Good morning to all. Feeling so good that spring is finally here!! I Just moved here last September from ohio and have been struggling to figure out this salt water thing. Lots of research online, and reading all of your posts has helped quite a bit. I love to fish have done it since I was a young kid, fresh water in ohio rivers,resevors,lakes, and farm ponds. Now I’m trying to learn this salt water thing. I don’t have a boat so I have fishes folly beach and pier and from the dock at crosbys in folly also the dock off the cosgrove exit of 26 and to be honest I haven’t had to much good luck. Did well at crosbys the first time I fished it early in September. Ok, sorry for the long winded rant. My question is where are some other good easily accessible shore or pier fishing spots you could maybe recomend? I’m not afraid to hike a little bit from where I park and am pretty much willing to try any recommendations I might get. Any help is greatly appreciated and I will thank you all in advance.
What are you fishing for? What type of setup are you fishing with?
I have a surf rod and a couple of other rods nothing real exspensive and I have been using a double and single drop rig and a circle hook with an egg sinker about 18 inches above the hook I have used shrimp,cut bait, squid, fiddler crabs. I’m fishing for whatever I can catch I guess not really targeting one species in particular I would love to catch a spot tailed bass really that’s what I would would like .
Philip Snyder II
Any of the beaches will be productive for whiting, flounder, some redfish if you are using a double drop rig with mullet/shrimp/squid. Remember you don’t need to cast it a mile either, they are closer than you think. You will also get stingray and sharks with that as well ( small sharks ) - It won’t really start picking up for another month or so.
If you are wanting to fish piers, you can fish Shem Creek in Mt Pleasant, in the summer you can catch monster sting ray in there by casting big chunks of mullet or fresh bait fish in the middle, just be careful of boat traffic as they will run your line over as well as kayakers, but the rays will be huge - easily spool a 6500 size reel setup.
You can also catch redfish at the end of the pier there by casting into the creek, but I think the majority of redfish are usually caught by guys on boats fishing the flats and creeks.
Talk to Haddrells Point and Tackle - Scott and Simon are good people ( West Ashely store )
When you say you don’t have to cast a mile, that’s where you lose me. How far and where should I be looking to cast my line? What types of areas should I be looking for? Thanks for the help so far. Keep it coming guys, please!!!
Philip Snyder II
The bait fish in the surf are pretty close - they can be 20 yards out or farther, some people on here will tell you to scout a beach at low tide and look for gullies and fish those spots at high tide as the bait fish congregate there. I’ve never done that ( since I fish for shark ) - but I’ve never had problems catching bait fish at any of the beaches if they are there.
You should charter capt fritz…
Redfish Baron Extraordinaire
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Demetre Park In James Island off Fort Johnson Rd. has a reputation for being a great spot. Has one or two public piers there. Have heard from several people how good the fishing is there, is on the Charleston Harbor Ashley River side I believe.
Breech Inlet. You can fish the surf and the inlet same day, plus on the Sullivan’s island side good rocks for flounder and trout. Maybe even a Spottail too, on low tide.
Basically mud minnows and cut fresh mullet from seafood markets like Marvin’s on Dorchester Rd.
Also on Dorchester Rd. behind Hardee’s there is a dock on the Ashley River, same bait.
“The big one’s still swimming, let’s go.”
If you really want reds you should spend more time around the creeks. Rather than fish the piers I would suggest buying a kayak. There’s plenty of kayaks to be found on Craigslist for 200 or less. Locate a good oyster bed and fish with cut mullet or live bait. Any of the creeks around here hold reds. Do some exploring in the kayak to learn the water ways and you’ll find the fish. You need to target sheepshead as well using fiddler crabs. They’re very fun and are always around the piers or bridges. Good luck
“Day Tripper”
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Nice whiting…Cut that blue fish up for shark bait though. Pay close attention to any kind of structure on the beach, groins or any kind of mud patch.
Catfish
Agree about Demetre Park on James Island. Fissed there twice last year and had great days both times, reds, trout and flounder. The guys I talked to who frequent there say best place on Charleston Harbor to fish.