I am proud to say that many aspects of my life have been heavily influenced by my father, he has been a great role model my entire life. Many years ago there was a sport fishing seminar held at the old Sheraton Hotel on Lockwood. The seminar was comprised of a full day of classroom lectures and was finished off that evening with a series of videos. Videos for the evening included several on big game offshore fishing and one on fishing for Sharks with light tackle.
My dad had attended the lectures during the day and then ran to James Island to pick me up for the videos. Dad and I rushed back over to the auditorium where a friend of his was saving us front row seats. As we settled into our seats a gentleman stood up and made an announcement. As I recall he said something along the lines of, “We are going to skip the shark fishing video to hear a presentation from Mayor Joe Riley on the building of the Charleston Aquarium.” A hush fell over the entire crowd. You have to keep in mind this was in the early eighties when every other day there was an article in the paper quoting Riley on some aspect or another over the aquarium. My father and I, as well as many others in the room were disappointed, after all dad had picked me up specifically for the videos. As Mayor Joe began to approach the pulpit, my father stood up and said, “Lets here it for the Sharks!” The entire group of 200 plus then broke into a long round of applause. There was a brief discussion between the mayor and the announcer, the announcer then said, “The mayor will hold off on his presentation until after the videos.” That day I learned two important things; 1) Stand up for what you believe in, and 2) Catching sharks on light tackle can be a lot of fun!
This time of year the inlets are loaded with 2 to 4-foot sharks. Lemon sharks, Black Tips, Atlantic Sharp nose, and Bonnet Heads are on the prowl. I fished Lighthouse Inlet last week and caught and released 12 sharks in less than 2-hours. Multiple times I had 2 on at once making it quite i