Princeton Class of 1961

Update from Ben Turnbull:

On the Beach, Monday, October 16, 2017:

On the Beach, Thursday, October 19, 2017:

Redfish Madness Continues In Fisherman’s Paradise

The first cold front of the year for Pawleys Island crashed through on Monday afternoon, bringing cooler temperatures and strong northeast winds to the beach. And running me to shelter after a great afternoon of fishing. Tuesday and Wednesday were no fishing days.

But yesterday, Thursday, October 19th was the day I anticipated pushing the envelope on conditions to see if the fall redfish run was still in full swing. So when my surf fishing cart and I rolled out onto DeBordieu Colony beach in the early afternoon, not to any surprise we were greeted with marginal conditions. The northeast wind was blowing about 20 mph and the surf had not completely calmed down. The outer bar was being hit by 3 to 4 foot high breaking waves. But the white caps that had covered the ocean for the past two days were gone and the water was clear blue/green. Pelicans were diving.

Time to give it a go!

I baited my heavy rig with a piece of the monster mullet I had bought for bait the day before and waded out towards the bar. Even though we were close to dead low tide, the going was heavy. The trough or slew between the beach and outer bar was waist deep and wide, with strong and variable currents. The bar was already covered with knee deep water and the waves that rolled across were not sapped of all their vigor. The bar itself was more narrow than usual and about 75 yards from the beach. Casting into the strong east wind reduced my distance by about a third.

As I waited for action, I thought that this envelope pushing was not such a great idea. As usual, I was the lone fisherman in the surf. But then a pod of big porpoise came into the surf with a squadron of pelicans overhead, diving to pick up the their leavings. "OK. If those guys can fish in these conditions, so can I.”

After one trip back to the beach for fresh bait, a huge hit rewarded my hard-headedness. As I have learned through sad experience, big fish need a light drag and a lot of patience. This guy took out about 100 yards of line on his first run and about 50 on his second. Since I had him stopped, I thought it was time to head back to the beach. The slew was pretty tough going with the big fish pulling on my line but I managed to work across it with out falling on my face.

From the beach, I began to work my combatant toward me and recover the 200 or so yards of line he had pulled off my reel. In about ten minuets, a monster redfish flashed silver in the near surf. No bystanders were around and getting this big boy onto the sand was not an easy task. But I won and another "fish of a lifetime” was mine for a minuet or two. 40 inches and 40 pounds seems to be the average size for this fall’s big red run and the and this guy fell into that category. Hook out, picture taken, I heaved this guy out to the shallow water, where he revived himself quickly. As I let go of his big tail and he headed back to sea, I told him that he should remember that he had had his ass whipped by a 78 year old with various medical patches and a VERY understanding wife.

After crowing over the phone to family and friends, I headed back out to the bar in the face of the rising tide. The effort was heavier, the water level higher and the waves bigger. I cast out just clearing the breaking waves and said to myself that this had to be my last venture out that far for the day. But the risk and reward formulae was in my favor this time. Another big hit that lead to a fight that replicated the one described above.

This time a nice couple of beach walkers helped with the beaching of my second big red and took some pictures.

I decided that the fishing gods had smiled on me extensively this afternoon and it was time to head home.

Another great day of fishing for me!

It ain’t over yet. Stay tuned.

On the Beach, Friday, October 20, 2017:

The 2017 Red Run Continues

Yesterday was another wonderful fishing experience for me.

The general conditions for surf fishing at DeBordieu Colony beach were near perfect. Clear skies, light northeast winds, calm seas with small swells and temperature in the low 80’s. I arrived in early afternoon at the last hour of the falling tide. The Atlantic was so welcoming that a couple of small sport fishing boats were near the surf line looking to hook-up with a big red.

About a half of hour after I started casting with my heavy rig from the outer bar a big red picked up my cut bait and the fight was on. After the first series of runs, I headed back across the slew for the beach to continue my effort.

Because of the beautiful weather, more beach walkers were out. One couple that turned out to be year around residents of DeBordieu Colony was there and took a big interest in the goings on. Fortunately, the lady was good with her smart phone camera. She produced both the videos that I posted yesterday and the photos accompanying this remarks. Now I have both to see for myself and to share a glimpse of what the struggle itself looked like.

So this big red was about the same size as the others I have been landing - approximately 40 inches long and 40 pounds in weight. And was the sixth of the season - over 200 pounds of fighting fish

The most remarkable aspect of this victory was that my "light drag and patience policy” paid off big time. This fish did not eat the entire bait but chose to chomp down on the trailing half. Only the lighter hook set in his jaw. By the time he was on the beach, this hook was severely damaged. One really hard pull by me would have straitened it entirely and my big red would have been gone.

We have another beautiful day today. I will likely be out on the beach again this afternoon, trying to add to a wondrous fall surf fishing season.