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Podcast by a Panhandle Surf Angler for all anglers of any level. We will talk weekly to guests that are anglers and also industry professionals. I want you to walk away from this podcast with some knowledge either refreshed or new for you to become a better angler. Though it will start in the Panhandle of Florida, it will be around the entire United States so we can all learn something about fishing in different regions.
Speaker 1 (00:00:00):
This episode of Finding the Most Sufficient is being brought to you by Ninja Tackle and over to ninja tackle va.com. And take a look at all the cool things that they've got going on the Ninja Dagger series. You guys know I love him? I absolutely love my daggers. He's got a 13. I haven't started throwing it yet. I am a little worried about a 13 footer 'cause I don't know why I can handle it, but I know a lot of people that have it so far and absolutely love it. My 12 footers, I don't go anywhere fishing, surf fishing without 'em. My seven footer, it's always in the car. I've always got the travel rod. Yeah, he's got that. All the rod series in between have been great. Absolutely perfect. If you need reels, rigs, bait, any of the accessories, he's got it there. Over to ninja tackle va.com. Get your order in today, I guarantee. And I'm saying the G word. You're really gonna like it. It's good stuff.
Speaker 2 (00:01:17):
Hello.
Speaker 1 (00:01:17):
Hello. Hello World. Hope you're doing well. Wherever you are, things are going phenomenal. You've been out there getting after it. It's coming out of the winter. We're getting back into the spring. That means that the fishing is going to be awesome. I'm already super excited here in the panhandle. I can't wait for some good, uh, runs, shall we say. I need me some new fishes. The freezer's getting empty and that's a problem. This week we're jumping on the old digital plane. We're heading north. We're going up the old South Carolina again. And for those of you have never looked into South Carolina, you're missing out food, seafood. Oh yeah. Real good. Seafood people. Freaking phenomenal. Everyone I met when I was up in South Carolina has always been pleasant. Well minus my drill instructors. But you know, that's a different story for a different time. Great times, good ones there. We're gonna be talking with Buck Bishop of the Salty Leprechaun. He's got a cool guide service outta their Hilton Head area. Uh, lots of cool pieces there and we're just gonna get right into it. So without further ado, welcome to the show.
Speaker 2 (00:02:20):
What's up my guy? Good to be here, man.
Speaker 1 (00:02:24):
It's good to finally have you on. We've only been talking about this, so, uh, we had one planned. Uh, I think I had something pop up and it got screwed. And then finally life lined up and we finally get together here.
Speaker 2 (00:02:34):
You know, phone tag's, not just for telephones, man.
Speaker 1 (00:02:37):
Yeah. adulting is a trap. So any of you youngsters out there, don't do it. Just, just stay a kid.
Speaker 2 (00:02:44):
Avoid it. It's a daily struggle, but you gotta avoid it somehow.
Speaker 1 (00:02:48):
Yes, it absolutely. So you're outta this Hi, uh, Hilton Head, South Carolina area. And we've been chatting back and forth. We were chatting in the green room too, talking in the background about, uh, it's not a well, well known and there's a lot of, uh, lot of misinformation out there about fishing up in your area.
Speaker 2 (00:03:04):
Yeah, there is a lot of misinformation. This is, um, primarily a golf island, uh, tennis, and of course now pickleball. I don't know if for the older people that might be listening, they probably hip to that groove. Um, but we've got an excellent fishery, man. Our ecosystem is just beautiful. Um, there is, uh, a couple rules on our beach. Uh, no actively targeting, targeting sharks. Um, but you know, the most of us are fishermen know that it's bycatch. Yeah. Um, so there are a couple loopholes. Now we do have designated swimming areas and that's where a lot of people get confused is there's certain sections of beach and they're only about a hundred yards wide, where there's not even allowed to throw a Frisbee, much less surf, fly a kite, throw a ball, um, or fish. Uh, other than that, as long as you've got a South Carolina license and you're not actively targeting sharks, you're good to go. Man. Wet your lines. Don't let anybody other than DNR tell you to stop.
Speaker 1 (00:04:04):
Very nice. You get a lot of good species up there too. It's not just a single one trick pony. Yeah,
Speaker 2 (00:04:10):
Man. We'll probably get into this a little bit later, but I, I follow a lot of the Florida guys 'cause I know that I'm probably give or take a month behind you guys. So when you guys start getting that pomp run, I know that it's time to start greasing up my lightweight stuff and getting ready for some , slinging some stuff.
Speaker 1 (00:04:30):
It's one thing I love about the East Coast and we have it a little bit here. Well, no, I, we do have it here. If I see Panama City catching, um, I know. Oh, okay. What time of season is they're coming this way. You know, anytime Panama City Pier picks up, they're like, go, oh, hey, we got Spanish. Spanish, you're gonna be here. Oh, hey Palm Run. All right, let's get that line ready. We're gonna set rigs. It's, and you guys, it's the same 'cause they've gotten, you know, the whole Atlantic to run north south. But as soon as you hear, like, alright, hey, just past Georgia. Okay. Couple of markers there outta Jacksonville, they're coming north. Okay. Or they're running however it is, you know. All right. We're throwing.
Speaker 2 (00:05:07):
Yep. And I mean, it even goes the other way too. Like, look at me. I I, I get a little lazy sometimes. So I'll even watch north of me for the guys that are out there in the cold days hunting fish. Well, when I start seeing those surf reports from Myrtle Beach, I'm, I'm on the beach because that means the fish are showing up north of me. And I need to have my fat behind on the sand.
Speaker 1 (00:05:29):
. It's all about the planning here. And that's one great thing about social media is we can do that. So, yeah. All right. Let's dial it in. Let's get into the starting here. So tell us your story and what got you into fishing.
Speaker 2 (00:05:39):
Uh, what really got me into fishing, it's kind of been in my blood all my life. Um, I remember one of my first memories of a vacation was my dad would take, uh, me, my younger brother and my mom and my grandparents out to Hatteras and he would go chase the striper. And, you know, now he's told me the stories that apparently he would wake up four o'clock in the morning, drive the blazer up and down the beach, spotting out for the schools, and then bolt back to the house. Dad, wake up, get your. Let's go. Um, and so it was that. And then I grew up in Charlotte, so I was pond hopping, you know, throwing rooster tails at Bluegill and this, that, and a third. And then, um, high school I moved to Merle's Inlet, South Carolina, which is an excellent commercial fishery.
Speaker 2 (00:06:27):
Uh, I worked on the head boats, I worked on the commercial boats. I worked in the fish market, so it's kind of just been building and building and building. And then back in 2019, I had to have, uh, open heart surgery and I really couldn't work. But, you know, there's some little stuff I could do. So my wife was like, dude, you gotta get outta the house. Get out of the house, go to the beach. And I was like, well, I don't wanna go to the beach and just do nothing. So I went and I got a, you know, 50, $60 surf pole from Walmart. Spooled it up with, of course mono. 'cause I didn't know any better and Right. Slinging it out there. And it was just, that was the only thing I had to do to maintain my sanity. And I just, I, I leaned in hard, man. I tried to, I've learned just about every facet of everything I could do to be self-sufficient from pouring lead, custom, custom rods, real repair, all of that stuff. Just 'cause I literally had nothing better to do with my life.
Speaker 1 (00:07:28):
I mean, post-surgery, , anyone that's had surgery knows, especially something major, it's like, I can't do anything.
Speaker 2 (00:07:39):
Yeah. And it was really messing with my psyche. So that's why my wife was like, get out, go do something.
Speaker 1 (00:07:47):
You're mopey. Oh man. For better, for worse. My wife's the same way. So yeah. Go away, but go to the beach please. .
Speaker 2 (00:07:58):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (00:07:59):
Oh. Uh, what's your favorite thing about fishing?
Speaker 2 (00:08:03):
All of it. . Yeah. Um, you know, just, I've got real big a DD and I've got like an engineer's brain, so I like to try to figure out how I can make my life easier and be able to adjust on the fly. So just that pursuit of knowledge is what really keeps me going. And then I like, I love eating fish. And there's, like I said, I worked at the fish market, so there's nothing better than fresh fish. You won't find me getting fish sticks from Walmart. I'm not getting a fish filet from McDonald's. Ugh. I won't do it. Um, but yeah, that's, that's pretty much my favorite thing is just all of it. You know, I, I love building the rods. I love tearing apart my stuff. So I know that Johnny at isn't messing my stuff up. And then, you know, especially tying knots and, and tie in rigs. Um, not to down on anybody that sells rigs. 'cause they make phenomenal rigs. I know longest cast sells some really good ones. Sinker guy's got some good ones. Um, but, you know, sometimes the day, the weather, the spot calls for a change. And if you don't know how to tie your knots, those, you know, uh, what's the word? They're all uniform. Yeah. These uniform rigs, you need to be able to adjust. Um, and you can't do that if you don't know how to tie a rig.
Speaker 1 (00:09:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:09:23):
You know, it's definitely easier to go spend the 50 bucks and be set for the season on rigs, but if you gotta change it, whatcha are you gonna do?
Speaker 1 (00:09:32):
Yeah, I get that. I absolutely get that. I'm backing up one second here. I should have did this when you said it and I just stopped myself. 'cause my brain, you know, a DD but dude, you've been in the fishing world for a long time. I mean, fish markets, you,
Speaker 2 (00:09:46):
You most of my life. Yeah. And then I, I actually was a, uh, I managed a fishing tackle shop here on the island for like a year and a half
Speaker 1 (00:09:55):
. So you're fully immersed, man.
Speaker 2 (00:09:58):
Uh, yeah. I, I dove in headfirst and I'm still swimming in it, man.
Speaker 1 (00:10:01):
I love it. It's so good. So, so good. I had to bring that back up 'cause I'm like, that's kind of cool . Yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:10:09):
It, it was. You meet a lot of characters in those joints, man.
Speaker 1 (00:10:12):
Oh no, I'll say that. Say it ain't so. Oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:10:15):
Especially being 17. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:10:17):
. Oh God. Yeah. Oh, you've definitely had the gambit from the, the angry old man that's seen mermaids and, you know, hell, I
Speaker 2 (00:10:27):
Got talked to the eating a lot of questionable things.
Speaker 1 (00:10:30):
Ah, nah. Do some dumb stuff for a free t-shirt
Speaker 2 (00:10:34):
or a six pack when you're 17. I mean,
Speaker 1 (00:10:37):
Oh no, not that . What is a bucket list fish for you to catch?
Speaker 2 (00:10:45):
Um, I, I mean, I'd really like to catch a great white. I think that that'd be pretty cool just because it's the apex predator. Um, but, you know, from the beach Id, I'd really like to go to Cabo and catch a rooster Fish, man.
Speaker 1 (00:10:58):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:10:59):
That's, that's gotta be my tipping top
Speaker 1 (00:11:01):
Dude. When Wes talked about that on the podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:11:05):
Oh yeah, man.
Speaker 1 (00:11:07):
Oh, I was like, wait, you what? He's like, yeah, we catch him from the beach. I'm like, oh, shut your mouth. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:11:12):
Like, I, like I told you, I listened to your, I listen to the podcast often at work and I, I'm a painter, so it's pretty mind numbing activity. Yeah. I remember when that whole episode is. Like every 10 minutes I'm just putting down my brush and staring at the wall so I can focus and listen like, okay, so this is what I should do whenever I go down there and hopefully 10 years
Speaker 1 (00:11:32):
Dude. And he's been posting a a lot now. I, I, I obviously, I follow everybody that I've never put a podcast on. I always follow about and watch what they do. He has been killing it down. I mean, catching mahi and not little mahi. Yeah. Big mahi studs. It's like, dude, what the hell? He is like, and I just go back to the episode, he's like, it's a phenomenal fishery here. People just don't know about it. You don't see it often. It's like, all right, next time I'm down there it's frigging game on. Yeah. It's unbelievable.
Speaker 2 (00:12:01):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (00:12:03):
I like going the idea for the rooster. All right. So here we go. We'll get the last one here and then we'll start getting into the knowledge piece. What can, uh, can you share a memorable surf fishing story, including any unexpected catches or challenging situations that just turned into a win?
Speaker 2 (00:12:17):
Uh, yeah, I got two that come to mind off the top. Uh, one of my buddies who does, uh, kayak fishing here, um, he's since moved to Florida, um, called me and was like, Hey dude, do you have any trips tomorrow? I got this kid that we wanna go fishing and I think it's a make a wish type deal. And I was like, I mean, yeah, I'm, I'm open. Let's, let's go throw some lines in the water. It wasn't really supposed to be a productive day, but I was like, yeah, dude, let's go do a beach takeover. Uh, how many rods you got? And we put out, and I, I, you know, I brought all of my gear, my personal stuff, my my guest stuff. And we've had out probably about 15 rods rolling out to the beach. And I get there and it's, it literally is a Make-A-Wish situation.
Speaker 2 (00:12:58):
And the, the, the way it started was this little kid comes up and asks if he ask my buddy, what are you fishing for? And sorry. Um, and then he's, you know, the, the brother comes over and he's in a wheelchair and he's like, Hey, do you, do you care if my, my brother fishes? I was like, oh my God. Like, it, it touched me that this little, this guy, he's got so much stuff going on in the world, wanted to make sure that his able-bodied brother who's over there doing cartwheels could try to catch a fish. And that, that just warmed my heart and I wanted to share that. Um, but the craziest catch I've ever had was I was fishing, uh, here on the island and I was trying to get some red fish, and all of a sudden my rod dumped over like an angry Mack truck just picked up my hook.
Speaker 2 (00:13:46):
And it is screaming and, but it's not screaming out like it normally would. It's tearing down the beach and I'm fighting it. And it, you know, I've got it on a 13 foot custom rod with my 8,000 live liner. And I, it's just peeling drag. I'm torquing down . And I fought this thing for no lie, Brian, like 30 minutes back and forth, just running. And I couldn't get 'em to come to me. So fine. And I, and it's Hilton head, so I've got like 80 people behind me, all cameras out. And I finally get it to the beach and I realize it's a tiger shark. It's about a six foot tiger shark.
Speaker 1 (00:14:23):
Oh no.
Speaker 2 (00:14:25):
. And I, but I peck hooked him. I foul hooked him in the P head. Oh,
Speaker 1 (00:14:30):
Dang. Yeah. That's a hell of a fight for that.
Speaker 2 (00:14:32):
Yeah. I was like, I could, I couldn't li my arms were jello, but it was the most beautiful fish I have ever seen in my entire life. It looked like it was 10 feet deep in the water of Florida sitting on the beach. Absolutely gorgeous. And the adrenaline didn't hurt either.
Speaker 1 (00:14:52):
No, no. Probably not even a little . So a hell of a catch. All right. Got the photos and good. Send off. No problems, huh?
Speaker 2 (00:15:00):
Oh yeah. Healthy sendoff. I mean, I, I I try not to over fight a shark, you know? Right. If if they need to run, I let 'em run. If they're, if I'm not getting them, then if they, if they're angry enough, I'll, I'll cut it. But I, I try to get 'em in as quickly as possible and released as green as possible. Nice. Um, just 'cause I'm not trying to kill it unless I'm gonna eat it. Yeah. I'm not eating a tiger shark
Speaker 1 (00:15:24):
. No. But hell of a memory. Great job getting 'em off, man. I mean, that's, that's one of the ones that I've learned now after doing this for long, for this much time, is you can, you know who the real anglers and kinda the serious ones are when they're fighting a certain thing and they realize, all right, where are we at? What are we doing? And there's a lot kinda more like analyzing going on. But you know, when you get it in, it's like, oh, okay, we gotta get this done. This, this has to happen. This
Speaker 2 (00:15:49):
Has to happen
Speaker 1 (00:15:50):
Now.
Speaker 2 (00:15:50):
Yeah. And that's what, what I tell, I'll tell that to some of my guests if they, if they want to go fun fishing as I have to call it, um, that when, when this happens and that fish hits the beach, I might be a little, might come off a little rude, but this is very time sensitive and my name is on the line if I do this wrong and somebody gets it on Facebook,
Speaker 1 (00:16:11):
. Yeah. Well, I'm sure you saw recently in our area, we had that great white
Speaker 2 (00:16:16):
I did see that.
Speaker 1 (00:16:17):
And I
Speaker 2 (00:16:18):
Got a little, I got a little teary eyed dude.
Speaker 1 (00:16:20):
Oh man. It's like the community here. Most of the anglers were all, I'm sorry, what? It washed up and then, you know, seeing a hook in its mouth and everybody's like, it, it was, it was almost like the entire community was like, all right, who, whose head are we hunting?
Speaker 2 (00:16:34):
Yeah. We're gonna put you on a stick, dude.
Speaker 1 (00:16:37):
Yeah. And you know, people were going after coastal, uh, a coastal worldwide and it was completely different Shark, and Dylan and Blaine handled it like they always do. Constant professionals. Yeah. And they're like, it wasn't us, dude. We, we weren't there. Um, but yeah, for people that do get your fish or shark that aren't, aren't knowing how to and all that bad things happen. Oh yeah. It really does. And it's like, all you had to do is listen in to YouTube or Facebook, hell, the podcast up here, we tell you, get it in, get the photo, get it the hell out and make sure it swam off safely. You, you've gotta get in the water with it.
Speaker 2 (00:17:13):
Yeah. Well, I mean, it's like the classic thing you see on all the Facebook posts and you know, some people word it a little too bluntly, but if you don't know what it is, leave it in the water.
Speaker 1 (00:17:21):
Oh, yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:17:22):
And that's simply because there are several species that cannot leave the wash. Yeah. And if DN R sees you do that, they're taking your truck . Yes. . You know what I mean? It's a big ding. Um, so, uh, if truly, if you don't, if you're not sure of the species, I can't stress this enough. If you're not a hundred percent sure of the species, make sure it stays in the water when you unhook it. Otherwise you're, you're, you're making it rougher for all of us.
Speaker 1 (00:17:53):
No, I shouldn't laugh at this, but I had to. 'cause I didn't, I saw the post in my head. It's not, uh, not talking sharks here. We're talking to other fish like, Hey, can you identify, you know, Phish id, what is this? Oh yeah. This is
Speaker 2 (00:18:08):
A blanket statement. .
Speaker 1 (00:18:10):
Yes. Oh, it's in my cooler. Get the hell outta your cooler. It's not seasonable. You do it. Delete this post.
Speaker 2 (00:18:16):
Delete this post now. .
Speaker 1 (00:18:20):
Oh man. It, and we see it so many times and you know, and look, I, I'd love to say, hey, no fault, no harm, no foul. But come on, if you're gonna fish in a new area, you need to have what you Well, one I'd say, and I'm not sponsored by them, but Phish rules, uh, I was
Speaker 2 (00:18:35):
Took the word out my mouth, man. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:18:37):
That app will, that locks into your GPS location. It'll tell you if you know what it is, you can scroll and be like, oh, okay, cool. Facebook's not gonna be quick. And Google lens. Um, I've heard great things about
Speaker 2 (00:18:48):
Google Lens. Yeah. The, uh, the AI photo stuff that they do. Yeah. The image search. Mm-Hmm. . That's, that's a great tool.
Speaker 1 (00:18:56):
So if you know what it's possible in your area, if you're gonna go somewhere new to Phish, very important. But yeah, don't be putting stuff in your cooler if you're not sure. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:19:04):
And if you've got the Google lens plus the fish rules, I mean, and you're handy with a phone, it should really only take you less than 60 seconds to be able to discern whether you can keep that fish.
Speaker 1 (00:19:14):
Mm-Hmm. . And if you're over 60, guess what? It's going back in the water and you'll go catch it. Another, the water .
Speaker 2 (00:19:19):
Exactly. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:19:19):
You got the picture. Just call it
Speaker 2 (00:19:21):
Good. Put it back in the water and learn about it while it's swimming away. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:19:25):
. And not on a hook.
Speaker 2 (00:19:26):
It's the next one. It can go in the box.
Speaker 1 (00:19:28):
Yeah. And yeah, , somebody made a good joke about that not too long ago. Like, oh, just put it on a hook and let it swim. It's like no hook still is bad.
Speaker 2 (00:19:35):
Now it's bait .
Speaker 1 (00:19:38):
Oh God. And for you guys, the east coast is vicious when it comes to frigging pe. Sharks are, sharks are real and, you know, hey, we, we play in their pond. That's theirs. Then they come up to shore of feed. Yep. Give a shark an opportunity of a distressed fish. Oh, ding, ding, ding, ding. Here I go. You
Speaker 2 (00:19:56):
Could put a fresh water fish out there on a hook and it's gonna get chopped up where I'm at, man. In a heartbeat. . It's, it's, it's almost silly how easy it is to catch sharks here.
Speaker 1 (00:20:08):
Yeah, it man. We're gonna definitely move into that one. Uh, all right. It's been 20 minutes. Let's knock out a paycheck 'cause we're gonna get into the fishing tips, tricks, and knowledge here. And it's only, it's this just getting more and more fun as we go. Man. I'm loving this .
Speaker 1 (00:20:27):
This paycheck is being brought to you by DS custom tackle. Ds custom tackle.com is the website. Go on over there and take a look. As you can see, it is jam packed full of gear. Yeah. If you need some stuff. Yeah. I think you covered here. If you need rigs, look at this. There are so many in the shop, you need to get your hands on anything from drums. Look at that. Kings pos down here, perch. It's not just Florida. This has got you covered up and down the East coast and the West coast. It doesn't matter where it is. You're all set up there. And if you are a rig maker and you're looking to get your hands on beads, floats, things of that nature, Hey, look at that. Tons of beads right here. And the floats is in another section. There is a bunch. The Scully get the Scullys. Yeah. Ds custom tackle.com. Go take a look. Get your order in today. Great product, great people. And they're doing great things. So now that we're talking about into the area here, let's talk about your fishing time. So how do you plan your personal fishing trips?
Speaker 2 (00:21:31):
Uh, man, I've got a serious addiction. Um, I got, whenever I can honestly , um, I've got, I've got a really great job, like two minutes from my house. Uh, and I, I work from like five or six till roughly two, so I've got a lot of daylight left. Um, so it's pretty much every day I'm on the beach. Uh, but it, it really boils down to doing your homework and doing recon. Um, 'cause we've got a really shallow beach and a really big tide swing. So if you don't know where those cuts are, you're not gonna really see 'em at high tide. Um, unless you, unless you know, you've, you've seen these waters for a long time. Um, but, you know, wind, weather, tide, moon, all that stuff plays a factor. Um, but I use a couple different apps. Uh, my favorite is, uh, windy App is a really good one.
Speaker 2 (00:22:27):
And then, uh, you know, I couple that with AccuWeather. I got some, I check Salt Strong sometimes. Um, you know, it's just get out there when you can learn your area. Um, that's, that's pretty much what I do. I've got a couple of Go-to spots that produce fairly well. Um, but like so many people have said on here, man, you gotta do your recon because the beach changes every time a a weather pattern comes through, it's different. Um, so I I I, I like to go walk the beach with my wife sometimes when it's a nice evening, low tide. And then I go stand in the tide pool and I start dropping Google pins and people are like, what is this guy doing? I'm like, I'm preparing. So you'll see me in two days. ,
Speaker 1 (00:23:11):
Oh gosh, I haven't said this name in a long time. Robert Fields, uh, from field trips. I don't know if you've heard of him or followed him. I have not. Uh, he big name, good Doc. From everything I've heard from anyone I've spoke to that's ever had a happenstance with him, they've said nothing but great things about the guy. Um, but I noticed in his videos he was wearing a GPS tracker on his hat.
Speaker 2 (00:23:37):
I want that
Speaker 1 (00:23:38):
.
Speaker 2 (00:23:40):
So exactly what you're talking about. Yep. I want that.
Speaker 1 (00:23:42):
So I don't remember the company. I just remember him and the But you made me
Speaker 2 (00:23:45):
Think I do. It's angler.
Speaker 1 (00:23:47):
Oh, is it Angler?
Speaker 2 (00:23:48):
Yep, it's Angler and they have a little, it's a pretty sweet app actually. I just downloaded. That's so weird you say that. I just downloaded it and started using it, uh, last week. That's so creepy. . No, it's Facebook is listening, I swear. Yes. Um, but yeah, that thing is really cool. You just, as soon as you hook up, you boop and it logs all of the information for the day and the location right. To your phone. You don't even have to grab a pen.
Speaker 1 (00:24:14):
I need to get with 'em. But you made me think of it when you're talking about, you know, 'cause that's what we do as husbands. We walk with our wives on the beach. We're being romantic. Yeah. Spot. That's a spot.
Speaker 2 (00:24:25):
. Yeah, exactly. .
Speaker 1 (00:24:27):
Yes. Oh, what do you, why are you touching your hat? Oh, you know, it just, I got an itch, got an itch, so marking. But yeah. And then he said that, and that was the first thing I thought. I was like, you know, that would be a really useful thing. But yeah. Anyway, sorry. Now that I know what it is, it's angler. I'm gonna have to look it up when I get off this. Look. Be sorry. Don't be sorry, man.
Speaker 2 (00:24:45):
I, I'm on that same wavelength right now for about four days. Trying to find out where to get that clicker.
Speaker 1 (00:24:50):
Oh yeah. Yep. All right, moving on. Sorry. So we talked about the planning. Now let's talk about spots. So you did say you have a couple of spots, um, and I know you gotta play the title game there. You got the two big swings every day, which is great on low for searching, and then high you're gonna play in the game. Yeah. Um, how do you personally, how do you pick your spot when you're out there?
Speaker 2 (00:25:09):
Um, just by, you know, like I say, it's real subtle beach. So I, I know what to look for based on having done my recon for years, if that makes sense. Right. So I've gone down the beach and I've found these big holes with a solid run out. And then I fish it at high tide. So I know at high tide what that type of hole is gonna look like and roughly what that rip is gonna look like for my beach. So I've got the eye to where now sometimes I don't even have to go do the recon. I could just go out and be like, I know this spot is produced several times consistently. Where's the hole? 'cause it doesn't move that much unless you've got a big storm. Uh, but a as we all know, 30 yards can make or breaker day.
Speaker 1 (00:25:57):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:25:58):
So, um, that's pretty much how I look at my spots. And then, you know, the way our island sits, depending on the wind, I might be on the north end. I might be on the south end, depending on the time of day with the tide. There's a really nice spot where a creek runs out. And, um, if you can hit that just right, it's a pretty much guarantee, pretty much hashtag asterisk. Don't quote me,
Speaker 1 (00:26:29):
I, it,
Speaker 2 (00:26:31):
I didn't, I I don't, I didn't mean to use the G word
Speaker 1 (00:26:36):
. That's, it's a hard thing in this world to, you know, especially in the phishing to say that one. Oh, okay. So that's on that one. Now let's talk about then if in that case, you, you're there, you got the spot. The biggest one I find most people, and you've heard it on the show and I'm sure you've run into it too, when you're talking about, uh, you know, you're talking to clients, is where do you cast?
Speaker 2 (00:26:55):
Um, like I say, I, we've got a really, really shallow beach with subtle trough. Um, so sometimes, I mean, like yesterday I was out and I knew where the trough was gonna be. I know that I'm catching, I can catch fish within that first 50 feet, not even 50 yards, 50 feet off the beach. I could pull in a cooler full of whiting. And if we're having a big day, or it's the fall, I do that for an hour and we're catching red fish tonight, you know? Yeah. Um, and then at low tide, you, you just send it, you look for where the waves are trying to toss up that stuff you, you know, and then put it there. Get one out farther, get one in nice and close, figure it out where it's at because there's not much structure change. Once you get out past our first bar, it's pretty flat. You really gotta like drop it with a drone or send the hell out of it. Um, but at high Tide, man, I just, I find those guts. I put one past it, put one in the rip, and I put one in the, in the gut. And then wherever that's working, I set three of them there and I still got one out there.
Speaker 1 (00:28:04):
Yeah. See, that's the smart stuff. That's something too that people, I, I think new people, I, I wanna say new anglers really. Uh, and you know, someone season ones too, that when Long Beach is like that and that little itty bitty, I mean, we're talking two to three inches, just that little drop that's a highway man. They are just gonna cruise that thing.
Speaker 2 (00:28:26):
Yeah. I've, I've had a couple of clients that wanted to come and they weren't so worried about catching fish as they were about learning the sport. Oh, that's nice. Right. That's a really, I mean, it's still a long day, but it's, it's a lot less pressure. And I'll take these guys at low tide and we'll go get down in the deep tide pool where the kids are playing and we'll get on our hands and knees and we'll look to the side and I'll be like, now what do you think's gonna happen when there's eight feet of water on top of this? Mm-Hmm. . And it doesn't seem that way when you're standing at five to six feet above the water. But when you're down there and you can see that there's a solid two foot difference between the bar and then where three foot sometimes to where the high water line's gonna be, it's a, it's kind of a no brainer. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:29:09):
It's easy, easy. Pickens on that one. Well, we talked a little bit about it, you mentioned it too. Let's talk about tides and moon phases. How does that kind of affect your fishing out there? And what are some of the best times to fish based on those factors?
Speaker 2 (00:29:24):
Um, the tides, I mean, the best times I've found are, for me personally, I like a, i I like to find a high tide in the morning, right about dawn. That's my, that's my golden hour is a high tide. Um, where I can get that, the end of that rise. And then that fall right around dawn, I get out there safe light fish for about an hour, hour and a half. It starts to fall. And I'm catching the, the most movement both ways, coming in and out of there. When the fish start chilling, I stop and I sit my coffee and then I get back at it when they get back at it. Um, but as far as tides here, they can, they're, they're an hour behind every day. So you really gotta plan that. Um, and we have two, like, you guys are so lucky. ,
Speaker 1 (00:30:14):
We are spoiled , we have two.
Speaker 2 (00:30:16):
And they can be anywhere from five feet to eight feet. Um, and on those eight foot days, you just, you gotta be ready for it. 'cause that's a lot of water. There's not much beach left. And then when it starts to fall out, that's a lot of water moving. So that's a, you know, you gotta gear your, switch your gear for those current levels.
Speaker 1 (00:30:39):
Mm-Hmm. simple knowledge. There are people, simple tip, just know . It's, yeah. Half the knowledge. Um, well you started talking earlier, we talked about rigs and you talked about being, you know, available to a just fire. Now let, tell me about the rig setups you use. 'cause I know you're not just out there double dropping, I know you're using others. What is your primary, uh, what, what is your primary go-to use?
Speaker 2 (00:31:02):
Uh, my primary is gonna be the, the high lows and the, um, fish fighters with Sputnik sinkers. Uh, those are, those are pretty much my go-tos. If, if I'm lucky enough to have a beach that isn't crowded with a bunch of swimmers, then I'll probably throw on the egg sinker and do the classic Carolina rig set up just to cover some ground. Um, that, that's, you know, that's pretty much it. I, as far as my go-to stuff, I like throwing spoons and plugs, top waters and all that. When I'm just, you know, having a day off, no agenda, walking the beach, I'm literally, I'll walk a couple miles doing this all day. That's
Speaker 1 (00:31:43):
Fun stuff, man.
Speaker 2 (00:31:45):
I'm blowing up and just pitch at it like a fiend. doesn't pan out. It doesn't pan out. Um, yeah, the, I'd say the high low rigs are, are my primary go-to, and then, uh, the fish finder is for the, the bigger guys.
Speaker 1 (00:31:59):
Okay. Yeah. Fish finder. Fish finder does some good stuff. It really does. I think it's an underrated rig.
Speaker 2 (00:32:07):
Oh yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1 (00:32:09):
Uh, what would, what are some effective bait and lure choices for surf fishing in that area? And and how do different bait types attract different species for you?
Speaker 2 (00:32:20):
Um, sand flea has been the best for me. Sand flea, uh, fish bites, uh, right. Real sand fleas. They even inshore, I don't know if anybody does a lot of inshore fishing that's listening. I've thrown some sand flea fish bites on some inshore and gotten torn up on some sheep peas.
Speaker 1 (00:32:40):
Oh yes. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:32:42):
Yes. They love it. Um, and shrimp is just, shrimp's just a go-to everything. Eats shrimp, you know, I, I I've caught mountain trout with shrimp.
Speaker 1 (00:32:53):
Really? . Yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:32:53):
Everything. It's surprised. Everything eats shrimp. That's another little gem. Get some salad shrimp from Kroger and go fish up in the mountains. You'll catch
Speaker 1 (00:33:03):
. You're welcome Kroger. You are welcome.
Speaker 2 (00:33:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:33:07):
. Okay. What are some essential gear and tackle needs for a successful surf fishing trip? And how can anglers choose the right equipment for their needs?
Speaker 2 (00:33:17):
Um, you just gotta, you really gotta know where you're fishing, man. And um, like here when I was working at the tackle shop, everybody'd come in and they'd be like, well, what size weight do I need? And I'd be like, minimum three ounces. And they'd be like, whoa, three ounces. It's like, well this ain't Indiana. Uh, certainly not the golf . Like we, we, you need this minimum on a beautiful day picture. Perfect, perfect world, three ounces will hold you. And that's a pyramid I don't throw, I typically don't throw anything less than a four ounce pyramid personally because I like to have a nice bend in the rod. But sputniks are the, are the go-to four ounce sputnik is what I put on even my smallest rigs. Just because the wind will blow be blowing this way. And you got the current going this way. It, it holds you. I mean, I've had sputniks hold in 30 mile an hour winds where I didn't see another soul on the beach. 'cause it looked like the start of a hurricane . But I got my Sputnik out there and a nice bend in my rod. And when you see how effective they can be, it's kind of hard to go back.
Speaker 1 (00:34:25):
Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:34:27):
You know, and then, uh, we don't have the clearest water, so save yourself some money by mono, it's in our color water. It still disappears.
Speaker 1 (00:34:38):
That's something I think it, there's only been a handful of people on the east coast that have said this. And I love that you said that because in reality you don't have to get cute in dark water. No, you don't.
Speaker 2 (00:34:50):
No, I don't care.
Speaker 1 (00:34:51):
They won't say, won't see it.
Speaker 2 (00:34:53):
I've caught so many Pompano on like 30 pound mono rigs where that's probably not gonna happen in the blue water where you guys are at. 'cause they're gonna see it.
Speaker 1 (00:35:04):
Oh, well, okay. Oh, you mean,
Speaker 2 (00:35:08):
Well,
Speaker 1 (00:35:10):
I mean, I'm not saying that I've thrown 30. So I I've my rigs before, uh, and I was still successful. 30 pound mono, uh, with, yeah. I throw it out there right off the braid, drop her down. Pompano would smash it. Nice. I, I don't know why, but I have that weird mentality and I, I, again, I'm no pro, I'm just Brian. Yeah. It's just me. Um, but I throw out, I've had for the longest time, 30 pound mono and fluoro double drop rigs that I tied on my own, uh, with big old floats and a whole bunch of stuff on clear water days. And guess what? Still catching. Yep. So, I don't know, man, I I, I have a hard time buying into the game right now. I still have hard time buying into the, they see the line, they're gonna get it. It's like it's a fish
Speaker 2 (00:35:57):
Dude.
Speaker 1 (00:35:58):
It's not a genius.
Speaker 2 (00:35:59):
They're hungry. I, I've been around fishing enough that at the end of the day, if they want to eat by God, they're gonna eat. Oh, absolutely. That's it. I mean, we've all seen these videos of fish coming up and staring right at the bait, right at the float on a floral line. If if they're not hungry, they're not going to eat it.
Speaker 1 (00:36:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:36:18):
Pretty basic.
Speaker 1 (00:36:20):
Yeah. That's, uh, Justin and I actually from Justin Reed fishing, we were actually just talking about that the other day was the, when the, they're like, uh, they'll eat the float. Like Yeah. And the run. Yeah, the run. Why is everybody catching stuff on the run? Because they're hauling and they're only gonna stop and feed as they go. I mean, they're burning energy. They're just a creature. They're go, if they, if we're hungry, what are we gonna do? We're gonna stop at the drive through and get food. What do you think the fish are gonna do? Yeah. That looks crap. You know? Yeah. They get pulled in. It's like, it's just part of the game.
Speaker 2 (00:36:51):
Yeah. It's, well, I mean, you throw a ball for even your dog, you throw a ball for your dog, you think he's gonna stop slowly and then pick up the ball? No, he is gonna, he's, and like every dog does, he's gonna run and try to pick it up on the hop and probably tumble a little bit. But, but he's not stopping. He's, there's, there's a target you gotta attack and the fish attacks.
Speaker 1 (00:37:10):
It, it the other side of that too. And you've seen this and well, hell, we all have, when you have to get into the finer part of fishing in the harder time of the seasons, the winter, the dead summer, you know, when it's too hot or too cold, you know, fish are gonna be in that situation. Yes. You do have to get creative and you probably need to downsize. Yeah, for
Speaker 2 (00:37:26):
Sure.
Speaker 1 (00:37:27):
But mean regular mid-season game, go out there and throw, don't, don't throw the crap
Speaker 2 (00:37:34):
And get it wet. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:37:34):
Don't throw the metal rigs that you get at Walmart. Don't get me wrong. Don't throw that crap. Hate that reflection's not gonna help you.
Speaker 2 (00:37:40):
I hate those so bad, man. If I had a nickel for every time I saw somebody come up and ask me, Hey man, how are you catching so much fish? This's is what I'm using. I, I'd reach in my bag, grab one of my rigs and be like, throw that thing away
Speaker 1 (00:37:52):
Here.
Speaker 2 (00:37:52):
Yes. Throw it away. Oh man, what do I owe you? Nothing. Just catch a fish, dude.
Speaker 1 (00:37:57):
and just catch a fish. That's so many of us are like that. It's like, uh, here, just, just take this. It will make a difference. 'cause And you'd think after all, I mean I have smashed Walmart so many times on this podcast for that and numerous the guests have as well. You would think one of them would realize, hey, yeah. I mean I know we're making money on this, but this stuff sucks. Yeah. Why don't we move to something different? Well,
Speaker 2 (00:38:22):
I actually not, I'm not gonna name him 'cause I don't wanna slam 'em, but I started making my rigs and I took 'em to a specific tackle shop that it, you could tell when the, when the employees don't fish. Mm-Hmm. that kind of place. And I brought 'em in there and it was like, these are, you know, 30 pound mono, two odd circle hooks. They're beautiful tried and true. I've used them myself. You guys should sell these. I'll even give you a great discount 'cause I just wanna get my name out there for it. I'll give you 15 of them for free. Call me when they sell. He's like, oh no, we just give him these metal ones. Everybody gets bit off. I was like, whoa. It's because you're telling 'em to put chunks of mullet on a double drop rig. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:39:01):
What do you
Speaker 2 (00:39:02):
Do? You fish like, okay. I don't, I don't know if I want my rigs in this shop anymore. And I just, just like, I'll be back when I need some frozen mullet.
Speaker 1 (00:39:11):
Okay. If you're throwing out chunky baits, you're gonna get toothy critters. Yeah,
Speaker 2 (00:39:16):
Exactly. They're like, whoa, there's too many sharks. You don't catch anything but sharks and stingrays. I'm like, well that's 'cause you're telling 'em to use squid.
Speaker 1 (00:39:23):
Oh squid love those things, man. Yeah. I
Speaker 2 (00:39:26):
Was like, well maybe tell 'em to use some shrimp or some sand fleas and hide the metal. It might be a little more successful.
Speaker 1 (00:39:34):
Yeah. I use anything squid related at the beach. I'm almost guaranteeing I'm hooking a array. Yeah. Almost guaranteeing it's gonna happen. Yeah. things. I love the flappy flappies, but I don't like unhooking flappy flappies with the sharp Barbie barb. Yeah. Right. Not a fan. Yeah. . Oh man. We got a little off topic there. As usual. I squirreled a DD. Yeah. Yep. That's the story of my life. Uh, okay. Let's nail a couple of last ones here and we'll get you into the guide business. What do you do when you go fishing in a brand new place you've never been before?
Speaker 2 (00:40:10):
Uh, as much homework as I can. I, I like to go to the tackle shop, uh, before I go there. I'm on the forums, I'm on the Facebook groups and I, you know, I'm, I'm not mining information. I'm trying to sponge up information so I'm not out. I'm not gonna be that guy that everybody hates. It's like, Hey, I'm coming in town. How do I catch fish while I'm here? It's like, no dude. Scroll down. So that's what I do is I'll scroll down, I'll read the phishing reports and then I'll read the comments. 'cause a lot of guys won't put all the information in the post until somebody asks the right question. Mm-Hmm. 50 comments down, or it's their buddy and they drop the, there's the gem right there.
Speaker 1 (00:40:49):
Yes. .
Speaker 2 (00:40:50):
Now I'm in. Um, and then tackle shops, man. Go to the tackle shop, ask the right questions. Don't go there and get a $4 tub of bait and expect them to put you on fish.
Speaker 1 (00:41:02):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:41:03):
You know, uh, as a tackle, as a former tackle shop manager, I can tell you that's a good way to get bad information.
Speaker 1 (00:41:09):
. That's actually pretty funny. Um, okay, keep moving. How do you justify your tactics when the bite isn't on fire?
Speaker 2 (00:41:20):
I throw everything but the kitchen sink, man, I, I start rummaging through that file cabinet in my head. Why, why isn't this working? Okay, if, if this tactic isn't working, where ha what have I done in the past to pivot? Um, and then I do that. You know, like I say, fish are fish man. They want structure. They want food and they don't want to get eaten. .
Speaker 1 (00:41:45):
Yes. I just can't. That's getting a marker that's going on the reel. . Oh. Um, how do anglers or how can anglers target specific fish species in the surf? And what are some tactics for catching popular fish?
Speaker 2 (00:42:05):
Um, well, you know, if you want to catch those first trough fish, this table fair fish, the whiting, the Pompano don't be throwing four odd hooks. Yeah. I mean, you have to know your species. Um, you, you know, deep in the season, you can catch a red fish on top water. If you're trying hard, you can catch 'em in the middle of the water column. But what you need to understand is that's fish generally as a species is rooting around in the bottom like a hog. And that's where their mouth is. It's on the bottom so that they can root around. And the same with whiting. They're typically swimming in the water column like this because of where their mouth is. And they've got a really tiny mouth. Same with po you know, pompanos got a really tiny mouth. So if you're, unless you're going after the big, big ones, just know your species. You gotta, you gotta know what you're going for. And if you're putting big, you know, half a stingray out there hoping to catch your red fish, get ready for a shark.
Speaker 1 (00:42:59):
Yeah. Oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:43:00):
like, and you know, I tell people all the time they come down, they want to get those, you know, the seven foot pole and throw squid and mullet on there. It's like, dude, you're gonna break your bass pole, man, I'm just telling you, if you do this consistently, you're gonna break your equipment and it's gonna suck. Like, well, how do you know? I'm like, well do you think that that thing is, that thing might be great for seven pound bass fight of your life? But what happens when a off 30 pound Stingray wants that little piece of shrimp? And they do.
Speaker 1 (00:43:32):
Oh
Speaker 2 (00:43:32):
They do often. Now you've got a broken rod and no lying and you're crying.
Speaker 1 (00:43:42):
Oh yes, you are
Speaker 2 (00:43:44):
. Okay. And I've, I've seen it happen many times where it's like, dude, that gear's not strong enough. I'm not trying to sell you stuff. But that's, don't take that to the beach man. 'cause you either break it, throw in the amount of weight you need to hold your bait where it is or something angry is gonna break it.
Speaker 1 (00:44:01):
Yeah. It's not,
Speaker 2 (00:44:02):
It's not gonna work long.
Speaker 1 (00:44:03):
You gotta know what you get. You, I subscribe to that mentality. Be overkill on what you may need because you never know what you're gonna hit at the water. I mean, the ocean is a monster. Yeah. And there are monsters in it.
Speaker 2 (00:44:14):
Yeah. We call it me and my buddies call it forced Gump fishing because you never know what you're gonna get.
Speaker 1 (00:44:20):
. Exactly. Well it's been 44. Let's knock out a paycheck and then we'll continue on here. 'cause this is, I'm, I'm having a ton of fun. I truly am. Man.
Speaker 1 (00:44:36):
This paycheck is being brought to you by Kids Can Fish head on over to the website. Kids can fish.net and take a look at all the great things that they're doing here. You can see through the website, they've got all the information right here. They are a state and federal recognized 5 0 1 C3 charitable foundation. All the camps and clinics all get funded back into the organization to help these kids go out and go fish. If you also want information on the running of the Bulls tournament, it'll be updated right here up on top. And if you want to learn more about the entire team, you can take a look at the pro staff links and learn all about Caroline, their partners, how to get in touch with them. And the photo gallery is always great. If you'd like to help them further, you can do one more.
Speaker 1 (00:45:15):
You can go over to Promar Ahi and take a look at that website and you can buy into the cast net. This is the specialized one. This is the one that you hear a lot about. Caroline has talked a lot about it. And a per uh, portion of the proceeds go back into Kids Can Fish. They have the three foot, the four foot and the five foot. All these things are great and it all, again, it all goes back into the Kids Can Fish Foundation to help these kids continue to do great things with these camps. Keep your ears open 'cause there's gonna be a lot more things coming from them. It's always great and always great to be a part of it. Well, you have the seasons. We talked a little bit about that starting into it here. So let's talk about that. Are there any unique challenges or tips for surf during the different seasons, such as winter fishing or summer?
Speaker 2 (00:46:02):
Uh, yes. Summer fishing. It can be tough. It could be really tough here. Uh, and it's not so it, it's about equally the people and the weather. Um, you know, our waters get real hot and a lot of those high, higher temperature fish don't tend to come up this high. Um, so you really gotta be, want to get after it. And then once the water does get that warm, you gotta try to gear away from sharks. 'cause even though it's bycatch, it's, it's a tough battle to try to say you weren't targeting it when there's 80 cameras behind you and everybody's got an opinion on the other side of that camera. Um, but then, you know, once it, once it starts to get cold here, it gets cold quick. So winter's pretty much dead. You know, all us surf guys, we tend to go inshore for that. Um, and then, you know, March, March is my favorite month. I gotta say Patrick's Day, my birthday and the fishing opens up . Um, so yeah, I'd say middle of December, usually Thanksgiving is when I start to hang it up and don't really run any more trips 'cause it's, it's just a lot of work. I'll still go fish myself. But to consistently be productive, I'd feel guilty trying to take somebody's money that type of year. And I'm, I don't even go out January, February. It's, it's being a glutton for punishment at that point.
Speaker 1 (00:47:26):
You still get real winter there. I remember it, it still gets
Speaker 2 (00:47:29):
Cold snowed a couple years ago.
Speaker 1 (00:47:32):
Oh God. I remember. People don't think they're like, there's no way it's gonna snow like that in South Carolina. It does. Even by the coast.
Speaker 2 (00:47:39):
And the crazy thing is it was like an inch that stuck, but there's no infrastructure for that. So everything shut, shut down.
Speaker 1 (00:47:45):
It's
Speaker 2 (00:47:45):
A ghost town, man. No milk, no eggs, none of that .
Speaker 1 (00:47:50):
Oh, it's so bad.
Speaker 2 (00:47:51):
I think it last, I think it was on the ground for maybe eight hours
Speaker 1 (00:47:55):
If that pandemonium. Yeah,
Speaker 2 (00:47:57):
It was, it was a laugh, man.
Speaker 1 (00:47:59):
. Oh, all right. Let's move into your business. Let's move into the guiding. What got you into guiding?
Speaker 2 (00:48:05):
Um, like I say, man, I just, I, I've always been into fishing. I've, I, I like to out try to outsmart mother nature and I got, I figured out I was pretty good at surf fishing and I'd, you know, run out of people to fish with, don't wanna fish with nobody, strangers. So, hey man, you wanna go fishing? Let's go fishing. And I'd take a buddy fishing and they, we would catch and have a great day and then he'd be like, yo, dude, we need, you need to come fishing with us. And I, we'd bring another buddy. Before I knew it, it was four buddies out there fishing, listening to what I say, I'm a knucklehead, but they were listening and it was working. And then my one buddy was like, Hey, my dad's coming in town for my brother's wedding and everybody wants to go fishing.
Speaker 2 (00:48:45):
So I was like, yeah, come on man, we'll go. And at the end of the day, his dad's like, what do I owe you dude? I was like, never even dawned on me that I can make money doing this. I was like, , I, I don't know man, but whatever you think's fair. And he slid me 200 bucks. He's like, thanks dude, can I see you next year? I was like, sure can. Yes, absolutely, yes you can. Um, and then somebody came into the tackle shop while I was working there and was like, Hey, you know, I got my kid here. Can, can we go fishing? I was like, yeah, sure, why not? Same thing happened. I was like, I'll teach your kid how to surf fish at the end of the day. He's trying to slide me a couple hundred bucks. And I was like, okay, might be something on to this.
Speaker 2 (00:49:25):
And it's just, you know, it was one of those, you, you gotta jump into the deep end if you're really gonna learn how to swim. And I was just like, this is something I want to try to do. Um, you know, I I feel like I could do it. I've, I've got proof of concept apparently. Um, so I just went about doing it the right way. I got my town license, I got my, all my business licensing done, insurance, all the wazoo, the website, just taking people fishing, man, enjoying, spreading the love of the sport.
Speaker 1 (00:49:55):
Good deal. Love it. Love it. Uh, what sets surf fishing charters apart from other types of fishing charters and what kind of fishing experience do you aim to provide for the clients?
Speaker 2 (00:50:06):
Um, like I, like I had mentioned earlier, uh, I, I, I can run a range of different trips man. I, I run a day trip, which is, you know, basically more geared toward the younger kids, the less experienced fishermen that wouldn't handle, Hey man, don't touch that or get your hands off that or let me do it. It's more of like a, a, a learning, like a a day at the beach where we're gonna catch fish, might throw the cast net, you know, do a lot of teaching, explaining things. Um, and then, you know, I run my fun fish trips where it's like, alright boys, game time, we're gonna drop the hammer on some big fish. And we're out there and I, you know, I, I'll, I'll spend, you know, 30 45 minutes teaching guys how to cast if that's what they want. But we're, we're putting lines out. Uh, you know, if you want, if you want me to risk my equipment, I'll bring the drone. Um, it's, I think I got, I think the coffee's working. Um, yeah. So what was the question?
Speaker 1 (00:51:08):
Yeah, , you're right on point. You're good. . Alright.
Speaker 2 (00:51:12):
Um, yeah. And then I, I, I run other trips where, you know, some guys are like, I'm not worried about catching fish. I wanna learn how to catch fish. Which is, as, as we all know, is a completely different day at the beach. Sometimes we might not even get the line wet. If we go at low tide and I'm teaching 'em how to spot the beach, I'll spend the 45 minutes, we'll go to the high water line and we'll practice tossing into a puddle with no hooks on it, just to explain that this is how I do it. So I hope to see you again. But if I don't, it means I did a good job today.
Speaker 1 (00:51:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:51:48):
And now you're out there fishing on your own.
Speaker 1 (00:51:50):
. So what are some of the primary fish species that do you guys target on your charters?
Speaker 2 (00:51:57):
Um, it's gonna be the whi in the Pompano, the red fish. You know, just the, the primary stuff that we've got available. You know, if we're having a really slow day, I'll throw some squid out there.
Speaker 1 (00:52:10):
.
Speaker 2 (00:52:12):
Yeah. Get that, get that tug of the drug, man. I mean, it might not be a keeper fish, but, you know, we forget that sometimes we get so numb to the, the stingrays and the catfish that a lot of these people from like Idaho have never even seen a stingray. Much less caught one. Yeah. And then that's another learning experience of, Hey, you know, Steve Irwin died by this. Oh, don't touch it. Don't get near it. It's like, no, the only dangerous part is about this big. Yep. And it's right there. Grab its tail, flip him over and you could, you could reach in his mouth. They don't have teeth. And you would be surprised how many people are just dumbfounded. 'cause they thought it was such a dangerous thing. It can be if you do it wrong. Yeah. But now, next time you and your kid go fishing and you catch a stingray, you're not yelling down the beach for somebody to come help you. You're flipping it over and you're getting it back in the water like it should be.
Speaker 1 (00:53:02):
Mm-Hmm. We, we as anglers on the coasts, I think we're spoiled because, you know, we catch a catfish and we're like, uh, right. That, that guy from Missouri that came down to fish with you, he's like, dude, catfish, you know, they love catfish. Dude, there's
Speaker 2 (00:53:19):
Catfish out here. If I had a nickel every time that I had to put on a smile about a catfish, man
Speaker 1 (00:53:25):
Like,
Speaker 2 (00:53:26):
Oh wow. Great catch. Yeah. And then, then I set my watch because 10 minutes from there, I'm gonna fake. Like, we need to move. Yeah. , I don't wanna do, I don't wanna catch catfish all day.
Speaker 1 (00:53:36):
No. But, and, and there are, you know, people will just, people that come down to fish, they're catching fish, they're happy. But we are so mentally checked out of that of like, oh great, it's a trash fish. You know, all these ones, you nailed it. The stingray, somebody's never seen one. That's a huge win. That's a core memory for them. And it's going to be with them. They
Speaker 2 (00:53:54):
Fight well. It's a good fight.
Speaker 1 (00:53:57):
Yeah. And some of them, I mean, I've had fresh water or I've had salt water catfish. And if I had to choose between a saltwater cat and a freshwater cat, I will eat a saltwater cat three times over.
Speaker 2 (00:54:09):
Oh really?
Speaker 1 (00:54:10):
Oh. So yeah, it was the, so I did this on purpose. I might have to
Speaker 2 (00:54:13):
Go to a different state and try that. 'cause we can't do that here. Mm.
Speaker 1 (00:54:17):
It was weird. So I got called out by a guy that, you know, Jacob, Jacob who was on the show. Um, he was like, oh, if you next catch fish, you know, catfish, you catch, you gotta eat it. I'm like, fine. I catch one over 12, I'll eat it. And sure enough, you caught a 15. I was like, all right. I said, I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna do it. Dude. I threw that thing down on the frigging on the flat top, no seasoning. Just straight cooked it. And I was like, all right, let's see what happens. Didn't taste bad. Barely even had a fishy flavor. The only thing I was mad about was the fact that the file, well one, cleaning it. 'cause you don't get a ton of meat for that work. Which I'll too off about . But the thing was about that's probably, um, alright, do real math, not guy math.
Speaker 1 (00:55:01):
That's probably like, you know, nine inches of cat and the thing shriveled down. I was like, oh, what the hell? Like, it just completely shrunk. I'm like, this sucks. Um, but it tasted fine and I seasoned up another one tasted just fine. Would, would I eat it? Yeah, I'd eat it all day. I wouldn't even be upset about it. Now, a freshwater cat, no Uhuh tastes grubby to me. I'm sorry for those of you that love it. That's just not, I, maybe I've had it bad. I sure. But I just, yeah. If I, if
Speaker 2 (00:55:27):
I'm a freshwater cat fish, you really gotta fry the hell out of it. Mm-Hmm. .
Speaker 1 (00:55:30):
Yeah. That's a zombie apocalypse fish for me. Thanks for the surf. I'd eat that out.
Speaker 2 (00:55:35):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (00:55:36):
I need that on Monday. I don't care. Uh, what is your favorite thing about running a charter?
Speaker 2 (00:55:42):
Just the, the faces, the smiles, the wows. You know, just seeing pe the light turn on in people's head when you explain something that to us is like common knowledge or when you're explaining wave dynamics and how to, how to read the beach when the water's up. Um, you know, to somebody who's a physicist or understands wave dynamics, it's pretty basic. But to somebody, like we were saying, Missouri, Indiana, somebody who's never been to the ocean, they don't understand that much less, sometimes even tides, they don't get it. Um, and just to see people start to put things together and connect the dots. Fellow fishermen, I'm like, oh. 'cause sometimes I, I, when I explain doing recon, for instance, I'll tell bass fishermen like, man, you know your favorite bass pond or every time you go to a new bass pond, don't you wish that you could just drain that thing like 10 feet and see where all the good stuff is, man? And they're like, oh my God, that'd be perfect. I'm like, yeah, I bet you spend a thousand dollars on a live scope and a side view, don't you? Yeah, man, it's great. I'm like, well, the mother nature does that for me twice a day. Yep.
Speaker 1 (00:56:46):
and that,
Speaker 2 (00:56:50):
That's usually when the light goes on and they're like, oh, I get it. That's, I was like, we don't have stumps. We don't have logs, we don't have laydowns. We have these tide pools. So go out here in the morning, bring your kids and wherever they're playing in the tide pool, don't let them be at a high tide because that's where your bait's gonna be.
Speaker 1 (00:57:06):
Mm-Hmm. , that's great advice. I like the analogy. That's a good piece. Hmm. Hmm. Okay. No, that's mentally noted. Uh, can you share some memorable success stories from clients who have had remarkable experiences and catches during your chowder?
Speaker 2 (00:57:23):
Uh, yeah. One of my favorites actually is a friend of mine had hit me up saying that her brother and dad were gonna be in town. And, um, that her brother's really shy, he's an athlete and blah, blah, blah. I was like, okay, cool, I'll take him out. They booked the trip. We go out there, come to find out he is, and I'm not gonna, I don't wanna name drop him, but he's on the US freestyle big hills ski jump thing.
Speaker 1 (00:57:49):
Oh wow, okay. Yeah. Like
Speaker 2 (00:57:52):
Kind of a, kind of a big name and doing crazy stuff. And this guy, this kid was like, it was early. He didn't want to talk. He was being real sheepish, had the headphones on. And you know, I'm, I'm like, all right, I get it. You're too cool for school. You're catching the first fish. We throw it out there right off the rip at, at the creek spot I was telling you about right off the rip, nice stud speckled trout. This kid started talking. He started being all over the place. Hey, can I help? Let's get a line back out there. Do, do you want me to throw this out there? 'cause you know, I, I see you're Reba, but I, I think I could do this. And it was a complete change. Um, and I, that's, that's my favorite is when that happens because it's like, next kid, this kid really didn't wanna be there at seven o'clock in the morning, but by eight 30 he was like, yeah, go sit down dad. I got this like, thanks dad, but we don't need you anymore. Um, and that, and you know, he ended up catching a, a five foot shark that day and take it. It was, it was a real, that was one of my favorites. 'cause that I, I worked hard to turn that turn that attitude around. And it, and it definitely paid off.
Speaker 1 (00:59:03):
Sounds like it. Yeah. That was fun. Uh, when it comes to, this is actually, that ties in nicely to this. What advice would you give to individuals considering a surfacing charter for the very first time to make the most of the experience and recommendations that you say, Hey, don't forget to bring this stuff, but I've got, got you covered with all this.
Speaker 2 (00:59:23):
Um, in, in general or with me personally?
Speaker 1 (00:59:27):
Uh, I guess you could go general. I mean basically from your side of the charter one. Yeah. Basically talk about how you're call getting with the client set up.
Speaker 2 (00:59:35):
Um, I, I'll gear bait and tackle is provided by me. Um, I bring a couple of backup waters, but I usually tell people, if you're gonna want a chair, bring a chair. You know, you can get one for 20 bucks at Walmart. Obviously you need a saltwater fishing license. That's a must, uh, per my town agreement. Which I side note, I am the only town sanctioned surf fishing guide here. I'm the only one legally allowed to do this for money. Um, but I, you know, you gotta have that, the license. If you wanna sit down, you gotta bring a chair. 'cause I can't, 500 pounds of is not happening . Um, but I'll bring everything else. If you want snacks, you gotta bring your snacks. I I recommend bringing some water 'cause it can get hot depending on the time of year. I always do have, um, some backup waters, some, you know, electrolytes just in case somebody needs it.
Speaker 2 (01:00:29):
Uh, CPR certified. So you don't have to worry about that. I got you. Um, and then, you know, just a winning attitude and the understanding that they call it fishing and not catching for a reason. I'm gonna do everything in my power to make it fi to make it catching. But if it's not, I'm also gonna do spend the entire day giving you every piece of information that I've got to make it so that the next time you go or next time we go, you'll have an understanding. It'll be smoother. And if you go by yourself, then you've got all of my knowledge that I could give you in this four hours to be productive.
Speaker 1 (01:01:06):
Nice. I like that. So you're rocking, you're rocking the education piece along with the charter as well. You're not just, it's not just, Hey, I'm gonna do all this. You're helping them learn for future.
Speaker 2 (01:01:15):
Oh yeah. I mean, like I say, I've got a DD really bad and I, I can't listen to somebody tell me to do something. I have to hear it and watch it. So as I'm baiting my hooks, as I'm tying my knots, I, I'm not gonna tell you all day how I'm tying my knot, but it's gonna be, Hey Brian, come over here. I wanna show you this. And then I'm gonna go through here and then I'm gonna go back through it here again so that it double knots at time. I nod, I sling my rig. Smart. And then I, you know, and it's, it's, it's piece by piece. So that way there's not really a dull moment. Um, I'll, I'll even go as far as to explain why I'm hooking the mullet where I'm hooking the mullet.
Speaker 1 (01:01:53):
That's good.
Speaker 2 (01:01:53):
Some people don't understand that you need to hook it a certain way because it needs to look a certain way when the current's blowing, you
Speaker 1 (01:01:59):
Know, dude, I still screw that up. , you were gonna say something and I cut you off. I'm sorry.
Speaker 2 (01:02:08):
Oh no. It's just, you know, people don't know what they don't know. So I try to give them everything I know. And if, if I start running outta stuff, I'm like, do you got any questions? Try, try to stump me, please. ,
Speaker 1 (01:02:22):
Uh, we've been going for an hour now. Let's get the last paycheck knocked out 'cause we got a few more questions and we'll get you outta here for the day. 'cause Cool, deal
Speaker 2 (01:02:28):
Been good deal. I I'll be hitting the beach right after this. Lucky God. You're lucky
Speaker 1 (01:02:32):
. All right, here we go.
Speaker 1 (01:02:41):
This paycheck is being brought to you by the sinker guy. Y'all know. I love it. Go over to the sinker guy.com and take a look at everything that chip's got going on in the Sinker Guy garage. Lots of fun stuff in this website, y'all. I mean, you can get lost in it really. If you gotta take a look, you just, uh, get right to the homepage here. It's got a little couple of things to talk about, but we go into the good stuff. We get into the garage and into the shop. Neat sinkers, it's in his name. It's got you covered there. The Bruno rig, the Uno rig, and the Fishing mortician rig. We all love those. But if you need other supporting gear, he's got you covered with that. Bait, floats, oh, fishing line. So many different things. Any kind of other supporting gear, there's a lot on the website. So again, go over to the sinker guide.com, take a look, get your order in today. Extremely fast shipping, superb customer service. And chip's gonna make sure you're taking care of every time. That's just how he does it. Sinker guide.com. Get your order into, uh, well, well, yeah, I guess this is the better question. What is your service area?
Speaker 2 (01:03:41):
Um, Hilton Head, uh, go up to Hunting Island. Um, I'd, I'd like to be able to expand more, but with the amount of people that we have come here, uh, there's just the pool of clients is, there's just so many people that come here, um, that I, I really don't have time to branch out super far. Now some people, you know, want me to meet them right outside of their condo right on the beach. They don't really care. They don't wanna move. They just wanna walk outside and go fishing. I can make that happen. If it means I gotta walk a mile, uh, I'll be there. I'll be right there. And then I've got other people that are like, Hey man, I really wanna catch fish. Where should we go? I'll meet you. Then I've got other people that's like, dude, I don't wanna be around anybody.
Speaker 2 (01:04:26):
I I want to go fishing and I'll put 'em in the truck and we'll go up to Hunting Island and I'll pay to get in the park and we'll make a whole day of it. Um, but you know, as far as like a service area, I'm not branching out too far just yet. Um, 'cause like I say, it's, there's so many people coming here that, and I'm the only one doing it on the island that I'm pretty locked in with where I'm at. I don't need to have much of a service area and I'm thankful for that.
Speaker 1 (01:04:54):
Okay, good, good. All right. I like that. How can, uh, actually let's do this. What have been some very valuable lessons learned after running and starting this or starting and running this charter business?
Speaker 2 (01:05:10):
Um, well the big one when I first started was if I'm not fishing, I'm not catching, if I'm not not catching, I'm not a, I'm not being a good guide. Um, you know, it, it's, it's a constant level of advertisement. You know, you, you, if you, if I'm not catching Phish and talking about the Phish I caught, whether or not it's a surf report with no photos or a full edited video, then it's all just lip service. Um, and that was one of the things that I had to really dial in on when I started this was do I still want to be trying to do, do this in my spare time while I'm spending eight hours in this cabin trying to sell rigs? No, I want to be on the beach at every waking moment. And when I actually started, I, I was running Uber, I, I would wake up, I'd go fishing for four hours, I'd Uber for lunch, I'd go right back to the beach and then I'd Uber for dinner. And if I made enough money before the sun went down, I'd go back to the beach again. Um, just to, just to, you know, keep it out there. 'cause nobody wants to see you posted pictures and videos of the fish you caught two years ago and try to say, Hey, I'm still doing this. I know I don't, I want to go with the guy that caught something last week or yesterday.
Speaker 1 (01:06:24):
Mm-Hmm. . Not no one would ever repost a 2-year-old photo.
Speaker 2 (01:06:29):
Right? I mean, ever do that. At least spit it up a little bit, you know, ,
Speaker 1 (01:06:34):
How can listeners find out more information about your surfing, fishing charters and to get in touch with you to book an experience?
Speaker 2 (01:06:41):
Uh, you can find me on Facebook, salty leprechaun surf fishing. Um, go to salty leprechaun.com is my website. Uh, I've also got, speaking of the YouTubes, uh, I'm gonna be picking that up again here shortly. Uh, I got a couple good videos on YouTube that's salty leopard con surf fishing. Um, I, I'm trying to figure out Instagram. I'm starting to feel like a little bit of an old guy 'cause I don't really get it. Um, but I, I'm working into that. I, I will be trying to be a little more active, uh, doing the TikTok. I'm actually gonna try to dive into that this week. So I'll be out there. I got a pretty unique name. Should be able to Google it up
Speaker 1 (01:07:20):
And everything will be linked back on the finding the most surf phishing page. Uh, you'll be able to find that It'll be hyperlinked back on the transistor and also on finding demo moster phishing.com so you guys can all go click on that. It'll take you right to his page. Everything will get linked in there. Alright, so we opened with something here before we move into the closing sections. We opened with a discussion that we, we said, all right, we're gonna get to that one. Hilton Head is a, it's a nice place, but there are a ton, there's just a lot of misinformation about phishing there.
Speaker 2 (01:07:50):
Incredibly a lot amount of coffee. Again, there's a, there's a ton of misinformation and bad knowledge about the fishing here. Ton of it.
Speaker 1 (01:08:03):
Okay. Clear it up for us, man. Bring, bring it home.
Speaker 2 (01:08:06):
All right. So there is a, there's misinformation that you're not allowed to surf fish on our beaches between April and October. That is not true. That does apply. However, for designated swimming areas, which I, there's about five of 'em. It is Alder Lane, kig Beach, folly Field, Dreesen and Islanders Beach Park. Now in those areas, you're not able to throw a Frisbee much less a football or even fish or surf. And because they're designated for people that want to come to the beach and swim and sunbathe. That being said, everywhere else is free game. As long as you're a license, you have a south car, South Carolina license, fish away buddy. Do it to it. 'cause none of it's private land. And another thing that people don't understand is that below the high water line is state waters. You're, if you're below high tide, you're technically in the Atlantic Ocean, which the town does not have jurisdiction over.
Speaker 2 (01:09:10):
Um, but that, that's when you get into starting splitting hairs. Now, as far as shark fishing, um, you're not allowed to target sharks actively target sharks within 400 yards of any piece of land. Um, and there's common misconception and it gets, it, it puts so deeply ingrained here that even the beach patrol in their training is told that if an angler catches a shark, they are by defacto shark fishing. Um, and that's gone all the way up through the town manager. Um, and it actually took me a solid four months of going back and forth and playing phone tag to try to get this guy on the phone so I could get my business license. 'cause every I met a brick wall, every time finally get him on the phone and I say, Hey man, uh, you know, it's, it's me. I know I've come across your desk, glad I finally got you on the phone, but I need to ask you a couple questions about why I'm getting stonewalled.
Speaker 2 (01:10:12):
He's like, oh yeah, sure. You know, if you're, if you catch a shark, you know you're shark fishing. I was like, okay. So using that argument, if I am bass fishing and I catch a bluegill, I am, I now bluegill fishing? Did I, did my whole day change because I caught a blue gill? He's like, oh, no, no, no, you're still bass fishing. I was like, so if I am carp fishing and I catch another species, am I no longer carp fishing? He's like, no, no, no, you're still, I was like, so if I'm catch trying to catch red fish and I catch a shark, does that mean I'm no longer targeting redfish? And it was silent on the other line, . And that's another one of those light bulb moments. I was like, see, it's, I don't want sharks. Why? I I like the fight.
Speaker 2 (01:11:00):
It's fun. Everybody likes it, but they tear up gear, they mess up my hooks. You know, it's, I I had to sell it a certain way of, I don't want to catch the sharks. I'm not targeting them, but they're gonna happen, sir. It's just a fact of the matter. And I release them. I don't, I don't spend a lot of time taking photos. I told my guests, you got 30 seconds. Once that fish hits the beach, have your phone out, I'll tell you, but you got 30 seconds before I'm putting it in the water. I don't care. Um, so I was finally able to get them on board with that and get town approval. Um, but yeah, there's, there's a lot of people around that, that think that it's a no-go here and they couldn't be further from the truth. I've had DNR actually I've had to call DNR for harassment of a fisherman because people were trying to tug on my lines and fight me because I was fishing and I'd been there since daybreak and because it's 10 30 and now they want to use the beach, they're gonna call the cops. Well, the cops have come and, sorry sir, but you don't have the jurisdiction to check me for my license because I'm below the high water line. Um, we could call DNR and they could do it, and I'll be more than happy to play by the rules. But you're misinformed, sir. So is everybody out here? You're misinformed. DNR comes and shut everybody down. It was a, it was beautiful. I wish I had my GoPro going.
Speaker 1 (01:12:24):
Those are the good days though. It's like,
Speaker 2 (01:12:27):
And I have a great relationship with DNR and, and the actual beach, not the beach patrol, but the code enforcement who supersedes beach patrol now will roll up to me in my gear and be like, Hey man, how's it going? Like up dog. I've had four trucks of beach patrol af after I caught that tiger shark we were talking about. I had three red pickup trucks surrounding me like, you're not going anywhere. And here comes the white code enforcement town. Truck pulls up. He's like, buck, what? What are you doing, man? I was like, I I catch, dude, I I don't want this shark. And he, within five minutes, everybody left with a bad attitude. And now me and this guy are smoking a cigarette leaning on his truck, like, a little over zealous here, aren't they?
Speaker 1 (01:13:11):
? Oh, people just wanna see people burn
Speaker 2 (01:13:17):
, man. It, it really is. And uh, and you know, a lot of people don't know that how many sharks are in these waters?
Speaker 1 (01:13:24):
Oh yeah. It's ridiculous.
Speaker 2 (01:13:26):
I've seen my, I've had Coast guard buddies send me videos as they're flying over the beach and there's monsters. I mean, uh, salty savage is catching monsters in Beaufort. You think that they're not town here too. That's, I could throw a rock and hit Beaufort, man. It's like 30 minutes as the bird flies.
Speaker 1 (01:13:44):
Well, and I know this episode hasn't aired by the time as we're talking it airs tomorrow, but I mean, chip
Speaker 2 (01:13:50):
Yeah, chip, let's go. Let's talk about that.
Speaker 1 (01:13:53):
Dude.
Speaker 2 (01:13:54):
He's changed the whole game. Proven that dude, they, he's caught not just seen pings, but caught within three miles of our beach.
Speaker 1 (01:14:03):
Yeah, great wine. So he says, I can tell you about it 'cause Yeah, we, we got time and it'll be air by then. But he's even said he, you know, he gets in the boat goes off and the sherp the beach is within visible. Like you can see people very comfortably and his clients are like, uh, this close. And he is like, huh,
Speaker 2 (01:14:23):
Yeah, yeah. It's like that
Speaker 1 (01:14:24):
that here and he's pulling up a big great white. And they're like, what? I'm like, they are here. This is how it is. And I'm dreading, but I'm also excited for people are gonna go nuts because they're gonna be like, what the hell? He, he's catching great whites. Yes, he is allowed to,
Speaker 2 (01:14:41):
That is probably the most ethical fisherman I have ever heard of. Yes.
Speaker 1 (01:14:46):
And that's the thing. And people are, and it's, again, it goes back to the misinformation and the instantaneous disdain. I mean, I even wrote it up for that, like, a lot of you're gonna be and in reality he's doing it right. Um, yeah,
Speaker 2 (01:14:57):
He was on the, he was on Shark week. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:15:00):
And that was, and that was one of my favorite things we were talking was a lot about, it wasn't about the catch now the catch is cool, don't get me wrong. And getting a class that's cool. I mean, he's one of the few people that can legally do this. But on that same one, all the other science pieces Yeah. He's tagging 'em with the frigging with the radio ones. He's tagging 'em with GPS, the new one that's coming out. The new camera tracker. Oh yeah, dude, I am stupid excited to watch that.
Speaker 2 (01:15:24):
Just, just in the past three years, even five years, we'll call it the, the amount of information that he's added to the study of that species is just astronomical. And it's one dude on a boat.
Speaker 1 (01:15:40):
Yep. And well, the newest one, it's actually been popping up a lot more his first catch. No, I don't think Lee Beth was his first. No, no. His first tagged one. Lee, Beth was a, one of his, well-known, tagged ones that he did. Um, there's somebody that's been tracking it and Lee, Beth is right off of Texas right now, uh, down in, what is that Corpus, I think. Yep.
Speaker 2 (01:16:02):
I saw that post on Facebook. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:16:04):
. I was like, Hmm, that's kind of cool. Um, but all these pieces together with what his knowledge of that, what he did, that shark's been out in the water swimming for a long time. They have the whole migration, they have the depths, they have the, the habits, all that, that can't happen unless you have people like that that are doing this for the science. Because we can't catch shark. We can't catch sharks. We can't or we can't catch great whites. We can't kill 'em. No problem. I have zero issue with that. Yep. On that same note, it goes into the other thought of, okay, you can't kill 'em. They take 35 years before they're can have one kid, which is ridiculous. It's like, that's a slow growth. But yes, there's more of them now. That's great. They're thriving, they're growing, they're all these things are coming together. There's gonna be more of them. That's just how it works. And that's
Speaker 2 (01:16:50):
Okay. And it just goes to show that like, people that wanna knock on chip, you gotta understand the reason he's allowed to do what he does. And it, it falls back to the reason why we are not, you can easily kill that animal. Oh yeah. If you don't do it right. And like you said, now it's not gonna procreate and they get one, they're not putting out a litter of pups. They get one. And if you kill that shark now you've killed two potentially. Yeah. And there's, there's, so it's so easy to mess that up that the backside of that is how much care and planning and attention is paid on chip's part to be able to be sanctioned to do that.
Speaker 1 (01:17:32):
Yeah. And it's not an easy thing. I mean, the Atlantic white Conserv, uh, what is it? Atlantic White Shark Conservancy. Yep. That's the words, uh, all the things that they do for this. That is a huge thing to be able to do that. And, you know. Yeah. And he does. And he takes it so serious and it's great. He's very in tune with it, in tune with the sport, in tune with the people understanding it. He get, for lack of better terms, he gives a. And yeah, it, it's, it was very fun to talk with him about that. But it was so cool to see the other pieces of all the things that he's built that have will live on through him.
Speaker 2 (01:18:07):
I'm on the edge of my seat to watch it, to watch and listen to that. By
Speaker 1 (01:18:10):
The way,
Speaker 2 (01:18:10):
I can't wait for tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (01:18:12):
. It drops the night at midnight. You know, you go whatever. . All right. Let's get you into the closing questions, man. And gets you outta here. What advice would you give to a brand new angler?
Speaker 2 (01:18:24):
Um, do your homework. Be do enough homework to where you're able to switch it up if you need to. Um, know what, know what you gotta target. Know what you're trying to target, target them the right way. Do your homework before you go to New Beach. You know, what do you gotta bring? What should you be looking for? Is there structure? Are you gonna be fishing near rocks? Are you gonna be fishing on a flat beach like I am? These are all gonna involve different tactics. Um, and if you just go out there half cocked , you're not, you're not using the range properly. Um, and then, you know, go to tackle shop, ask the local guys, but, but ask the right way. 'cause like I said, man, that's a good way to get bad info. If you just go in there hungry for information and you're not showing that you actually care, you know, bring your rod in, get it spooled up when you get there. You know, you might, you might need a different line than you thought you did. Take it there, get it spooled up there. And while you're spending that 50 bucks and it's not, you're not spending it at in Tennessee, you're spending it at Bubba's Cabin on Hilton Head. You could talk to the guy, spooling your rod and have that conversation. 'cause you got 'em captive for 15 minutes,
Speaker 1 (01:19:39):
.
Speaker 2 (01:19:40):
You know what I mean? That's, that's another mind numbing activity. I loved talking to people while I'm spooling their rod. I, I'll tell 'em everything
Speaker 1 (01:19:49):
With that one because you just bring up another great point. Why is, uh, why is going on a charter when you're traveling so much more advantageous than bringing that rod from Tennessee and Indiana?
Speaker 2 (01:20:02):
Oh. Because we take the guesswork out of it. I mean, if you've got a week and you want to surface, come see me, your th your second day and listen and apply it, and now you can fish the rest of the day. And you didn't spend all that time scratching your head with the WFS and the wanting to kick a B and like I, you've, you've done the homework that you needed to do.
Speaker 1 (01:20:28):
See, it makes it so much easier. It's like,
Speaker 2 (01:20:29):
It, it's just getting a tutor. If you're bad at math, get a tutor, you got a test coming up, get a tutor.
Speaker 1 (01:20:35):
Yep. You
Speaker 2 (01:20:36):
Got a fishing trip coming up, get a guide
Speaker 1 (01:20:39):
And by the,
Speaker 2 (01:20:40):
They've already done the homework for you. They got the cliff notes
Speaker 1 (01:20:43):
And the amount of money you're gonna spend coming into a town. I mean, you're gonna buy a whole new set of gear. Yeah. And you're still, and you're coming in cold. Yeah. Why I can give a, I can give a guide that exact money and have a better day.
Speaker 2 (01:20:56):
Yeah. I mean, if you know you're gonna go spend the a hundred dollars and, and get like a Walmart combo that's pretty strong with Mono. When I've got a $200, several, $200 combos that we're just gonna go out and sling it, let's go. Mm-Hmm. now, now you don't, that money you would've spent on gear has been spent on knowledge. It's, it's really, it's an investment if you look at it that way. You're investing in your knowledge to be better at your outing
Speaker 1 (01:21:23):
Better. ROI, hands down. Yeah. Hands down. Yeah, for sure. Alright, last question. We'll get you outta here. What's next for you?
Speaker 2 (01:21:31):
Uh, I really, what's next for me is I'm, I'm gonna try to get back on my social media game. Um, more content, more videos, um, just I, this past year I slacked off. I, I picked up a new big boy job and, uh, that took a lot of my focus. Now I've found my groove there and I, I feel like I can fit some more of that extracurricular stuff in there and, uh, responsibly. And, uh, that's, that's my plan. You, uh, hopefully you guys are gonna see a lot more of my chubby Irish self
Speaker 1 (01:22:02):
. Love it man. Well, dude, seriously, thank you so much for coming on the show. It's been absolutely. It's been a great one buck. It really has. I've been very much
Speaker 2 (01:22:10):
So enjoyed it. Yeah, man, I, I've had a pleasure, Brian, man, this has been great.
Speaker 1 (01:22:13):
Well, one day I'll get up to South Carolina. We'll go fish.
Speaker 2 (01:22:15):
Oh, dev, we gotta get you up here, man.
Speaker 1 (01:22:18):
, it's on the list, so that whole big boy job and real adult stuff, it just gets in the way of all the really fun stuff. . Yeah. Yeah. For sure. All All right man. We'll talk to you soon.
Speaker 2 (01:22:30):
Alright Brian. Have a good one, man.
Speaker 1 (01:22:31):
See ya. Alright everybody, I hope you had a great time. I absolutely did. As you can see, I, I'm little smiles, you know, I'm enjoying. It was good jokes and good talk all the way through. Again, all the stuff for Bucks page, uh, for salty lep com will be back on finding demo most surf phishing.com. It'll also be on the transistor FM page where this podcast is launched from. All that information will be hyperlinked. You can click on that, get yourself set up for success when you're gonna head out to Hilton Head, South Carolina to do some fun fishing. You've been listening to finding Surf Fishing. Thanks for always being here. Thanks for being the awesome people You are. I appreciate you. I'll see you next time. I'm outta here.