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Poetter Hall was purchased by the SCAD founders in March 1979. Classes began in September of that year.  
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Trivial Pursuits

Trivial Pursuits
 
Deep-sea fishing lures Moore

King mackerel (left) and Wayne C. Moore
Photo courtesy of Wayne C. Moore 
Wayne C. Moore (with a king mackerel) catches rays, relaxation and more out at sea.

By Monique Bos
Published: Friday, October 7, 2005

Professional shutterbug Wayne C. Moore balances his time behind the lens with relaxation out at sea, where he fishes the depths for dinner — and whatever else bites.

“We catch some neat fish,” said Moore, who has reeled in eels, an octopus, triggerfish and blowfish, among other things. “It’s always unusual to see what you’re going to pull off the bottom.”

Moore works as a photographer in the Savannah College of Art and Design communications department and takes 10-12 fishing trips at sea each year in his boat. To fish further offshore — 50 to 100 miles out in the Atlantic — he charters a larger vessel, the “Ollie III,” operated out of Lazaretto Creek by Capt. Ed Richards.

Common hauls include sheepshead, black sea bass, Spanish mackerel and small kingfish near shore; grouper, American red snapper and kingfish farther out; and dolphin, wahoo and tuna in the Gulf Stream.

Moore keeps only what he can use.

“I clean ’em and eat ’em, and give some away,” he said. Certain catches, such as eels, he uses as bait. Otherwise, he throws them back, as he did recently with a 250-pound, 12-foot nurse shark that took a half hour to land.

“We try not to kill anything that we’re not going to eat,” he said.
In addition to the challenge of fishing, Moore enjoys simply being out at sea. “About four miles off, the water turns as blue as the bluest sapphire you’ve ever seen,” he said. “That’s probably one of my favorite places to be, the blue water.”

A lifelong fisherman, Moore speaks highly of the sport and its enthusiasts.

“It’s a great sport, and all the people you meet are just as nice as can be,” he said.

“I’ve been fishing with my granddad since I was old enough to sit in the john boat,” said Moore, who grew up in Columbia, S.C. He began saltwater fishing when he moved to Savannah in 1987 and purchased his first boat about 10 years ago. He has since replaced it with the “Ida Girl,” a 22-foot, 200-horsepower Hydrosport christened with his wife’s middle name.

“She likes to go out on the boat, but not offshore,” he said. In addition to his fishing trips, he and his family enjoy taking the boat out to Wassaw Sound.

Moore is very comfortable at sea, and his preparation and safety precautions may explain why. He doesn’t go offshore alone, and one reason he charters trips with Richards is for the safety a larger boat provides in the open sea.

“I have the barometric pressure on my compass and on my watch,” he said. “We listen to the weather report on the radio all the time, and we’re always watching the sky.”

He also keeps emergency supplies on his boat. “We have flares, life preservers, VHF radios. We always carry extra water, cell phones, whistles, horns and a fire extinguisher,” he said. “We also carry an extra anchor, extra rope, that kind of stuff. I try to always have two of everything.”

Perhaps as a result of his preparation, Moore hasn’t had many harrowing experiences at sea. Recently, he and a friend were about 20 miles out when they ran into a storm.

“We were about an hour and a half into it, and the weather completely turned in 10 minutes,” he said. “The waves went from 2-3 feet to 10-12 feet. It took three hours to get back in.”

The experience was more adventurous than frightening, however.
“I’m not too scared out there,” he said.

Asked whether he has any tales of “the one that got away,” Moore laughed.

“They get away more often than not,” he said. “You always think you’ve got the fish coming in, but then something breaks or it somehow gets away. It always seems to be the biggest ones that get away, maybe because they’re the smartest.”