Pier Fishing at Pawley's Island, SC

Memorial day weekend we had the opportunity to go to Pawley's Island for a few days. For those of you not familiar with Pawley's island, it is a barrier island between Charleston and Myrtle Beach. The island is residential and a very uncrowded beach. It is our favorite place to vacation on the SC coast.

This time we took with us some frineds, David and Micki Ewens and their two girls, it was a great weekend.

We stay at Pawley's Pier Village which gives me access to the private pier for fishing. Most of the locals take up the end of the long pier searching for King Fish - which in the 9 years I have been going there have never seen a hook up. But there must be some since they are always out there - bait in the water, waiting.

I take my converted walking golf cart and haul all my gear to the pier for a day of fishing. People used to laugh at my set up, but now they just know it is me. - It sure beats trying to carry all this stuff, and I have a total of $1.25 in it! ($1.00 for cart from a yard sale, and some old PVC and a crate, .25 for zip ties)

Playing through!

David and I with the Pier Rig! (click on Pic for larger view)

This was one of the best fishing weekends I have had there ever. I like to use shrimp for bait, fresh shrimp is the best I believe. While my bait is in the water, i often cast or vertical jig a "got-cha" plug. It is a simple 2 inch piece of painted lead with two sets of treble hooks on it. It is a great jig for vertical jigging.

In three days of fishing, we caught and landed: Two rays (Skates) one over 60lbs and one over 40 lbs. both of these were caught on light tackle, the 40+ was caught on 10lb test and the 60 + was caught on 25lb test. What a fight. When I hooked the bigger one, it took me almost 20 minutes to land. It felt like I was pulling a car hood through the water -with flapping wings!

We also caught: Bonnet head sharks, Black tip sharks, Sea trout, Spanish mackerel, Blue fish, and whiting. The black Tip shark was over 35 inches and he was baked with butter and Old Bay fish seasoning. Man was it good! We also tasted the Mackerel, and whiting.


All in all we caught over 30 fish most of the Blues were transferred to bait for the kingfisher men while the others were released.


lesson learned: I was trying to show my children the teeth on the blue fish and how to be careful when he latched into my thumb! I told David "get the pliers! in a rather emphatic manner. He strolled over to the tackle box stopping to converse with those watching, and , after I asked him not to tarry much longer, he then strolled back pilers in hand, all the while the angry blue fish is sinking his teeth deeper into my thumb. - Later that same fish ended up as bait in my crab trap! I have real nice semi-circle puncture marks on my thumb indicating the upper and lower teeth. - I hope the kids got the point!


Many others were catching flounder, black drum, and sea bass. The water was fairly clear and the wind was howling mostly from the north east. When it turned to the east, the fishing slowed and we did not catch anything on our shrimp, but still picked up some on the jigs.


More Pictures will follow as soon as I get them downloaded.

"I Thought it was a Jake!"

I had the opportunity to go Turkey hunting last week. The only day of the season I was able to go. I went with a friend who asked me to call for him, his experience in pursuing gobblers is limited at best. Only a few hunts under his belt. So seeing an opportunity to get into the woods I accepted the invitation.

Upon arriving we set up his inflatable decoys that resembled a childs effort at painting, and started calling where he had seen some birds the week before. After an hour we heard our first gobble about 200 yards away. A few minutes later we both watched as the tom entered the logging road. i let out a few soft yelps and he immediately started strutting and gobbled. For the next twenty minutes he walked towards us gobbling and strutting the whole way. As he got to where he could see the decoys and he froze turned into the woods and started circling. The whole time my friend had his gun drawn on the bird, but he didn't shoot. I kept waiting for the report of his 870 but there was none. As the bird made its way away from us I slowly turned around and asked why he did not shoot. "too far" he said. "thirty yards is too far for you to shoot?" I started calling again, an called the bird back and he retraced his steps from before, I whispered in my friends ear; "shoot the turkey!" Again i said as the bird walked past him with his gun following the whole way, "shoot the turkey, its the last day, shoot the turkey." He slowly turned to me and said, "there is a bigger bird out there."

The tom, slowly walked back where he came from, after he got far enough away I said, "I am going after that bird." and I took aff after him. My friend was right on my heels, and after about fifty yards we stopped, i called and the tom gobbled. I took off again, and stopped after about twenty yards. I looked through the woods before i staretd calling again. And I spotted the tom staring at us. In an instant the Benelli Nova went to my shoulder, "there he is." I said as my finger let off the safety. The sound of the report and the recoil of the 3.5" Winchester's jarred me some. Looking through the woods I could see the Tom flopping. Hurrying to the bird, my friend kept saying, "it is a jake, it is a jake." Turning the tom over revealing his 9.75" beard I informed him, "if that is a jake, I will take that kind of jake everytime."

After the excitement and pictures I asked him why he did not shoot. "I thought it was a Jake." was all he could say. - Turkey Fever at its best.

18 lbs, 9.75" beard and 7/8" hooks. What a Jake!