Stokes: Sometime the numbers don't add up in your favor

rodcrafter@islc.comMay 11, 2014 

After a rough day on the water, a fisherman opens the front door, greets his wife and asks what's for supper. He gets the cold shoulder when his wife asks about the strange numbers found in his pocket while doing the laundry.

He calmly explains, "Honey those are GPS numbers, I use them to help identify fishing spots. It's easier to remember them when they are given a woman's name. It's sort of like calling your car a she or naming a storm."

The next morning as he was heading out, his wife smacked him on the head.

He asked, "What's that all about?"

She told him sternly and with a threatening pose, "One of your fishing spots called while you were in the shower to let you know the coast was clear."


South Carolina's oyster season closes May 15. Clam season will close May 31.


The Coastal Conservation Association's Topwater Action Campaign and S.C. DNR's Restoration and Enhancement Program need your help.

The Beaufort County Oyster Reef Habitat Build and Restoration program works with local citizen groups to conduct habitat restoration projects and continually monitors its progress.

Among its many projects are the building of new reefs with recycled shells for oyster larvae recruitment. These also serves as research platforms.

Volunteers are critical to monitoring these new reefs throughout the year to increase our understanding of how we can best restore oyster habitats.

The angler-driven, public/private collaboration was officially launched in the spring of 2009. Now entering its sixth year of operation, the program is dedicated to the creation and restoration of marine habitat in areas that can be accessed and enjoyed by recreational anglers.

Oysters are estuary filters. A single adult oyster will filter approximately 2.5 gallons of water per hour and as much as 50 gallons a day. Reefs formed by oyster shells provide habitats for a number of species -- including fish, crab and shrimp -- and are an integral part of our marine ecosystem.

Recycling will help restore, preserve, and enhance the state's inshore marine habitat.

To volunteer or for information, contact CCA SC by calling 803-865-4164 or email


I have a unique opportunity to share a quote my mother would reference whenever things got a bit rough between a house full of kids and dogs and the pressure of being a military wife. She loved reading about suburban life, it was one goal she promised to master when my father left the service to retire in Beaufort in 1964.


Happy Mother's Day.


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