American Adventure (3) "Fishin' on the dock of the bay"

Charleston has been a blast. I'll write up my whole Charleston experience in my next post, the people I've met, the meeting with the church's Outdoor Ministry committee, and throw in a few pictures of the town, which is one of the quaintest and most aesthetically attractive places I've ever visited, but for now here's the big headline: I've been fishing, and I've caught fish. In fact, here is the first American fish I've ever caught. Not the prettiest of fish, but a game fighter which took line from the clutch, and at one point had the line wrapped around one of the posts of the dock, fraying the line to alarming proportions.

My guide for the day was Susan Dalton, a member of Mount Pleasant Presbyterian Church and fanatical South Carolinan sea angler. In fact she's such a fanatical angler that she and her sister (her whole family fishes) run a business called "Angling Women" which teaches kids (of both genders) to fish, provides aquatic education, women's fishing programs, fishing birthday parties and some corporate events, and is sponsored by tackle giants Pflueger and Berkley.

The original plan had been to fish from a kayak in the creek, but a number of "technical" problems prevented this, so plan B was to fish from the dock at the bottom of another church member's house. Mud minnows were used as livebait, initially presented under a float, before I switched over to a leger rig. The sea was unusually rough (by South Carolina standards), and fishing from the floating dock meant a slightly bumpy ride, and the occasional soaking, and made bite detection harder than normal. I missed my first bite, which resulted in me retrieving just the head of the bait, the rest having been ripped off by whatever predator had taken a fancy to it. My first fish, when it arrived, was the Skate shown in the top picture, which was released after capture.

Susan's parents, along with the houseowner, Dal and his wife, joined us on the dock, and the afternoon's fishing was concluded by me catching this flounder, a highly prized fish locally. Said flounder wasn't released, and a splendid day became even better when Booker, Susan's dad, filleted and cooked the fish, which went from sea to plate in about an hour, and was- predictably- delicious.

Here's hoping my luck holds out for my next American fishing trip.