What a day... PB Red

[megalomaniac]

Fished from 530 till 1030. Caught a few flounder and specks for supper at daylight, then headed way back into the marsh to chase reds.

Hung into a slob, I thought it was an alligator gar, had to tighten down on the drag a couple times to keep from getting spooled. He finally turned and came up... realized it was a huge bull red. Fought him for another 15 minutes till we were both about slap wore out. Buddy got him netted and I had to help him get the net into the boat. Snapped a few pics real quick, took a couple minutes to get him completely revived, but he was kicking strong and took off fast when I released him, so I feel good he survived.

No tape this long on the boat, but he was easily a foot longer than my 28in ruler, so I'm guessing between 40 and 42in. No scale, but pretty sure he is 30 to 35lbs. My buddy thinks he is 44in and just under 40lbs. But blows away my prior PB of 36in. Not sure what he was doing way back in the marsh bayous 3 miles from out front, but he made the trip!

No longarm pics... he is too heavy for me to hold out. His body is braced against my stomach. His head is bigger than mine... between volleyball and basketball sized

THEN, pulled the boat home 80 miles and was dropping my friend off. Backing into his driveway... holy crap the trailer wheel is about to fall off. No noise, no drag on the ride home. Bearings completely failed, disintegrated, and spindle scored and ruined. Plenty of grease and no water in the melted hub, so I'm assuming the trailer place that redid my trailing arms, bearings, and hubs 6 months ago over tightened the hubs on the spindles or I got defective bearings. We will see what they say Monday. But it's stuck in my buddy's driveway on a jackstand and we can't get the trailing arm off the axle.

 

[PossumSlayer]

Dammit dog that's nice! I'm gonna have to let you invite me fishing! My mechanic skills will be free

 

[mike243]

Hate to hear trailer is broken, looks like a fun time fishing though, big reds are a lot of fun

 

[tellico4x4]

Goodun!

 

[RUGER]

Awesome

 

[scn]

Beautiful fish!

The trailer looks like mine did after I clipped the gas pump protector trying to get out of a station in LA. It was dark, and didn't feel like much. We were several miles down the road when we saw the damage. Got it fixed the next day back to better than it was with some Cajun engineering.

Trailers suck.

 

[fullstream]

Beautiful Bull red!
They sure do fight.

 

[tnfisher46]

Nice fish!!

 

[redblood]

Awesome fish

 

[buggyla]

Awesome

 

[Dbllunger]

Now that's a serious bull red! Guaranteed 35lbs plus. Very cool and congratulations. Hopefully get the trailer sorted and back in action soon.

 

[7mm08]

Great red!

Per my Dad regarding your boat…. You're luckier than a dog with three peckers! That could have been disastrous and involved more lawyers in MS than you can count! Wow

 

[megalomaniac]

Great red!

Per my Dad regarding your boat…. You're luckier than a dog with three peckers! That could have been disastrous and involved more lawyers in MS than you can count! Wow

No kidding... crazy lucky.... bearings must have completely disintegrated just a couple miles from the house, as the spindle wasn't grooved too bad (will still need complete replacement of the trailing arm/ spindle, hub, bearings, seals. Trailer was pulling perfect at 74mph on the interstate 10 miles before. I did hear a single metal sounding squeak from the trailer after hitting a small road imperfection 80 miles earlier, but it wasn't recurrent. Hubs were not warm after I pulled the boat from storage and brought it home Friday (I pick up my boat the evening before fishing to check everything- tire pressure, hubs, trailer lights, engine oil, hook the fuel line back up and start the motor in a bucket of water. Then load all my gear and ice chests in the cooler... so all I have to do is put ice in the boat and I'm ready to go Sat am)

We got everything disassembled early this morning. Had to cut the thru bolt that tightens the trailing arm onto the torsion axle. There was plenty of grease inside the hub and zero rust. This wasnt due to a bad seal and water getting into the hub. This was just a complete bearing failure due to excessive friction, either from cheap Chinese bearings or from them being over compressed during installation.

The thing is.... the trailer company I had to pay to cut off the old horribly rusted trailing arms and replace 6m ago insisted that they would not let the trailer leave their shop unless they replaced all the bearings and seals in the hubs despite my wanting to do all the bearings and seals myself... so... there's about 1500- 2000 miles on their work 6 months ago. When I contact them tomorrow, I'm expecting at least 50% discount on new trailing arm/ spindle, hub, and American made bearings. I'll provide the labor without expecting them to compensate me. Would be nice if they replace all destroyed parts for free, but that may be hoping for too much.

But you are right... im sure had it failed on the interstate causing a wreck, that trailer repair company would be in a world of hurt.

And after I get the starboard side redone, I'm pulling the port side and replacing those bearings the trailer shop installed myself, so I know it will be done right.

Close up of the groove on the spindle... had it failed earlier than just right before I got home, I would have expected much more damage to the spindle

 

[7mm08]

Wow!
Be careful and of course sorry you had this happen.
SALT KILLS…. Speaking of such, do you use SALT AWAY and spray those hubs after a fishing trip ?

 

[redblood]

Yep. Salt is the devil!

 

[shrimphead]

good night on the water

 

[megalomaniac]

Wow!
Be careful and of course sorry you had this happen.
SALT KILLS…. Speaking of such, do you use SALT AWAY and spray those hubs after a fishing trip ?

Yes... salt away motor flush and boat and hubs rinsed after every trip. This wasn't salt water. No water/ rust in the hub assembly (a little rust on the spindle after the evening rain last night after I disassembled everything). This was either defective bearings or over compressed bearings causing the failure.

 

[megalomaniac]

good night on the water

Woe, I didn't hear there was a jubilee past couple days! I figured conditions would be ripe with the high temps and decreasing tide. Those fresh killed enough to still eat?

 

[Kahrman]

Nice red. Caught this one over in Destin.

 

[megalomaniac]

Nice red. Caught this one over in Destin.

Amazing how much lighter/silver the reds are coming from clear water! Great fish!

 

[shrimphead]

Those fresh killed enough to still eat?

they was all alive when i gigged them none suffered all one shot kill

 

[megalomaniac]

they was all alive when i gigged them none suffered all one shot kill

Wow!!! Awesome trip! With that many I assumed you just picked them up in the surf! Been wanting to do a gigging trip for some time! Neap tide today, slight change to N winds, good salinity, and good water clarity... prob a good time to go! I'm afraid that area is going to get dirty next week with all the rain central MS got last week, hopefully not

 

[7mm08]

Nice red. Caught this one over in Destin.

Tax man get the tail?

 

[Billboy]

Wow, got lucky on the trailer for sure!! Wish I lived closer but was lucky enough to spend a couple of weeks on Apalachicola Bay couple of weeks ago. Got plenty of specs, flounder, and slot reds. Equipment failure always worries me on long trips.

 

[megalomaniac]

Well... trailer place was more than fair and apologetic. Turns out they didn't replace bearings back in January, just 'inspected' and repacked.

They gave me a new trailing arm, inspected hub and found it OK, pushed out the inner races, seated new bearings for $100 (basically parts half off and free labor).

We spent 2 hours trying to get the new trailing arm on the axle, but the axle was 1.75in and the opening on the trailing arm was 1.68in. Hammered a chisel to pry it open several times without success.

Gave up, took the trailing arm to another friend with a hydraulic press and pressed the opening more, left a chisel in the opening to get it pried open, and then we were able to get the new spindle back on the axle with a lot more elbow grease.

Jacked up the other side, and found about 3/16 in slop in the wheel. Pulled the wheel and found the bearing buddy detached from the hub. Red Lithium grease used at the shop was brown with evidence water had gotten into the hub. Pulled the hub and beat out the bearings and seal, found the bearings to have slop and a couple were scored and scraping.... good grief, the other hub was likely going to fail in the next hundred miles or so.

Didn't have a socket large enough to fit over the new inner bearing to knock it back in, so going to have to go back to my other buddy with the hydraulic press to seat the new bearings. Hopefully have the hub reinstalled, packed, and tire mounted tomorrow so I can get the boat back to my house and wash it