The Sherr family: sons Jared and Aaron, husband Barry, and father-in-law Saul Sherr surf fishing on Nannygoat Beach, Sapelo Island, 1987.
On July 30, 1985, two men from Macon, Georgia, and a local guide were trying their luck with rod and reel in a small outboard in Doboy Sound near Sapelo Island. They got the surprise of their lives. One of the men hooked a medium-size sea trout. At that very moment a huge tarpon, which had been chasing the same fish, seized the trout. The fisherman instinctively hauled back on the line, which, with the forward momentum of the lunging tarpon carried the monster right into the little boat. The men took refuge as best they could while the six-foot-long tarpon flailed about, wreaking havoc on the boat's seats and gear for a good half hour. The fish was finally subdued; it was verified as weighing over 142 pounds, at that time a record for Georgia. (While the current official Georgia record is a 161 tarpon landed in 1995, in 2013 a tarpon estimated to weigh 188 pounds was caught and released off St. Simons Island.)
Sport fishing is a huge industry in Georgia. While tarpon are the largest fish that might be hooked (on purpose or accidentally!), most of the coastal sport fish belong to the Sciaenidae, or drum, family of fishes. This group of active, carnivorous fish includes sea trout, spot, croaker, and kingfish as well as several types of drum. The young of all of these fish depend on the salt marshes for food and shelter until they grow big enough to avoid predators in the open estuary and coastal ocean.
"Red Drum (Sciaenops ocellatus)" by Geeklikepi - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons -
The biggest fish in the sciaenid group are the drums. Red drum, Sciaenops ocellatus, are prized by local fishermen. These fish are often caught in beach surf, especially during the fall. My favorite fish story from our family's time on Sapelo is of the two-day visitor to the island who decided to spend a couple of hours surf casting on the beach. He came back with a twenty-five-pound red drum caught on a six-pound test line with a metal lure. That was much better luck than we ever had!
A Georgia Outdoors episode on fishing in Georgia streams and sea island beaches highlights surf fishing for red drum:
Georgia sport fishing regulations and fishing license requirements are posted here: http://www.georgiawildlife.com/fishing/regulations