From 8/3/00</font id=blue>
I remember my first “offshore” fishing trip as if it were yesterday. It was springtime and Dad and Andy were gearing up for another summer of fishing the blue water. Dad had sold a 13-foot Boston Whaler earlier that year and moved up to a 17 foot Whaler. He had owned bigger boats in the past, but I was always too young/small to go beyond Fort Sumter with he and Andy. Consequently, all my fishing experience up to this point had been around the harbor, in the creeks, and surf fishing at Morris Island. When Dad purchased the boat he told me come summer time he would take me out to the jetties and beyond to fish for King Mackerel, Spanish Mackerel, Sharks etc.
The night before the fishing trip I helped Andy and Dad get ready. I watched as I had a hundred times before as they tied Bimini Twists in the kitchen and set drags on all the 4/0 and 6/0 reels. Nine o’clock rolled around and dad gave me a Dramamine and told me to go to bed because we would be waking up at 5:00 am the next morning. I went to bed, but did very little sleeping if any. I’m quite certain I dreamt of catching the big one in the little bit of sleep I did get. The next morning we loaded up the boat, ate a quick breakfast, and I took another Dramamine. We slipped the boat in the water and eased down to Morris Island in the dark where we caught some big mullet. By now the sun was just beginning to rise over the horizon. We headed out to the jetties and started trolling the shipping channel with the big mullet and a couple of Cisco Kids. Over the years I had looked at the big lures and reels out in the garage and with my imagination had already created the fish and fight that came with this size tackle. We rounded C-2 and started our troll back in when one of the reels started screaming off line. Dad picked up the rod and set the hook. He then instructed me to go to the front of the boat and sit in the fighting chair. He handed the rod to Andy and he carried the rod up to me. Dad quickly cleared the other l