My wife and I relocated to Charleston from the Gulf Coast a couple of years ago and are finally getting a new boat here. We are going to be keeping it at Rivers Edge off of the Ashley.
I know most people fish in the Wando, but its kind of a haul from Rivers Edge so I was wondering about fishing and crabbing in the Stono. Im not asking for specific spots, just general advice about that area. We were told to never eat anything from the Ashley, so Im just curious about areas that will be fairly easy to access from where our boat will be stored. I’ll take any advice anyone can give. Thanks!!!
what marshgrass said! The Ashley has plenty of good fishing its just not that popular among folks. On a quick trip last week we got reds and flounder all the way up to Oakbrook. Nicest thing about the Ashley this time of year is there is little to no boat traffic.
Plenty of people eat the fish despite Mercury warnings. There was also a buster sewer pipe a few years ago but I think they got all that crap cleared out
I think people don’t eat fish out of there because they used to dump raw sewage in there in the 60’s-70’s. I wouldn’t imagine with it being tidal it would be any different than eating fish from anywhere else. People just get that stuck in their head and don’t eat them.
As everyone has said, there’s plenty of good spots in the Ashley. We used to keep our boat at Dolphin Cove and spent a lot of time running from the Citadel up to the drawbridge and brought home dinner many times. We also ran out to the Stono from there, but it’s a long haul going through the no-wake zone at the marinas and then through Elliot Cut. But the Stono has plenty of good spots as well and you can run all the way down to Kiawah for more spots to fish.
good luck!
Im sure we’ll give the Ashley a shot now. I wasnt given any specific reason as to why the Ashley may be dirtier than the other water around, so I was just hoping to confirm that it would be okay.
Cant wait to get our new boat and get out there, cold or not! If you see a couple that appear lost and probably beached while waiting for the tide to come back, feel free to stop and have a cool one with us.
I would advise to take a trip down the Stono on a falling tide to the Folly River and up to Sunset Caye Marina for lunch. Bring a top spot chart along to get familiar with the hot spots and noaa chart to not run aground. Folly river can be tricky. Forget the “artificial reef” It is silted up and rarely produces. Cut bait on the bottom in the last mile or so will produce sharks. Work the creek mouths and docks for trout and reds. Drift finger mullet or mud minnow on the bottom for flounder. Pilings on the bridge and high tension lines can produce sheephead with shrimp or fiddler crabs. The banks of penny’s creek is a great place to find fiddler crab. Pennys creek is a great place to crab at low tide. The beach at bass creek is a popular place to anchor up and hang out. The beach on the river side of the county park is a great place to crab. Welcome.
Our tradition is that of the first man who sneaked away to the creek when the tribe did not really need fish.
The long standing aversion to eating out of the Ashley, I think, may be rooted in the fact that you can get into some elemental phosphorus in the mud of the Ashley. Ashley Phosphate Road is named that because of the huge phospate deposits and mines that used to be in that area.
Elemental phosphorus ignites spontaneously when exposed to oxygen. Every several years we see a news story about someone throwing a cast net in the vecinity of the Cosgrove bridge. Pull the net out of the water and it pops a blue flame. Usually burns out immediately and causes no damage. But, would be rather exciting for a few seconds.
I did not know of a mercury problem in that river. Can someone point me to a notice of some source?
