Greg Garris, Ray Noe, and Eric Gussler joined me for a half day fishing trip with Capt. Keith Logan of North Myrtle Beach Fishing Charters. As you can see in the photos and video below, a few of the coaches were under dressed for the chilly runs on the 22 foot fishing boat of Captain Keith Logan. Despite warnings, suffice it to say that the younger members of the coaching staff were dressed for wind chills in the 80s when in reality the wind chills were in the 50s.

There is great joy in seeing someone catch their first fish. Eric Gussler managed to catch this gigantic sea trout after a LONG battle. He was excited and quite proud of the very first catch of his life!

Gussler Puts Hurting On Gignatic Sea Trout

Capt. Logan began the trip by setting up on the down current side of an oyster bar where he expected that redfish might be swimming out of the shallow flats as the water fell with the outgoing tide. No redfish, but Eric did surprise himself by catching the sea trout.

After about an hour, Capt. Logan ran the boat to a spot 3 miles offshore. He set up over an artificial reef created by sinking barges and other outdated ships in 30 feet of water. The Captain lowered the trolling motor which has the capacity to be programmed to engage the propeller as necessary to keep anglers over a GPS designated fishing spot. Logan’s fish finder showed scads of fish. We began to catch sea bass immediately.

Not only did Eric Gussler catch the first fish of the day, he also caught the first sea bass. Eric using a 6 1/2 foot spinning rod loaded with 15 pound test braided line, struggled mightily with a hooked fish screaming at the top of his lungs about how tough his second fish was to land. He cranked the handle of the spinning rod as if he was creating hamburger from hunks of beef in an old-fashioned meat grinder. Profanities flew. Everyone peered over the side of the boat waiting eagerly to see what monster was putting such a whipping on Gussler. When he landed the fish, the boat went crazy. I would post the video but the audio is not for all audiences. However, the fish was so remarkably small; we decided that any fish caught of similar size should be called an “Eric”.

Black sea bass are excellent to eat but a 13 inch minimum size is required. Steve Rowe caught one bass which measured 12 and 7/8 inches but none of the some 50 sea bass we landed were legal to keep so we returned to the dock with what I affectionately refer to as fishermen luck – an empty stomach and a wet tailbone. And we did have wet tailbones taking a few waves over the bow which soaked us to the bone!

The bet on the boat was “rarest fish”! You be the judge.

Surprise Sting Ray For Coach Garris

The action was hot and heavy at times!

Sharing time on the water with good friends who are open to adventure is one of a fisherman’s great pleasures. It was a fun and enjoyable day!

For any of you traveling to Myrtle Beach, I would highly recommend Capt. Keith Logan of North Myrtle Beach Fishing Charters. He is an accomplished angler, very supportive of people who are new to the sport, and a great conversationalist. All are traits of an excellent captain.

Tight lines and Go Cards!