The annual Edisto Shark tourney at Edisto Watersports, with
help from Freddy Avant, drew a field of 28 boats. There was drama that day with
a boat from Hilton Head bringing in a large shark with less than ten minutes to
go in the weigh-in, giving angler Brian Walsh the victory. Walsh
was fishing with Captain Chip Michalove out of Hilton Head harbor marina in a
26-foot Glacier Bay catamaran boat. Michalove runs Outcast Fishing charters and
is known for his shark-hunting prowess. It was back in 2010 when Michalove
guided angler Stephen Liesen from Quincy, Illinois to the current. S.C.
state record for Lemon Shark. That shark weighed 380-pounds and was caught on July
22, beating a record that stood since 2002. With
the 2013 Edisto Shark tourney win, Michalove also has the distinction of having
won the event three times, with two second place finishes to boot. “We shoved
off at 6:30 a.m. and went to my regular shark fishing hole,” said Michalove.
“But the fishing was slow there, and we only boated one blacktip shark in the
80 to 90-pound range, so I decided to head offshore.”
It
was late in the morning when friend Brian Walsh was holding a Shimano Talus
reel spooled with 200-pound braid line and a Shimano Tiagra 50-wide reel. “We
had one-half of an amberjack out for bait and the big shark thrashed it at
noon,” said Michalove. Michalove and Walsh
celebrated by cutting the jaws out of the awesome animal, and then donated the
meat to some Edisto locals who promised to eat it. In second place it was Barry
Fontaine fishing with Laird Summerlin of Edisto in a 28-foot center console.
Their shark hit at 11 a.m. and was boated by noon, fishing five miles offshore.
“If you’re going to lose the tourney, you don’t mind so much by losing to a
shark that weighs 200-pounds more than yours,” said Summerlin.
To view the remainder of my feature article click on Colletonian.
To view past blog entries from the Edisto Shark Tourney click 2011.
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