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
