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Tuesday, 19 July 2016

Trading Everything #5-How to catch bait using nylons and feet

   As Jan had to work I was left to my own devices.  I love to fish and I was told that the best way to catch them around here was with bait.
  My first attempt was to go after the elusive sand or beach worms. They are quite large - if you ever get to see one and quite desirable as bait - if you ever get to catch one. The idea I was told was to fill the bottom of a nylon stocking or onion type bag with some stinky dead fish then drag it around the sand until one of these big worms latch on and then presto you have your bait. When I was first told this I thought that they were having me on but sure enough I saw a few blokes down at the shore giving it a go so I joined in.

  I couldn't beg any nylons from Jan so I headed down to the local shopping centre and found a women's clothing store. When the salesperson asked if she could help me I said that I was looking for a pair of nylons.
 "What size are you looking for?"
 "It don't know. They're not for my wife, but probably something large would do."
 "What colour would you like?"
"It doesn't matter but it would be good it they were heavy duty because I need them for fishing."
She must have liked to fish herself as she managed to give my legs a brief glance, reach behind her, snatch up the package and hand it over in one fluid motion in the time that it took her to say, "I think these will do."
 Next I was off to the grocery store to ask the meat counter for the cheapest fish that they had, something that would give off a good odour if it was left out. Apparently I was after mullet.
I arrived the next morning with high hopes and a high smelling bag of dead fish. I dragged my bait bag this way and that making figure eights and circles and artist shapes that I felt would surely be enticing. After a morning of this I had zero worms and a bait bag that Jan was not going to welcome back in the house.

  Next on the list was the pipi or cockle. This is at least fun to try to catch because all you really have to do is get in the water up to your ankles and start to shuffle around with your feet until you find something. I found it a lot more fun and a whole lot less stinky


One early pipis gathering trip was quite memorable:

  We've all been on class trips. Usually the kids are pretty good, but sometimes they can be easily distracted and get a bit goofy especially if it is early in the school year. Today I was out walking on 9 Mile Beach. It was a beautiful day and not too surprising the local school was taking advantage of it, and having a group walk of some sort. It would be about their 3rd week of school after their summer break. There seemed to be 2or 3 classes, all wearing red shorts and white t shirts. I'm guessing early high school. No books, no equipment, but clearly organized and guided along by a few young looking teachers. They passed e as I dug for pipis . About 30 seconds following the passing of the school group, but clearly in their wake were three young ladies all seemingly the age that had just passed by. The first one wore a 2 piece outfit - fine. The second one was well built and topless - legal. The third one was carrying what looked like what might have been her red thong style bathing suit bottom. I took the time to notice (because I'm a trained teacher of Visual Arts) that she didn't have much in the way of tan lines.
I found 5 pipis. I wonder what the kids found?     
 Ken

Monday, 18 July 2016

Trading Everything #4- Trading Waters -a painful introduction








 Part of the reality of trading everything is that the waters where you grew up may not be the waters you are going to.
  Dan, our youngest son, had arrived in Australia after having travelled in China, Japan and New Zealand. Going back to Canada wasn't really an option because of course there was another family living in our house now. Dan was familiar with swimming in fresh water lakes and ponds but meeting the ocean was a bit of an eye opener for him.

From the emails:

 Yesterday I got Dan up before 6 am for a beach walk at dawn. Once again the beach was littered with washed up blue bottle jellyfish. At one point there was a loud pop and Dan asked if I'd stepped on one. It turned out that he had and it was stuck to his heel. He scraped it off in the sand with no ill effects. Shortly after he announced that he was never going in the water because he didn't know what was going to be in there. This commitment lasted until one of his new buddies came over with an extra surf board and an offer to show him how to use it. His buddy Tim told him to wear board shorts which he didn't have so he borrowed mine. Board shorts are longish and have no liner. They have net pockets so that the water will drain. My shorts were a little loose on him but otherwise fine. Dan was still a bit reluctant, his last words before heading out were,"I'm going to die".
  Well he didn't die but he got a rude introduction to the ocean. As he was paddling on his surf board a blue bottle jellyfish managed to slide up his pant leg and lodge itself between the pocket liner and his thigh. He danced around the shore in pain and ended up using his hands to pry it off. His hands were now stung. His buddy was also stung on the foot.
 Apparently the lure of the surf must be a strong one as he is eyeing up a body board to head out again today.

and later...

 So after his jellyfish experience, Dan had a shower and hung the board suit up to dry. Today a neighbour invited us for some drinks and a swim in their pool. I grabbed the now dry "swimmers" and put them on. Somehow those barbs remained potent in the suit. By the time my body had convinced my mind that in fact this could be taking place, my hand, forearm and thigh were burning and starting to welt up red. Oh well, off to drink some wine and swell up by their pool.
                                         

Thursday, 14 July 2016

Trading Everything #3 The Death Pencil, the Arrival, the Dark



 From New Zealand we landed in Sydney, but the city with the opera house was not our exchange site. To get to Forster (pronounced Foster) we would have to fly north to nearby Taree. We were glad to hear our boarding call, until we saw the plane. It was small, very small. We were told that depending on what the other passengers were bringing our luggage may not be going with us on this flight. Luckily our fellow passengers were mostly businessmen who were carrying little more than their laptops. After bending and cramming our way into the fuselage we were greeted with a choice of one seat on either side of an abbreviated aisle. The seats seemed similar to those that my parents would call card table chairs only they were somehow affixed to the floor. There was no division between passengers and crew so I sat directly behind the co-pilot. This degree of coziness had its advantages such as all the co-pilot had to do was twist around in his seat and toss the peanuts to us. Wisely he just had us pass back the water and pop. The other advantage was that the pilot could give us an ongoing travelogue as we flew low over interesting terrain. This helped to keep our mind off of the stomach churning bumpiness that is the hallmark of such small craft which are often referred to as vomit comets.
The disadvantage was that I could hear the muted voice concerns that the co-pilot had about the right hand prop engine. The pilot gave it a definitive shrug off but the co-pilot kept watching the engine and I kept watching the co-pilot watch the engine. Let's just say that the engine was well watched.

  When we arrived at the small airport in Taree, we were greeted by Wayne who was one of our official sponsors. His wife Kathy would be our other one. He asked how our flight was and I pointed to the plane. He said,"Oh you took the Death Pencil."


 As for the rest of the day Jan's original email probably says it best.

Hello family and friends!
All I can say is YOU NEED TO COME HERE!
What a beautiful place Forster is!  The beach at the bottom of the street is absolutely gorgeous - soft sand, warm water, sand dunes....they will have to remove us from here with a hook!
Our community rep, Wayne, met us at the airport in Taree this morning.  We had a wonderful tour of the area.  I went to my campus and met the principal - the resources and facility are amazing.
Tonight Wayne, and his wife Kathy, who manages a lovely cafe in town, invited us for dinner. They live just around the corner.  Kathy prepared a typical Oz dinner - roast lamb, which I had never had before - I LOVED it! 
I have a meeting at school tomorrow morning at 10:00.  After that, I don't have to show up until Monday!
Kathy and Wayne have 3 children - a daughter, 21, and 2 sons, 18 and 16. They are already eager to take Dan around the town and entertain him.  Dan arrives on Feb. 4.
The house is spacious and elegant.  There is a huge deck and swimming pool in the backyard.  I have promised Ken that I will be the spider killer should we see any.  There is plenty of room for guests so come and stay as long as possible.  
It's been a beautiful day - a bit humid - but with the lovely breeze it's very pleasant.
Will write again soon..


And then darkness came.


 As this house was only a few streets up from the beach there wasn't much light coming from the east, the town had two large patches of forest and the surrounding area was single family housing so all in all the amount of light pollution was fairly low. I'm not talking cabin in the woods dark but certainly much darker than your typical Canadian city. Now I know that every house has its own noises and you don't hear them after awhile because you just get used to them. But here on our first night were lying in bed with our ears tuned to the darkness. Due to a milder climate and a regular evening breeze the house was both heated and cooled via open windows and large screened doors. In Canada our windows are usually closed at night to keep the cold out in winter and the air conditioning in for our hot humid summers. The result wide ears and eyes for much of the night. Something kept scurrying across the deck just beyond the screened sliding door. Vegetation swayed audibly.There were bird/animal sounds that sounded roughly like monkeys. We asked each other if there were supposed to be monkeys here and wondered aloud about what we had gotten ourselves into. 

Wednesday, 13 July 2016

Trading Everything #2 Whop,Whop,Vroom,Vroom, Pop,Pop- The Road to Oz



A 13 month visa gave us a bit of travel time before landing in Australia for the exchange so we decided to see what the Kiwis were up to.


  

  Jan thought it would be fun to start the day before breakfast by strapping me into a helicopter so that I was pressed against the window. Next apparently it was supposed to be fun to go land on top of some perfectly good, freezing cold, glacier that is located just under the summit of some ridiculously high mountain. Then wouldn't it be more fun to cruise by Mt Cook (the highest mountain in NZ)? What about cruising over an ice field of giant crevices?
  Our pilot was excellent, and apparently my screams were not responsible for the sudden violent changes in direction and altitude. We had a good look at Mt Cook but you can see it better if your eyes aren't squeezed shut. When the helicopter finally landed I won the prize for being the first out.
 

  So for today's morning adventure, Jan tossed me in the front bench of a jet boat and told me to hang on. These things do 85km/hr while going down the winding Shotover River. The idea is to try to get as close as you can (literally inches) to a canyon wall at the highest speed possible while somehow trying not to end up in the evening news. For those who somehow seemed to need more they throw in a number of high speed 360 turns. It kind of reminded me of my favourite ride as a kid, -the tilt-a-whirl. The only difference is that when I was a kid the people beside me were able to hang on to the bar and didn't crash me into the side of the boat. Getting to the river and back was much worse than the actual river trip. The wind was howling on the lake that lead to the river,and the white caps soon gave way to enormous waves. Being at the front of the boat, it would rise up and then fall like an elevator out of control. When we hit the bottom of the wave the crash would send a jolt up your spine that would make you a star at a chiropractor convention. My tail bone is now located just under my right shoulder. We got soaked! They only thing dry was my life insurance policy that Jan has been keeping in a plastic bag in her purse.   Later we did a wine cellar, tour in a cave. We left them some wine.
Then we watched some people bungie jump off of a high bridge over a raging river. Nooooooooooooooooo!
       


 Last night when a major wind storm hit our area, I insisted on going down to the ocean to see the waves. Unfortunately the sun had already set so you could see them but not clearly. In my haste I had left my running shoes on, which is not generally a good idea as they will get really stinky.  As we walked along the beach, every now and again we were surprised by sharp, loud, popping sounds. We started to look for what was causing these little explosions. In the dim light we could make out what looked like finger sized blue balloons that had been left on the beach after some child's party. A closer look showed the long blue threads hanging from the balloons. The wind had blown in a beach load of the stinging blue bottle jelly fish and we had been merrily walking along, stepping on their heads and popping them. How Jan didn't get stung I don't really know.
                                                                                                                                Ken

Tuesday, 12 July 2016

Trading Everything- The Great Exchange #1 -The Prequel




From Toronto...










...to Sydney

 What would make a busy family decide to trade everything they have- house, car, job, even friends for a year?  In our case we had been hearing about the experience from several of our friends who did just that and we were frankly getting a bit envious.  They all had had interesting adventures and were able to see a part of world much more cheaply than if they had been doing the normal travel routine.  We heard about an exchange fair coming up and after a bottle of wine or two decided to attend.

There are many agencies that arrange for such exchanges and they all have their rules. In our case we got to  pick three countries from a list but from there on it would be luck. For awhile it didn't look like anything was really going to happen and we were among the last to be placed. We found out that it was going to be Australia but since Oz is a huge and diverse country we didn't really know what we were getting into until we got there.


  If you wait for the perfect time in your life to do it, you never will. There are no perfect times. Spouses and children will adapt. Older parents will not want to hold you back, and yes you may need to find some extra support for them. The biggest reason why I have seen people hold back is and I quote,"But they'll be touching our stuff!" Yup and you will be touching theirs too. When you get too old to be adventurous you don't want to be sitting around thinking that stuff you probably no longer have stopped you from a perhaps once in a life time experience. I say perhaps once because some people love the concept so much that they start as early as they can and keep doing it as much as they can.

   Most people's travel experience is seasonal short term holidaying where you hit the highlights and then go home.  Actually residing and working in a community for a year is a far different and fuller experience. However we had a few things to do before we set out.

Preparing for new family who will be living in our home:
  • sort everything - discard, store, or keep out for exchange family's use
  • remove personal family photos, heirlooms
  • clean every cupboard, closet and drawer
  • clean stove and refrigerator
  • replace worn or missing essentials - e.g. coffee maker, steak knives, cookie sheet
  • complete minor household repairs - e.g. squeaky doors, dripping taps, sticky drawers
  • take car in for tune-up and detailing
  • sell other car
  • inform car and house insurance company of change in occupants/drivers - provide driver's abstract from Australian family
  • arrange for a friend, neighbour to act as community support and leave contact information
  • arrange for a work colleague to serve as mentor
  • arrange for mail pickup by a relative
  • leave notes on how "things" work - e.g. VCR, stereo, TV, dishwasher, oven, BBQ, jacuzzi, lawnmower, trimmer, water softener, AC, humidifier, furnace, sump pump, garage door opener
  • leave contact names/numbers for plumber, electrician, appliance repair, snow removal 
  • leave payment information for hydro, water, phone, cable TV, internet, gas
  • leave list of local banks, grocery stores, banks, restaurants, doctor, dentist
  • leave instructions for feeding fish in aquarium and pond


Preparing for departure:

  • plan flights and stops/destinations for travel en route to Australia 
  • arrange for visas for family members
  • arrange for letter from bank manager to give to new bank in Australia
  • arrange for foster family for cats - leave money for cat food/vet
  • leave Australia contact info and travel itinerary with family members
  • renew driver's license if expiring during year away
  • provide driver's abstract for Australian insurance company
  • have an early Christmas with both sides of family
  • determine clothes for packing - must fit in 2 suitcases each
  • arrange for sons to take everything from house they will want for the whole year
  • arrange for financial power of attorney for relative in case of emergency e.g. roof repair, flood, unforeseen bills
  • provide health certificate for exchange agency
  • arrange for health insurance to cover any medical costs in Australia
  • arrange for flights for sons to come to Australia
  • exchange currency for countries visiting (Fiji, New Zealand)
  • arrange for travel to airport
  • put fresh linen on all beds
  • complete final laundry
  • make sure house is thoroughly clean top to bottom
  • vacuum on way out the door!

 These stories evolved as way to tell family and friends back home about what we found interesting being on the other side of the world. Luckily a number of people liked the stories enough to save them as what I didn't know was that the programme I was using would automatically delete my work a few months after it was written.  It took the effort of many people to restore all of my stories and then quite a bit of time to put them all back in order.  Many thanks chiefly to Art and Janice Vernon, Thomas and Debbie Searay-Gaston,  Marj Bellingham, Margaret and Sam Axford, and  Kathryn McLeod. From these I have selected the ones that  I feel will give you a good sense of what it is like to step out of our comfort zone and into a unique life.  I hope to post two or three a week so please keep checking back.  Ken 

Monday, 28 March 2016

The End of the Cookie Cutter Tour- a "Tailer May'd " Adventure


    My sister-in- law Mary Lou said it best.  "At my age I've had enough travel experience that I don't want to be treated like a tourist on some sort of cookie cutter tour." And you know, she's right. By the time you've done a little travelling and have a sense of what a good guide can provide, you don't want to waste your time or money on poor guiding services that operate like they are having you hang onto the group rope like a preschooler as you get dragged along and read to from laid on script.
  Mark Mole, the Captain of TAILER MAY'D CHARTERS, has an approach that is both simple and refreshing. He usually just asks you, "So what do you want to do?", but he is also happy to offer some suggestions to get your adventure appetite in motion. Compare this with the usual "take it or leave it" set itinerary and you immediately get the feeling that the day is going to be what you want it to be.

  In our case, although we were enjoying our 9th vacation in the Hilton Head area, we had never explored the May River so that seemed like a reasonable day's trip. The only problem was that at the time a storm called Joaquin was pounding South Carolina and Mark was going to have to stick handle around it and keep us safe. On our part we had to agree to be entirely flexible about the day.
  At the Bluffton boat launch we got to step foot on Mark's new Mowdy.  It is a custom 26 footer crafted in Texas. It sports a Suzuki 250 four stroke and has a 10" draft and will float in 6'' of water.

  From a customer's point of view this meant that it was super stable and roomy even with a total of 7 people aboard. It was a smooth ride and at no point - even when we were powering out - and it can really move - did we get splashed by water coming over the side.  It is also flat bottomed enough that you can ease into some very shallow areas.  Pretty darn remarkable.
   We toured around some small islands in the May river and
got caught up on some of the history of the area and some of its notable waterside houses. When we asked him how he got to know all of this stuff he said, "When I grew up this was my backyard." We stopped in Bluffton to get some good photos of the beautiful  Church of the Cross and then as the storm was tracking differently Mark suggested a visit to Daufuskie Island.
   Although our group had not previously been there, I can now say that a trip to  Daufuskie Island should be a top priority on any trip to the greater Hilton Head area.
  On the way over we saw enough dolphins that this could have been a separate tour in itself. It also gave me a chance to peek at the location and weather tracking apps that Mark was using. Impressive stuff not only if you are geek minded but also if you are curious about exactly where you are in the world and where the heck that  big old storm got to.
  We managed to get docked, have a little look around and grab a drink at the outdoor bar before Joaquin decided to lash us with its tail.
No matter; we had a front row seat to the storm from inside the Old Daufuskie Crab Company Restaurant so we waited it out over shrimp po' boys and fried shrimp baskets. It also gave us time to poke around its many historical displays.

  By the time lunch was finished the storm had abated and Mark had already secured golf carts for the crew and off we went on a guided tour. There is enough to see and do on the island that you can plan on going back there several times.  Although we did stop for brief looks at a number of highlights our quest was to meet two people who were passionate about their art and craft.

 The first was Tony Chase, a man who turned some of his skills as a pharmacist into a hand crafted rum distillery business. The Daufuskie Island Rum Company sits in a beautiful pond side location.  Having had its official opening 7/4/15, it is quite new. It is also clean, bright, and high tech. Tony gave the interesting and not too long tour which led into the tasting.
We sampled both the Silver and Gold editions of the white rum plus a Spiced rum made from secret natural ingredients.
Between the individual batch and bottle numbered rums and the gift shop we managed to get a fair bit of shopping done.



  The second was metal sculpture Chase Allan, winner of Martha Stewart's American Made Contest in 2014, and owner of the Iron Fish Gallery & Studio.

 There he handcrafts coastal sculptures which feature hand hammered vintage finished fish, mermaids, stingrays, blue crabs and lobsters. His work is both captivating and extremely popular. Mark himself has several pieces and a desire for more.


   There is enough to see on the island that we plan to go back a few more times, but by the end of the day we felt that we had had a very unique day provided to us by a knowledgeable captain. We also knew that while he always was relaxed,  he had to be constantly on his toes to keep us both entertained and safe.

  A week later the waters had cleared enough to give us a chance to fish.
The lads of our crew have fished with Mark many times but never on his new boat. What a treat it is! You really appreciate that room and stability when you have three guys working one side of the boat and the bite is on. On this morning Mark had to work hard to find that bite but then again he knows ALL the spots.

By the time the bite was beginning to slow we had a number of dinner sized reds and trout plus had a few of the big boys who showed up for a tussle. What really made the trip different from the normal outing was his offer to take us to look for ancient pottery shards and fossilized oyster shells.
We had a blast mucking about like kids looking for buried pirate treasure.















 I like Mark's approach. To quote him, "It's whatever you want to do. I just want to make you happy." In our opinion: Job done, Mark. Job done!
Photos by Author, and Sam Axford

Sunday, 5 April 2015

Reel Justice Justified

Our new fishing guide on Hilton Head Island was up against it for sure that morning. The tide was running out heavy which made holding in some spots impossible. We also had competition from two dolphins who had come up the creek and were busy circling bait and stunning them with their big tail splashes. Worst of all, he knew that we thought he looked awfully young to be an effective guide.  He had purchased the boat from our regular guide who was now out for the season with a back injury. He had vouched for Justice but he would have to prove himself if we were going to do any repeat business. This was our eighth fishing trip to the area and our competitive threesome, brothers-in-law Sam, Bryon and myself, had some pretty high expectations.
  He took us up the creek further than normal commenting on many of the inlets, oyster shelves and productive clumps of grasses.  We began to be impressed with the detail of his local knowledge, which was a theme that would develop with each subsequent trip.
                   
 Justice's grandpa got him started at the age of four and when he caught his first fish, a 14' redfish, he got hooked as well. As he got older his commitment to fishing grew. Even as young lad he could be found fishing on his own, catching shrimp then using them as bait for redfish in the ponds around Sea Pines. At the age of 14 he started working for Tommy Bronsky on board The Shadow as a first mate. Justice credits Tommy for taking him from recreational to serious avid fisherman, to the point that when Justice turned 15 he decided that he wanted fishing to be his career.
 When Justice turned 18 he got his captain's license and ran the Shadow 3-4 trips a week during the next summer and continued to act as mate for Tommy. In 2012 he started his own charter called Reel Justice.
The next two years kept Justice hopping as he was running his boat out of Broad Creek as well as Mark Mole's boat and Tommy's boat as well.  In 2014, after 7 years of offshore fishing he decided to buy Mark Mole's 2 boat which is a 17' Action Craft powered by a 2012 90 hp Yamaha. As a customer I love being in this boat because you can cover water quickly when you need to, then sneak up on the hot spots which are often up in places where other craft would fear to tread.  A positioning motor and Justice's poling abilities seal the deal when the going gets tricky.
                        
  He stopped in front of a tiny creek that was letting out into a pool that was dotted by oyster beds. He selected the bait and pointed out the targets. The rest of the morning was a feverish blur of doubles and triples. We moved several times to follow the action. By the end of the trip we had boated 40 fish, most of them reds, and had lost a ton more - especially the flounders. This kind of fishing over oyster beds and sharp ledges and cross overs from overly eager fishermen results in a ton of leader and hook changes.
                   
Justice is an out and out master at this and can have you geared up again, rebated and back in the game in no time. He treats each fish as if it is as important to him as it is to you. Justice is pretty much as fast and agile as a cat.  At one point he launched himself into a full dive across the boat to try a to net a founder which was escaping from Bryon's hook.
  Two days later we were back at it again, only this time we had to wait for the tide to start dropping so we hung out in the mouth and tried to target trout.  We got a few on gulp shrimp and mud minnows on a jig hook then headed up the creek on the tide drop. The trouble with today's drop was that it was floating great rafts of reeds, which at one point caused me to lose a really nice flounder when a reed raft jammed the net at the surface. Another 40 fish day with Bryon's 10 lb redfish being the largest but Sam and I weren't far behind.
                                   
                                                
That night's supper was a real mixed bag of redfish, bluefish, flounder and trout all fried up in blackened spices accompanied by cheese grits and cold lager.

  The third trip was in the afternoon - hotter than normal, full sun, no breeze, tons of midges. It was amazing that anything hit at all.  Under these circumstances he had to work really hard to find active fish but he was in perpetual good humour throughout. In fact, Justice's sense of pure joy about his job shines through no matter how tough the going.  Despite the conditions, he managed to put us on enough fish that we boated 30 of them.

    The evening before our fourth trip a cold front swept in giving us a thunder and lighting show and a huge downpour.  While it was good to have relief from the humidity, I have always found that fishing right after the onset of a cold front is generally tough fishing. We decided to try a late afternoon to sunset trip on the idea that by then maybe things might have stabilized a bit.  Justice once again had to cover territory to find fish but when we did the action was steady. Unfortunately I had insisted on bringing a new rig of my own. Even though the braided line was new it kept snapping like it was a hundred years old. I persisted too long with this gear before switching over to one of Justice's rigs so I fell behind in the count.  He generally uses Pflueger reels and Penn rods but we were also trying out his new Penn Battle 2 2500 spinning reels.  Encroaching darkness and a pretty fierce on-slot of bugs had us decide to pack it in, but not before landing 29 fish.
  Our final trip of the holiday found us fishing on the day of a tournament.  Boats and crews of every size were churning up the water everywhere. Even though we had made an early start, by the time we got to our target there was a large boat blasting away from it and another anchored right in the middle of the sweet spot. With Justice's skillful manoeuvering we were able to get around the other boat and work a less obvious and overlooked    spot. Despite the heavy pressure of the day we still ended up with 33 fish.
  Bottom line - we boated 172 fish in five trips, each trip on different conditions.
We'll be going out with Captain Justice again just as soon as we can.
                                                                                            

               
                                                                                   
 I wrote this article purely because of the great experience that we had but you might want to do a little more research yourself so here are
  JUST THE FACTS
Justice's business site is reeljusticecharters.com
Justice says,"The best time of year for reds is Sept-Nov and mid March -mid May but my business is open year round so they can contact me to see how fishing is but they book the trip through Blue Water Tackle Shop."
Blue Water Tackle Shop (bluewaterhhi.com )
232S Sea Pines Dr #308 Hilton Head SC
843-671-3060









The Other Captains Mentioned
Capt. Thomas Bronsky
Shadow Sport Fishing Inc
Hilton Head

Capt. Mark Mole
Tailer May'D Charters, LLC



Photos courtesy
 Sam Axford
 Bryon Monk
 Dan McLeod - Esteemedia Productions