***TUESDAY JULY 31ST*** Big red drum are biting and tarpon are here in big numbers!!! Weekday charters available as well as one weekend opening next week so give us a call at 336 240-5649 if you are a family on vacation OR a serious fisherman with a bucket list species you are itching to catch. Kids are always welcome, so bring the whole crowd and make some great memories from your summer vacation! Also booking Costa Rica... still some dates available on the "Dragin Fly" out of Los Suenos for 2018 and beyond...

Capt. Rod Thomas aka "Captain Ponytail" and Capt. Mike McDonald aka "Gul-R-Boy"

Hello,

I'm Capt. Rod Thomas, and I'd like to thank you for your interest in a fishing trip with Captain Ponytail Guide Service.

That nickname "Captain Ponytail" was certainly not my idea...... that's a funny story I'll tell you later, and it's got a lot to do with how I got in the guide business in the first place. Most guides are good fishermen, and they get into the business because they know their water so well, people are willing to pay for their knowledge. I came to the business a different way. I've been in the broadcast television business for twenty five years. Live sports was my passion. I started in 1982 as a cameraman for ESPN shooting golf and NASCAR racing. I freelanced for CBS, ABC, TNN, HGTV,and shot and produced sports for ten years. In 1992 I got a chance to produce a fishing show for The Outdoor Channel. Over the next ten years I produced four fishing and outdoor shows for TOC and Fox Sports South. Because of my job, I got on board with some of the best fishermen and saltwater charter guides from Alaska to Mexico and Venezuela. not to mention most all of our fifty states as well. I learned a ton about fishing, boating, and how to give 100% effort to give you a day of memories that will last you a lifetime. That's why I've chosen the Roanoke River in spring and Georgetown, S.C. in summer and fall as my destinations. They both offer awesome fishing opportunities.

The Roanoke is THE BEST PLACE I've ever fished for taking families, kids, grandparents...... anyone who can't or doesn't want to wait on a bite. From 25 to 125 fish on a five hour trip is the norm. Georgetown doesn't offer the numbers, but the rewards in big Spot Tails and Tarpon that are truly trophy fish are remarkable.

Check out the Adventures section of the site, and I'll look forward to an unforgettable....... and most importantly.... safe.... day on the water with you!

Now back to how I got the nickname "Captain Ponytail" and let me tell 'ya. IT TOOK A LONG TIME TO GET USED TO.

It started with Capt. Mike McDonald from Gul-R-Boy Guide Service in Georgetown, South Carolina. I met Mike while shooting a tarpon show in the mid nineties when I was producing a show called "The Outdoor Journal" with Tom Richards for The Outdoor Channel. We hooked two tarpon one September morning, and landed one that weighed close to 150lbs, just like Mike had promised. Good show and easy show... but I got my first taste of Gul-R-Boy. Mike is a former assistant police chief in Georgetown and during our day, he told me I was lucky I met him when he had a fishing pole in his hand and not a gun. "In the good old days, when guys who looked like you showed up in my town, they were going to jail, whether they did anything or not", is how he put it.

I don't know how or why, but he's become my partner and one of my best friends. He convinced me to get my Captain's license, and I started covering charters for him when he was booked. I would never talk to the client, and Mike had been calling me Capt. Ponytail for a while... part of his endless effort to try to get under my skin, just like the first day I met him. So he'd tell the client to walk out to the middle of the dock at South Island Ferry and yell "Hey, Captain Ponytail" as loud as he could. That way he could embarrass the customer and tick me off all at the same time and that was a great way for him to start his day.

But the name never left Georgetown for quite a while. Then Mike and I were doing a fishing show together somewhere and I was walking down the hallway with Henry Sykes, a friend and fishing buddy that I've known for 10 or 12 years who's a boat manufacturer's rep and knows everybody in this business. Mike was 30 yards behind us and screamed, "Hey, Capt. Ponytail... where you headed?" Henry stopped dead in his tracks... looked at me with this funny look on his face and said, "What'd he call you?" It was over. Since that day it's been my nickname, and now there's lots of customers who have no idea what my name is. Just Capt. Ponytail.

It still took six or seven more years before I decided that the only way to get Mike back for "Captain Ponytail" was to make some money with the name and not give him any. That's how CAPTAIN PONYTAIL GUIDE SERVICE got started. Thanks Mike.




Let Capt. Ponytail take you on a fishing adventure of a lifetime. You'll fish the Roanoke River for Striped Bass or the backwaters of Winyah Bay and North Inlet for Red Drum, Trout, Floounder, Tarpon and Shark.
 
***TUESDAY JULY 31ST*** Big red drum are biting and tarpon are here in big numbers!!! Weekday charters available as well as one weekend opening next week so give us a call at 336 240-5649 if you are a family on vacation OR a serious fisherman with a bucket list species you are itching to catch. Kids are always welcome, so bring the whole crowd and make some great memories from your summer vacation! Also booking Costa Rica... still some dates available on the "Dragin Fly" out of Los Suenos for 2018 and beyond...

Hello,

I'm Capt. Rod Thomas, and I'd like to thank you for your interest in a fishing trip with Captain Ponytail Guide Service.



Capt. Rod Thomas interviews Ray Scott, the founder of B.A.S.S.

That nickname "Captain Ponytail" was certainly not my idea...... that's a funny story I'll tell you later, and it's got a lot to do with how I got in the guide business in the first place. Most guides are good fishermen, and they get into the business because they know their water so well, people are willing to pay for their knowledge. I came to the business a different way. I've been in the broadcast television business for twenty five years. Live sports was my passion. I started in 1982 as a cameraman for ESPN shooting golf and NASCAR racing. I freelanced for CBS, ABC, TNN, HGTV,and shot and produced sports for ten years. In 1992 I got a chance to produce a fishing show for The Outdoor Channel. Over the next ten years I produced four fishing and outdoor shows for TOC and Fox Sports South. Because of my job, I got on board with some of the best fishermen and saltwater charter guides from Alaska to Mexico and Venezuela. not to mention most all of our fifty states as well. I learned a ton about fishing, boating, and how to give 100% effort to give you a day of memories that will last you a lifetime. That's why I've chosen the Roanoke River in spring and Georgetown, S.C. in summer and fall as my destinations. They both offer awesome fishing opportunities.

The Roanoke is THE BEST PLACE I've ever fished for taking families, kids, grandparents...... anyone who can't or doesn't want to wait on a bite. From 25 to 125 fish on a five hour trip is the norm. Georgetown doesn't offer the numbers, but the rewards in big Spot Tails and Tarpon that are truly trophy fish are remarkable.

Check out the Adventures section of the site, and I'll look forward to an unforgettable....... and most importantly.... safe.... day on the water with you!

Now back to how I got the nickname "Captain Ponytail" and let me tell 'ya. IT TOOK A LONG TIME TO GET USED TO.



Capt. Rod Thomas aka "Captain Ponytail" and Capt. Mike McDonald aka "Gul-R-Boy"

It started with Capt. Mike McDonald from Gul-R-Boy Guide Service in Georgetown, South Carolina. I met Mike while shooting a tarpon show in the mid nineties when I was producing a show called "The Outdoor Journal" with Tom Richards for The Outdoor Channel. We hooked two tarpon one September morning, and landed one that weighed close to 150lbs, just like Mike had promised. Good show and easy show... but I got my first taste of Gul-R-Boy. Mike is a former assistant police chief in Georgetown and during our day, he told me I was lucky I met him when he had a fishing pole in his hand and not a gun. "In the good old days, when guys who looked like you showed up in my town, they were going to jail, whether they did anything or not", is how he put it.

I don't know how or why, but he's become my partner and one of my best friends. He convinced me to get my Captain's license, and I started covering charters for him when he was booked. I would never talk to the client, and Mike had been calling me Capt. Ponytail for a while... part of his endless effort to try to get under my skin, just like the first day I met him. So he'd tell the client to walk out to the middle of the dock at South Island Ferry and yell "Hey, Captain Ponytail" as loud as he could. That way he could embarrass the customer and tick me off all at the same time and that was a great way for him to start his day.

But the name never left Georgetown for quite a while. Then Mike and I were doing a fishing show together somewhere and I was walking down the hallway with Henry Sykes, a friend and fishing buddy that I've known for 10 or 12 years who's a boat manufacturer's rep and knows everybody in this business. Mike was 30 yards behind us and screamed, "Hey, Capt. Ponytail... where you headed?" Henry stopped dead in his tracks... looked at me with this funny look on his face and said, "What'd he call you?" It was over. Since that day it's been my nickname, and now there's lots of customers who have no idea what my name is. Just Capt. Ponytail.

It still took six or seven more years before I decided that the only way to get Mike back for "Captain Ponytail" was to make some money with the name and not give him any. That's how CAPTAIN PONYTAIL GUIDE SERVICE got started. Thanks Mike.

You can find more information about me on these websites...