Children say SC bait shop reminder of slain mother. Family’s 2nd location opening on pier

Liam Perry, along with his siblings Aden and Bella, are leaning against a wall inside the new Perry’s Bait & Tackle that will soon open on the Surfside Beach Pier.

It’s Sunday, April 14, 2024, and people take advantage of the sunny day by being on the beach while others walk along the newly opened pier. A few people peek inside the window of the new shop.

The shop is an expansion of Perry’s Bait & Tackle in Murrells Inlet, which has been a longtime staple in the inlet community.

Both stores are owned by the Perry siblings, who are 17, 14 and 13, respectively. It was left to them by their mother, Jessica Hill Perry, who was tragically killed by her ex-husband and the children’s father in 2017.

The business is a legacy that the children want to carry on, not only for their mother, but to keep it in the Perry family, who first opened the bait and tackle shop in 1954.

New shop an addition to family-owned bait shop

The teens talk about the new Surfside Beach location, pointing out the T-shirts that will be for sale there and are currently on sale at the Murrells Inlet location.

The family had hoped to have the bait shop opened by now, but setbacks that delayed the pier’s opening for 18 months also caused delays for the business.

The plan now is to have it open in the next few weeks. While there is paint on the walls, the ceiling needs to be finished and product moved into place. A small sign hangs on the outside of the shop’s window, letting people know that they are opening.

Their daughter had talked from time to time about wanting to expand the bait shop, her father said. The family was able to fulfill one of her wishes, which was to turn an old house behind the Murrells Inlet bait shop into a vacation rental. The waterfront cottage is called the Murrells Inlet Fishing Lodge.

The Surfside Beach Pier location is just another extension for Perry’s Bait & Tackle which marks 70 years this year.

Eventually it will all belong to the Perry siblings, who the family believes may be the only children who own a bait shop in South Carolina.

After Jessica’s death, the bait shop was put into a conservatorship for the children.

“Having something that’s been in the family that long, it’s kind of almost surprising nowadays,” Craig Doehner said.

Jessica’s death devastated Murrells Inlet fishing community

Jessica Hill Perry was the face of Perry’s Bait and Tackle for more than a decade, greeting customers and visitors with a beautiful smile and offering fishing advice to both new and longtime fishermen.

She bought the shop, painted a bright coastal blue and located on the waterfront on the MarshWalk, in 2006.

Surprisingly, Jessica didn’t have great fishing knowledge when she decided to buy the business. Instead, her background was in chemistry and biology, having gone to school to be a pharmacist.

When she called her parents, Sharon and Craig Doehner, to tell them she wanted to buy a bait shop, “We thought she said ‘bake,’” Sharon Doehner said laughing. “She had a good scientific mind on how to keep critters alive.”

Craig Doehner said it was amazing how much she learned about fishing, especially since she hadn’t fished much.

“People would, some older people, would shy away from her at first, saying this young girl over here is not going to know anything about fishing,” Craig Doehner said. But after a few minutes of talking to Jessica, even those who had fished all their lives would learn something, he said.

Jessica also learned how to tie rigs. “She would sit with old timers to learn the art,” said Corbett Doehner, Jessica’s brother, who helps manage the bait shop.

People still come into the shop and help tie rigs.

Jessica was instrumental in having an artificial reef established in memory of her father-in-law. In 2010, the Winston Perry Memorial Reef was placed on the ocean floor at the Paradise Reef site located three miles east of the Murrells Inlet jetties. In 2019, her family dedicated the Jessica Perry Memorial Reef that was placed as part of the Pawleys Island Reef, located 5.5 nautical miles of the south jetty at Murrells Inlet.

Before she bought the bait shop, Jessica had worked there with her husband, Eric Perry, who she met when she moved to Murrells Inlet to wait tables so she could earn extra money. Perry’s father Winston Perry founded Perry’s Bait & Tackle.

Eventually the two divorced. Sharon Doehner has previously talked about how domestic violence played a role in the relationship, but it is unclear what may have caused Eric Perry to kill the 36-year-old on Sept. 29, 2017.

What is known is that after killing his ex-wife, Eric Perry set fire to the shop and was found operating a boat in the Murrells Inlet area with her body on board, according to investigators. Jessica Perry died from strangulation and head trauma.

Eric Perry was sentenced to 45 years in prison for the murder and arson in 2019.

Jessica’s death left both her family and children, as well as the small fishing village, devastated and in mourning.

‘They’ve been a blessing’

Jessica’s children basically grew up around the shop.

Her mother said that Jessica had a playpen and would often take the children to the shop. “She always had a baby on her hip,” her brother said.

Jessica’s love for the water and fishing has transferred to her children. All of them fish, and Liam and Aden work part-time at the shop when they aren’t playing sports. Bella also wants to work there but is currently too young.

The children are looking forward to taking over the business, which will be handed over to them when they are old enough.

When asked if they have anything that reminds them of their mother, Liam is quick to answer, “The shop.”

But despite their plans to one day operate the business, the children also have their own career dreams. Liam, a senior at Waccamaw High School, has been accepted into the University of South Carolina where he will study math. Aden talks about being an engineer and Bella a teacher.

In the meantime, Craig and Sharon Doehner care for it, as well as the children.

The Doehners, who are 71 and 66, respectively, have had to shift their thoughts of retirement after raising three children to now managing three teenagers.

“It’s certainly not what we thought we’d be doing in our retirement,” Sharon Doehner said. “But we have learned that God presents things to families and families stick together and we would not have it any other way.

“We feel that we’ve made the right choice. They’ve never been a burden. They’ve been a blessing.”