Lady Fin Charters sets the hook with female anglers

by Jenny Peterson | Staff Writer

At Lady Fin Charters, a woman-owned and operated charter fishing company out of Folly Beach, there’s no pressure to know anything about fishing or the Folly Beach waterways when you step on her boat.
In fact, owner and angler Captain Karen Mumford prefers fishing newbies, as she enjoys teaching and inspiring others with her love of fishing.
“I recently had a father and son and the son had never touched a fishing pole. Another time, with a mom and son, I taught her how to bait her hook and cast it and when she caught a fish, the whole river heard her scream, she was so excited,” Mumford said. “Her son caught a lot of little fish of different species and he was so excited. I find people who have done a lot of fishing want the big trophy fish—and we can get the trophy fish—but I’d rather you be excited and learn.”
Mumford and her husband, who works for the Folly Beach Fire Department, have lived on Folly Beach for seven years, moving to the area from New Hampshire. For seven years, she has fished and shrimped the Folly River, learning the tides, marshes and offshoots.
Mumford worked for the Folly Beach Public Safety Department in an administrative role and fished as a hobby; this year, she decided to pursue her new venture of bringing her love of fishing and cast net shrimping to the masses through Lady Fin Charters. While her business is geared towards women anglers, she takes out clients of all kinds. She picks clients up at the Folly Beach boat landing, Sunset Cay Marina and anywhere else clients request.
She knows the behavior of the shrimp and fish year-round, what fish like to eat and where the best shrimping holes are in the river. She is one of the few—if the only one—who includes deep hole cast net shrimping in a charter. She also teaches people how to both bottom fish and cork fish, keeping your eye on a bobber.
Mumford expertly maneuvers a flats boat to secret fishing holes and keeps her charter to two people max for one-on-one attention.
“I want to be able to teach people and make it more personal,” she said. “Teaching is just kind of natural for me. I love people who are excited because they’ve never fished before and who appreciate being out there; not the ones who just want to fill up a cooler.”
Deep-hole cast net shrimping proved to be easy with Mumford’s guidance—even when I unintentionally caught a cow nose stingray during my three-hour charter. Mumford expertly freed it from the net.
Mumford set up her trolling motor in the middle of the Folly River and showed me how to properly throw a cast net and then pull up the bounty—dozens of white shrimp with bright red eyes.
We used our freshly-caught shrimp as bait for fishing later in the day and were still able to keep about two pounds for dinner. Mumford said she’s looking forward to the month-long recreational shrimp season which starts in mid-September.
“That’s when you can keep up to 48 quarts of shrimp,” Mumford said. “I have a red cooler we use that’s full some days.”
When the tide changed and the shrimp weren’t as plentiful, Mumford boated out to two favorite fishing spots along the shore. Using shrimp as bait, I threw a line out in the water with a bright orange bobber and within 15 minutes felt the tug on the end of my pole.
“Raise the tip of the pole up and reel, reel, reel!” Mumford said excitedly. “You got it, girl! You’re doing great! I think it’s going to be a redfish!!”
Indeed, a 20-inch redfish—which Mumford measured using a ruler sticker on board—big enough to keep.
Switching from shrimp to cut fish as bait—Mumford has live minnows and frozen mullet—the fish kept biting, and I reeled in a grouper that was too small to keep, but beautifully speckled.
It was a thrilling afternoon and indeed, I walked away learning so much and feeling confident about fishing in the Folly River.
Mumford is not only a charter captain, she’s a friend and teacher. A disarming guide who genuinely wants everyone to love fishing as much as she does. You don’t even need to get a fishing license; it’s covered in her charter license.
She also offers clients a take-home “snackle box” with cheese, crackers, vegetables, prosciutto roll-up and Swedish fish gummy candy.
“Teaching is just natural for me,” she said. “Above all, I want you to have fun.”