NEVER GIVE UP!

[gottaflylee]

No truer words have ever been said and this tournament proved it.

The Georgetown area is an awesome fishing area that I have never fished before even though I had passed over the highway 17 bridges many times. Little did I know how good it is till we fished this tournament. Speckle Trout, Flounder, Lady Fish, Red Drum abound and very good numbers. We also many Sharks in the shallows as well as Tarpon and 1 Manatee along with a lot of turtles and birds. Massive expanses of salt marsh with channels sliding in and out of the estuaries around the Winyah Bay area.

Mike and I fished harder for this tournament then the others that we fished this year and having a plan paid off for sure. Over the week, we found fish here and there but most were over or under the slot but one area had the fish that we thought would do it. We somewhat kept an eye on it to see if other people were fishing that area but for the most part, it was left alone and by Friday, we decided that it would be our "A" spot.

With so many of our Red Drum in the ocean right now we thought we would spend the day in the ocean in Georgetown SC to see if we could find some fish there, we found some but many were over slot and the rest were short of the 23" slot but we caught about 20 fish and thought that we could cull if we caught enough fish to have a good limit. As things go, we checked out that area again and never caught a fish other than a couple of rats. We still felt that this area could be good and made it our "B" spot.

Our plan was to fish the "A" spot and if it did not pay off, by 1 PM, we would hit the "B" spot for the rest of the day but neither of us felt like we would need to do that as our "A" spot was the most solid of the 2. At the Captains meeting we pulled # 46 which put us at the end of the pack when it came to leaving in the morning. At first light they sent us off in order and by the time we left, not many of the lead boats were in sight and off we went to our spot.

We fished as hard as we could and by 1 PM, we landed 3 short rats and watched the fish we needed swim by our baits like they were not there. Everything we tossed to them, they turned their noses up at them, even "Gulp". Off we went to the "B" spot and when we turned the corner, we were greeted with howling winds and very rough water which had us both thinking that we blew this and we would not be able to fish this area but we pushed on and got there. Mike pulled back the "go" stick and we re-rigged to fish the deeper water. 1:30 came and went with no fish...2:00 came and went, no fish but we kept firing our jigs in the area that the fish had been holding. 2:10, bam fish on and soon was in the net and the weight was lifted off of us both. With our sprits lifted, we fire into the area catching Ladyfish and Flounder, nice Flounder, over 4 pounds each. 2:30 rolled by and though we had bee bit, nothing stayed on then at 2:50 bam we hooked another nice fish and soon had him in the live well. With an hour to travel to the weigh station, we both made a couple of more cast and it was off to check in.

Much to my amazement, we wound up with 7.95 pounds only to miss 5th place by 1/100 of a pound with their 7.96 pounds, just a drop of water...such is life. We still don't know where we stand in the team of the year in our division but it should be some where near the top 5, not to bad for my rookie year and my first year on the circuit. Mike, it was a pleasure fishing with you this year and being part of team Riley Rods. Lets do it again soon...

Most of out days started like this...



We had a small following the first day...





First fish of the trip, Speckle Trout



Mike with a great Gray Trout...



I was feeling a little Drummy...





Mean mad Drum...





















Just a shot I liked...



Mike with a very nice "marsh" Drum



One of the many nice Flounder that we caught this week...





Us with our "Spot Tails"...



Us getting up front, I'm in shock...









Here are some other fish pictures that I played with...



Love my new rod...







Even though I played with this picture a little, I think this is the pick of the trip...




One more thing, I would be remiss if I did not thank my friend Capt. Rod of Captain Ponytail Guide Service for the info and help showing us the channels in the area. Thanks so much Rod, it was great to see you...

[Deep C]

That is some kind of good fishin! I miss the shallows. Maybe one day I'll get to the back water again. Till then I gotta live it through reports like this.

[clt_capt]

Good fishing Lee & Mike. Nice first year. Some mighty fancy shirts you've got...

[Shortfin]

Congrds and nice work Lee and Mike ,great photo's

[scattered_grass]

Congrats on a successful trip! Beautiful fish.

[WAHOONBOX]

AW GEEZZZ LEE.....HAS IT COME TO THIS? DUDE.....I HARDLY RECOGNIZE YA......NICE THREADS BRO!

I CAN JUST SEE MY DRY CLEANING BILL WEARING DRESS SHIRTS TO WORK.....

CONGRATS TO YOU AND MIKE !!! GREAT STORY AND PICS TO BOOT!

I AM PRAYING FOR A TOP FIVE FOR YOU BUT WHATEVER THE OUTCOME THIS OL MAN IS PROUD AS HELL OF YA!

[Tenacious]

Way to go guys! Great pics as usual Lee!

[netman9]

Nice work on the fishing to make such a great report including great pictures. This is what I needed to inspire me to hit the shallows after checking the weather for our 10 days of fishing out of Pirates Cove starting Friday Oct 1st. May have to throw the anchor, splash the kayaks and find some protected waters.

[liv2fish20]

AWESOME!!!!!!!

[merry marlin]

Great report and Pictures Lee. Great to great your call with that great news! Never give up is just so often true while fishing.... CONGRATULATIONS to to You and mike for sticking with it!
MM