On Friday put in at Live Oak at high tide in am went north fished docks etc up Fishing Creek, to Peters point fishing oyster banks and creek mouths, then down St Pierre into south edisto Mud Creek and back to Live oak, from 8:30 am till 4:40pm, caught some undersize trout nothing else, tried different artificials from electric chicken to trout tricks to grubs to gulp shrimp in the joy juice to anything else we could find… slow retrieve dragging bottom to clicking float with three foot leader , we could not buy a keeper, flipper was big time at peter point and the water was muddy, we did not have live bait and some will say “There’s your problem” and maybe it was, but i am not giving up, i will be back there in December the week before christmas and week of, i am open to suggestions… I have a buddy coming from Raleigh to camp for a week and i would like to put him on something My daughter and husband and my two grandkids are building on Eddingsville road and i live in goose creek so i know i will be in edisto more often, i have read up on the forum and that is why i went the way i did … the water temp was around 66 , ive not read of any good reports there lately and was also wondering if that is why, thanks for any and all help
As the water cools and the shrimp leave the trout will hit any thing that you throw at them! December is always my favorite trout time. Good luck!!
I would not be too discouraged, last weekend, I could do no wrong, went pretty much all day today and could only manage a few fish in the same general areas you were…… and we had bait. Don’t give up…. I am not.
thanks, I am just a little disappointed but it was a great day on the water and i enjoyed it , there are many more oyster beds around edisto than on the cooper river, i am willing to try different bait and techniques if i can have just a minimal amount of success, is it better to stop and stay in one spot with a float or cast and retrieve or to troll and try to find them, trolling has worked decent for me on the Cooper but i have not had the same success in Edisto , I’m looking forward to trying again in December , i know just enough about fishing to be dangerous and confused ,[:0] but i keep trying
We don’t spend more than ten or fifteen minutes in each location. You have the disadvantage of inexperience but that will change. Unfortunately it is mostly about time on the water around here. To me, everything looks good but it is clearly not. We go from one spot to another till we find the fish. We have low and high tide spots that we frequent. Our techniques are probably no different than yours. I usually keep four rigs ready, one with a carolina rig and very light weight, as little as you can manage, another with a popping cork. We have been using shrimp the past few weeks. Lately I have also been taking a rig with a trout trick and another with a grub. I do know people that swear by trolling as it gets cooler but I don’t enjoy fishing that way. Yesterday, it was three fish on shrimp and one on a grub. Let me know how it goes.
I am trying different things and approaches, i am new with the popping cork, i have done more trolling, but i enjoy the thought of finding the fish and sitting in an area cast and retrieve, i am embarrassed to say but i have not caught but one or two spottail, red drum, tail draggers,reds, beasts,flipper food or what ever you call them , i have not tried to target them but i am learning. I have mostly caught trout, black sea bass and a few flounders, and speaking of flounders i do not hear of many being caught in edisto, am i wrong or is it because no one is really reporting it… i am now paying more attention to tides and that is another issue, there is as many arguing fish the out going as there is arguing fish the incoming, i guess it is what ever works for the one who is fishing, time dictates to me what tide i will be fishing live and learn, if it was easy everyone would be an angler and fish would be a lot cheaper in the stores [:0]
see you on the river come December
The trout fishing is as good as it is going to get right now and will stay that way through at least mid December. Trout are on the main river points and white shell banks around high tide. DOA 4-5 feet under a popping cork is as good as live shrimp. As the water drops into the 50s, the trout will move up river and into the smaller creeks. This is when trolling becomes an effective way to find the schools. I prefer to use the trolling motor and cast. Reds have been slow this year in the creeks and flats. The numbers are down as compared to previous years. When you are able to find a school, catching right now is not a problem with live shrimp. Flounder fishing is slow here as compared to Fripp to the South and the harbor to the North. We catch some in April/May then October can be good.
thanks for your responses, i enjoy fishing in new places , i just want to make sure i am doing what i should be doing, i’ll try again in a couple of weeks by the way i did catch the trout on the electric chicken slow trolling, and used the popping float with gulp shrimp over the oyster beds,
thanks again i’ll be in a green G3 14 ft John Boat Side console with 40 hp yamaha if you see me come on by and talk to me,my name is steve
Ya Edisto is a whole different animal than Charleston. There is SOOOO much (what looks like perfect) habitat, its hard to believe fish are not there sometimes. Time on the water is the solution. Keep your eyes and ears open and keep moving and you will pattern them!
2000 SeaPro 180CC w/ Yammy 115 2 stroke
1966 13’ Boston Whaler w/ Merc 25 4 stroke “Flatty”
www.ralphphillipsinshore.com
Optiker, You, my friend are absolutely correct, I was out at low tide on edisto and was going crazy marking oyster beds ,downed trees and stumps and other habitat thinking i’ve got it made now , i’ll need a bigger boat just to hold all the fish i am going to catch…right, if i were on the cooper or wando or ashley or stono with all these good looking spots, maybe , but not down at the edisto, it is just like you said,those places look perfect to be holding schools of fish, but… NOT, that is what makes me want to go back because they just gotta be there i just gotta find them!!!
Ya eventually you will find them. I’ve seen some crazy stuff at Edisto. Stuff I’ve never seen in Charleston. The reward when you find them is so gratifying
2000 SeaPro 180CC w/ Yammy 115 2 stroke
1966 13’ Boston Whaler w/ Merc 25 4 stroke “Flatty”
www.ralphphillipsinshore.com