FREE
The Island News formerly Lady’s Island News
YOUR Local Newspaper
Bringing our community together
Aug. 27 - Sept. 2, 2009
Covering Beaufort, Lady’s Island, St. Helena Island, Dataw Island, Fripp Island, Port Royal
Local woman honored at national karate tourney
Please see page 14
Redfish on the line! by John C. Williams
‘The best lessons are the lessons you didn’t expect and didn’t know you were going to learn.’ Fishing Guide Billy O’Herron My son’s mission this summer was to catch a fish good enough to eat. With the help of fishing guide Billy O’Herron, a gorgeous August day and a supreme run of good luck even by O’Herron’s standards, my son met his goal by roughly 80 pounds of redfish one recent memorable day in St. Helena Sound. Jackson, my son, has been a budding fisherman for years, starting when he was about five and caught a bass in a local retention pond. From there it was surf casting and pier fishing at Emerald Isle, NC, and plenty of local fishing in neighborhood ponds, on the shores of the Coosaw River, in the Fripp surf, from a relative’s dock in the Morgan River, and from friends’ boats. This springtime, though, as he looked toward summer as only an 11-year-old can, Jackson decided the time had some to hook some “real fish,” the kind worth cleaning, cooking and eating. He’d seen enough photos of other kids holding aloft their dolphin, their trout and their flounder. He wanted his turn. In a tackle box given to him by his granddad, Jackson found a book about fishing. Though it was dated in the mid-1950s, the information still intrigued him. From there it was online research and his own meticulous notes about what types of fish preferred what types of bait and what was the best hook to use. We went to a meeting of the Beaufort Sportfishing & Diving Club to learn local techniques for hooking flounder, including shore fishing since we are among the approximate 100 people in South Carolina who don’t have a boat. He became expert at catching bait shrimp and mud minnows with his cast net. But after three months, he was doing an awful lot of fishing and precious little catching. He’d reeled in a dozen bonnet head and blacktip sharks, each about 1215 inches, and had caught a few toadfish, pufferfish and small rays – but none worth firing up the grill.
Locks of Love Eight-year-old Kidron Martin donates her hair for Locks of Love, the non-profit group that donates hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children with medical hair loss. This was Kidron's second donation and she plans to continue donating in honor of Mrs. Jennifer Strawn, a Beaufort woman fighting breast cancer, said Kidron's mom, Kimberly Martin.
continued on page 4
In This Issue SCHOOL NEWS St. Helena field trip SEE PAGE 3
PROFILE
SPORTS
Carolyn Clark
BHS tennis results
SEE PAGE 5
SEE PAGE 2