August: Leaps and Bounds

It’s another summer day on the water and with questions about passing afternoon storms we decide to head out on a monster tarpon quest. As I set the anchor I catch a glimpse of a tarpon boiling up on a passing school of menhaden from the corner of my eye. I know that he is probably not alone so I hurry back to the pit to get my baits out and establish a chum line. With in a few minutes we have a full spread of baits out and were waiting for the big bite…and we wait…and wait…and wait until I start to wonder if were going to get a bite at all. With tarpon feeding all around the boat but nothing as much as sniffing our offerings, we get ready to move. As were pulling in our lines the top long bait goes down hard! The line is dumping off of the reel so fast that I worry were going to get spooled, “there he is, he’s jumping”! The fish is out about 150 yards putting on a great ariel show, but at this point I’m looking to dump the anchor and go after this fish. The first moments of the bite will usually dictate as to whether or not you’re going to catch the fish, and we were lucky on this trip to keep him glued until we could motor up and give him chase. We fight the fish for just over an hour; he gets a little, then we get a little, but that’s the way it goes when you’re dealing with a 150 pound fish that’s fighting for its survival. After a hard fight and a quick photo we release the worn out tarpon back to the water for another day. To hear more tails of whoppers and mishaps give me a call and let’s put together a fishing trip and until then “catch em up”!

July:  Feeding Frenzy

On this beautiful summer morning we pull off the dock and cruise down the river on what looks like a streak free mirror. My fishing buddy comments that he hasn’t seen it this calm in a long time and adds that the fishing should be good today. I agree; with conditions like this I should be able to see redfish coming from a mile away. We pull up to the flat and things look good, there is plenty of bait, wading birds and a few sharks pushing around. So we start to pole down the edge of the shoreline looking for any movement, ripple or giveaway that may lead us to a redfish…but nothing. I was really starting to get frustrated until my buddy put a dead eye cast in front of a ten pound bonnet head shark that was lazily cruising down the flat. I have to admit I didn’t even see that shark eat the bait but within seconds he came tight with a loud “hooked up”! On the first run that fish nearly spooled our light tackle rod, but we managed to keep it on long enough to catch up and after a 15 minuet back and forth battle we finally landed the fish and snapped a few photos. I really had not thought to fish for sharks that day, but with action like that why not fish for what’s biting. We ended up catching 5 more really nice sharks on the flats that day and had a blast doing it. To hear more tails of whoppers and mishaps give me a call and let’s put together a fishing trip and until then “catch em up”!

June: Tails Up

As I power my flats boat off of the trailer to fish the local waters of Beaufort and Hilton Head I can hardly contain my thoughts of the day to come. All year long I have been waiting for the summer tailing bite and it’s finally here. Once we load our gear, we motor up and run down the river winding through narrow creeks and marshland to one of my favorite grass flats. When we first arrive the flats are completely dry, and you would probably look at me and laugh as I tell you “this flat will be filled with fish in the next hour”. But as water creeps in with the tide the flats begin to flood and off in the distance we hear a crash in the grass. I have heard that distinct sound before and know the reds are pushing their way in to feed. Over the next few minutes we hear more fish pushing in until we see our first redfish gently waving its tail off in the distance as it roots in the bottom for a morning snack. The beauty of simply watching these fish in the wild do what comes naturally to them makes the trip a success. It gets even sweeter as I watch my buddy ease up to an unsuspecting fish and place a fly just in front of its nose. He pauses for a moment, gives the fly a short strip and with an eruption of water he’s hooked up! After a hard fight and a quick photo we release the worn out red back to the water for another day. To hear more tails of whoppers and mishaps give me a call and let’s put together a guided fishing trip and until then “catch em up”!

 

May: The Brown Bomber

You couldn’t ask for a prettier spring day to be out on the water on Port Royal Sound between Beaufort and Hilton Head, South Carolina and on this trip we were after cobia. After sitting on the hook (anchored up) soaking baits with little success we decide to pick up and do some sight fishing. As I retreave the anchor my fishing buddy quickly runs for his fly rod. He ties on this horrible looking orange and yellow fly that you wouldn’t expect any self respecting fish to as much as look at. The sight fishing conditions are good with light mid day winds and a slacking tide. It doesn’t take long to find our first target and with a good cast we get a strike from a small cobia…but it doesn’t last long as the hook pulls out and we see our fish cruising out of sight. It was probably good to, because with in five minutes we find what looks to be a giant brown torpedo cruising down the river. I can tell by the excited shake in my buddies voice that he’s nervous, but he manages to keep his composure and make a perfect cast right on the nose of the fish. I don’t think the fish lost stride as it opened its mouth and slurped down that awful looking fly…what a bite. With a few strip sets we were on for an hour and a half battle with what turned out to be a 45 pound cobia. Now that’s fly fishing at its best! To hear more tails of whoppers and mishaps give me a call and let’s put together a fishing trip and until then “catch em up”!

 

 

April: Spring into Action

One of the things that I love most about spring fishing in the Beaufort and Hilton Head area is the anticipation. For the most part winter can be a bit dreary, but as the azaleas begin to bloom and all of the critters come back out you can feel that things are changing. In my case it is time to get out fishing and that anticipation leaving the dock on a crisp spring morning really puts things into perspective. Some of the best fishing of the year occurs as the water starts to warm up and those lethargic winter fish become eating machines. This past year I was out with a buddy of mine poling a local flat and we just knew that we would get into em, everything was perfect…only no fish. “What can I say I thought this would be the day” I told my buddy Jason. As the morning came and went along with our hopes for a fish dinner we decided to fish one last grass point on our way out before the tide got too high. On our first pass we immediately hooked into a double header of nice redfish…then a fat sea trout, then more reds and then a flounder, then more trout and reds. Jason commented in the excitement “no wonder we haven’t caught any fish this morning, there all laying off of this point!”. I have to admit he was right, we sat there for over an hour wearing out fish and then as fast as it started it was over. Even if we had not caught those fish the day would have been a success, but they put the explanation point on Spring Fishing! To hear more tails of whoppers and mishaps give me a call and let’s put together a fishing trip and until then “catch em up”!