Jeff already had the bug for targeting big redfish and this time he brought his Dad along too. Eating heartily ahead of the big storm system, reds whipped the rods over again and again. Cut mullet was the bait of choice. By the end of the charter, the redfish averaged over ten pounds while David set the bar with a 13 pounder, his biggest fish ever!
The reds were a little wary to start the charter. A few times our rods tips would bend slightly then spring back. This all changed once the water started moving! Our rods whipped over time and time again. Broke off plenty of big fish as they quickly dove for structure. Managed to get a few to the boat with the biggest at 32″!
Very windy conditions forced us to seek shelter in the creeks making docks our only option and it was……..awesome! Huge redfish were smoking cut mullet on the bottom. With our drags tightened all the way down, it was all we could do to turn these fish. We even broke out the shark rods towards the end. Battled many, landed some with the heaviest at 16 pounds and the longest at 33″.
As a surprise for his 40th birthday, Steve’s friends brought him to the boat landing and told him nothing about the charter until they pulled into the parking lot. Our trip straddled high tide and we set up in the inlet to begin. Hooked up with a shark or two and then moved into the Kiawah river once the current picked up. Had lots of fun throwing popping corks while occasionally a shark would smack blue crab fished behind the boat and set the drag singing! A great birthday afternoon.
When we last fished together, the Williams brothers really cleaned up on the trout and wanted to try for redfish this time. We had perfect conditions with a mid morning low tide that would let us stay on the flats for the duration of the charter. Plenty of action right out of the gates with redfish tentatively biting on blue crab. Had lots of pickups and drops for the first two hours. Once the flats warmed up the rods started ripping over. Brought lots of feisty redfish to the boat with the heaviest at eight pounds.
A blown up reel, shredded leaders, pulled hooks……….it was perfect! Jeff had seen enough of my pictures with big redfish and wanted to go hunt some himself. Spent the day fishing docks and structure. While many got away, we caught reds as heavy as eleven pounds and as long as 31″. A few fish were so large that Jeff could barley move them much less gain line when they made their runs. A great time!
