Redfish with Captain Tommy

by Gary Turner

The back right corner rod pulled way down toward the horizon, the reel was singing and line was peeling off at an alarming rate…
It was a sunny morning when my family and I pulled into the gas station in Georgetown to meet with Capt. Tommy to follow him to the boat ramp to launch. We had talked the night before and planned to head out after Spanish mackerel and bonita. On several of his recent trips, they had caught a load of them. The fish were hitting hard and fast in two locations, so we headed there to see if we could find them.
Well, if you have read even a few of my fishing tales, you know when it comes to fishing, a plan is a good thing, but catching fish is what we really want. When we arrived at the first location, there were gulls, but they were all hanging out, no diving or busy flights. We watched and waited a few minutes. Capt. Tommy was searching the water on his Humminbird Solix. No sign of them here, so we motored off to location two where the story was very similar. I don’t know about you, but I have been fishing with several captains over the years that said “Well, let’s just wait them out. They might start biting anytime.” Thank goodness that was not Capt. Tommy’s plan either. He said, “Well, this isn’t working, so let’s go to Plan B. Let’s try something else.” I am sure at this point I had quite a smile on my face because he was willing to go to Plan B. Off we went toward the jetties.
When we arrived at the jetties, he searched a bit for a good spot and then dropped the Minn Kota Riptide Ulterra off the bow. Around us we could see a couple of boats on the other side of the jetty. They were catching ribbonfish and sea bass from what we could see. We set out three lines behind the boat and only a few seconds later we started getting bites. First in was a nice redfish. Then another, a few sea bass, then some more reds. We were having a great time! Several boats from the other side had seen us catching redfish and decided to move to our side of the jetty.
Then it happened. Something bigger bit. The back right corner rod pulled way down toward the horizon, the reel was singing and line was peeling off at an alarming rate. I wrestled it out of the rod holder and looked at the reel as the line was peeling out very rapidly! Captain Tommy had told me they had several reds bitten in half by the bull sharks cruising this area. I tightened the drag to see if we could slow it down, but it didn’t slow and the 75 pound braid was still singing out. Then just as fast as the bite was on, it was over. The line went slack, and I reeled in the cut leader. That few minutes of having that reel burning in your hands is so much FUN! Captain Tommy said normally he would have taken the boat and gone after that fish, but with all the other boats hugging our redfish spot, he thought we should stay there and catch some more of them.
After catching a few more redfish, we had another hard hit with the line dragging out, but this time I could feel it was not too big and would probably come in to the net. After a few minutes of coming in and taking line, we finally saw it was a bonnethead shark, also known as a shovelhead shark. While I guided it alongside the boat, Captain Tommy grabbed it behind the head and lifted it into the boat. It was not happy, more like snappy.
We left that spot and went to another spot where he said sharks hung out to see if we could hook into one more big one, and we did. He threw out two baits, and it was only a few minutes before we had a fish peeling the reel again. This time he picked up the Ulterra and off we went after it. The fish was going fast and peeling line. Even with us in pursuit the fish managed to pull away and break the line. I can’t wait to go back and fish with Captain Tommy again soon. It was a great fishing trip and a great time! I am already lining up friends to make another trip out with him.
If you are going to be in the Myrtle Beach area, Georgetown is just a little ways down the road and worth the drive. I would highly recommend booking a trip with Captain Tommy. For more information about fishing with Captain Tommy, you can reach him at 843-546-3543, find him on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/GeorgetownCoastalAdventures/  or email him at tommy@captaintommy.com .
I’m not sure what next month’s article will be on, but if you have an empty seat on your boat that needs filling, or a great farm pond you want to share, shoot me an email and maybe it will be about fishing with you! You can reach me at gary@gonefishinclub.com.