Fishing in Mount Pleasant is not just about sweating with a rod on a pier and the local anglers are well aware of that. In fact, these waters lure fishing enthusiasts of all ages and skill levels to join a local captain and catch trophies here season after season. Fishermen from the Charleston area, the neighboring states and all over the country enjoy getting a healthy dose of anything from big and tasty Redfish to Trout and toothy Sheepshead.
Traditionally, people would stick to one guide and book a trip whenever they would have the itch to fish. Beginners would have to go down to the docks, hoping that the captain they stumbled across really did have the reputation that he boasted about. They would browse through various forums, looking for word of mouth and good recommendations. Back then, it wasn’t ideal at all.
FishingBooker, an online booking platform for fishing charters that works with over 70 captains in the Mount Pleasant/Charleston area, has done some research about how the online booking trend is catching on. Between 2015 and 2016 there were about three dozen online bookings in the area. Believe it or not, these numbers skyrocketed in 2017. According to the data, online bookings quadrupled last year, rising from four Mount Pleasant and Charleston captains making $11,000 from online bookings in 2015 to over 40 captains earning $241,000 in 2017.
Interestingly, a full quarter of the people who booked online hailed from South Carolina itself, with 11 percent coming from the Charleston area. While you might expect locals to book captains without having to resort to the internet, this is apparently not the case. The main reasons for this seem to be ease of use and secure payment. This map shows where people booked from:
Locals and people from all over the country book through online platforms, which are seen as safe and trustworthy.
The reaction of local charter captains has been generally enthusiastic - they are enjoying the fruits of their labor, more so than ever. New online possibilities have been cited by most captains in Mount Pleasant as the main reason for this fantastic growth.
Captain Tim Holt from Salty Soul Charters believes that booking websites help to set the right expectations for his customers. “They are used to using online platforms - it makes perfect sense to them,” Holt says.
With photos, videos, and detailed descriptions along with reviews and reports, online booking platforms give every client a clear picture of the fishing experience they will get. The ease of use stretches to captains, too. When Holt had to spend all his days onboard with no access to his laptop or calendar, he could manage his charters easily via a mobile application.
Holt's enthusiasm is shared by Captain Jesse Riddle from Tight Line Charters. “Half of my customers come from online platforms. It helps getting extra business on top of our own.” Jesse highlighted the easiness, quickness, and reliability of booking charters online.
“Most of my saltwater bookings come from FishingBooker, around 90 to 95 percent,” says Captain Joseph Dennis, the host of national television show Father And Son Outdoors TV and the owner of Captain J Hook Fishing Charters. “Online platforms provide all the marketing, all the advertisement, the bookings, everything. This helped me out tremendously. All the customer has to do is show up. They love it.”
Even the guides who mostly fish with return customers are able to get “a nice subsidy” to their regular business from online bookings, according to Captain Matt Swan from Coastal Fishing Guides. It provides captains with additional decent and steady work, Swan believes, and enables them to get a pretty good response and positive feedback from their customers.
It is almost certain that the upcoming season will keep the local captains busy. The Digital Age has indeed influenced the charter fishing business in Mount Pleasant significantly, giving it advantages unseen before.