Our inshore trips have been very successful so far this month. Inshore fishing charters are a great way to see Charleston, SC from it’s good side…the water! Redfish have been our main target lately because they put up such a strong fight. Trout, founder, and many seasonal species such as sharks are also around in good numbers right now.
We have been having a blast catching amberjacks lately in Charleston! These fish, ranging from 30-50 pounds, put up a fight and won’t quit!
Picked up some nice Spanish Mackerel on topwater flies. The bite was on hard for about an hour, early morning. Spanish were launching themselves out of the water trying to inhale the topwater plugs! This one took all of my fly line and half of the backing!
Cobia season should fire up soon! Check out Avid Angling for rates and booking info!
Thanks for stopping by!
Capt. Mike Illig
Check out Avid Angling to book a charter. A new website for Avid Angling Fishing Charters is coming soon!
I have been fishing for spottails/reds mostly this March, with some days out at the nearshore wrecks mixed in. The sheepshead are definitely out there in good numbers (more pics to follow). Inshore redfishing has been pretty good. I took a vacation so I didn’t fish SC for a week in March, but caught fish steadily throughout the tide cycle on my trips early March and they were still biting when I got back last week. With some of the rain mixed in and wind, sight fishing has been tough on some days. The other day we accidentally threw bait right on top of a school of reds, but a few minutes later we had one on, so they didn’t spook of too bad. We decided to skip the IFA tournament last weekend and go out to the wrecks, but congrats to the many local anglers who participated!
For the most part, fishing has been a blast throughout Jan-Feb with some great catches of Redfish. Some days the fish have been pretty sluggish and lethargic, and other days the wind has made sight fishing difficult. One day we actually had some sort of small microburst come though the marsh and spook all the reds, it almost looked like a big school of baitfish moving over the water.
I have been using mudminnows and gulps on average days, fiddler crabs on the cold slow days, and on the warm days with active fish it seems like anything will work, including small gold spoons that otherwise might spook the fish. I saw some nice 28-30″ reds busting topwater with this recent nice weather and got them on the flyrod (I’ll post another entry soon with video footage).
Dolphins have been fun to watch, but frustrating at times when they come up and spook the fish. You may not want to give up hope though when they come, I poled up on some dolphins working the reds and as soon as the dolphins moved off our group landed 18 reds in about 45 minutes! These fish had been chased by dolpins just moments before!
In the winter I really like to play the wind to my advantage and fish flats that are in the lee of the wind. Also, I work the flats slowly and keep an eye out for swirls rather than relying on actually seeing the fish. There isn’t much bait around right now so if you see a swirl there is a good chance it’s a spot tail!
Fishing has been great so far this month. The redfish are still biting and the winter clear water is here. The clear water makes for some great scouting opportunities. Redfish school up and are easy to find this time of year. I have been scouting new schools of reds and found some nice pockets holding what I estimate to be about 75-100 fish average. I also found a flat that is holding good numbers of trout. It is really exciting to select a trout and pitch to it. One thing to remember is that the fish become more lethargic in the winter and working baits slowly is usually necessary. Here’s a shot from a trip last week:
We landed 16 redfish this charter with 2 other double headers like this!
The largest fish of the day measured 30″ with all but 2 fish over the slot.
Winter fishing is certainly more challenging in the Lowcountry, but I think the advantages of the cold clear water sightfishing possibilities and smaller crowds on the water make it worth battling the weather!
