That’s awesome EF. Raddaddy is good people too. I’m proud to know him. Few people have had as big an impact on the fishing industry as him and his Dad. Bob paid me a high compliment once also, he said I was the fastest learning fisherman in Charleston. I met him by chartering him at Edisto. Late August, typical mud colored Edisto water. Me and my two young boys (at the time) put I think 32 ish nice trout in the boat only using his TTs. To this day, that is impressive. I don’t really know why, but we became pretty good friends after that.
Question… What Brackish areas are you fishing to get the large mouth and striper? Haven’t caught a striper in salt in 25 year and only a few in brackish. Have caught more stripper in fresh as far up as hwy 21 on the edisto fast trolling.
That Margarita Slam has to be a good feeling!!! I’m racking my head on areas I know and the trout would be the hard one for me. I know areas not too far up or down a river for flounder, spot tail, striper, and largemouth, but the trout would be a good bit further run. I’m talking in the ACE basin area. What kind of slam would it be minus the trout and striper?
Hi Fred, Any of our rivers that span from salt to sweet have the potential for a Margarita slam. I’m fishing the Cooper because its closest to me, but I’ve been wanting to target the slam in the Edisto, Combahee, Santee, etc. Part of the fun and challenge is to strategize how to achieve it. Trout prefer saline so I target them in the lower stretches. Reds, Flounder, Striper are all brackish water targets and of course LM prefer fresh. For me, typically, striper and flounder are the biggest challenge for me. Striper are pretty hard to pattern as they follow bait around. There are a few places where we have a better than average chance at one that we all keep close to our vest. I love striper so much, that I don’t even care what the regs are, I will never keep one. They are such an awesome game fish.
I’d love to see you get a Marg slam in the Edisto that would be outstanding!
-Dave
If you want to know how nerdy I am, I just bought a refractometer so I can measure the salinity. Now, Barbawang can do it by tasting the water and be +/- 2ppm, but he’s not mortal 
I need technical help!
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Pretty much from within eyesight of the Bushy Park Landings… Also, upper Goose Creek as well…
Under the N. Rhett Bridge several years ago I caught a trout, LM, and spottail on the trout tricks. Have also had striper caught from my boat very near there as well.
Your trout free slam could be just called the Brackish Slam, I donno haha, that’s all I got
refractometer is how i calibrated mine too! I lose it in the upper teens, but that’s a little above where trout usually stop anyway.
small systems like the Ashley and Combahee vary hugely in their salinity regimes based on season and rainfall. I wouldn’t fish an area like Steel Bridge without tasting it first, cuz you might be catfishin’ when you think you’re redfishin’
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Thanks for the info guys! As for tasting the water… My Dad taught me that one. I can’t get ppm, but I can pretty much guarantee an area that wont’ produce trout. My wife saw me doing it one day as we were headed up the Combahee. She thought it was disgusting. Said I would get sick. LOL. I told her You never swallow it, just taste for salt. I think she’s got it now. On the Combahee it let’s me know if fishing around the Bluff Plantation for reds will be worth it or if I can go up a little further to a known productive spot. I’ve been focusing on the Asheepoo lately because of Joe’s Fish camp landing. $10.oo and ya don’t have to worry about anyone messing with your truck or trailer. Greys Hill has always been my go to, but lately they have had some Catalytic converter thefts. Caught one guy.
Optiker, on the Striper I’ve known of more big ones coming out of the Combahee than any other river besides the Savannah in this area. There is a stretch just up river from steel bridge that trolling has produced, but most on live shiners. When I was a kid (called rock fish) some monsters came out of the Salkehatchie… Way up between 63-64. Haven’t heard of anyone catching one in a long time in that area.
wow what a report. I was thinking about getting into tagging. especially in this one place on the Ashley I like. I’ve always thought it was cool to real in a tagged fish and see where it has been.
I would definitely encourage it. I’ve tagged for I think 9 years and something like 1,700 fish so far. You learn a lot about growth rates, behavior of fish and fishermen, and the importance of catch and release by doing so. Joey Coz at DNR is the contact cozj@dnr.sc.gov
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Man, that did come from the archives. Larry was a great guy. I met him when he offered to help me with a fiberglass repair. I dragged my boat all the way to his house in GA just to meet him. I was not disappointed. Man, the stuff that guy knew and had done.
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Bob befriended me. I’ll never understand why. whata man. he was just about everything that’s right about the lowcountry. i never told him, but when he called i pulled out pen and paper and took notes. one of the calls was over 2 hours. a wise old guy gifting a dumb redneck with decades of experience. he was an encyclopedia of outdoor/fishing wisdom. if you can find his posts, they’re gold
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After he became disabled, I invited him to speak to SSWA. He came in with some difficulty, with a walker, because his knees weren’t too reliable. He sat in a chair and talked for a while with an audience of about 50, completely transfixed. I don’t even know if he talked about fishing at all. He was an outdoorsman’s outdoorsman. He loved to quote Joseph Cambell
“If you follow your bliss, you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living. Wherever you are — if you are following your bliss, you are enjoying that refreshment, that life within you, all the time”
Did Bob follow his bliss? You bet he did.
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To this thread: best one and most interesting in a good while. I don’t know the old timers but I love stories about these old salties.
Great report Dave. Going out tomorrow, Friday and Sunday. That’s a bunch but I like putting people on fish with artificials.
I would absolutely love to host an oyster roast with guys from this forum out at my place in Awendaw just to hear all the stories and meet some of you guys.
I’ll start a thread.
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Oyster roast? I’m in! Don’t invite Peapod, he won’t come.
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Let me know. I live in mt pleasant.
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I’d be down and can help.
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Just a little thing in the works.
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This site used to have an annual oyster roast around the time of the boat show.
Man,I miss the fellowship and seeing people on this site.
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Amen DD, that was a good time.