Last week my brother and i decided to take my son on an after work trip to Morris Island to fish the surf. I’ve been fishing the sand bars and beaches of Morris Island my entire life and really have some great memories of fishing there with my family and with my dad and his friends. There are so many great stories of antics that went on, as well as, some great fish stories over the years. Some of the stories involve great catches, while others are about the one that got away. Some of the stories have been told and retold all over Charleston, especially the stories of some of the great pranks played on someone in the group.
It was really great to see my son have a story of his own unfold the other night as we fished. We had the usual bluefish bites and cut-offs. There were a couple of good strikes, but nobody was able to set the hook on any of the solid strikes. I rigged up my son with a live mullet about 5" long, made a cast and handed off the rod to him. Before I could get a few steps away I heard him screaming, dad! I turned to see the rod doubled over and my son struggling the hold onto the rod, that is just a little too long from the butt end to the reel for him to be able to get good leverage and there also may have been a little problem with someone (me) setting the drag just a little to tight.
I was able to get to him quickly and adjust the drag and give him a hand, when needed, to get the fish to the beach. Most of the time I was coaching and showing him how to use the waves to his advantage to help get the fish to shore. I was not long before we saw that he had a nice size 20-25 lb shark and each time the shark saw the beach, it decided to take off again and again. He finally worked the shark to the beach and we were able to unhook and release it to fight another day.
The best part came when my son called my wife on the way home and told her the story and then told her again when we got home. The next day he went to my parents and told them the story and the told a friend the next night as w