Fishing off the pier vs charter at HHI

[*pixie*]

We are looking at spending a few days at HHI next spring. My DS18 really wants to fish on this trip. We previously went on a fishing charter in Alaska, and although we had a great time, there was some disappointment that the rods were baited and cast for us, and pretty much all we did was reel in them in when we got a bite. Is that typical of most fishing excursions? If so, I'm wondering if we would be happier just fishing at the resort, which leads me to my next question, can you catch anything substantial from the pier? What are the chances of catching something we could actually keep and grill up?

 

[DisneyStarWisher]

We are looking at spending a few days at HHI next spring. My DS18 really wants to fish on this trip. We previously went on a fishing charter in Alaska, and although we had a great time, there was some disappointment that the rods were baited and cast for us, and pretty much all we did was reel in them in when we got a bite. Is that typical of most fishing excursions? If so, I'm wondering if we would be happier just fishing at the resort, which leads me to my next question, can you catch anything substantial from the pier? What are the chances of catching something we could actually keep and grill up?

It is typical of fishing excursions. My DH and two DSs have been on several excursions at HHI and that's how it's been. As far as fishing from the pier, they were able to catch crabs, shrimp, and sharks. (In the past, they have caught flounder, redfish, and stingrays.) We cooked the crabs and shrimp. My DS22's GF caught a shark about 3 feet long. On our last night there, they started catching sheepshead at different places around the resort, and we filleted it and brought it home to cook. It was really good. I will say though that Disney does prefer you fishing from the pier as opposed to other areas around the resort.

 

[*pixie*]

Thanks so much for sharing your experience! I will talk to DS and see what he thinks. I think it would still be fun to go do an excursion, even if it isn't "real" fishing as he calls it.

 

[DisneyStarWisher]

Thanks so much for sharing your experience! I will talk to DS and see what he thinks. I think it would still be fun to go do an excursion, even if it isn't "real" fishing as he calls it.

You will definitely catch bigger fish with an excursion, buy my DSs have decided they enjoy catching from the resort just as much. They have decided if they want to do an excursion, they would prefer going further south (i.e.--southern Florida).

 

[kristenrice]

We loved our fishing excursion at HHI! DD13 caught the first shark. Then DD11 was a little disappointed when all she caught was a little whiting, but our guide was so cool...he immediately sang the praises of how great that fish would be for bait and he put it on the hook and let her cast it out. It was less than a minute before we had a hit! It was DH's "turn" to reel it in...and it was another shark! I was also able to land a bonnet head shark too, so we all caught something. We went in early April and there was a HUGE storm moving in (like, severe thunderstorm and tornado warning storms) and our guide was desperately trying to get us some fishing time but we were not having a lot of luck. We still had fun and we caught enough fish for dinner...but most importantly, we were able to get off the water safely.

 

[Cindyel]

On a side note, we did the dolphin watching tour through the resort and had a great time. Very enjoyable!

 

[bobbiwoz]

On a side note, we did the dolphin watching tour through the resort and had a great time. Very enjoyable!

We did too, and yes, it was fun!

 

[Chelley00]

We've done okay off the pier but not great.

We've done a hand crabbing excursion with May River and had the best time. We ended up with a ton of blue crab for dinner.

 

[*pixie*]

Thanks everyone for all the replies! Love the pics!! I think I need to talk him into a charter. . . he just has it in his head it's not "real" fishing because he's not doing everything. DH and I also did the dolphin tour through the resort, and it was amazing. I was kinda hoping we could also accomplish seeing dolphins on the fishing charter too.

 

[kristenrice]

Thanks everyone for all the replies! Love the pics!! I think I need to talk him into a charter. . . he just has it in his head it's not "real" fishing because he's not doing everything. DH and I also did the dolphin tour through the resort, and it was amazing. I was kinda hoping we could also accomplish seeing dolphins on the fishing charter too.

Just a little info for you...

Our guide asked us a lot of questions before we went out, like how much experience we had, whether or not we get sea sick, what we want to fish for...stuff like that. He said that some folks come out and want to get a cooler full of fish to freeze up and take home with them. For us, even though we enjoy fishing, we mostly do catch and release from shore. We don't even really like to eat fish so we don't believe it's right to keep them if we aren't going to eat them. That's why we ate the sharks we kept. (Our guide had to tell us how to cook it and it was surprisingly delicious!) We had never been out on the ocean before so we didn't know if any of us would get seasick. I know that I am very prone to carsickness so I had medication with me, but we found out that our youngest daughter gets seasick too...but she was a trooper. I would imagine that if you wanted to do "real" fishing, you could. Like I said, our guide was very accommodating to whatever we wanted. We enjoyed it so much and even my "anti-Disney" husband cannot wait to get back to HHI, just so he can schedule another, LONGER fishing charter.

 

[jimim]

at the resort can u surf fish off the beach vs pier fish? is their certain times of the day that no fishing at all is allowed. i say that because when we go to topsail NC each year there ae no lifeguards on the beaches there so it's fish on anytime of the day vs say in maryland where u can only fish off the beach between the hours the lifeguards aren't on duty.

jim

 

[jimim]

It is typical of fishing excursions. My DH and two DSs have been on several excursions at HHI and that's how it's been. As far as fishing from the pier, they were able to catch crabs, shrimp, and sharks. (In the past, they have caught flounder, redfish, and stingrays.) We cooked the crabs and shrimp. My DS22's GF caught a shark about 3 feet long. On our last night there, they started catching sheepshead at different places around the resort, and we filleted it and brought it home to cook. It was really good. I will say though that Disney does prefer you fishing from the pier as opposed to other areas around the resort.

sheepsheads are some good eats! i hate catching stingrays. it's like pulling a dead body in on shore and they are just a pain to deal with when u get them out oft he water to get ur hook back. same with sandsharks. just more lost bait. lol

 

[*pixie*]

Just a little info for you...

Our guide asked us a lot of questions before we went out, like how much experience we had, whether or not we get sea sick, what we want to fish for...stuff like that. He said that some folks come out and want to get a cooler full of fish to freeze up and take home with them. For us, even though we enjoy fishing, we mostly do catch and release from shore. We don't even really like to eat fish so we don't believe it's right to keep them if we aren't going to eat them. That's why we ate the sharks we kept. (Our guide had to tell us how to cook it and it was surprisingly delicious!) We had never been out on the ocean before so we didn't know if any of us would get seasick. I know that I am very prone to carsickness so I had medication with me, but we found out that our youngest daughter gets seasick too...but she was a trooper. I would imagine that if you wanted to do "real" fishing, you could. Like I said, our guide was very accommodating to whatever we wanted. We enjoyed it so much and even my "anti-Disney" husband cannot wait to get back to HHI, just so he can schedule another, LONGER fishing charter.

Would you mind sharing which charter you went with?

 

[kristenrice]

Would you mind sharing which charter you went with?

Gullah Gal, True Grits and Honey B are the names of the three boats. I believe Gullah Gal Charters is the name the company goes by, but I am not 100% sure. They run out of Shelter Cove Marina so it's right across from the resort....super convenient!
http://www.hiltonheadislandcharterfishing.com/
Here's the Trip Advisor link...they are highly-rated. We actually got their information from the recreation desk at the resort.
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attract...g_Gullah_Gal-Hilton_Head_South_Carolina.html#

EDITED TO ADD:
I just re-read your original post too...anything you catch, you can keep (as long as it's legal) and the guides will clean and fillet it for you. We caught 2 sharks that we kept and our guide let me drive the boat back (it was more like steer it while we were floating!) while he cleaned and filleted the fish. Then he cut them into steaks and put them into Ziploc bags for us, labeled them and tossed them in the cooler until we got back. I imagine if we had caught more, the "fish prep" would have taken place when we got back, but we were in a hurry since there was a massive storm bearing down on us. In fact, there were tornadoes that hit the area that night and the airport in Savanna was closed down. We had to wait until the next day to cook our sharks because we barely made it back to the room before we had to hunker down for the night. Everything closed up and the CM's told us to "shelter in place".

 

[jimim]

at the resort can u surf fish off the beach vs pier fish? is their certain times of the day that no fishing at all is allowed. i say that because when we go to topsail NC each year there ae no lifeguards on the beaches there so it's fish on anytime of the day vs say in maryland where u can only fish off the beach between the hours the lifeguards aren't on duty.

jim

 

[*pixie*]

Gullah Gal, True Grits and Honey B are the names of the three boats. I believe Gullah Gal Charters is the name the company goes by, but I am not 100% sure. They run out of Shelter Cove Marina so it's right across from the resort....super convenient!
http://www.hiltonheadislandcharterfishing.com/
Here's the Trip Advisor link...they are highly-rated. We actually got their information from the recreation desk at the resort.
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attract...g_Gullah_Gal-Hilton_Head_South_Carolina.html#

EDITED TO ADD:
I just re-read your original post too...anything you catch, you can keep (as long as it's legal) and the guides will clean and fillet it for you. We caught 2 sharks that we kept and our guide let me drive the boat back (it was more like steer it while we were floating!) while he cleaned and filleted the fish. Then he cut them into steaks and put them into Ziploc bags for us, labeled them and tossed them in the cooler until we got back. I imagine if we had caught more, the "fish prep" would have taken place when we got back, but we were in a hurry since there was a massive storm bearing down on us. In fact, there were tornadoes that hit the area that night and the airport in Savanna was closed down. We had to wait until the next day to cook our sharks because we barely made it back to the room before we had to hunker down for the night. Everything closed up and the CM's told us to "shelter in place".

Thank you so much!