A bunch of fish were caught during last weekend's second annual Owen Perry Memorial Inshore Fishing Tournament out of Fripp Island. Prizes were awarded to winners in various categories, but the big winner was the Medical College of Georgia Camp Rainbow for children with cancer and rare blood diseases.
Nearly $1,500 was raised, according to Augusta's Stovall Walker, who has been a Camp Rainbow volunteer since the camp was started 25 years ago. The property called Twin Lakes is near Washington, Ga., and was donated by the Georgia-Pacific Corp.
The tournament had been running for many years under the "Sweet Deal" name because, as Walker put it, "we'd been getting such a sweet deal from the Fripp Island Co., which works out a special deal for people to stay on the island during this special weekend." He said Perry, an Augustan, participated in many of the early events before his death in 2002.
This year's event drew just 10 boats, a far cry from the more than 20 of previous years, and Walker said efforts to attract more fishermen from Augusta and Beaufort, S.C., are being made.
"Many people are not aware of the real jewel that is Fripp Island just 21-hours' drive from Augusta," he pointed out. "There is some of the best salt fishing in the world off Fripp and the best part is that you can go fishing there year round."
Among tournament guests were Drs. Bill Lutin and Roger Vega, of the Medical College of Georgia. Lutin is professor of pediatrics and a cardiologist and Vega is chief of pedriatic hemotology and oncology. Camp Rainbow also serves as home to "Camp Strongheart" for kids with liver and heart ailments and Lutin is camp doctor.
During the captain's meeting at Fripp Island Marina last Friday, Vega pointed out that Camp Rainbow helps many children battle their deadly diseases. "Once they've been there, their goal is to stay healthy enough to return," he explained.
THURMOND LAKE
Raysville Marina (Leon Buffington and Doug Pentecost), (706) 595-5582 -- Hybrids and stripers were schooling strongly below Red Bank Island in upper Little River on Monday. Zoom Super Flukes, Baby Flukes and Gotcha Shad lures accounted for most of the fish caught. The "secret" was to dip the soft plastic baits' tails into a jar of chartreuse dye. The water was murky and the chartreuse made the baits more visible. However, the remnants of Hurricane Ida brought cloudburst-type rain to the area and the bite might be interrupted until the area settles down.
Capt. David Willard, U.S. Coast Guard-licensed full-time professional fishing guide specializing in hybrids and stripers and trophy largemouth bass. (Boat phone: (706) 214-0236. (803) 637-6379 (www. crockettrocketstriperfishing.com) -- Water temperature is in the mid 60s, the lake is slightly stained and rising with some floating debris. The remnants of Hurricane Ida caused us to back off fishing for a few days, but now we're back on track. Fall fishing is seriously fun. Richard Keller, his daughter, Susan, and son, Richard Jr., and daughter-in-law Rea, fished before the storm and easily caught a limit of fish. Richard Jr., and his wife are from St. Louis and came down last spring. They enjoyed the lake so much they decided to come back. Today (Thursday), I am on the lake with Jim Pierce, of Aiken, and his friends, the Canadian fish killers. We're catching fish between 15-20-mph northeastern winds and it feels like summertime to them.
Check out my Web site for some recent catches.
Ralph Barbee Jr., professional guide, (706) 860-7373 -- I took out John Holden on Monday and checked out the Raysville area. Starting at the Wilkes County pumping station, I caught a 4-pound bass right off the bat on a Yellow Fellow stick bait, but never got another strike for a few hours. I wound up with three bass and a hybrid. John caught one bass and one hybrid.
My show features Capt. Mack of umbrella rig fame, fishing in Lake Lanier for striped bass. It airs Saturdays at 11 a.m., and Sundays at 2 p.m. Stations are Comcast Ch. 21, Knology Ch. 7, Atlantic Broadband, Ch. 7 (Aiken), Northland Ch. 9 Statesboro-Swainsboro) and Ft. Gordon Ch. 9. You must have a special box from Comcast to view my show. The box is free.
Billy Murphy, professional guide, (706) 733-0124 (Web site www.doubletroublefishingguides .com) with twins Brad and Jim -- We had two great days of fishing before the rains set in. You'll notice that I said "fishing," not catching. We're fishing live herring in 35 to 60 feet of water and the fish are pulling our rod tips to the water, killing our bait and then turning loose. They were hard to hook. Last Friday, Mike Tarity, of Trenton, S.C.; Dennis Hack, of Grovetown; and Donald McCarty, of Evans; fished with me. They ended the day with 23 stripers weighing 2 to 4 pounds each. Last Saturday, Doug Holland, of Augusta, wanted to get his pontoon boat set up for striper fishing so Larry Freeman, of Evans, and I went out with him. We went through six dozen bait fish and caught only 10 stripers. We were on the way in when our depthfinder lit up with a stack of fish in 46 feet of water. All we had were dead herring, so I suggested we power reel them. That consists of dropping the dead fish quickly to the bottom and then quickly reeling them up. The stripers hit the bait as it fell as and as it zipped up. We caught five stripers and lost six more.
My VHF radio handle is doubletrouble on Ch. 68.
Capt. William Sasser, U.S. Coast Guard-licensed professional guide specializing in crappies, hybrids and striped bass. (706) 589-5468 -- Steve Brousseau, of Evans; Nate Methvin, of Fort Gordon; Greg Courtright, of Appling; and David Baty, of North Augusta; fished with me on monsoon day. High winds, cool temperatures and pouring rain meant nothing to these career Army men, who wound up with 33 stripers and hybrids. Earlier in the week, Tim Barton put himself on my list of great bosses. He'd asked employees Cain Kneece, Cory Bolin, Earl Herron, Jonathon Heussy and Butch Carroll, all from the Aiken area, to follow him. They thought they were going to a job, so imagine their surprise when they wound up aboard my boat for a fishing trip. They wound up with 30 fish which I filleted. Then the boss played host to a fish fry that evening. Jonathon, Nick, Raymond, Raymond Jr., Richard, Michel and Nolon Short, all of Grovetown, filled up the fish box on a morning trip. Brad and Benita Sandbach, sons Bryan and Ben, Charlie and Cathy Brinson and their children, Macy and Mitchell, with Zack Smith, all from the Martinez area, ran into a calm, blue-sky day and caught only 11 fish.
Check out my Web site at www. williamsasserfishing.com.
Capt. Tommy Dudley, U.S. Coast Guard-licensed professional guide specializing in stripers and hybrids. (706) 833-4807 -- Soap Creek is a bit stained and South Carolina Little River and the Broad River are muddy. The main Savannah River arm to Russell spillway is pretty clear. Fishing has been really a mixed bag. I've caught one- to 10-pound fish in 20 to 80 feet of water, fishing live herring 16 to 40 feet down. We've been releasing as many small fish as we can. The last day I fished was before the rain on Tuesday. Steve Judy, Eddie Edwards, Lee Frazier, John Estes, all of upstate South Carolina, had to wait for some wind to turn on the fish. When that happened, they kept 36 nice hybrids. Charlie Schell, Denny Steele and Bob, their friend, of Savannah Lakes, braved thick fog. I had to use my GPS to find a hybrid-loaded point. They wound up with 30 fish. Ralph Taylor, of Augusta, and Jake Butler, of Conyers, Ga., had a blast catching limits of hybrids and stripers on a windblown point. Dr. Fred Rosenblum and his son, Danny, 13, and friend Alex Hunt, 12, all of Augusta, enjoyed a beautiful day on the lake with the young men keeping 20 hybrids and stripers.
My VHF radio handle is Boat Racer and I can be reached on Channel 68. My Web site is www. fishlakethurmond.com.
SAVANNAH RIVER
New Savannah Bluff Lock & Dam
Lock and Dam Bait and Tackle (Bob Baurle, Billy Hambrick), (706) 496-1173 -- Mike Grover and David Davis caught eight largemouth bass upriver on artificial lures. Chip Moore fished in the rain on Wednesday and caught some huge warmouth, bream and catfish. Even though the water is high and muddy, some catfish are being caught.
MERRY LAND
BRICKYARD PONDS
Harrison Sears (706) 722-8263 (www.brickyardponds.com) -- The catfish bite is strong in the Ditch and the Pollard Pond. A few good-sized crappies have been caught in the Ditch and the White Elephant Pond. No license is needed to fish in our ponds.
ATLANTIC OCEAN
BEAUFORT, S.C. & VICINITY
Ralph Goodison, Fripp Island, (843) 838-2530 -- Fishing remains excellent, but the weather has been horrible. The good news is that the bad weather will clear out of our area by the weekend, which is looking good. Redfish and trout bites remain strong, while if seas calm to where one can get offshore, black sea bass and an occasional grouper. Winners in last weekend's Owen Perry Memorial Inshore Tournament included Chris Jones, of Fripp Island, S.C., and his crew who brought in the largest redfish; Stuart Mitchell, of Fripp, and his crew who were runners-up in the redfish category and won the largest spotted sea trout prize; Mr. Walker and the two doctors, who weighed in the redfish with the most spots (13), and C.G. Doolittle, of Augusta, who won the "other species" category with a bonnethead shark.
SAVANNAH
Miss Judy Charters, Capt. Judy Helmey, (912) 897-4921 (www.missjudycharters.com.) P.O. Box 30771, Savannah, Ga. 31410-0771 -- The winter run of king mackerel have arrived in our area. Not only did I see them jumping, but I caught some. They come in several sizes, including what I call "snakes," weighing less than 9 pounds. The fish have to be 24 inches long from the tip of the nose to the fork of the tail to be legal. There is a creel limit of three per fisherman per day. Next size is from 13 to 19 pounds and are called "teenagers." Then there are the "smokers," which are fish of 30 pounds or better.
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