On The Water: Boats and Boaters

John Scroggs of Charleston describes his son Cole as an all-around American boy who gets straight A's in school and plays third base, as well as pitches, for his baseball team.

"He's well-mannered and respects his sisters," he said.

And like countless other all-around American teens, the 15-year-old high school freshman loves to fish. Cole just happens to be be pretty good at it.

Cole has competed and placed numerous times in various professional tournaments, including the Coastal Fishing Association and the Inshore Fishing Association tours in Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and the West Coast of Florida.

Last year he caught fish in three straight tournaments.

"And that's a really good thing to do, because a lot of people have off days that they just can't catch fish," Cole said. "We got lucky. We weighed in every tournament and got good points."

As a child, Cole spent his summers surf fishing on the beach on Isle of Palms. Now, as a teen, he fishes every chance he gets.

Tideline recently caught up with the teen fishing phenom for some angling advice.

How did you get involved in fishing? I started fishing in ponds and lakes when I was really young. : It wasn't until the past couple of years I started fishing on boats a lot more. My stepdad has a connection with Ranger Boats : he got me involved in the IFA Redfish Tour. Once we started getting Rangers, we started fishing on boats more, going out for redfish, trout and flounder.

Who do you fish with professionally? The past three years I've been fishing with Darrell Crabtree of D&S Charters. He's a guide in Charleston. The last tournament in Charleston I fished with Forest O'Quinn. He's a real good buddy of mine. We hunt and fish together all the time.

What do you like most about fishing? I like hunting a lot, so the hunt of fish is probably what I like mosti- seeing the tailing redfish up on a mudflat and then hunting it and trying to find where it went and everything. That's probably my favorite part. Or seeing their tails pop up and their backs hump out of the water, : knowing they're there but you can't actually see them, and then hooking up. I like the accomplishment once you do finally catch one, and the workout, I guess, of having something pull your line down. Hearing that drag scream is probably about the best sound you can hear out there.

What advice do you have for young people when it comes to fishing (or following their dreams in general)? I got lucky on this one. You can do anything. Me being out here fishing with professional tournaments was not hard at all. If you want to do something, then go out and figure out how it can be done and just do it. It's really not that hard.

What is your favorite lure and why? My favorite redfish lure would probably have to be Gulp shrimp or Gulp jerk baits because they have the scent, the color and they move just like fish out in the water move. But the main thing is how you work it. I mean, you can take a rag, hook it on a hook and work it right, and they'll bite it.

What's bringing the fish to the boat now? Gulp's working really good right now. It really depends where you are though, when you're up on flats and in real shallow water they tend to be real spooky, so you have to use quiet baits you don't want to use a big ole Top Dog or a big top-water bait, because it will make splashes and they'll get spooked.i: The main thing is stealth out there.

What's been your best day ever with redfish? This is a tough one. Probably my best day was two years ago in the championship in Panama City. We caught, probably, 100 fish on the first day. And then the second day of that tournament, it was pretty tough because a lot of people who weren't catching fish found out about that place, came to the hole that we were in and started pushing around our fish. It was kind of nerve-wracking, but we ended up getting two more fish that day, weighed in and came in ninth place.

Can you think of one common mistake people make when fishing for redfish? Like I said, the main thing out there is being stealthy. Redfish can be real spooky when you're in shallow water, and even when you're in deeper water if they're humping across the top, that means they're scared. You want to be real quiet.

What's the most productive area you've ever fished and why? South Carolina is a very good fishery. You just have to know what you're doing. It's a whole different fishing scheme than North Carolina and Florida. There are no flats really here. There's some mud flats and grass flats you can get on top of when it's high tide, but only on high tide. It's usually deeper water and you fish on oysters, and they're eating different types of things. There's not all the shad up on the grass flats and turtle grass (like) on the West Coast.

What might surprise people about the IFA Redfish Tournament? A lot of people think of it as a professional redfish tour, but it's really not because anybody can do it. You don't have to have a professional license or anything like that.i: It's just pros in there mixed with the average Joe's that like to go out and fish. The only thing is that makes it seem like more of a professional tour is that you have to use fake bait.

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