Mother Nature Does Not Always Cooperate

Residing on the gulf coast of Alabama and with a passion for fishing, opportunities for pursuing many fish species are abundant. For the past 20 years, I have also enjoyed sharing this passion with my son, Keith who since he was 4 would rather be on the water than anywhere else. Unfortunately, the need to travel 30,40, 50 miles or further offshore is necessary to target certain species. Well, fishing from my current boat had its restrictions. First, we had about a 20 mile offshore range limit and second, when the seas were greater than about two feet, it was definitely uncomfortable with my current boat so we would watch other boats go out and come in with all the fish. Although Keith always ask me to take him out to where the big ones were, my current boat would not meet his desires. I finally decided, “Enough of this”! After looking at several boats and doing some sea trials, I purchased my first Regulator 23 with a F225 in 2002. It did not take very long to realize that my only mistake was that I had not purchased this boat 10 years earlier. It was everything it claimed to be plus some. After two years in this boat, in July 2004, I took delivery on my second Regulator 23 with twin F150’s from Negus Marine in Mobile as I opted for twin power for those long offshore trips that we make today.

Keith and I have had many successful, memorable, and safe fishing trips together. I feel completely confident and comfortable that my Regulator 23 will take me to the fishing grounds and return us home safely. More importantly, we now go fishing when we want to go fishing. I don’t have to be concerned that the seas are 3 or 4 feet since the 23 provides a smooth, comfortable, and dry ride in these conditions. Not only is my 23 a great boat for fishing, it is equally shared with my entire family for those fun times of skiing and cruising.

A significant event for my son over the past 18 years has been to compete in the annual  3-Day Alabama Deep Sea Fishing Rodeo held in July. Of course, there were several years in which Mother Nature limited our fishing time or prevented us from fishing due to previous boat restrictions. Although there are multiple categories of fish for this event, we target Spanish Mackerel. Last year, Mother Nature came calling with opening day west winds of 15-20 knots and  seas of 4-6. No problem! We loaded the Regulator and left the dock at 5 AM heading for our favorite oil platform. When we hit the open gulf, the seas were every inch of 6 feet and time after time, we watched boats turning about and going back to the dock to wait and hope for a break in the winds. Since the Regulator 23 did not flinch in these conditions, we continued on our track, high and dry and hooked up to the rig at 6 AM. Normally, there would be no less than 10 boats at this location for this tournament. Well, we had it to ourselves. It wasn’t long before the action started. As the cannon sounded to end the 2004 ADSFR, final results for Spanish Mackerel was 1st and 3rd place to the Spain father-son duo and 1st place in the Spanish Mackerel jackpot for the boat. This is the reason I purchased a Regulator. To be honest, I hope the wind blows this year as well. Takes out some of the competition; unless they also own a Regulator.

Thank you Regulator Marine for designing and building an awesome boat!

Oh yeah! Keith decided he wanted an additional partner so now we have his 1 year old lab “Scrubs” on our team.

Jim Spain

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