Hey y’all,
Looking for a little advice here. I plan on taking a group of students offshore fishing this spring on a head boat in the Myrtle Beach area. I was looking at possibilities and there are a lot more than I realized. I have fished with Captain Dick’s several times and always been satisfied, but wasn’t sure is there is a better option.
Thanks
Nope - Capt Dicks is your best bet. In fact, that’s the only headboat I know of still in business.
I saw a couple others online, sea voyager and hurricane, that went out several hours longer for about the same price
Ive never heard of them. Growing up my dad would take my brother and I to Capt Dicks. I remember him waking us up at 4:30 in the morning to drive down to Murrels inlet from Florence. Random story, but my Dad bought me my first beer on that boat. I think I was 18 or so, and it was the end of the day of fishin - some dolphin swam by and I cut the weight off my rig and flat lined it out there. One of them took and nearly tangled the entire port side of customers, but the mate was on point and was able to gaff it. After it was put in the box, Dad walked in the cabin - came out with 2 Budweisers! Good memories…
The head boat industry is DEAD. It was regulated out of biz by the SAFMC. The limits are so small that its ridiculous to pay the fees to only catch a handful of fish. I loved the biz - but the very few left are struggling — very sad.
quote:
Originally posted by natureboyThe head boat industry is DEAD. It was regulated out of biz by the SAFMC. The limits are so small that its ridiculous to pay the fees to only catch a handful of fish. I loved the biz - but the very few left are struggling — very sad.
Regulated out of business. Something that we will see more and more often.
My first experience with true bluewater fishing was on a headboat…I will never forget it. Unfortunately, I will most likely never experience it again.
“Never argue with an idiot…he will drag you down to his level and beat you with experience.”
Head boat fishing gave the average hard working guy a way to take an offshore trip or 2 without the headaches and expense of owning a boat. A cooler full of good eating fish and a wonderful experience was there for a reasonable fee. When I captained the boats - I tried my best to make sure everybody caught a limit and had a great time. It was so much fun to watch a guy from Ohio wrestle a big AJ.
The SAFMC hit the average guy below the belt on this one!
Forgive me for a dumb question, but i did a brief search and couldn’t really find anything definitive on regulations which caused head boats to quit the business. I’m just curious as to what were the rules before, and what were the rules after and when did it all happen? I’m just kind of curious as I too have fond memories of head boats and am sad to see them go the way of the dinosaur.
quote:
Originally posted by millacdForgive me for a dumb question, but i did a brief search and couldn’t really find anything definitive on regulations which caused head boats to quit the business. I’m just curious as to what were the rules before, and what were the rules after and when did it all happen? I’m just kind of curious as I too have fond memories of head boats and am sad to see them go the way of the dinosaur.
The black sea bass closures and reduction to 5 fish/day were pretty big for the half day trips because they made up a big chunk of the catch. The reduction to 5/day and (previous) seasonal closures on vermillion snapper, along with the moratorium on red snapper hurt the deeper trips as well, along with other regs.
The first knock out punch was ridiculous limits - especially on BSB and b liners . Then the 10 knt speed limit the enviros got passed for whales during the best time of the year to bottom fish. This caused the head boats to spend more time riding and very little fishing time. No one would pay to ride 6 hours and fish only 2.
Thanks, I didn’t know about the 10 knot speed limit. I actually just looked that up and found it on a NOAA site. It says it applies to all vessels over 65 feet in length. Anyone have a 64.999 foot head boat, haha?
For what areas does the speed limit apply?
Are cargo ships forced to abide by the speed limit? Or is there a lane without speed limits for them?
there are several excepted vessels to this rule - military - cruise ships , and a few others. This rule killed the head boat biz.
of course. selective enforcement of the laws to advance an agenda, smh.
Several times offshore bottom fishing in the fog we’d hear the engines long before seeing one of the steel hull head boats out of Shem Creek.
Too bad the same effort to inspect the number of small boats returning from a day of fishing isn’t given toward fining those vessels in violation in the 10 mph zones. Heaven forbid some funds get funneled to launching ramps…
Maybe someone here on CF will hit the lottery and take us all out on several of the San Diego long range boats…
Little late to the party here. But… I bet they won’t give the guys with super sport fishing boats speeding tickets as they head offshore. Not to make a living but to go play in the ocean that we are supposed to be sharing.
Can anyone explain the differences between here & up in North Carolina? Plenty of successful head boats there. What caused the ones here to shut down & those to continue? Thanks.
We in South Carolina are to much associated with the Florida boats that have been putting a hurting on the fish it seems. Also the BSB’S in NC are of a different stock I believe. Guys like Sells, Phin, Freefish and others have forgotten more than I know, they can offer insite. One thing is for sure is that its a giant screwing. As for the Headboat…Captain Dicks has Robert Strickland at the helm, and he does a far trip to the shelf that will let you fill up with any/everything thats in season. Go with him. That guy is a fisherman.
Capt. Dicks if you want to leave out of Murrells. Voyager in North Myrtle and Hurricane Fleet in Calabash.
Cape
You know very well that the head boats in NC are not successful, at least not any more… they used to be though. The three in and around Morehead City used to sail 7 days per week and were railed with people. Now, even in summer they only sail a handful of days and in the winter some stop running.
They are barely surviving because of the regulations from the enviro nut bags at SAFMC
BSB closure, now a whopping 5 fish per person… Same with beeliners.
Who in their right mind is going to pay $90 or more to go out and catch 10 fish plus maybe a grunt or two?
Squid Row II
22 Shamrock WA
Flounder Pounder II
16 Sandpiper Skiff
Coming from San Diego and working on the sport fishing boats in point Loma I thought it was odd the east coast didn’t have a similar operation. That is a real bummer on the regs that shut down an industry. The only thing that keeps the sd fleet alive is the fact that most of them fish in Mexican waters especially during the winter when the US totally shuts down bottom fishing.