MAKE A FISHING ADVENTURE WITH CAPT. PONYTAIL
THE HIGHLIGHT OF YOUR MYRTLE BEACH VACATION

If you're in Myrtle Beach on vacation this summer, we've got an awesome fishing trip available that we'll plan JUST FOR YOU. From families, kids, and fun to the most experienced and hard core fishermen.... we pattern our fishing trip based on who you're bringing and what YOUR idea of the perfect fishing trip is.

Ask ten different people to describe their dream fishing trip and I guarantee you'll get ten different answers. We take the time to find out who is coming fishing with us and what we do and where we go is based on what our clients want their special day to be.

Red Drum (spot tail bass) trout, flounder, sharks, and tarpon are all available in the summer months.

We're situated right in the middle of twenty miles of unspoiled barrier islands where there is no development or people. A great getaway from the crowds of downtown Myrtle Beach.

We offer half day and full day trips and can comfortably carry up to four fishermen.

Get more information on the Winyah Bay Adventure >>>

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Mid August till mid September you'll find us at Paradise Cove near Oriental, N.C. It's a lot of work to move north to the Pamlico for a month, but the awesome fishing there demands we go.

Giant Red Drum (Channel Bass) come inshore to spawn in the Pamlico, and we can guarantee the trip of a lifetime catching old drum that usually range from 35 to 50+ lbs. We're catching these big fish in a unique and super fun way as well. Instead of the traditional cut bait on the bottom while anchored method, we'll be chasing these giants and throwing popping corks and jigs at bait balls on the surface. The topwater bites are truly awesome... I had anglers last year tell me flat out they would trade ten big drum taken off the bottom anchored with cut bait for one bite on these topwater jigs. And the norm is NOT one bite, but many, as these fish seem to get crazy and readily bite from the chugging plunk plunk sound of a popping cork we have all used for speckled trout for years.

We'll be pulling both live and cut baits as well with our I Pilot remote Minn Kota trolling motor so we'll never lose touch with the school as we quietly "follow and catch" without ever being noticed. We'll catch 'em EVERY day.... and some days the numbers of fish are amazing.... honestly too many to admit to in print... so give us a call for what I honestly believe will be the fishing trip of a lifetime.

Great accommodations and the quaint seaside town of Oriental nearby make this a treat for the entire family.

This will be our most outstanding month of fishing the entire year.... DON'T MISS IT!!!

CAPTAIN PONYTAIL.... READY FOR THE ROANOKE

We’re ready to get rolling on our twentieth year fishing the Roanoke River out of Weldon, North Carolina. Just unbelievable to think that it’s been that long, but I still have the sixteen foot Duracraft Aluminum boat that I started with there sitting in the back yard. What’s actually worse is that’s guiding, not fishing. Twenty six years of fishing there, but I started out only staying two or three days at a time… for the past twenty I have been lucky enough to be there for the fun seven days a week. The longer you fish, the easier it is to realize that all of nature works in cycles. Early in the nineties the Roanoke was overfished, illegally fished, and bow netted into near oblivion. Almost no fish were left in a river that had been the crown jewel of our coastal river system forever. North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission was forced to get some major initiatives passed and the rebound was swift and incredibly impressive. From a few scattered twelve inch male stripers in an average day in the early nineties to folks literally feeling dissatisfied if they failed to catch a hundred fish on a day trip there ten years later. That’s right… I said a hundred. It’s still a numbers place. Make no mistake, there are some females that migrate from the northeast every year back to the river to spawn that are huge. Forty pounders are regularly tagged and released, fifty pounders have been documented, and a near sixty slipped by a NCWRC electrofishing net while I was shooting video around 2007 that made us all cry. But for every big female there are probably a couple of thousand smaller males that will readily eat your baits way before the big fish get a chance to even see them.

So the Roanoke is absolutely the best place in North Carolina to take a family who literally NEVER fishes… your six year old grandson, your eighty year old grandfather…. Anybody who doesn’t want to have to wait on a bite…. Bring them to the Roanoke. When these folks leave the river after a half day guide trip they feel like absolute pros. Perfect place to turn someone you love onto the great outdoors. As I said before, all of nature works in cycles, and the past few years our numbers have actually declined. Poor spawns due to water levels and missing year classes have turned those hundred or even two hundred fish days to fighting for forty, fifty, or sixty. Fishermen are human… they’re greedy. If they caught a hundred last year and they catch fifty the next, they can actually look you in the eye and say they had a bad day. Anyhow… enough of that. We do our best to give you a memorable day on the water, and to be honest… after twenty years I prefer not to count. By all accounts 2018 should be a rebound year. We fished the entire spring last year under flood conditions. Water levels twenty to thirty feet above optimum flow will change the plan. There is a really healthy crop of four year olds and the sounds along the N.C. coast have been holding more stripers since last summer than anyone can remember. So we’re ready for a banner year.

What’s going to make it even more fun is this. This little story does two things…. Makes me feel old and makes me proud. Dr. Steve Luking first brought his son Forrest to the Roanoke in 2008. We caught our hundred in about six or seven hours and when Forrest stepped off the boat, he looked at his dad and said “Dad, this is what I want to do when I finish school… I want to figure out a way to be a fishing guide.” It was a special day and that comment made quite an impression on me. I have lots of kids who are ten or twelve years old say they want to come back next year, but I had never had one say this is how I want to spend my life. Dr. Steve and Forrest came back year after year, fished with me in Georgetown, and eventually told me about Forrest’s plan to go to college in Alaska. His degree was not in fishing, but that is what he was doing the whole time he was there in college. Fast forward over twelve years since I met Forrest that first day on the river…. He now has his Captain’s License and has been running a salt boat on the Kenai Peninsula out of Homer, Alaska for Halibut and Salmon for the past three years. He’s a heck of a fisherman and a fine young man, and he’s going to join me this spring on the Roanoke. He knows the river and how to catch these stripers, and he now has experience fishing a world class destination fishery in Alaska where anglers come from all over the world for their bucket list fishing trip…. a once in a lifetime fishing trip to Alaska. So you’ll be fishing with a world class guide from a world class fishing destination. That means when you plan your once in a lifetime trip to go fishing in Alaska you will already know a guide…. Have experience fishing with that guide right here in North Carolina…. and know that your Alaska trip will be all you are expecting. There will be no surprises because you will already know your guide. Just like the trips we book to Costa Rica with Captain. George from Down East…. “Know before you Go” is a pretty good slogan. So come enjoy a day on the Roanoke with me or Capt. Forrest, and see what world class fishing means right here in North Carolina.

See you on the river… and by the way, that sixteen Duracraft is now a beautiful twenty six foot Avenger Bay Boat from Carolina Composites with a half tower and a 300 HP Yamaha. Thank you Roy, Mike, and Henry from Carolina Composites in Waltreboro, S.C. You’ll be the most comfortable folks on the river.

Get more information on the Roanoke River Adventure >>>

Get more information on the Pamlico Sound Adventure >>>

In short.... we hit the best spots in North and South Carolina at THE BEST TIMES for excellent fishing. This gives you, your family, and friends the best chance at trophy fish and a great day of fishing. All on board one of the finest fishing boats available, a Pioneer Bay Sport 220 with the best electronics, equipment and tackle. The perfect combination for a perfect day of fishing.

Try us out in .... you will have a fishing adventure to always remember!