Fishing the offshore artificial reefs

Here's somebody named Katie catching a couple of black sea bass somewhere offshore @ Edisto. They are probably on the "Edisto 40" or "Edisto 60", which are a couple of the artificial reefs that are about 8 and 16 miles out, respectively, from Edisto Beach. We just bought a larger boat, and we are looking forward to getting offshore to fish the reefs, too! Click here for more info on these artificial reefs.

Great weekend at Edisto

We had a great time at Edisto this past weekend. I spent a great deal of time fishing. I had a good spot on the jetty to set up all my stuff. Unfortunately, I didn't catch a darn thing....but I had a fun trying. Now I'm dying to get a little boat to get me back into the creeks to find some fish.My son found this clam in the sand on Big Bay Creek while we were putting out the crab pot:

It was apparently mating season for the horseshoe crabs, and they were all over the beach one morning at low tide. They were trying to make their way back to the water. This one happens to be covered with barnacles and other hitchhikers.There was also a random dead tree that had washed up onto the beach. It kept the kids' attention for a good while.

We wondered where it might be from and how far it may have drifted. It could be from only a few miles away, or it could be from another continent, after drifting for years in the Atlantic Ocean. I think it had been drifting for quite a while, because it had some barnacles growing on it. But, who knows?

This blue crab was, well...crabby...about my presence

This was one of several dozen blue crabs we caught over the weekend. I used a few for bait while fishing. However, we were too lazy to clean and cook the others, so we released them to catch another day. This particular crab was not too pleased about being on camera. If you didn't previously understand why the term "crabby" is used to describe someone in a bad mood, this video should make it pretty clear.

Edisto hosting Governor's Cup Billfishing Tournament

Governor's Cup event starts on time - sort of
GREGG HOLSHOUSER

The official start of hurricane season, June 1, is still three weeks away and we're already learning our ABCs. A is for Andrea.

The 19th annual South Carolina Governor's Cup Billfishing Series opened on Thursday with the first day of the Edisto Marina Billfish Tournament. However, there was no fishing.

Tournament officials and competing boats were eyeing rough seas churned up by the subtropical storm, which received the name Andrea Wednesday afternoon.

Boats are allowed to fish two of three days, Thursday through Saturday, captain's choice. All 35 boats entered in the tournament passed on Thursday and planned to fish today and Saturday.

The tournament beginning as planned seemed unlikely just a few days ago.

The storm had been spinning off the Carolinas coast since Sunday, creating consistent winds of 25knots to 35 knots, with gusts over 50, and seas up to the 30-foot range over the Gulf Stream.

The Weather Channel's Jim Cantore was reporting live on the storm Wednesday from Folly Beach, located about 15 miles northeast of the marina.

A forecast for quickly calming seas, according to the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) marine forecast, kept the tournament on track. The offshore forecast Thursday morning called for south to southwest winds of 10 knots to 15 knots for today and Saturday with seas 4feet to 7 feet today and only 3feet to 4 feet on Saturday.

Steve Wallace, manager of Edisto Marina, says the storm may have a positive impact on fishing in the tournament.

"I think [fishing is] going to be better," Wallace said. "I think it's going to bring [the fish] in - the northeast wind [prevalent through the week] is going to help bring in some of that warm water [from the Gulf Stream]."

Wallace said billfish activity has been observed by boats fishing from Edisto Marina in the last few weeks when weather has permitted offshore trolling.

"Just about everybody that goes out there, they see [billfish] or hook up with them," Wallace said. "They're out there."

Wallace said a 107-pound wahoo was landed and plenty of dolphin were available before the storm made the scene.

Governor's Cup Conservation

Last October, the South Carolina Governor's Cup Advisory Board and the Tournament Committee unanimously approved a 110-inch minimum size limit for blue marlin being weighed in.

The Cup's minimum size is well above the current federal minimum size limit (99 inches).

The points system used in the series has been revamped by the board to reward fishing teams for releasing billfish.

Points earned for blue marlin releases will increase from 300 to 600 points, while points for white marlin releases increase from 150 to 200. Sailfish releases remain the same at 100 points.

Also, a NOAA regulation established on Jan. 1 requires billfish tournament participants in the Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico and U.S. Caribbean fishing with natural bait or natural bait and artificial lure combinations to use only circle hooks.

Tournament participants who use artificial baits not in combination with natural baits may continue using the traditional J-style fishing hooks.

Surf fishing last weekend

Last weekend at Edisto was beautiful. It was sunny on Saturday, about 76 degrees, and the water is still warm enough to swim in. I spent the day on the beach fishing. I decided to go at it pretty hard, so I set up 4 fishing poles to use all at once. I wanted to get as much action as I could. There was one other guy on the beach about 100 yards north of me. Other than the two of us, there was nobody there. We had the beach all to ourselves.

When I finally decided to call it a day (about 5 hours fishing), I had caught 7 bluefish and 4 whiting. The guy just up the beach from me pulled in a half dozen spotted seatrout and a big flounder. (Catching flounder in the surf is a bit unusual.) I saw him the next day and he told me the flounder tasted so good when he fried it up. (I was jealous - flounder is my favorite fish.)

It was a great day.

Here are some sample pictures of the fish we caught. These are not the actual fish we caught. I couldn't take any pictures because my camera is broken. (I have an unfortunate habit of dropping digital cameras on hard surfaces.)

Bluefish:

Whiting (a/k/a Kingfish):
Spotted Seatrout:
Flounder (Southern Flounder):

Edisto bucks coastal development trend

Planners should visit Edisto

From the Knoxville News Sentinel
By DON WILLIAMS

On Edisto Island, S.C., the world is reborn daily.

Morning sun pours a blend of fire and wine across the sky as leaning dunes finish their night's work of providing shelter for turtles that hatch and strive for the sea in answer to moonlight's summons. A state park and campground protects this beachfront that would only be reduced by calling it real estate. This is nobody's property.

Rise early, and you may walk on sand bearing no other human footprint in view of dolphins arcing out of the surf.

A couple hours' worth of brisk pedaling by bike will propel you around this island where you'll see nary an orange highway construction cone, hear nary a power drill or chainsaw, nary a grumble or groan from bulldozers and view nary a towering high-rise. Rather, you'll meander among shacks and old plantations and diners featuring Gullah cuisine and banter.

It's all by design. Insistent zoning and community resistance to "progress" have preserved the best parts of paradise. That's why Edisto beckons.

Beach Renourishment Project at Edisto a Success

At Edisto, Smiles Are As Wide as Newly Renourished Beach

From the Charleston Post & Courier; By Andy Paras

EDISTO BEACH - It's been two carefree months since a long-awaited renourishment project more than doubled the width of the town's incredibly shrinking beach.

Beachgoers can now stretch out in their chairs without worrying about kicking a dolphin.

Kids on boogie boards cruise to shore knowing they won't have to dodge traffic on Palmetto Boulevard, and for now the owners of the oceanfront houses can be confident they'll still have a home to accompany their tax bill.

"The beach looks better than I have ever seen the beach look, and I'm an old-timer," said Mayor Burley Lyons. "A healthy beach is a wealthy beach."

Using traffic counts and good old anecdotal evidence, Lyons said the beach is more populated than ever.

"So far, there's been no room at the inn," Lyons said. "Without a question or a doubt, during the Fourth of July weekend and week, there were more people on Edisto Beach than there ever have been, period."

Of course, it doesn't hurt to have room for everyone to stand.

For that to happen, the town collaborated with Colleton County and the state on an $8 million project to renourish the beach.

A dredge spread 850,000 cubic yards of sand over about 3.5 miles of beach in less than three months. The project was finished May 13, on time and within budget.

Lyons said the beach has been widened to about 100 feet during low tide.

"You can now walk down the beach without climbing over groins," Lyons said. "We did the right thing."

Many longtime lovers of Edisto Beach saw and heard about the beach widening for the first time this week when they and their families arrived for their annual vacations.

"It's awesome," said David Konigsberg of Atlanta, one of four brothers who bring their families here from all over the country each year. "We first came here 14 years ago, and this is how I remember it."

The Konigsberg family said they love the beach because of its anti-development attitude. "We love the fact that there's just one pizza parlor that doubles as a video store," David said.

Many people who have been coming to the beach for years described seeing the improved beach like seeing a family member with new cosmetic work; they love her now but they loved her anyway.

"There's no way we'd not come to Edisto," said Steve Konigsberg.

*********

Edisto, Hunting Island celebrate renewed beaches

Visitors now can enjoy a 100-foot-wide beach on Edisto Island and sea turtles have a huge expanse of sand to lay their eggs at Hunting Island following $16.3 million in renourishment projects....

Beachfront by our house

Here's a video scan of the beachfront by our house on May 31, 2006. We spent this past week down at the house and had a wonderful time. The weather was beautiful. It was in the mid-80s all week. You can hear the breeze blowing in the video.

George & Pink vegetable stand

This place is legendary on Edisto Island. It is basically a shack in the woods, located about a half mile down a dirt road (Eddingsville Beach Road) through a swamp.

George & Pink sells fruit, veggies, and also have the absolute best boiled peanuts on the planet. There are always chickens and other animals roaming around. It's quite a place. If you go to Edisto, George & Pink is an absolute requirement to complete the Edisto experience.

Here's a short video showing Eddingville Beach Road. I told you it was a dirt road through the swamp, didn't I? Well, I wasn't kidding. It's like going back in time.

Click here to listen to a public radio segment about George & Pink.

The bridge to Edisto - new & old

Sometime during the early 90s, a new bridge was built from the mainland onto Edisto Island.

The old bridge is gone, but many still remember it fondly. I did cross that old bridge a few times as a child, but unfortunately have no memory of it. As I understand, the old bridge was taken out to sea and dropped into the ocean to create an artificial reef. I'm sure it's surrounded with marine life now. Here's a picture of the old bridge before it was taken down (pic courtesy of Mike Bailey of www.edistomemories.com):

All that's left of the old bridge now is just a part of the original road on pilings:

Pelicans

Pelicans are plentiful at Edisto. Sometimes they dive into the water when going after fish. Sometimes they just sit there. Most of the time, however, they are flying from one place to another, usually in formation.

Sandcastles and digging holes on the beach

For children, there is just something about making a big mound of sand, or digging a giant hole on the beach. If you dig hole big enough, someone will inevitably make a comment about digging all the way to China. Here are a couple of the remains of the digging and building projects of some children (or maybe some adults?) this past week. The picture really doesn't do that hole justice...it is deeper than it looks here.

The Pink House

There is a beachfront house a few blocks away from our house that has a book written about it. The book is entitled, appropriately enough, The Pink House, and is written by Kate Salley Palmer. The book tells the story of a family's day at Edisto Beach. We enjoy reading The Pink House to our children because they like to the hear the story about something that they know and can relate to. Kate Salley Palmer has also written several other books about the Palmetto State.

Here's the cover of the book, followed by a picture of the actual house.

Our state flag is very popular

You will see it many times in many different places. The South Carolina state flag is a very popular symbol that is used on hats, shirts, bumper stickers and numerous other places. The flag shown above is flown proudly by an Edisto vacationer staying in a beachfront house on Point Street this past week. Below you will see a visor that I own that ties in the SC state flag theme. Note the use of the Palmetto tree in lieu of the letter "t" and the crescent moon dotting the "i".

Beach Renourishment Project at Edisto

From The Charleston Post & Courier, February 27, 2006

The beach renourishment project is going to be great for Edisto Beach. I can't wait to see the results. Here are a few excerpts from the article:

The $7.7 million renourishment project, dredging sand from offshore, is scheduled to start mid-March and take two months.

"The public will be able to tell a difference. The beach is going to be wider," said Marion Edmonds, South Carolina Parks spokesman.

The dredging will run from that north edge of the state park to the last groin on the island's Saint Helena Sound southern flank. It's being paid for by $4.75 million in state money and a little more than $3 million in town and Colleton County money. It has a projected lifespan of 10 years.

We appreciate Edisto even more now

We just spent the weekend at Hilton Head Island at The Heritage golf tournament. Hilton Head is very nice, and we had a good time. However, we now have a new appreciation for the slow pace and laid-back attitude at Edisto. Hilton Head is very congested and overly-commercialized. There is just way too much going on there. I would describe Hilton Head as a "high-end Myrtle Beach".

Edisto, on the other hand, is much more of a "sit on the beach and read a book" sort of place. There isn't that overly-commercialized atmosphere at Edisto. Traffic at Edisto is almost nonexistent (not so at Hilton Head!), and we can pretty much let our kids run free without having to worry about them.

After coming home from Hilton Head, we are really looking forward to getting back to Edisto very soon!

A special day at Edisto

It happens on occassion: a very warm winter day... this one happened to be a day in mid-February when the temperature hovered around 70 degrees, everyone went to the beach, and the kids played in the surf. In the meantime, they were having snow in Asheville.
That was Saturday, February 18, 2006...a day to remember.

Why a day to remember, you ask? Because this is what Saturday, February 18th was like:

... and this was the next day, Sunday, February 19th (when mother nature realized that this was February and brought back the reality of winter):

An Edisto related landmark

This is the rickety, old building where you turn off of Highway 17 onto Highway 174 (the only road to Edisto...and it goes nowhere but to Edisto). Seeing this building tells those who make the trip to Edisto that all the stress and pressure of everyday life is being left behind.

Beachfront at Edisto

This is a composite photo I put together showing the beachfront by our beach access. Please note our house is not in this photo. Our house is not on the beachfront. It's a block and a half behind these houses. The beachfront on this part of Edisto is not suffering from erosion like the northern part of Edisto Beach, which is where the erosion problem is so bad. These houses have plenty of dunes in front of them for protection.

Click on this picture to get a larger view.

Watching the shrimp boats come in

A daily occurrence at Edisto Beach: sitting in the sand, waves crashing at your feet, and watching the shrimp boats come in to sort the day's catch.

The water tower - an Edisto landmark

There is no water supply coming from the mainland. Edisto has to take care of itself when it comes to the water supply.

Palmetto trees...

...are everywhere on Edisto Island. I am not talking about ones that have been planted by some landscaper or developer. These grow naturally, and in large quantities. They are a part of Edisto as much as the creeks, ocean and beach.

Loggerhead turtle nests at Edisto

Every year Loggerhead turtles come back to the beaches at Edisto to lay their eggs. I haven't yet had the privilege of seeing on of these amazing animals, but I hope to some day. Here's one of the many nests we saw last August.

The creeks at Edisto

These creeks run all over Edisto Island, and they are full of life. Some of the creeks are barely navigable, if at all, and other creeks are "deep water" and capable of handling very large boats.

You will often see a shrimp boat or two, as well as numerous creek docks all over the island. You can bet there is a crab pot tied to just about every creek dock you see, catching dinner for someone.

Old beach houses lost to erosion

It's a shame to see these old beach houses being destroyed like this by the ocean. (Article from The State newspaper, 10/21/2005)

The beachfront in some parts of Edisto is suffering badly from erosion. This house was literally on the beach at high tide. The waves literally came up all the way past some of the pilings. When it was built years ago, this house probably had plenty of dunes in front of it. Unfortunately, a rough surf was kicked up by Hurricane Tammy (October 2005), and that was all this old house could stand. The ocean is slowly, but surely, claiming some of these old beachfront houses. Hopefully the beachfront renourishment project will help.

This is the house next-door. They had built a sea wall in an effort to keep the waves from eroding their lot. However, the ocean finally had its way with this house as well.

Catching blue crabs

Blue crabs are plentiful in the creeks at Edisto, even during the colder months. We caught these just before Thanksgiving. The kids love it, as well.

Best breakfast in the world - The Sea Cow

You have got to eat breakfast here at least once every time you go to Edisto. The cinammon pancakes are amazing. I always get two eggs (over easy), grits, toast, and a short-stack of pancakes. You can't beat it. I even saw a minor South Carolina celebrity, Rowland Alston, eating breakfast there last Saturday. I'm glad to know that Rowland not only knows how to grow a plant or two, but also knows a good breakfast when he sees one.

The Sea Cow is on Jungle Road not too far past the Piggly-Wiggly grocery store.

Dolphins just yards off the beach

There must have been 25 dolphins swimming around and playing right off the beach back in October. Despite seeing them every time we go, the dolphins at Edisto continue to amaze me.

Our house & the beach