Growing up I’ve been fortunate enough to be raised on or near the water. I was born in Charleston, South Carolina and raised in Berkeley County. My Papa and uncles took me fishing on Lake Moultrie and on the Santee River. These men helped lay the foundation for my love of fishing, my first love. When I was 5 years old my mom remarried and our family moved to Escatawpa, Mississippi where we lived on Brickyard Bayou. The bayou was a tidal tributary off the Pascagoula River and my dad taught me how to fish the brackish water of this bayou and how to target the freshwater and saltwater species of fish that swam in it’s dark tannin stained waters.
I now live in South Baldwin County, Alabama. Surrounded by Mobile Bay, The Gulf of Mexico and numerous coastal inlets, it is truly a fishermans paradise. Whether I’m on a 60ft Sportfisher in the middle of the Gulf or in my center console fishing the coastal backwater of Mobile Bay, I love to fish. Fishing is not only my passion, it’s the one thing left from my childhood that truly makes me happy.
I was raised up in a hard working middle class family, my dad worked offshore then and was hardly ever home so I had pretty loose reigns placed on me. We weren’t poor but my parents didn’t spend money needlessly. It was the 1980’s so I didn’t have an Atari, Nintendo or computer, instead I had a bicycle, fishing poles, a tackle box and an old wood hull Stauterbuilt boat with a tiller handle Johnson outboard. I was 12 when my parents let me take the boat down the bayou on my own to fish and I had three rules; wear my life jacket, don’t go in the river and be home before dark.
Dad taught me to throw a cast net, where to dig for worms and how to read the tide, so depending on my bait and the tide that dictated what I was fishing for that day. I would catch Bream, Crappie and Bass in the upper end of the bayou and Redfish, Sheephead and Speckled Trout as I got closer to the river. As I got older I started running the Pascagoula River and would make the 9 mile trip offshore to Horn Island if the waters of Mississippi Sound were calm. There I learned to catch and gig Flounder and how troll for saltwater fish like Spanish Mackerel and Cobia.
Those were lazy carefree days and continued building my love and passion for fishing. By Listening and learning and having the ability to keep my mouth shut about private numbers and favorite fishing spots, I have been invited to fish with some really great fishermen through the years and they taught me their techniques they use to catch fish.
I have a great job in the oil and natural gas pipeline industry that has taken me around the world but that’s my job and not my passion. When Chris Osborne pitched the idea for Shem Creek Fishing & Tackle Co. I couldn’t say yes fast enough. Chris and I are both passionate about fishing and we want to share the knowledge and techniques we’ve learned with those of you who are interested. Chris and I are going to bring you honest product reviews for gear, tackle and apparel we use and provide you with top quality fishing gear that you’ll want to own and use yourself. Hey who knows, we might even stir up some old forgotten memories of those lazy carefree days from your youth that you long for again. Remember to take a kid fishing, you’ll never know when you might be laying the groundwork for someone else’s first love and life long passion…”We’ll Be Talking To You.”