Local anglers land monster tarpon from Folly Beach Pier
by Lorne Chambers | Editor
On Monday, June 19, North Charleston resident Phillip Sullivan was spending an afternoon like he often does, fishing with his buddies on the new Folly Beach Pier. As usual, they had spent the extra $5 to be able to fish the section reserved for catching king mackerel at the very end of the pier.
“It’s what we do. It’s not even really about the fishing,” said the 24-year-old Boeing employee, who enjoys spending his days off on the pier. “It’s like a family. We’re all like brothers. On the days when the fishing is really bad, it’s still fun just to hang out.”
The fishing on this day wasn’t particularly bad. In fact, they had caught a couple of small tarpons, which are somewhat rare from the pier. Then, just as a storm threatened to run them off, Sullivan’s rod bent dramatically, and he knew there was something big on the other end. His Shimano reel zinged as the fish made a run.
“I knew it was a big tarpon right away because he made like five huge jumps in the first five minutes,” Sullivan said. “It started jumping and I was running down the pier with my rod.” He knew he was going to be in for a fight and that it might take a while to land the fish, if that was even possible. However, Mother Nature was not going to make it easy and not long after he hooked the giant fish, the storm hit. It began thundering and rain began coming down in sheets and other fishermen headed for shelter.
“It felt like pins and needles it was coming down so hard. I couldn’t see anything,” Sullivan said. At one point, he sat down on the pier so he wasn’t the tallest thing out there as lightning began to flash around him. He and his friend and fishing partner James Strange quickly devised a plan to land the fish. It required strange to run down to the beach and for Sullivan to drop the fishing rod down to him. But when the did this, the tarpon seized the moment and decided to make another run while the rod was in transit from the pier to the shoreline.
Sullivan said that Strange had to quickly jump into the surf and chase down the rod as it began pulling away. The pressure was then on Strange to not let the tarpon spit the hook or snap the 20-pound test.
Fatigued, Sullivan said he then quickly ran down to the beach from the pier. He said he let Strange fight the fish for a bit as he regained his stamina. Eventually, Sullivan took back over the reeling duties and brought the fish to shore. Strange waded into the surf and grabbed the tarpon by his bony jaw and the two had a celebratory moment with the monster fish, posing for a couple of photos before releasing it back into the water.
Both fisherman and fish were exhausted and the tarpon was not in a huge hurry to get back out to the big waters. So Sullivan was able to swim along side it for a while, making sure it was OK before it swam off into the dark blue of the Atlantic.
All said and done, Sullivan estimated he battled with the tarpon for about an hour and a half. “That one gave me a run for my money that day,” he said with a chuckle. “It was a fish of a lifetime and a thrill of a lifetime. To be able to catch it and then swim with it for a few minutes. It’s a feeling I can’t truly describe.”
