 250# sled - all in fun??? 
-anytide


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## skinny_water (Jun 11, 2008)

Where is Nate when there is a thread dedicated in his honor????


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## paint it black (Nov 3, 2007)

I haven't ran aground yet, but one time we were poling the crown of snake bight with a strong wind.
My buddy was poling and we were working our way toward the exposed stuff.
The wind pushed us up too far into inches of water that he was struggling into the wind to try and get around it.
Till we just gave up and got pinned up to the exposed stuff.
We decided to just have lunch to allow the water to rise.
Thankfully it was incoming tide, but I don't fish the crown unless it's incoming tide for that reason.
I feel sorry for who ever gets high and dry there. 

After we finished lunch, the water came up enough to pole right over.


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## mark_gardner (Mar 18, 2009)

sorry no pics to share but i've been high and dry several times  with the last time being about 2 years ago running back to the ramp in my bay boat at 9:30 pm and got off course  by the time i realized what i had done it was too late and i came off plane to settle into a big mud flat where i camped out for several hours    i wasnt pushing that 2000 lb sled   didnt get home till almost  3 in the morning. your just not a tidal fisherman unless you've been high and dry atleast once in your life   ;D


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## hookemdano (Feb 9, 2007)

Where I get stuck, there is no jumping out to push. You sink to your beanbag in the mud. Easy on the prop and foot but makes for a lot of work getting out. Sometimes involves somebody on front throwing anchor as far as they can to pull while I work the pushpole. Jp is awesome for getting me to places few others can reach though makes me stick the boat that much worse.


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## Flpt (Nov 11, 2007)

Early one morning we decided to ignore the strong east wind, new moon, and negative low and run the back North towards Dismal Key Pass.  Who says boats don't have brakes.


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## REELKEEN (Mar 24, 2009)

I got stuck high and dry in the minnow in a creek in jax that Mark showed me. Thankfully the minnow was a pretty damn light boat and me and a buddy were able to pull it out with one in the front pulling and me in the back pushing. 

The most interesting part of the whole thing was playing dodge the blue crabs and stingrays shooting underneath your feet while pushing out of the creek.


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## mark_gardner (Mar 18, 2009)

> I got stuck high and dry in the minnow in a creek in jax that Mark showed me.  Thankfully the minnow was a pretty damn light boat and me and a buddy were able to pull it out with one in the front pulling and me in the back pushing.
> 
> The most interesting part of the whole thing was playing dodge the blue crabs and stingrays shooting underneath your feet while pushing out of the creek.


lol...thats what you get for tapping my secret honey holes ;D.... just messin' with ya jordan   ;D


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## lemaymiami (Feb 9, 2007)

It's been years since I ran a microskiff so my groundings are a bit more obvious than y'alls... In a 17' Maverick there's a few more opportunities to spend some quality time watching other guys, who didn't miss the channel... go flying by as you wait out the tide. I guess I've done it every way possible (I hope) and on more than one occasion have even had my anglers out helping me push off a shallow spot as the tide was falling fast and if we didn't get it moving we were going to be there awhile...

Here's my most memorable one, though. About four years ago I went exploring on my own up toward Lostmans (anything beats day after day of fly tying and shop work) and decided to check out some shallow mud spots up inside of the Rogers River. It was mid afternoon and I was on the pole scouting the kind of places you'd like to sightfish in winter when a super shallow area might hold some fish trying to warm up. I badly misjudged the tide and found myself working as hard as I could with the pushpole to get back to a shallow ditch before it was too late and almost made it.... Pretty quickly I was about fifty feet from safety but not going anywhere. After a few bad words I got out my rain gear (this was mosquito season and they can't bite through foul weather suits...) and prepared to wait a few hours in the heat. Within an hour there wasn't any water that I could see anywhere. That's when the fun began. Slowly, one at a time, big 'gators began slithering by across the mud heading towards water. Since my skiff was part of the bottom I considered the real possibility that I might have to defend it... Finally I ran out of 'gators and never had a problem with them, but it was still going to be a long time before I had enough water to pole in. After a few hours the sun began to set just as the water returned. It wasn't until about 8:30 that there was enough water to move the skiff, but still not enough to pole in so I pulled off the raingear and slipped over the side and began pushing the skiff to the ditch where it would float. Knowing that there were probably 'gators nearby I was as quiet as possible and just a little nervous while getting back to safety, then poled to where I could begin idling out. I made the more than thirty mile run back to Flamingo in darkness with only the ghost of Totch Brown for company.... I hit the ramp at about 10pm.... and 100 miles later got home before midnight. My wife has standing orders not to yell for help if I don't come home, but wait until the following morning to give me time to get out of whatever trouble I've gotten myself into.. That was the first time it was ever needed.


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## tgaud11 (Sep 30, 2008)

Good stories...

Capt. Lemay...I really enjoyed yours. Cool story now but probably not too fun then.


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## boggob (Feb 20, 2007)

Back when i had my Highsider, and was less experienced, my buddy and I decided to launch at the St Marks Lighthouse. In the winter season, tides are alot stronger here.

We pulled up and noticed that the boat basin canal was essentially dry except for a sliver of water down the middle. "It'll be fine, we're in a Gheenoe." As we launched, another fellow pulled up with a Maverick type of boat, looked around, and drove off.

We get past the boat dock and are thinking, "Wow! This thing floats shallow," and then we get stuck in the mud.

Poling through mud is not fun. My buddy had his waders and tought he would just get out and pull the boat. He started to get out and sank into the mud to his waist. Clearly this is not going to work.

So he crawled back in the boat and I continued poling. Each push moved us a gheenoe length. After much effort, we finally make it out of the canal to find that is alot more windy than exepected. We tool around in the East River for a while but were too muddy and frustrated with our own stupidity to enjoy getting skunked.


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## fm525 (Nov 9, 2009)

My one and only experience with getting stuck was out of shell mound north of cedar key. I grew up in Melbourne and have never had to deal with moving tides accept for around the inlet. I decided to take the kayak out and decided to bring along my girlfriend, now wife. Tide was slack when we launched, and on the way back in turned to outgoing. I had 200 yards of exposed mud so thick and sticky I couldn't keep shoes on walking through it. Well the lady wasn't okay with sitting out in the cold in the mud for a couple hours so I pulled the yak with her in it for 200 yds, and was rewarded with 10 or 12 nice cuts and scrapes on my feet. I payed close attention to the tides after that ordeal.


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## makin moves (Mar 20, 2010)

if you going to do it do it right ;D ;D For the guys on the west coast this was leaving filmans by the sunwest minds in hudson btw it was not me my brother and his buddy ran aground and had to wait it out there wives wernt to happy with them being late


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## anytide (Jul 30, 2009)

OUCH!!! -i destroyed a prop shaft there....bent and twisted soooo much ,that i had to cut in half to remove the spline washer ..
went something like rrrrrrrrmmmmmmmm... BAM!!! -blam blam blam..
-you know the sound :'( 
-anytide


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## makin moves (Mar 20, 2010)

they should have put the powerpole down so it didnt go anywhere ;D ;D ;D


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## nate. (Nov 12, 2009)

i have slept on the boat no less than 3 times. stuck more than i care to remember. heres a few pics...


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## lemaymiami (Feb 9, 2007)

Here's a couple of tricks from years ago when running too skinny was a regular occurrence for me and lots of guys that I knew... First off, when you're starting to run aground don't keep pushing, shut down as you're raising your motor (the closer you are to where you can actually float the better off you'll be...) the moment you start to run aground.... Next, on many skiffs you have the ability to lighten the load. Coolers float, people can get out and criticize, etc. Every pound lighter improves your chances of floating again.... Lastly there's a passenger trick that works pretty well. Have your passengers move to one end of the boat (which will dig in that end pretty well) then you get to move the other end, which should be floating. Keep repeating the process while "crabbing" the boat from the stern, then the bow, etc. Your passengers will get tired of moving from one end of the boat to the other, but you'll be the only one getting wet... and you're usually not too far from where you should have been in the first place... Lastly, I keep a pair of wading boots on my skiff for just such troubles. Pushing a boat with bare feet is an invitation to lots of cuts and the usual infections that come later.


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## nate. (Nov 12, 2009)

> ... First off, when you're starting to run aground don't keep pushing, shut down as you're raising your motor (the closer you are to where you can actually float the better off you'll be...) the moment you start to run aground....



sounds good but when you have a boat like my old mitzi 17 tunnel the boat would run in water that was easily 4" shallower than it would float. i havent had to test out the shallow running capabilities of my new ecc vantage yet.


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## kaioticone (Aug 1, 2010)

Yeah that's basically what got me in trouble, had there been 2" maybe 3" more inches there I could have made it across on my tunnel.. but there wasn't haha. So I was left with a rapid stop and a short flight to the bow, didn't even have to pay for my excess baggage such as a cooler and tackle bag... it all came with me.

You guys have left some really great replies in regards to this post. It's quite comical and at the same time makes me feel a whole lot better about my little adventure into the "All too Skinny".


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## FSUfisher (Jul 16, 2007)

This has been a really entertaining post. Luckily I was able to get out of my worst one. Not long after I moved to Jax I pulled my CS up next to a sandbar and waded around for a little more than fifteen minutes. It was in Chicopit Bay right next to the intracoastal channel. Apparently fifteen minutes was all it took to leave my boat completely dry. Fortunately, the thing was pretty light, and between sheer pride, the adrenaline of an impending thunderstorm, and Capt. Lemay's crabwalking trick, I barely got the thing out of there. I've been a hell of a lot more cautious with the tide since.


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## Ckirk57 (Sep 27, 2009)

I normally run this creek and some times it works out and others I usually suck up sawgrass around the prop and come off plane and then I'm stuck and have to poll out.


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