Season for the Surf
By: Captain Nelson Haslam - Barrier Island Charters

August is finally upon us and it was worth the wait. All of our finny friends from the tropics are here now and in abundance in the surf. Tarpon, Jack Crevalle, Pompano, Ladyfish and an assortment of Sharks are feeding in the surf this month.

There will also be a mixture of quality local fish swimming in the breakers in August. Big Trout, Redfish, Black Drum, Whiting and Bluefish are common in the surf in late summer.

There is not a better way to stay cool and enjoy fishing during the really hot days of summer than fishing of the beach. All you need is an umbrella, chair, cooler, tackle and bait to spend a rewarding day of easy fishing. If it gets too hot - just cool off in the ocean and back in the shade. It is a lazy way to fish, waiting for them to come to you but it can really pay off.

Like any other kind of Tybee angling some beach spots are better than others. You could set up right on 10th Street and enjoy the view but there are better places to fish. The jetties on the North end by the Lighthouse is a good spot. Go South of the jetty on 18th street and fish in the whitewater.That is an excellent spot for big Red Drum. Of course if you have a boat the beaches of Little Tybee are always beautiful and full of fish. Also. rumor has it that some nice Trout and Flounder have recently been landed off the Tybee Pier.

Rigging up for the surf is fundamental. Most Tybeenians use a simple fish-finder rig which consists of a sliding egg sinker on the line above a swivel with a heavy leader and circle hook attached. Live finger mullet, live shrimp, fresh mullet cutlets, a big mullet head or big polly wogs are all good baits. Bring a couple of sand spikes and fish two rods at a time. Put a live finger mullet on one rig and a dead bait on another. Captains prefer the incoming tide but it really depends on where you are fishing. If the tide is running hard, pyramid sinkers will help hold the bait in the whitewater. And that is the key to surf fishing around here, the fish are in the breakers - the whitewater. You do not have to cast a half a mile to reach the big ones.

Like all warm weather fishing the middle of the day is usually slow. So go early in the morning for a couple of hours of guaranteed bite and then get out of the heat.

Late afternoon on up until dark is also time to be soaking a bait on the beach.Also the full moon in August is excellent for fishing at night.

More on the local scene still features Josh Barlow. Dad Tommy said that he heard some noise in the kitchen recently at five in the morning and checking it out he found Josh cooking breakfast. When asked what was he up to, Josh told Dad he was getting ready to go fishing.

Josh knows the early bird always catches the fish. That day he caught thirteen Bass that weighed twenty-eight pounds and four big panfish! Bill Dance better watch out. So August is here and fishing is easy, so get out there and take a kid fishing!

Remember............Eat Fish And Live Longer!!!

More Dolphin Facts
By Bob Eccles aka “Captain Bob”

Hope my note finds you all in good health and spirits. The following article is about how we use the dolphin cruise to help challenged folks temporarily escape from their burden. I hope most folks find it entertaining and useful. Here Goes:

Low Country River Excursions is more than just a dolphin cruise. It's an experience that can be applied to a wide variety of difficult situations, resulting in a brief escape from the problem. You see, there really is no bad news out on the river with the dolphin. No terrorism, politics or sadness. Dolphin just aren't into it.

Two or three times a year we take groups of acrophobic hospital patients from Candler and Memorial Hospitals, and groups of terminal aides patients from Phoenix Project (Union Mission), out for an encounter with those friendly bottle nose dolphin. The experience is always very gratifying. For the acrophobic hospital patients, the intent of the trip is about physical therapy. They have been bed ridden for an extended period of time and are in need of exercise. The walk from the parking lot to the boat accomplishes that. Generally, when the bus first arrives, the majority of patients insist upon being wheeled down to the boat in their wheel chairs by the accompanying nurses. They're just not that excited about being out of bed. But, during the course of the cruise, enjoying the company of the dolphin and abundant bird life, a change takes place. I think they realize that, while its been a while, life is still good, even beautiful. When we get back to the dock, you can't get them back into a wheel chair. They inch their way back to the bus, with beads of sweat on their foreheads and smiles on their faces. I have to admit, I sometimes sniffle after seeing them off. The aides patients are a different, but equally as gratifying story. They show up excited. Many of them have not even been on a boat before, never mind seen dolphin. They, too, depart smiling, but physically exhausted. I'm told most of them take a nap as soon as they get back to the shelter, and talk about the experience for days after. I know I do.

We donate two adult tickets to our cruise to numerous, local charity auctions held to generate funds for these mostly non-profit agencies.

Finally, among the six or eight part-time employees that we hire each season, there are usually one or two troubled youths struggling with high school, or the challenges of life. Typically, by the end of a season of talking to tourists, particularly children, about what they've learned about the marsh and it's inhabitants, their perspective on things has become far more refreshing and satisfying.

Owning and operating Low Country River Excursions is not a job, it's a blessing.

Specifically, what we do is a ninety minute narrated nature cruise aboard a 40'/30 passenger pontoon boat for an encounter with bottle nose dolphin. The boat is covered and has thirty individual arm chairs. It is very well suited to this application, as your proximity to these ocean mammals is close enough to touch (insofar as that is illegal, we don't). We
see and talk about a lot of other things too, but the cruise is mostly about the dolphin. We do a six mile loop down Bull River and two creeks where there are three pods or families of dolphin that live. The domain of the first family is in the vicinity of the junction of Bull River and Betz Creek. This is the smallest family, approximately six members, but growing. There were only four members two years ago. The domain of the next family begins just inside the junction of Bull River and Oyster Creek, and pod size appears to be approximately eight members. Finally, the third family spends most of it's time in the vicinity of Morgan's Cut, which is the junction of Oyster Creek, Lazaretto Creek, and Tybee Creek. This is the largest family consisting of ten or twelve members. Customers often ask "Do you guarantee dolphin sightings?" While I can't say we guarantee it (they're not my dolphin, they're Gods, and I'm uncomfortable making promises for Him), we nearly invariably do have some kind of encounter. Over the past eight years we've done approximately 10,000 cruises, and there have been 41 times that we did not see dolphin. That means we see dolphin 99+% of the time. Even when we don't have an encounter, folks seem to enjoy the scenery and wild life that we are exposed to, and we usually offer the customers that don't have an encounter a ticket for another ride on us.

Again, I do feel very blessed for being able to be involved with these activities. They bring me a great deal of happiness, personal satisfaction, and good fortune that I probably don't deserve, but am pleased to experience. I've still got an article or two left in me regarding the marsh and it's inhabitants that I'll look forward to sharing with you over the next few months. In the mean time, smooth seas, calm winds, and straight wakes.....Cap'n Bob