Ive got a 20’ Pathfinder, had it for about 18 months and spent all my time in and around the Waterway.
Starting to think about expanding my horizons a bit, so def want to get out in the harbor and off the beaches for Spanish later in the year, but I was thinking about hitting some of the near shore reefs.
Looks like the easiest way is getting out past Dewees. Would love to hear any 101 kind of stuff, I’m assuming I need to beef up my gear, its all mostly light/medium stuff for throwing plastics.
Any tips or hints?
Seriously though, you need some sort of reef anchor if you don’t have an Ipilot type trolling motor. Anchoring on the structure is key when fishing the reefs. The new trolling motors make it way easy for folks. For some reason I prefer fishing with 20lb mono rigs for Sheepshead. Depending on the current I typically use 1-3 oz egg sinkers above a swivel, with about a foot long 20-40lb leader. MAke sure you have a landing net also. When dropping down you want to fish vertically, bounce it off the bottom and when you are raising it up, set the hook.
After being released, a lot of fish die, but a lot of them live also.
ThNks Fritz, may get out again and just see how it’s done, been reading up on Spanish fishing and that looks like a blast.
I did get anew GPS TM, love it, made fishing a lot easier.
So you just dropping bait down, on the Carolina rig?
Sounds like I. An use my regular tackle but just stronger leader.
Cheers
ThNks Fritz, may get out again and just see how it’s done, been reading up on Spanish fishing and that looks like a blast.
I did get anew GPS TM, love it, made fishing a lot easier.
So you just dropping bait down, on the Carolina rig?
Sounds like I. An use my regular tackle but just stronger leader.
Cheers
Use the fish finder rig over the carolina rig. Carolina rig requires the fish to take the bait and move your weight before you feel it. Fish finder goes straight to the main line.
Thanks guys, will keep an eye on weather, generally what should I be looking at, 15 mph winds or less, wind direction make things tricky?
thx
Less than 10 knots and never from the north east. West is best. And the rig depends on what you are fishing for. Sheephead, use the carolina rig with a 6-8 inch leader. Work it slowly up and down with the rod. If you feel any pressure coming up or suddenly get slack on the way down, set the hook. If you wait to actually feel the bite, your hook up ratio will be very poor. The chicken rig works good for black drum, sea bass and other species.
Drterry, you mentioned going out past Dewees? If you are thinking of going out through Dewees Inlet please use extreme caution. The path is tricky, making some zigs and zags, and the breakers and shallow water can be dangerous, especially at a lower tide. You cannot trust a map and must read the breakers or get waypoints from someone. You can read my recent post in Offshore Discussion about my recent experience.
An option would be going out the jetties to the Nearshore Reef, even though the shipping channel can present its own challenges.
Download Windfinder or Sailflow.
Assume its wrong most of the time.
20’ boat - I would look for 9+ sec and 3 or less on wave height
Going out through Dewee’s is sketchy. Better to go straight out of the jetties.
Go left for Capers, straight for nearshore or right for CHS 60.
All are pressured due to proximity, but produce.
Thanks a lot guys, was ready to go out, decided to get my Yamaha 150 checked out, Charleston Marine found a bunch of water in the system. They are flushing it all out, doing the injector clean and trying to figure out where the water came from. hoping it was just a bad fuel situation, motor had been running great. Got my gear ready to go, even found a jigging rod and Penn reel that i think i can use out there. Will let y’all know, will be taking your advice and heading out via the jetties.
cheers
