Sorry for posting such a late report but I just do not have the
time to keep this up to date anymore so please email me for up to the day report. We had some very
notable catches in 2006 including 4 approved IGFA World Records! The winter of 2006 was one of the
toughest times that I have ever had getting the fish to eat. We would find plenty of fish but they
just did not want to eat. I attribute this to the up and down temperatures we experienced. It would
get to the mid 70s for two days and then the low 50s for a few days. The fish really don't like
this and just shut down. Bob Lewis and his family did have a real good day in Jan landing 13 nice
reds. Feb was about the same but a little better. Todd Flohr and family had two trips booked a week
apart and did great catching 13 reds on the first one and 18 on the second one. The fishing got
much better in March when it usually becomes tougher. We had several double-digit charters in
March. Hylan Furniss and I got 18th place in the Charleston Redfish Tour Tournament and we only got
to weigh in one fish. Our second fish was disqualified for being 1/16th of an inch over the
tournament 23.5" limit. The funny thing is that the fish was about an 1/8" under the tournament
limit when we put it in the livewell. After being in the livewell for several hours the fish
actually stretched out! We would have gotten 3rd place if our fish was allowed. We'll get 'em in
2007! The fishing in April was up and down much like the weather. Clint Watts of Gerald's Tires did
land the largest inshore redfish to date on my boat in April. Clint's monster red weighed 18.5
pounds! May started out much like April but became real consistent when the bonnetheads and
ladyfish showed up. Christian Burns fished with me for a few days in late May and had great success
catching 15 trout, 6 redfish to 14 pounds, 6 ladyfish and 2 bonnethead sharks. The fishing took off as it usually does in June. We had solid numbers
of reds, trout, ladyfish and bonnetheads inshore and some big bull reds, bluefish, ladyfish and
bonnetheads at the Charleston Jettys. The most memorable trip in June was with Dan Burch of
Shakespeare Tackle and his customer Rocky. We chummed the bull reds up right behind the boat and
every time you dropped down your bait it was slammed by a 20-lb redfish! We landed 25 bull reds, 3
bonnetheads and a ladyfish. It was "Fast & Furious" with bull reds!! The fishing in July was just
as good or better. Kevin Kelly had a wild catch on the first of July when a 23lb king mackerel
grabbed his tarpon bait off the Charleston Jettys. That fish took a serious amount of line and
tasted yummy on my plate that night! That king was impressive but Calvin Masaoka had the most
impressive catch of year landing a 19.1-lb bonnethead shark on 2-lb line. Calvin's shark (third pic
over) was approved for the IGFA World Record for the 2-lb Line Class. Congrats to Calvin! My wife
Pilar, daughter Greta and I also had IGFA World records approved this past summer. Greta's
bonnethead (first pic) was the largest at 23.8 pounds and was approved the Girl's Smallfry and
Women's 16-lb Line Class World Records. This catch is equally as impressive as Calvin's because
Greta is only 5 years old and could not receive any help during the fight! WOW! Pilar's bonnethead
(second pic) was 16.5 pounds and was approved for the Women's 06-lb Line Class World Record. My
bonnethead (pic on my Trophy Page - www.fishcall.com/trophypage.html ) weighed 22.1 pounds and was
approved for the Men's 06-lb Line Class World Record. We also had two records that were not
approved because of a faulty scale. Jessica Chapman landed a 14.6 pound bonnethead which was not
approved for the Female Junior record. Great job Jessica, sorry about the scale. Greta also had a
smaller bonnethead disqualified. Then we had two that got beat after we sent in applications. Steve
Rainer landed a huge bonnethead that weighed 25.0 pounds and would have been the new All Tackle
World Record, but a kid in Florida landed one 26 pounds. I also weighed one for the Men's 16-lb
Line Class but it was beaten by another guy in McClellenville. All of these world record
bonnetheads were released alive after carefully weighing them in at the Isle of Palms Marina. There
was lots of good fishing all through July because water temps were lower than normal and the bait
was plentiful. I had two seven year olds, Connell and JP, who only fished three hours and landed 24
over-the-limit redfish! Tony Neal also had a great flats day in July catching and releasing 16
redfish and 2 bonnetheads. August was much hotter and the
fishing slowed a bit, but the water warmed up enough for the tarpon to show. The tarpon fishing in
2006 was as hard as I have ever seen it. Captains up and down the east coast were singing the same
song. I only know of one other guide in the Charleston area to have landed a tarpon in 2006. We had
some bites but had a hard time keeping them glued on. We only landed 2 out of the 12 tarpon bites
we got in 2006. We did not land the first one until my dad and I went on 9/6/06. Our first bait in
the water got us a 26-lb redfish. The tarpon ate the second bait but dad was too tired for the
redfish so I had to grab the rod. I'll tell you what, that fish kicked my butt! It took about 45
minutes to land the 120-130-lb tarpon (pic below). After that we were beat so we tossed over the
rest of the baits and headed to the hill. Three weeks later I took fellow guide Shannon Pitts to
the same area. Shannon and I have only fished together twice in the last 7 years and he has landed
a tarpon with me both times! Shannon's tarpon (pic below) was about an 80 pounder and put on quite
a show. We lost 10 other tarpon in 2006 to broken lines, pulled hooks, etc. We caught plenty of
reds and bonnetheads in Sept as well. Tony Sylvester and friends had a great flats day in Sept
catching 22 big reds. John Barrett also landed the biggest bluefish ever on the Fish Call. John's
blue weighed 12.5 pounds and fought like crazy on trout gear. October produced some great fishing but I hurt my neck (herniated disc C6-C7) and was out
for almost a month. Just before my injury, David Warner and friend had a great day on the trout
catching 25 plus 3 nice reds. The very next day I took Mr. & Mrs. Light who did excellent on
redfish releasing 25 reds all over-the-limit and 2 trout. Then a few days later Mike Johnson and
friends had an even better day catching 25 trout, 12 reds, 2 black drum and a bluefish! It was
obvious that the fall fishing was taking off and then OUCH! I was healthy enough in early Nov to
return and the fishing was fantastic! On my third trip back, my clients caught and released 41
redfish, 7 trout and 4 black drum! Jerry Harris had a great time the next day landing 17 trout, 16
redfish and a black drum. Then the trout bite took over! I had some guys out of the Isle of Palms
Marina who caught an estimated 80 trout and these were not small trout, most were around 2 pounds!
The next day I had Ron Heams from Michigan and Ron always does real well with me. I told Ron about
the previous day's trout and told him that we would count them today. Ron put up the largest
numbers ever on the Fish Call! We started out sightcasting to large reds and Ron landed 12 of those
up to 11 pounds. When we hit the trout it was non stop for several hours. We ended the day with 130
trout and 12 reds, all released alive. Congrats to Ron! Ron fished again the next day in 30mph
winds and we landed 10 reds, 3 sheepshead and a black drum. The reds were huge, most over 10
pounds! We also caught the second largest sheepshead ever on my boat at 10 pounds! Ron has been
coming for 2 days in Nov for several years and the fishing is always awesome when he comes! Andy
Cameron and his brother had an awesome day releasing 60+ trout and 9 big reds! Bud Zobel and Murray
Small got in on the action with 50+ trout, 1 red, 1 flounder and 1 sheepshead. November wins the
award for the fishiest month in 2006 with over 30 fish per trip! December was really good as well.
Rip Thompson and his son did real well releasing 15 reds. Keith Harris probably had the best day in
December just after Christmas when he caught 23 redfish. Calvin Masaoka fished with me on the last
day of the year and landed 16 of the 24 big reds we hooked including his largest ever, a 14
pounder! Look forward to seeing you in 2007.......
Wade Fishing for Tailing Reds |
Pictures by Frank Edwards for Charleston Magazine
| 
I Love It When A Plan Comes
Together! |
FALL 2005 -
September was full of dodging storms and screaming drags. Brad
Knight had an awesome mid month trip releasing 15 big reds and 2 black drum. Rob Hardman and guest
had the most memorable trip in September releasing 25 redfish and a flounder. Erin Young couldn't
find any of his buddies to fish with him so he came alone and we did great releasing 15 big reds
and a ladyfish. I wish I could have seen the look on his friend's faces when he showed them the
pictures. October's fishing was as hot as it could have been. That is the action was hot, but the
weather was cool sparking off an early Fall bite. We fished 18 charters in October catching 401
fish equaling a phenomenal 22.3 fish per charter. The majority of the caught fish were redfish but
there were quite a few trout and some flounder as well. Scott Smith and buddies from Columbia, SC
started October off right when they released 25 redfish on the first. Louis Steed and clients
followed them up with a 47 fish day> 26 trout, 6 ladyfish, 5 reds, 4 bluefish, 1 whiting, and a 1
flounder. Then Zach Bearden and party even bettered that trip by releasing 49 fish!!> 27 trout, 12
reds, 5 bluefish, and 5 ladyfish. These were my first three charters of October so I knew I was
either in for a stellar month or the fish were going to stop biting the next day. When Jack Althoff
and nephew stepped on the boat with that "go get em'" attitude, I knew we were in for a stellar
month. Sure enough they caught 30 trout, 15 reds, and a bluefish! These were not the little dinky
trout of years ago but some real nice ones up to 3.5 pounds!! Every October Patrick Altham and the
boys from Huntersville Hardwoods come to Charleston and every October, they have a phenomenal trip.
This year did not disappoint with the FISH CALL winning both the most fish and the largest fish
awards! We caught and released 42 redfish and 7 trout in a 5 hour trip! That was two Saturdays in a
row that we caught 49 fish! Mike and Patty Hardegree fished with me for 3 days over a 10 day period
and also had great results. In three trips, they landed 48 redfish, 11 trout, and 2 flounder. There
was not a slow trip in October.
November is usually the best month of the year but in 2005
October was cooler and November was very warm so October got the award for best fishing of 2005.
Don't get me wrong though November was also an excellent month. We landed 305 fish on the FISH CALL
during 22 charters in November equaling almost 14 fish per charter! George and Richard Wyatt
started the month of right releasing 32 redfish and 3 trout on the first. They fished again with me
a few days later and got 8 reds and a trout, but one of the reds was an awesome 12 pounder! Michael
and Andy Cameron had the biggest numbers for November releasing 32 reds and 4 trout. Ron Heames
from Michigan comes every November for two days and did well again this year landing 23 reds the
first day and 9 the second day despite windy conditions. Ross Guffee and party had another great
Fall fishing trip releasing 19 nice redfish. There were several other double digit trips in
November but the month lacked its' usual "best month of the year" fishing due to warmer than normal
conditions. This will be a reoccurring theme for next couple of months. We had excellent fishing in
South Carolina during December catching 200 redfish in 14 trips equaling a little more than 14 fish
per trip. Scott Smith of Columbia again scored big releasing 18 reds this time. The next day my
brother-in-law to be Ryan Hartwig had an awesome time catching and releasing 23 nice reds. Kenny
Richardson and buddy John had the best day of the month releasing 34 redfish. The Gerald's Tires
boys almost caught them when they landed 32 reds just one week later. Hylan and Ed Furniss fished
with me for the last two days of December and closed 2005 out in style with 34 redfish!
Tim Grinnings and I with est. 170 pound tarpon!!
- 7/15/05 | 
Ralston Smith with the new IGFA Smallfry
world-record! |
SUMMER 2005 -
Looks like summer is almost over with all the approaching cold
fronts. Charleston's fishing was excellent again this summer. I believe that Charelston had 17 days
in a row with a heat index of over 100 degrees! We still fished and fished a lot. June 2005 was my
busiest month ever with 32 trips!! Jack Jensen and family had a great trip in early June releasing
11 bonnethead sharks, 8 redfish, and a single ladyfish. Jim Peters had a great day on the speckled
trout releasing 25 trout and 3 bluefish. Mark Davis of Shakespeare Tackle and Tom Rolls of Cabela's
Outfitters had a fantastic mid-June trip in 20mph winds. They caught and released 14 reds from
12-28 pounds as well as 4 bonnethead and 2 sharpnose sharks. Locals Pete and Ned Page also had an
incredible June trip sightcasting to pushing redfish. They released 25 reds to 12 pounds and 2 big
bonnetheads!
July was almost as busy as June and the fishing did not
disappoint. Tim Grinnings with Susan and Timmy had one of the most memorable trips when Tim hooked
and landed the first tarpon of the year on the FISH CALL! see above pic. Tim's tarpon was one of
the biggest ever landed on my boat. I estimated his fish at 170 pounds, which would have broken the
S.C. State Record by over 20 pounds!! Of course, we would never kill such a wonderful fish. Believe
it or not, this was my first tarpon charter of 2005. The very next day, I took my buddy Scott to
the same spot at the same tide and guess what? The "Man in the Silver Slippers" was there again!
Since Scott was doing battle with a large blacktip when the tarpon ate, I got to fight the mighty
Silver King! After about an hour in 100 degree heat, the tarpon subdued. Good thing because I was
beat! - tired that is. My fish was only about 110 pounds or so, but absolutely full of energy.
Light-tackle enthusiast, Calvin Masaoka, wanted to try for IGFA Line-Class World Record bonnethead
shark. It took a little while longer than usual to get hooked up, but we hooked up a good one!
After about an hour, I pulled the shark aboard and we raced off to the Isle of Palms Marina for an
official weight. The bonnethead ended up being 17.8 pounds, which broke the current IGFA 6lb record
by over 10 pounds! Congrats to Calvin on his new World Record!
The heat of summer was awfully strong by August but the
fishing was still very good. Scott Andrews fished with me in the first week of August. He was new
to saltwater but said he would love to try tarpon fishing. We were not fishing 15 minutes when a
tarpon scarfed up our live bait on the surface. It was incredible strike and then the fish was in
the air! This fished must have jumped 10 times around the boat. We whipped the fish in about 20
minutes and I pulled him up on the boat with the Boga Grip. This was one of smallest tarpon we have
caught in Charleston weighing in at exactly 60 pounds. I love the smaller tarpon! They are more
acrobatic and do not take an hour to land. Steven Michaels and I jumped two more tarpon during the
Charleston Harbor Tarpon Tournament, but that was about it for tarpon in 2005. We also caught
plenty of reds and bonnetheads in August including another IGFA World Record bonnethead. One of my
best clients, Ralston Smith age 9, has been trying to break the All-Tackle Smallfry World Record
for bonnethead shark that another client Troy Beaver and I set a few years back. Well, Ralston
finally beat the record this past August - sorry Troy. Ralston and his older sister, Becca, had a
double hook-up of big bonnetheads. His sister's shark came to the boat first and it was huge! It
turned out to be close to 25 pounds on the Boga which would have broken the IGFA All-Tackle World
Record for all ages, but Ralston had been chasing this record so we put her shark back to
concentrate on Ralston's. His fish was huge as well! Back at the Isle of Palms Marina, the shark
weighed-in at 20.8 pounds breaking Troy's smallfry record by about 5 pounds. Ralston's bonnethead
has been approved for a IGFA Smallfry World Record. Congrats to Ralston!! By the way, both of the
bonnethead world record sharks were released alive. There are many line-class bonnethead records
that can be beaten next summer so if you are interested, let's go catch a world record!! Preacher
Rock Dillaman with kids Jason and Autumn probably had the best day on redfish in August. They
caught and released 31 reds and 2 bonnetheads! We caught 19 reds in the flats in the morning and
then decided to try for the big boys out at the jetties. They landed another 12 out there including
fish of 22 and 24 pounds! The Lord sure blessed the Dillamans on that HOT August day. We had a few
good tailing redfish trips on the fly but no big numbers. We are now getting into the most
productive fishing of the year. As the water cools, the fish know they need to feed heavily to
fatten up for winter. This means big numbers of redfish and trout!! Please book early so you do not
miss out on Charleston's awesome fall fishery. Until next time, Tight Lines.....
Greta and I battle a red - 4/4/05 | 
The Shred First guys
doubled up on huge spring reds! |
SPRING 2005 -
Sorry to all for such a late report, but it has been a busy
year! This spring's fishing was just like the weather> hot & cold. The fish turned off to my
"secret" bait (Gulp!) from the winter but continued to eat other baits. The fish got real turned on
after some bad weather in mid March. In two consecutive days, Charlei Vance released 20 reds and
Dr. Seth Braunstein released 17 reds. Liard Sparks and friends also caught 11 more reds on the same
day as Dr. Braunstein. Jeff and Tom Gerstner had probably the best day of April catching and
releasing 18 nice reds including an 11 and 12 pound double-header! The weather finally started to
calm down in May so the fishing got more consistant. About a third of our trips in May caught more
than 10 redfish. Nick Wilder from Shred First and friend tried for bull reds with no luck so we ran
inshore and ended up catching several large reds up to 14 pounds! Hylan, Brad, and I fished the
Redfish Tour event in Charleston. We caught about 15 reds in the howling wind and rain, but only
got 6th place. Just one place out of the money! We also started to see some migratory fish like
bonnethead sharks and ladyfish nearing the end of May.
Gotta Love Winter Redfishing!! - 2/19/05 |
Happy Birthday
Dad |
WINTER 2005 -
The water has been very cold, but the fishing has been great!
The water is very clear so when the sun is out, we have been experiencing some awesome sightcasting
to schools of redfish. There have been several days where we fished schools of more than 500 reds
in less than a foot of water. December's fishing really heated up towards the end of the month.
Louie Steed and I had a great day releasing 16 redfish in very cold water. The guys from Gerald's
Tires also had a great day catching 18 reds in the last days of 2004. January was frigid, and the
fish were very slow making fishing tough. We were catching them on soft plastics sitting dead still
on the bottom. Dr. Tony Neal and I had a great day though releasing 18 reds up to 10 pounds. We had
one other day with Dr. Rob Crawford where we caught more than 10 fish, but this January's fishing
was much slower then years past. I believe this was due to water temps going below 50°F for the
entire month. February's weather has warmed a bit, but the fishing has gotten HOT! Hunt Shueford's
group fished two days early in the month. They had great fishing the first day releasing 12 reds
and really tore it up on the second day releasing 18 big redfish! I have also found a new artifical
bait that the fish have been loving. It (secret!!) works like nothing that I have ever seen. This
past weekend (2/19) Bob Allen & George Shea had a phenomenal day landing 16 redfish up to 11
pounds! I took my father Ray Waits (pictured above) for his birthday present on Saturday 2/19, and
we had the best day of the 2005 so far. We fished several huge schools of reds in very shallow
clear water. We landed over 20 big reds and lost many others in just three hours! The weather was
cold but the fish were hungry. What a great day! The water will stay clear until water temps reach
the mid 60s so there is plenty of time to get in some sightcasting. The schools of fish are just
minutes from the marina so give me a call and let's go fishing!!!
email Capt. Waits: jrwaits@fishcall.com
and 
