Last week I had the pleasure of hearing, local charter captain. John Ward of Affinity Charters come and speak to the Summerville Saltwater Anglers Club about fishing for reds and trout in the late winter and early spring months. The presentation was excellent as were the many questions asked by the members when John was through presenting. I looked around and saw people jotting down notes and hanging on every word. I also jotted down many notes and picked up some great tips. John talked about fishing docks and gave some great tips for fishing schooling redfish. He also made a great point of telling us how you cannot just go out and fish for the fish like you would during the warmer months due to the fact that the fish are in a survival mode not an aggressive feeding mode. I am fond of saying, the day you think you know everything about fishing is the day you quit learning about fishing. I grew up here fishing my entire life in Charleston and have been fishing with some very knowledgeable anglers over the years. I have been fortunate enough to learn some great techniques over the years and even show some anglers that were just getting started a few things that I had learned along the way.
Charleston has a great pool of experienced anglers within our fishing community and we are also lucky enough to have many opportunities to meet and learn from them. Our local tackle shops host free seminars each week, usually given by someone that fishes for a living and is out there day in and day out learning their craft. We have some very knowledgeable anglers that share information and tips through our website and there are many different fishing clubs that you can join and meet fellow anglers, share knowledge with them and in many cases, have the opportunity to fish with them as well. If you have an opportunity to interact with other anglers you will be amazed at what you can learn and help others learn as well.
Taking time to utilize the many resources you have available to you can be invaluable to fishing succe