Although I'd run into him a couple of times around the docks I really only knew Captain Mark Brown by his waterfront reputation as an incredibly affable guy who catches fish. Lots of fish. Mark is the owner and captain of the Teaser 2, a charter sportfishing boat based out of Shem Creek. One morning on my radio show years back I made a reference to Mark's fishing prowess. Although he was offshore fishing during the broadcast word got around that I had some nice things to say about him. Some days later I was kayaking up the creek past Mark's boat as he was cleaning up after another successful day offshore when he called me over to thank me for the 'plug' I gave him. Then, he said, 'I've got something here I want to give you. I'll leave it here in the cooler and you can grab it on your way back.'

I told him it wasn't necessary but I'm always happy to accept fresh caught fish and asked him what kind of fish it was.

'Grouper cheeks,' was his reply.

Grouper cheeks! One of the sea's finest delicacies, something I'd heard of but never tasted. So on my way back out of the creek I climbed into the boat's cockpit and eagerly retrieved the iced down bag. I was living aboard a 30-foot sailboat up at Hobcaw Marina at the time and had limited cooking options so I decided to fire up the small propane grill hanging off the stern railing. I dabbed the cheeks with a little butter and sprinkled a bit of pepper and voila! Grouper cheeks are just that, the jaws and jaw muscles of the fish and eating them is akin to picking blue crabs: it's a lot of work but needless to say, scrumptious hardly described the experience.

Mark could have simply given me a fillet, or just thanked me with a handshake, but that's not his style.

This time of the year it's a bit slow around the waterfront so I've been highlighting those individuals who I feel are the very threads of the fabric of the East Cooper water's edge scene.

Captain Mark Brown is definitely one of them.

Last week I asked Mark to sit down for a simple 'Q & A' session and he happily agreed.

'I'm originally from Florida. I moved here in 1986. I was a commercial longline swordfisherman and we'd sometimes pull in to Shem Creek to unload our catch and get some fresh ice at Red Simmons place.'

Then why'd you make this home I asked.

'Well, one time we were here we went out to The Windjammer on Isle of Palms.... and I met Anne.'

Mark and Anne now have six children... and seven grandchildren.

My next question was, 'What made you change from commercial fishing to running a charter boat?'

He replied, 'Back then, all the boats on the creek were commercial fishing boats except for the two headboats, the Carolina Clipper and the Thunderstar, but there weren't any six-pack (sportfishing charter) boats, so I saw an opportunity there. It's also because when you're commercial fishing you're at sea for a long periods. As a charter captain, I come home every day to be with my wife and children.'

U.S. Coast Guard regulations allow almost any boat to carry up to six 'passengers for hire' (hence the term 'six-pack') so long as the captain has a license known as an O.U P.V. (Operator of Uninspected Passenger Vessel) and the boat only needs conform with the same regulations that pertain to any other recreational boat. To carry more than six passengers the boat must be built to more rigorous specifications, carry additional safety equipment, be inspected by the Coast Guard each year and the captain must have a higher rated license that's measured in degrees of displacement tonnage.

 The original Teaser was a six-pack boat but back in the year 2000 Mark decided to step up and ordered the Teaser 2, a custom built 45-footer rated for up to 20 passengers since the more people you can take per trip the more money you stand to make.

It's all about the passengers and I asked Mark about his clientele.

'Fifty-percent of my customers come from South Carolina, lots from Columbia, Greenville, even Augusta. I have lots of repeat business and I like that. I've gotten to know some of my customers really well. I've even been to their houses. Some of them send me Christmas cards. This business is all about the people having fun and catching fish.'

Mark is assisted by his mate, Jerry Mixon who's been with him for four years.

'A mate is very important and Jerry works real hard for me. He has to balance a lot of responsibilities, from fishing to working with the passengers and balance it all out... and he has to be patient. Since we're an inspected vessel Jerry has to have additional qualifications to meet the Coast Guard regulations.'

Teaser 2 will make anywhere from 120 to 200 trips a year depending upon the weather and that makes for some extremely long hours, if not long months.

'I usually get up around 4:30 a.m. and will always be in bed no later than 10 p.m.. When the weather is good and we have lots of trips booked it means a long time between days off. But last year with all the windy days it really hurt us. It wears on you after a while and gets a little harder each year. '

The majority of charter boats take people offshore to troll for species like tuna, dolphin, wahoo and marlin, but those species don't always cooperate. When that happens Mark will move inshore to bottom fish for species like snapper and grouper.

'It's all about showing people a good time and that means putting them on the fish, whatever it takes.'

But it's those bottom-type species that are now the center of a swirling controversy that may prove to have a significant impact on a charter business like the Teaser 2. The more popular species are already heavily regulated by season (grouper fishing is closed from January until May; snapper fishing also is restricted 6 months out of the year) and blanket proposals are now being considered to close off huge portions of the ocean to any fishing throughout the year.

'It's a real mess,' Mark laments. 'There are just so many proposals and they are constantly changing. There's species closures and area closures. It's like they don't want you to be able to figure it out.

Fishing goes through cycles. For instance, this year was great for snapper/grouper fishing but the officials are telling us that's due to what they call ‘year class', meaning there was very good spawning last year or the year before and those are the mature fish we're now catching, but by doing that we are impacting the adult (spawning) population and that means that stocks will drop a few years from now.

It's almost impossible to keep up with it all. It's just a big mess right now.'

In addition to questionable stock assessment data, some government and environmental entities are even trying to impose new fisheries regulations and restrictions based upon the supposed impacts of global warming, claiming that atmospheric temperature changes effect ocean water temperatures and that, in turn, effects the fish stocks as well.

Mark related that his father was a fisherman before him so I asked if any of his children have expressed an interest in carrying on the business to which he quickly and emphatically replied, 'No. I'm hanging in there to see what the economy and regulations do, but I don't want them in the business. I love being out on the ocean but I do think of doing something else. I just don't know what I'd do.'

For more information about fishing on Teaser 2, visit the Web site www.charlestonfishing.net.