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Out to sea with outdoor recreation

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Daniel Phelps
  • 20th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
SHAW AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. --  Recently, I had the opportunity to go on a deep sea fishing trip with Outdoor Recreation. During the course of the trip, I found myself asking why I had taken so long to take advantage of one of these opportunities during my two years here at Shaw.

We began the trip by showing up at the Outdoor Rec office at 3 a.m. on a Saturday.

My first thought was, "Why am I here at this time on a Saturday when I should be sleeping?"

I didn't quite realize what the day had in store.

Our bus finally arrived at the dock in Calabash, N.C. and the group of us from Shaw joined up with some random people and boarded the 90-foot boat as the sun was beginning to rise, casting it's orange and blue glow on the water and creating a magnificent silhouette along the tree line.

Then we headed out to sea. The breeze from the wind along with the early hours of the morning created quite a chill, so most people found themselves inside the galley, chatting away with random strangers sharing past fishing stories and advice to the new ocean explorers as they grabbed a hot meal of fresh sausage, egg and cheese sandwiches from the cook and his 12-year old son.

About 16 miles out to sea, our boat finally reached its destination on the Gulf Stream and the deck hands briefed us on our bait and what fish were in and out of season.

We fishermen headed out onto the deck to take up the poles that were provided for us, of which there were more than enough for all. We baited our double-hook lines with squid and held our poles over the water, waiting for the command to drop lines into the deep blue waters.

Finally, the order came. As soon as the plop of the lines hitting the water was heard, people were already whirring their lines with their first catch. As I pulled I up my line, I saw an eight-pound grey grouper on the end of the hook. Others saw sea bass on the end of their lines. After about 20 minutes of fishing in this spot, people were asked to put their poles away, and we chugged off to a new location.

We did this on and off throughout the day; dropping lines, pulling them back off, hundreds of fish being brought in from mackerels, sea bass, to shark and moving on to a new location. It was an incredibly relaxing and enjoyable trip.

As the time for fishing wound down, the cook offered to clean and cook some of the fish that were caught for the people on board.

I leapt at this opportunity and enjoyed my catch of the day. A fish sandwich doesn't get much better than when it's when just been pulled out of the water on your hook.

As the boat headed back to shore, some slept in the galley, worn out from the long day of fishing, others made their way to the top deck to enjoy the fresh ocean breeze and stare out to sea. A perfect way to end a relaxing day.

When our boat finally docked, the deck hands began passing out the fish that had been caught and strung to their catchers. The heaviest fish were taken to a scale to see what they weighed for a competition.

Once everyone received their fish, the group from Shaw made their way back to the bus and headed home. This is a trip I will definitely look into taking again.