07/15/2018
Yesterday, on our way in from the salmon fishing , we hit a huge, submerged Mola Mola, or Sunfish with our boat. I am usually very good at avoiding them but this guy was a foot below the surface and it was enormous, like the size of a picnic table! We came off the back of a swell and slammed into it and heard a loud bang and we got jolted. My outboard motor got hammered and it ended up taking out the lower unit, now my motor won’t go in reverse and in neutral, the prop spins. Also, on impact my Airmar p66 transducer was knocked off the transom and was skipping behind the boat, dangling from the wire. I thought for sure it had knocked the Stern Saver off with it, but to my amazement, it’s stayed on! You can even see the mark on the transducer that the Sunfish left with its sandpaper-like skin. This is a distinctive mark that these creatures leave you with when you hit them with your boat apparently.
