Forget Polo; Our British Mates Want to Fish When They Visit Hilton Head, SC.

Four Horsemen of the Bayrunner

After an exciting summer of spine-tingling activities like ziplining, parasailing, and dining out, on Hilton Head, I couldn’t wait to share my new extreme sports repertoire with my friends from Great Britain when they came for a visit.  Except that, they weren’t interested in being very extreme.  No, far more preferable to flying through the air while hanging from buckled straps attached to something you hope will carry your weight, they thought that offshore fishing would actually be, brilliant.  

A Happy Bayrunner Customer

Now, if you’ve ever heard an English teenager say the word brilliant with genuine emotion, you know it sounds a whole lot more inspiring than some of their American counterparts who might say, “cool,” if they can hear your voice over their earbuds plugged into iPods, while glaring at you through half-closed eyelids; or maybe a whole thought will come out like, ” Zipline?  Big deal.  You have to do the stupid ground-school thing, and then you have to go the  whole two hours without texting… like, Dude, what if something major happens, right?”

To which, we American parents, respond by hanging our heads, sadly realizing how totally uncool we are as parents, and wondering what made us think, after the hundred and fifty-seventh time of getting excited about something we thought our kids would like – and showing way too much emotion when making the offer to “HAVE FUN, OUTSIDE, ALREADY!” –  did we ever think that ziplining through trees from eighty-feet up would be remotely fun to our teenagers?

Okay, back to my point about how fun it is to entertain kids from across the Atlantic who think that off-shore fishing from a boat for three hours with a cooler full of bait, sunscreen, and soda is quite, actually brilliant!  To which my response was, “cool!”  With real emotion, because my friend from way back years ago, Miles Altman, has a fishing boat right here in Shelter Cove Marina, called the Bayrunner, and he knows how to fish these waters better than anyone.  He also knows how to clean and cook the catch better than anyone because Miles also owned, for many years, a restaurant called Captain’s Seafood Restaurant on Mathews Drive AND he supplied most of the restaurants with their fresh fish catches of the day for more than twenty years, back in the day.  In short, Miles knows his stuff.

So this day, my best mates from England (and one from Seattle, named Michael) took off at around 8:45 am from Shelter Cove on the Bayrunner.  Captain Miles had already been out catching live bait (big, crawly looking shrimp) before we arrived, and off they went.  It was very hard not to sing, “on a three-hour tour… a three-hour tour,” over and over because they were indeed going out for “a three-hour tour… a three-hour tour…” but I managed to keep myself in check for the most part. Except, when I left a message for their grandfather on his phone and I sang the entire Gilligan’s Island theme song, laughing like an idiot.  I’m sorry, I’m way too immature to let some things go, unacknowledged and unsung like that.  But I think it’s all out of my system now.

Circle Hook Used on the Bayrunner

They returned at noon, having had a wonderful morning, trolling the island coastal waters, catching all matter of species, small and large (for more pictures of what you might catch with Miles on the Bayrunner, check out his website and Facebook page).  And, in case you were wondering, Miles uses a circle hook to catch fish, which is designed to be less painful to the fish.  So, if you decide to throw it back in the water, you can pull the hook out of its mouth without hurting it too much.

The lads were definitely ready for lunch, and had plenty of pictures on their smartphones to show me. They were also ready to go out again on a shark-fishing charter, which Miles explained, has better results in the evening, when all manner of predators awaken and feed, like raccoons, vampires, and lycanthropes; aka, werewolves, to the uninformed.  No, Miles did not say this.  I just happened to make the connection while looking up some other things online.  You know how that happens.

In closing, I hope you enjoy this video story we created for your viewing pleasure and enjoyment. And, if you want to go offshore fishing, lowcountry style, with Captain Miles and the Bayrunner, call: 843-290-6955, to charter a trip.  You won’t be sorry; in fact, you’ll feel brilliant!