Tom Rowland Podcast Episode 501 is my conversation with Allan McCoy, the founder of Hook, Line & Heroes, a nonprofit that takes veterans struggling with PTSD out fishing. Allan grew up with a D-Day veteran father and recognized the symptoms of combat trauma long before they had a name everyone used. We talk about how he built the organization, why his team personally calls every veteran alumnus every month, and why getting a veteran on the water can change everything.
Allan McCoy is the founder of Hook, Line & Heroes, a nonprofit organization that takes military veterans dealing with PTSD out fishing. He grew up in South Florida fishing the Keys, is the son of a D-Day veteran, and runs veteran fishing trips out of Charleston, South Carolina. He also operates Cosmic Pelican Charters and works with local guide services to expand the reach of his veteran program.
Hook, Line & Heroes is a veteran-focused nonprofit founded by Allan McCoy that takes service members dealing with PTSD out on fishing trips, both inshore and offshore. The organization provides each veteran with a fishing tackle pack, including a spinning rod and reel, so they can keep fishing on their own afterward, and it stays in contact with every veteran long after the trip ends.
Allan's team — himself or his board members — personally calls every veteran alumnus every single month to make sure they are okay, to check on their health, to ask if they need anything, and to encourage them to keep fishing. The monthly phone call is a deliberate part of the mission, built around staying connected so no veteran feels forgotten after the trip is over.
Allan's father was a D-Day veteran who went in on the second wave, and Allan grew up in a household shaped by what was then called shell shock. Looking back decades later as he worked with PTSD veterans, he recognized the classic symptoms — seclusion, avoiding social interaction, a flash temper — that had simply been normal life growing up. That personal background, paired with a strong faith, became the calling behind Hook, Line & Heroes.
Allan runs trips out of Charleston, South Carolina, both inshore for species like redfish and offshore toward the Gulf Stream, where his groups have caught kingfish, African pompano, vermillion snapper, triggerfish, and cobia. He works with guide services including offshore and inshore charters in the Charleston area and runs his own Cosmic Pelican Charters to help fund and expand the veteran trips.
Tom Rowland Podcast Episode 501 with Allan McCoy is available to watch on YouTube, with the video version embedded at the top of this page.
The veteran community matters to me, and so does the simple idea that being on the water can heal something in a person that a clinic cannot reach. Allan built an entire organization around that idea, and he did it from a deeply personal place — his own father carried combat trauma home from D-Day. I wanted him to tell me how Hook, Line & Heroes actually works, not just the mission statement, but the monthly phone calls and the tackle packs and the day-to-day of getting a struggling veteran back into the world.
Allan grew up in a house shaped by what they called shell shock, with a father who went in on the second wave at D-Day. He describes recognizing, decades later, that the seclusion and the flash temper he grew up around were textbook PTSD. That recognition, paired with his faith, became the calling behind the organization. He tells that part with real weight. Watch the YouTube player above to hear it.
Most charities run an event and move on. Allan's team calls every single veteran alumnus every month — to check on their health, ask what they need, and make sure they keep fishing. He explains why that ongoing contact, not the trip itself, is the part that actually saves people. It is the detail that separates his organization from a one-day feel-good outing. Watch on YouTube for the full explanation.
Allan walks through a real day — a recent offshore trip out of Charleston with three battle buddies from the same unit, flat seas, a Gulf Stream run, kingfish and an African pompano in the box. He describes the camaraderie of veterans back together on the water. The specifics make it real. Watch the player above to ride along.
▶ Watch the full conversation on YouTube
Each veteran leaves with a fishing tackle pack — a spinning rod and reel and the basics. Allan explains that the gear is not a parting gift, it is a tool to keep the veteran fishing on their own, because the goal is a lasting habit, not a single memory. Hear why that matters in the episode.
Allan is candid about the money side — running his own Cosmic Pelican Charters and working with local guides to stretch every dollar toward more veteran trips. He talks about the practical grind of keeping a nonprofit on the water. Watch the YouTube player above for that part of the conversation.
The day after talking to Allan, the thing I kept coming back to was the monthly phone call. It would be easy to run a trip, post the photos, and feel good. Allan built something harder than that — a promise to keep showing up for every veteran, every month.
What Allan understands is that the water gives people a reason to look forward to something, and that for a veteran fighting through dark days, a reason can be everything. That is a mission worth getting behind.
▶ Watch the full conversation on YouTube
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Allan McCoy is the founder of Hook, Line & Heroes, a nonprofit that takes military veterans dealing with PTSD out fishing inshore and offshore. The son of a D-Day veteran and a lifelong angler who grew up fishing the Florida Keys, he runs veteran trips out of Charleston, South Carolina, provides each veteran with a tackle pack, and personally calls every alumnus every month. He also operates Cosmic Pelican Charters to help fund and expand the program.
Full transcript of the Tom Rowland Podcast, Episode 501, featuring Allan McCoy, founder of Hook, Line, and Heroes, a nonprofit that takes military veterans fishing to help them heal, reconnect, and find purpose after their service.
Tom Rowland: Hey, everybody, welcome to the podcast today. The veteran community is a community that is close to my heart. These guys sign on the dotted line. They go out, they defend our country, they make huge sacrifices, and oftentimes come back with issues that are kind of hard to deal with — PTSD, other issues. We're losing twenty-two veterans a day to suicide. And there are individuals and organizations that are trying to help. When I see an organization that's trying to help, especially when they try to do so through fishing, I am interested and want to talk to them about it. Hook, Line, and Heroes is one of those organizations. Allan McCoy is with us on the podcast today to tell us what he's doing to get these veterans out, take them fishing, reintegrate them into society in some instances, and otherwise just help them relax and realize that people out there like me — we love you, man. We love you. You're a veteran, you've done your service, we appreciate it, and we're behind you. We're with you. We love you. And people like Allan are actually doing something about it, getting these guys out on the water and showing them a good time. In a lot of cases, that can be incredibly beneficial. So here's Allan McCoy with Hook, Line, and Heroes. So, Allan, how are you today?
Allan McCoy: Man, I'm doing fantastic. Just coming off a veteran trip yesterday in Charleston, South Carolina. We went offshore yesterday and took out three veterans, all battle buddies from Operation Iraqi Freedom, and just had a fantastic day out on the water.
Tom Rowland: Nice. Where'd you fish out of in Charleston?
Allan McCoy: We actually went out of Charleston Harbor. We went out about forty, fifty miles — pretty close to the Gulf Stream — and fished. We did a little bit of trolling and then did some bottom fishing to let him get a little bit of meat for the freezer as well. Had just a fantastic day. The weather was a picture-perfect day for us. The seas were flat — you could have been out there on a kayak, it was so flat. We ended up catching about an 18-pound African pompano, we caught seven kingfish, the biggest king was about 37 pounds, and then limited out on vermillion snapper, caught some triggerfish, even caught a 34-inch cobia that we had to put back.
Tom Rowland: Nice. There's a lot of African pompano popping up in that area, right?
Allan McCoy: Not really — just starting to see them up this way. It's funny, the guide that we used actually caught one two days ago that was about the same size, in the 20-pound range. But I've been fishing out of here for almost five years, both inshore and offshore out of Charleston, and that's the first one I've seen here.
Tom Rowland: Who do you fish with up there?
Allan McCoy: When we go offshore, we go with a guide called Four Sons Charters out of Ripley's Point Marina. Inshore, we've been using Real Deal Charters here in Charleston. And now, starting this Friday, I'm actually going to be running charters out of Charleston as well — inshore charters, redfish charters — as Cosmic Pelican Charters. I'll be working with Real Deal Charters, and then I'll be doing our veteran trips as well, to help us expand our dollars a little bit more.
Tom Rowland: Gotcha. So your veteran trips — that's Hook, Line, and Heroes?
Allan McCoy: Yes.
Tom Rowland: So tell me how that started. What made you want to do that?
Allan McCoy: My father was a D-Day veteran. He went in on the second wave on Omaha Beach and fought in the Battle of the Bulge and a lot of the major battles. So I kind of grew up with a family background, so to speak, dealing with PTSD. Back then they called it shell shock.
Tom Rowland: Yeah, shell shock.
Allan McCoy: And, you know, forty or fifty years later, looking back and now dealing with PTSD veterans, I see all of the things that, to me, were normal when we were growing up, but were classic symptoms of PTSD.
Tom Rowland: What would those be?
Allan McCoy: Some of the classic symptoms are seclusion — not wanting a lot of social interaction, being very reclusive at times. Growing up, my father worked and came home and stayed inside. We did things as a family, but we didn't do a lot of social interaction with other families. A flash temper, a hot temper — that's a classic symptom as well. I was a teenager during the Vietnam War, and I saw how our soldiers were treated. About six years ago, I started seeing the way our society was, for lack of a better term, forgetting or ignoring our heroes when they came back from Iraq, Afghanistan, and so forth — especially our wounded veterans. And with a strong faith background, Hook, Line, and Heroes was kind of a calling for me. I've fished my entire life — grew up in South Florida, fished the Keys, fished Florida, fished the West Coast. It was kind of, you know, God saying, hey, you need to take your passions and do something with them.
After a lot of research and a lot of prayer — and actually, I was inspired by a show I saw on TV with a professional bass fisherman who took a veteran out fishing. The bonding that they had, I decided that's what our guys needed. They needed an opportunity to get out on the water, and it's statistically proven that water is therapeutic — it provides relaxation. So I started talking with my family, trying to figure out a way that we could accomplish a couple of things. First, we wanted to provide that therapy, the ability to get out and relax. One of the classic symptoms of PTSD is really the same as severe depression, in that you cannot get away from your own mind — your mind races all the time. So I wanted to do something that was going to provide some relaxation, even if just for a day. The other thing I wanted to do was get them out into the beauty of the different waterways — a bucket-list type thing for them. And then the last thing I wanted to do was make it so they were the point of focus. It wasn't a fish-and-forget organization — it was an organization that continued the relationship after the fishing trip.
Tom Rowland: How do you do that?
Allan McCoy: We do it in many ways. The biggest thing that we do is we contact every one of our alumni every month. Either myself or one of our board members picks up the phone and calls every veteran every month to make sure they're okay, see if there's anything they need, if their health is okay, and to follow up with them to make sure they keep fishing. We provide each veteran with what we call a fishing tackle pack — a medium-action spinning rod and reel and a tackle box loaded with tackle — because we want them to keep fishing, to get out even if it's by themselves, and keep getting out on the water and relaxing. The other thing we give them is a Bible. We recognize that there are many different religions and beliefs, so we just give them the basis they need if they want to study and read the Bible and have a relationship with God. We believe that's very beneficial in the healing process.
We also have a newsletter that we put out quarterly where we highlight past trips and current trips, and we have a weekly "Throwback Thursday" post on all our social media where we highlight past trips and reach out to our veterans — a lot on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
Tom Rowland: How many trips have you done?
Allan McCoy: We've doubled in size every year. This year we'll do right around 40 trips.
Tom Rowland: Forty trips — wow. And is a trip typically a single person, or a group of people?
Allan McCoy: Typically it's one-on-one. If it's an offshore trip, like we did yesterday, to justify the expense, if we have two veterans who want to go offshore in the same area, we'll partner them up and do two veterans when we go offshore. Rarely do we do anything more than that, because then it's difficult for me to provide them with the attention that they deserve. Typically, when we go out on a trip, I will not fish until the end of the day — when everybody else is getting tired, that's when I'll do a little bit of fishing to get my fishing fix for the day. But as the founder and president, my role is to, for lack of a better term, love on these guys and give them the attention they deserve and cater to them all day long.
Tom Rowland: How does somebody find out about that? How does a veteran get in touch with your organization, or even find out that it exists?
Allan McCoy: We have a website, hooklineandheroes.org. We're a 501(c)(3), and they can go on there and see our mission, see our list of sponsors, see what we're about. There's a nomination form on there — a very simple, single-page nomination form where they can tell us a little about themselves, tell us what their disability rating is, things like that. Or someone can nominate somebody else using the same form. Once that happens, it comes to my cell phone, and within twenty-four hours I reach out to them and start the dialogue. I send them an application that they have to complete, which tells me more information about them that helps me plan the trip — helps me provide the best guide I can, make sure it's a comfortable trip for them, and helps me look at their disability and decide whether they shouldn't go offshore, or whatever, depending on things. Then they have to send me proof of disability and a copy of their DD 214, their discharge papers, just for a vetting process, so I can make sure they are who they say they are. We probably get about 10 applications a year where, when I ask for that information, they just drop off the face of the earth.
Tom Rowland: Seriously?
Allan McCoy: Yeah. There are people out there trying to get stuff for free all the time.
Tom Rowland: Yeah. But one of the things you mentioned earlier, which is kind of interesting — I've worked with a lot of other veteran organizations to provide service dogs. We've done shows with Wounded Warrior Foundation and Healing Heroes, I think it was called, and it's been very rewarding, and it's something close to my heart as well. But when you were talking about some of the symptoms — reclusive behavior, not necessarily antisocial, but refraining from social situations a lot of the time — a lot of times veterans are very self-sufficient, or they have been all their life. They're people who didn't really need a lot of help, and so it's difficult for someone like that to reach out for help. Those are things we've encountered in these other organizations. So that's why I was asking — once someone has actually filled out the paperwork, I can see how that process would go and you can find the right trip and things progress nicely. But what about the people who are reluctant to go into a social situation, or reluctant to reach out for help? Do you have any strategies to get in front of those people? That one form you have, where somebody can nominate somebody they see as having some issues, is pretty nice. But how do you make contact, more broadly — not just for your organization, but overall?
Allan McCoy: Well, for me, fortunately, so far many, if not most, of the people we've taken out have been up and down the East Coast. I hold on to the applications or nomination forms, and I continue to call, I continue to email each of the nominees. In a lot of cases, over time, I gain their confidence because I continue to follow up and continue to show that I care. There are instances where people are moving. I have a gentleman right now where, for six or seven months, every time we start talking about a trip, something happens — he has to have surgery, or he gets sick, or whatever. It's gotten to the point now where the conversations aren't as much about fishing as they are about how he's doing and what's going on in his life. We both know that in time, he's going to get to a point where we can go fishing.
I don't push them to get in front of them, by any means. If the opportunity arises, I'll certainly meet up with them and take them for lunch. If I'm in an area and I can meet up with them, I will, because I believe in the face-to-face aspect more than the telephone. I'll even Zoom with them if I can. But more than anything, what I've found is it's just staying in touch with them. The way I look at it: if somebody has taken the time to reach out through the nomination process, that signifies to me that they need the help, or they recognize the help, so I'm going to continue to do everything I can to make that happen for them. The more you get to know people, the more you know they're not trying to pull the wool over your eyes, and in that situation I'll work to make it easier for them and get them on the water — because my ultimate goal is to get them on the water, get them to relax, and get them to, for lack of a better term, reengage. Because the military does a terrible job of that.
Tom Rowland: Of getting them to reengage back into society?
Allan McCoy: Oh, yeah. It's funny — I was just having this conversation last night with the guys I fished with yesterday. Most people don't know how the process works. I didn't serve, but I've been around it long enough that I know the process from what people have told me and what my dad experienced. Basically, when you go into the military, in boot camp they tear you down and they basically create a new family for you. You still have your biological family, but your family now becomes your brothers and sisters in the military. You get deployed, you go to battle, and you lose your brothers and sisters. That's a traumatic experience, which is the cause of PTSD in a lot of cases. They don't tell you how to reengage back into society when you come back. They have a week-long program — I can't remember what it's called — but they basically say, here's your VA hospital, here's your advocates, here's the people who can help you reengage, and if you need help, they can provide it. But they don't sit down with you and teach you how to adjust to situations and how to reengage with society, and what to expect once you're separated from your military family.
That's why I am so passionate about this, because I believe the time on the water allows them a period of relaxation to get away from all the stress in their mind of trying to readjust and reengage. One of the things I hear so much about is guys coming back from a deployment and, within a year, they're divorced — because they don't want to talk about what they've been through, but at the same time their spouse doesn't understand why they don't want to talk about it. So they don't learn how to reintegrate into the marriage, into life, into business, whatever. They're torn down and made — and this is stark terminology, but it's the truth — made killers. Their job is to defend the country and serve their new family, and defend it if it means taking a life. So that adjustment back into society is very difficult, if not, in a lot of cases, impossible. Then they go to the VA, and the VA pumps them full of drugs — numbs them, basically.
Tom Rowland: Yeah. What kind of success stories have you seen through your organization, or others, that take people fishing and get them out on the water?
Allan McCoy: We try to post a lot of the comments our veterans make. One of the things we ask them at the end of the trip is what was the most exciting part of the trip, and what they would tell another veteran about the trip — that's how we gauge their experience and what benefit it was to them. What we hear often is that the relaxation and the camaraderie makes them feel normal again — having the ability to just get out, laugh, and have a good time. One of the problems we have in the grant world is we can't measure the success metrically. We can only measure it by how the veteran reacts, how they react down the road, and how they tell people about it and support and praise the organization.
Tom Rowland: Have you seen certain veterans you've taken fishing where you've noticed a major change in them, or maybe you've taken them multiple times?
Allan McCoy: Absolutely. Up until this point — now that I have my captain's license — I haven't taken them multiple times, but I see them getting involved in other activities that we do. Probably the biggest success story I always share with people is a Purple Heart veteran. We take a lot of Purple Heart veterans, and one of them hadn't fished since the Vietnam War. He grew up on a lake, and after the war he said all he wanted to do was stay in the house and walk his dog. After fishing with us, he now carries his rod and reel and tackle box in his car, and he fishes twice a week — if he passes a pond, he stops and fishes. His comment to me was, "You gave me an opportunity to feel normal and realize that I can enjoy life outside the house again."
Tom Rowland: Wow, that's awesome. You mentioned other activities you do — what else do you do for them?
Allan McCoy: We have an event coming up in about three weeks — a fishing day for blind veterans, where we get all of our blind veterans from our geographical area together on a lake, provide buddies for them, do a barbecue lunch, and just let them all fish all day long. Many, if not most, of our blind veterans don't want to go on boats, simply because, to put it in their words, "Even though I have a life jacket on, if I fall overboard, which way do I swim?" That said, we did take a blind veteran offshore off North Carolina about six weeks ago, and he had a fantastic time. But we provide the fishing day for the visually impaired. We also do a barbecue once a year for the Military Order of the Purple Heart — we've got about 275 members in that organization in the Charlotte, North Carolina area. And twice a year we do alumni events where we get our veterans together, usually at a venue on the water where they can fish and have a day of peer-to-peer conversation, with their families there, relaxing on the water.
Tom Rowland: I have a friend through the podcast, Lawrence Gunther, from Canada — an extremely accomplished blind angler. He would be a great person to have as a speaker or guest at that kind of function. He's got a TV show and a podcast up in Canada, I think it's called something like Blue Fish. Lawrence would be an excellent connection for you, especially in the blind-angling world. That guy is incredible — he fishes all kinds of water, has a dog that helps him, and can go fish trout rivers by himself. He fishes in bass tournaments too, and usually has a partner who can drive the boat, but it's his rig. And overall, his attitude is that he doesn't look at it as a disability at all, which is the case with a lot of people — like my friend Kyle Maynard, who was born a congenital quadriplegic amputee and climbed Mount Kilimanjaro. We went snorkeling and fishing in the Keys, and he's done so many other things — he was a wrestler, he won an ESPY award, he's written a book, and he works a lot with veterans too, because he has a different perspective on it. He was born that way — he didn't lose his arms or legs — so he has a special connection to people who've lost limbs, and they look at him and think, "Man, I can do anything." What Kyle Maynard says has always stuck with me: "I don't have a disability. The people who have negative self-talk, the people who have poor attitudes — that's a disability. Not having arms and legs is an inconvenience." That's what he said, and I thought, wow. Amazing attitude.
Allan McCoy: One of the things I always talk about when we take out a catastrophically wounded veteran who's lost a limb, or the use of a limb, is the many blessings that they have even though they have a loss, and how they can use those blessings to create a positive impact on other people. It's much like what we do through Hook, Line, and Heroes — when you're able to help somebody feel better about themselves, that kind of heals other wounds, so to speak. So that's what I try to encourage them to do — use their gifts and abilities to help others cope.
Tom Rowland: Yeah, that's a good strategy. Whenever you're feeling down, if you can help somebody else, all of a sudden you feel better yourself.
Allan McCoy: Absolutely.
Tom Rowland: So what's the future here? What do you expect or hope for your organization? How many people do you hope to help in the future? How do you grow?
Allan McCoy: We obviously want to grow — we've doubled in size every year since we started. Our ultimate goal is to go nationwide. The biggest hurdle at this point for us is funding. We're a hundred percent volunteer, and everything we do is based on fundraising, corporate donations, and private donations. About 87% of all of our donations go right back to the veteran, which is very high — being a hundred percent volunteer, we have very little overhead. The next step is being able, monetarily, as we get applications in from around the country, to fly veterans to destinations, or for me to go to them. It's a monetary thing. A perfect example: when I interview veterans, I ask them what their bucket-list item is for fishing, because I want it to be a fishing experience they will never forget. I have two veterans in Texas right now whose bucket-list item is to go fishing in the Florida Keys, so I'm trying to raise money to make that happen. With us being in North Carolina and them in Texas, the logistics of getting everybody in the same place at the same time, not to mention the fact that accommodations in the Keys are quite expensive, we just can't pull it together monetarily right now. That's kind of our next step — raising our donation level to where we can do that.
My ultimate goal, when I founded Hook, Line, and Heroes, is that if somebody wants to go sailfishing in Costa Rica, I want to be able to do that — to provide that experience of a lifetime for our veterans. People don't understand the sacrifice our veterans give by signing on the line and agreeing to protect our country. You're essentially putting your life and your family on hold to go and serve. From my perspective, there isn't enough we can do as Americans to show the respect and pay our veterans back for what they do — whether they're deployed and in combat or not, it's still a sacrifice to serve in the military and agree to protect our country.
Tom Rowland: For sure. Lots of sacrifices — not only are you risking your life, but you're also not getting paid a lot. Even the high-level operators aren't getting paid much. There are benefits and other things, and it's a life that they're choosing, and it's a great life and a great job, but it doesn't reward you financially the way being a football star or a baseball star does — even though these guys are stars in their own right, in an incredibly competitive and physical endeavor where only a few are selected. They're not rewarded financially like we reward actors and athletes and other people who don't even have the skills these people have. It's certainly a choice, but they're definitely not compensated to the degree that I think they should be.
Then there's also the way that society and people in general kind of view veterans today. They should be the hero — and they are the hero to a large portion of the country, but other people don't necessarily see it that way, I think. That's kind of a sad commentary on the current situation.
Allan McCoy: Sure is. We're fortunate that we're part of the fishing community, and the fishing community has a huge heart for our veterans. I have yet to meet someone — whether it's in person in a particular town, or even at ICAST, where I was just a couple weeks ago — who doesn't have a heart for our veterans. I just really love that. They have a heart for our country.
Tom Rowland: Yeah. What about the guides, and the way you're putting these trips together? Are you asking the guides to donate their time, are you compensating them, or are they willingly donating their time? How does that work?
Allan McCoy: No — the majority of the time, it's full price, and we're compensating them for what we do. That's our biggest expense: the guides, and the ability to provide the best guide possible. Like I said earlier, I spend a lot of time trying to match up the guide and the boat to the specific species of fish the veteran would like to catch, and finding the best option. Once in a while we'll get a 10% veteran discount, but the majority of the time it's full price.
Tom Rowland: Yes, there's a lot of expense that goes into being a fishing guide — of course, certainly as an offshore guide. But one idea could be, if you found a group of guides scattered across the country who felt strongly about giving back to the veteran community, maybe you could get a guide to donate just one day a year, or maybe donate just his fee — maybe the fuel is paid for and everything else is paid for. But if you had, say, 300 guides who each donate one day a year, now you have three hundred days you can go fishing. It's a lot to ask of the guide community, because the guide community's been through a lot — with COVID, with water issues lately, it's been very difficult. But I know the guide community has been a strong supporter of a lot of charity organizations and veteran organizations.
Allan McCoy: Yes, they are.
Tom Rowland: Just an idea — even if you had 10 guides donate just one day.
Allan McCoy: Well, to be honest with you, Tom, I don't ask — everybody's got to make a living.
Tom Rowland: Right.
Allan McCoy: I don't ask the guides to donate. If somebody wants to do it, and that's something they want to do in their heart, that's great. But that's part of what we do, and that expense is built in, and I'm going to pay what we have to pay, because that's what's most important to our veteran.
Tom Rowland: Yeah. Well, you also want to support the guides so that they want to work with you and continue to work with you, and answer the phone when they see it's your number instead of thinking, "Oh man, that's going to be a free trip."
Allan McCoy: And they have fun with us. Four Sons Charters, that I used yesterday — this is our sixth trip with them. So they know that when I call, we're going to have a good time, and that I'm there to help them. I'm a second mate, for lack of a better term, and I'm there to help them be successful as well. Not to mention we promote our guides on our social media — if there are specific guides we use in a certain area, we promote them through social media too.
Tom Rowland: Have you found there's a certain type of trip — inshore versus offshore, freshwater versus saltwater — that's been more effective than others, or do you just base what you do on what the veteran voices as their bucket-list kind of thing?
Allan McCoy: Probably 90% of what we do is based on what the veteran wants to do. Typically, they're not specific as far as the types of fish they want to catch as much as they'll say, "Oh, I'd love to go offshore in Charleston," or "I'd love to go offshore in North Carolina," or "in Stuart, Florida," or whatever. Then we work from there to identify specific species or what we want to do. Offshore has been very big this year. In years past we've done kind of a sixty-forty mix — 60% saltwater, 40% freshwater. This year it's been 95% saltwater. We've done trips from Stuart, Florida all the way to the North Carolina coast, up and down the East Coast. In the past, backcountry redfishing trips have been big for us — this year it hasn't been as big, most everybody has wanted to fish offshore. Which is interesting to me, because in the past we've had that sixty-forty mix, so that's what we budget for, and then when everybody wants to fish offshore, it's like, uh-oh, I need to get more active in fundraising.
Tom Rowland: Yeah, for sure. Offshore is definitely more expensive, especially where you are — it's a hundred miles out there where you get into deep water. I've fished up there a little bit, and man, the long boat rides up there compared to the Keys.
Allan McCoy: It is. Yesterday, we ran two hours to get out to the fishing spot, and it's funny — two hours off of Charleston, you're in 90 feet of water.
Tom Rowland: I know. Two hours off Key West, you're past Cuba.
Allan McCoy: Yeah, that's for sure. But I'm fortunate — like I said, it's a calling for me, and I am retired, so I have no problem fishing anywhere. I love to fish, and I fish every day. If somebody says "I want to go to Pensacola" or "Panama City" or wherever, if I can make it happen, I'm going to make it happen.
Tom Rowland: Awesome, man. Good job. Well, I love what you're doing for the veterans — that's something close to my heart as well. You're making a difference, whether it's for a few people or a lot of people, and I appreciate that very much. So I wish you the best of luck in what you're doing.
Allan McCoy: Thank you.
Tom Rowland: How do people help your cause? How do people get ahold of you?
Allan McCoy: They can contact me at allen@hooklineandheroes.org, or reach out to me by cell phone at (704) 591-5129. I mentioned our website earlier, hooklineandheroes.org — there's a donate tab on there where they can give. We also have a monthly giving program called Healing Heroes, if somebody wants to make a $25-a-month donation. That helps a lot — like we were talking about with the guides, if you get a lot of people making $20-a-month donations, it helps out. So there are a lot of different ways. I love to talk to corporations, I love to talk to individuals — I urge them to reach out to me. I love to do Zoom calls to talk about what we do, and if the opportunity arises, I'll get in my truck and drive to meet face to face with somebody. I don't have a problem — I love networking, and I love talking to people.
Tom Rowland: That's awesome. Well, I hope what you do continues to double in size every single year, and you take twice as many people fishing next year. I know there's plenty of people out there who could use it. So thanks, Allan — I appreciate you coming on and telling us about what you're doing, and best of luck to you and the organization, and certainly best of luck to all the veterans out there. Whether you're taking part in this or something else, we're with you, man. We love you, and we appreciate you. Thank you.
Allan McCoy: Thank you very much. Appreciate you having me on, and appreciate the time.
Tom Rowland: You bet, and—
Allan McCoy: Have a great day.
Tom Rowland: You bet. Alright, thanks. Thanks.
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