Wheeler loves fishing in Charleston

Humpy Wheeler, who before retiring last year spent 33 years as president and general manager of Lowe's Motor Speedway near Charlotte, is a partime Lowcountry resident with a vacation home at Seabrook Island. Fishing is one of the lures that has attracted Wheeler to the Charleston area. In a recent interview, he talked about his desire to answer the question of "figuring out exactly how to fish the Charleston area:

What's your favorite type of fishing?

"I kind of roam. Thanks to DNR, Don Hammond and all the rest of the people that (the late) Fred Glaesner and I pestered to death, we have that inshore reef off the North Edisto that seems to be very, very productive on occasion.

"I am also interested in big spot-tails (red drum) and where they are, and is there a 90-pounder in Charleston? I have had occasions to luck into some pretty big ones, mostly offshore.

If you had to limit yourself to one type of fishing, what would it be?

"If I had to spend my life doing one thing, it probably would be surf fishing off Deveaux Bank in the fall. I am convinced there are some big spot-tails that come in there."

What kind of boat do you own?

"I have a 31-foot Intrepid center console with two 225 Mercurys."

Do you spend a lot of time offshore fishing?

"It takes so much time and costs so much money to go offshore, that's a rare trip for me and it's usually in somebody else's boat. I like fishing the reefs, the Edisto 60, 4KI and places like that.

"I also like discovering new places. There are still a lot of undiscovered humps, bumps, wrecks and rocks that people have either forgotten or only one or two people know about them. It's kind of like digging for gold."