Hey guys so in close to the end of May I will be coming to Summerville for a paintball tournament. While I am there I was thinking about taking a few days off from work the week after and staying so I can head over to the Charleston area and get some fishing in. However I am usually a freshwater fisherman and I have no idea what should be bitting that time of year, how to best target them, line hook and weight size, and especially where down there I should go.
I am mainly hoping for advice on good places to fish while there along with what rigs or lures I should have with me. Also how to use those specific rigs or lures would be really helpful. Finally what type of bait would one generally use? Live bait, shrimp, maybe gulp?
Clearly I am extremely new to this kind of fishing haha any help would be very appreciated. Thanks guys!
Welcome to CF.com cjam93. May is an excellent month for salt water fishing every where. But specifically in the surf, Whiting, Speckled Sea Trout, small Sharks, Blue Fish and maybe a Black Drum or two should all be biting at that time. For rigging, 15-20 lb. mono, quality bottom rig, I prefer mono double drops. 2-3 oz. pyramid sinker. Hooks…I personal use small j-hooks in size #4-#2. But small circle, octopus or kahle will work as well. Just remember most surf fish have pretty small mouths. About quarter sized. For bait use FRESH shrimp. The do not have to be alive. FromSummerville IOP is the easiest to get to. Folly is not a bad either. Hit the beach at low tide, find the holes and fish in them. You don’t have to cast to china.
Good Luck!
“If it were catching, Everyone would be good at it.”
Welcome to CF.com cjam93. May is an excellent month for salt water fishing every where. But specifically in the surf, Whiting, Speckled Sea Trout, small Sharks, Blue Fish and maybe a Black Drum or two should all be biting at that time. For rigging, 15-20 lb. mono, quality bottom rig, I prefer mono double drops. 2-3 oz. pyramid sinker. Hooks…I personal use small j-hooks in size #4-#2. But small circle, octopus or kahle will work as well. Just remember most surf fish have pretty small mouths. About quarter sized. For bait use FRESH shrimp. The do not have to be alive. FromSummerville IOP is the easiest to get to. Folly is not a bad either. Hit the beach at low tide, find the holes and fish in them. You don’t have to cast to china.
Good Luck!
“If it were catching, Everyone would be good at it.”
That is awesome thank you! I have read some people on here say IOP, but I wasnt able to actually find how to get there. Is that the actual name or short for something? Also would you recommend using a larger hook and a fish finder rig in case there are some larger fish out there as well? Or can they be taken on the other rigs you mentioned with the smaller hooks as well?
Yeah sorry, Isle of Palms. From Sumerville, I26 east to I526 east, to Mt. Pleasant, left on hwy17, to the “IOP” connecter right, then straight, across the bridge, boom…IOP. Depending on where you are maybe 35 mins. And what yakker said. “Big hooks catch less fish.” The big Red Fish are gone from the surf now. So the biggest mouth you will see is probably a big Speck? Maybe a shark? Every thing else will have a small mouth. Even a 20"+ Black drum has a pretty small mouth. Here a visual… most surf fish couldn’t get a 3oz. Piramid sinker in it’s mouth.
The circle hook in this pic would be the biggest I would use in the surf, anytime.
