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To celebrate John’s birthday, he and his fiancee, Danielle, joined me for a morning of Charleston trout fishing. Started casting popping corks for trout at our first two spots and found lots of little fish who wouldn’t leave our shrimp alone. At our next spot, Danielle landed a nice four pound trout and that got the ball rolling. We caught 20+ trout in the same area with constant action for the rest of the trip. All caught with either shrimp or finger mullet under a popping cork.
Charleston is a great place to be fishing! No matter what type of fish you want to catch, they are all active and biting. While fishing for redfish remains strong, we’ve seen a pickup in the trout bite even with increasingly warmer water temperatures. Seasonal species like spanish mackerel, ladyfish, bluefish and shark are also still available.
Using live bait for redfish can be very effective. However, during this time of year, little fish that will quickly devour your bait can make life difficult. Some days they even make my two favorite live baits, shrimp and blue crab, unfishable. Fortunately, you can solve this problem by just bringing your cast net along. The water is teeming with finger mullet, menhaden, etc. You can rig these baitfish under popping corks or on the bottom. Either way, redfish will find them and it’s hard for a redfish to resist a struggling bait!
The trout bite has markedly improved in just the last few weeks. The number of small and medium size trout is noticeable as compared to earlier this year when you would only find a few large trout. Popping corks are your best bet for trout that will also eagerly eat finger mullet. Try fishing over oyster beds, in creek mouths or around structure. Make sure to reel back the corks at an even pace, letting the bait fall in the water and appear natural.
My favorite summertime fish is definitely the ladyfish. If you haven’t seen one before, it looks like a small skinny tarpon. Just like a tarpon, they put up fantastic fights with acrobatic jumps and fast runs. Often, a fisherman thinks he has hooked a big trout only to see a ladyfish erupt and tailwalk across the water. You’ll find these fish along oyster beds and shell rakes. Live shrimp under a popping cork is very effective.
Fly fishing has been quite good. The best patterns now seem to be shrimp imitations with or without epoxy. Especially at low tide, you’ll be able to see redfish streaking down the banks with their backs out of water as they try to corral live shrimp. Cast your fly in front of a charging redfish and hold on! The shrimp patterns work very well even when you can’t see redfish working the banks.
See you on the water!
Paul and Amy warned me that they had not done much fishing before but by the way they landed fish throughout the trip you never would have known. Amy started us off by boating a flounder on a silver casting jig as we searched for fish in the Charleston harbor. We then switched to throwing live shrimp under popping corks for trout and sure enough both Paul and Amy landed several trout. We stayed with the popping corks as redfish came out of the grass with the falling tide. We had explosive hits not only on the cork but also on cracked blue crab fished on the bottom. These two don’t qualify as novices anymore!
On a week long vacation, John, Tyler and Jason booked a half day charter to try out inshore fishing. We started the trip throwing live shrimp and D.O.A. shrimp under popping corks at grass banks as the tide fell. The corks produced redfish, trout and bonnethead sharks. With low tide approaching, we switched over to fishing the flats. We found a large school of redfish who wanted nothing to do with artificial baits. However, they would eagerly eat cracked blue crab and we caught a 10lb. and a 9lb. redfish to end the trip.
Started fishing at first light in the Charleston harbor. Picked up ladyfish on topwater and then moved to sight fish to redfish on the flats. Found schools of redfish busting up shrimp at every stop we made. We were unable to get any takers at our first stop even with cracked blue crab. At the next flat, we started to dead stick live shrimp on the bottom and began hooking up with redfish. Ended the trip in a steady 8-9lb. redfish bite with fish happily devouring blue crab.
To celebrate their wedding anniversary, Lea and Craig spent part of their day fishing Kiawah and fishing Folly Beach. We started the trip catching trout with shrimp under popping corks. As the tide rose, we cast the same corks at shell banks and started catching redfish as well. Had several fantastic break-offs as fish pounded the live shrimp. Finished the day fishing docks and up in the grass at high tide.
Visiting Folly Beach for the week, Donald and Clark, his daughter, made a fishing charter part of their vacation. Fortunately, we were able to get into some really nice redfish and spend most of the trip sight casting to schools of redfish on the flats. Clark put the first redfish in the boat at seven pounds and Dad followed with a nine pounder. We were able to hook into other fish in the school as well. All redfish caught on black/gold artificials.
Taking advantage of the long weekend, David and Nathan met me at first light for a half day charter. We started the day throwing topwater lures but focused on Kiawah flats fishing once the sun was up. We found a large school of redfish on our second spot and caught the first redfish on an artificial but then moved to tossing cracked blue crab. Both David and Nathan boated nice seven pound redfish and we lost several more. We changed locations on the flat and found another school that produced the biggest redfish of the day, an eleven pounder.
Mike and his six year old son, Andrew, met me this morning for some Folly Beach fishing. Fishing the rising tide, Mike quickly hooked into two nice reds using a black/gold artificial grub. Knowing that we were close to several schools of redfish, we dropped anchor and began tossing out cracked blue crab. Nonstop action for the remainder of the trip with redfish aggressively eating the crab. Boated over fifteen redfish with the biggest at nine pounds.
Fishing last month was very good and we expect that to continue into July. While little wind made for some hot days, it also provided glassy calm waters. It let us sight cast to schools of large redfish all day long and made for some very productive charters!
July and August will bring a number of significant high tides in the evening. Because of these tides, redfish are able to get access to flats and areas otherwise untouched. Redfish will eagerly chase bait up onto these flats but most importantly feed on small crabs and other crustaceans. This produces very exciting fishing as anglers can see the backs and tails of redfish as they put their noses in the mud to forage for crabs. As a result, these tides are called “tailing tides”. Sight casting to these redfish and getting one to eat is a true rush. When fish take your lure or fly in such shallow water, the strikes are explosive and you can see your fish take off winding its way through the grass. Although you may spend a long time stalking a fish and positioning yourself for just the right cast, landing that hard-earned redfish is very rewarding.
Spinning tackle or fly rods can be used to take advantage of this type of fishing. If you are using a spinning rod, consider tossing Gulp! 2” peeler crabs on a circle hook. Molting and New Penny have proven to be successful colors. You’ll most likely need to put a small split shot above the crab so you can cast it some distance. With the water so shallow, a delicate presentation is often needed and it is an environment where the softer presentation of a fly can be a real advantage. The Dupre’s spoon fly in gold or root beer can really be the ticket here. Crab pattern flies are also effective but make sure to use patterns that have some weight so the fly can get to the bottom and on the nose of a redfish.
With these warmer temperatures, the trout bite has been best early in the morning, especially at first light. Try working topwater lures over oyster beds and along grass banks. Heddon’s Super Spook Jr. in their silver mullet color works great. The rattle in these lures is very attractive to fish and can be found in many other topwater lures. Try working the lure back to the boat at an even pace and be sure to vary speeds. Often fish will follow the lure but only hit it if you let it pause for a few seconds. In addition to being effective, these lures allow an angler to cover a lot of water. Don’t be surprised if you draw some massive redfish strikes as well!
I’ll be presenting a “Tailing Reds Seminar” at Haddrell’s Point in West Ashley on August 3rd at 6pm. Please call the store at 843-573-3474 to RSVP. I hope to see you there!
