Hey guys, enjoy reading all your posts and checking out the pics you all put up. Especially the reds!But Me and my buddies are from Atlanta, and freshwater fish for bass all the time, but this past summer we came to Charleston for the first time and fished the back waters and fell in love with the city and lucked up and caught some nice reds. Caught two that were 30+ and weighed over 10 lbs.( We caught these on finger mullet and shrimp I caught in the cast net fishing on the bottom around oyster beds)
Naturally, this lit a fire under us and we’re hoping to come back first week of January. Was wondering what I should use this time of year? Would the cast net/ live bait method work again? And should I rig it on the bottom or possibly suspended with a float?
I could use any tips or advice offered to me. Thanks guys!!
All the reds are up on the flats in winter. Soft plastics and fly fishing, thas about all i can tell you. i dont flats fish here because of our boat. But some other knowledable soul will come and tell you everything except the places haha. If you guys dont have a flats boat may want to rent kayaks (if you have expierience) or get a charter. Charters are a little more pricey but its worth it for those fish
A small fish in hand is better than big fish in promise
you wont be able to find any bait in January. Best bet would be to hit Haddrells and pick up 30-40 mud minnows. put them on a jig head and work the docks until you find them or if you get lucky maybe you can find them schooling on a flat somewhere. Lately its been on if we find the fish (20+) but if we don’t we don’t catch s*#t…
Thanks so much ! Very helpful. Yes We will be using kayaks patrolling the flats. What are some things to look for in spotting schools? I have heard of looking for tailing reds…
If the water’s clear and shallow and you feel comfortable standing in your kayaks you can sight fish for them. If it’s a bit muddy and you don’t want to stand, look for disturbed water. You may not find a huge whirlpool of tails sticking straight out of the water, but a smaller patch of ripples and swirls without visible tails. Try to pick them off the school without disturbing all of the other ones and cast along the closer edges of the school without casting across them, letting your line drag through the middle and spooking them.
Quite a few people are having luck with DOA shrimp, plastics on jigheads worked along the bottom and mud minnows on jigheads if you can get ahold of them. I’d go for a 1/2 oz circle hook jig head with a mud minnow or 1/4 oz with plastic to start with. Zman. DOA and Gulp are what everyone is talking about right now but I assure you the cheap grubs work as well…
If you can’t locate a school of spottail, look around docks and structure for the trout as their around right now too, eating the same things as the spottail. Work the baits slowly along the bottom as the trout are slow and sluggish with the colder water temps. Any steep drop offs, holes, etc will be prime areas to hit as they’re laying in wait to ambush the **** out of whatever easy meal comes their way, ie- your bait.
you wont be able to find any bait in January. Best bet would be to hit Haddrells and pick up 30-40 mud minnows. put them on a jig head and work the docks until you find them or if you get lucky maybe you can find them schooling on a flat somewhere. Lately its been on if we find the fish (20+) but if we don’t we don’t catch s*#t…
If you can’t get on a flat, that is about as good advice as you can get with you not being familiar with the area, Brett. 1/4 oz. Gamagatzu I prefer. Yet to straighten one, although they’ll bend your wallet!
One of the toughest parts for me trying to learn the tricks of the trade of inshore fishing has been the lingo. I know this is elementary as it gets to you guys, but would the ‘flats’ be considered the backwater streams ? Again I, am from Atlanta and am a novice when it comes to redfish although have had some beginner’s luck this past summer.
Flats are huge expanses of very shallow water. When the water cools, the sun heats the mud up on the flats, making them 2-4 degrees warmer than the deeper water. Reds take advantage of that warmer temp because its more comfortable. Its also the time of year when cooler water means more sluggish fish, which dolphins take advantage of for easy redfish meals. So reds will school up and go to places where dolphins can’t eat them.
But we can:smiley:
The flats are extremely fun to chase reds on, but fishing from low profile kayaks can make it tough. The mud minnow/jighead combo is deadly. I have my best luck with that around docks that have a drop off, oyster bars, creek mouths, or flats close by. It only takes a few minutes per dock to find out if the fish are there or not. We popped 18 reds the other day on a dock in a matter of minutes and left them biting.
“There is a strange sense of pleasure being beat to hell by a storm when you’re on a boat that is not going to sink.” JB
A very good way to get started is invest in a “top spots” map. It’ll show you some of the old secret spots that everyone knows about. Also look at google maps, the last time they updated it was at or around low tide and the flats show up as sandy or muddy areas along the sides of the main rivers not back in the creeks. Good luck and tight lines.
Also i would fish different bridges and docks for sheepshead. Ill probably get booed for this but if you guide your kayak up under the naval base in the cooper QUIETLY then theirs monster sheeps. Also fishing under mt. pleasent pier from a yak seems lethal on the fish higher tides though thats on a mudflat. coat shoot in cooper looks like a good spot. under the ashley river bridge looks good. and any building or office or something for like a marina with alot of pilings underneath them are great. All yak fishing spots
A small fish in hand is better than big fish in promise
Also i would fish different bridges and docks for sheepshead. Ill probably get booed for this but if you guide your kayak up under the naval base in the cooper QUIETLY then theirs monster sheeps. Also fishing under mt. pleasent pier from a yak seems lethal on the fish higher tides though thats on a mudflat. coat shoot in cooper looks like a good spot. under the ashley river bridge looks good. and any building or office or something for like a marina with alot of pilings underneath them are great. All yak fishing spots
A small fish in hand is better than big fish in promise
Boooo
That is a restricted area. Stay away from there and any port. Signs are posted, but if you don’t obey, there will be a heavy ticket. Its not worth it.
Yeah I’ll probably steer clear from any place where I could possibly get in some trouble! I have some spots that I am anxious to try out where I think I can have some luck, I just mainly posted this question in hopes that you guys could help me on some good things to use, rigs, techniques etc for this time of the year. And as expected you have all been very helpful. Looking forward to being in Charleston next week!
Honestly, you could be told exactly what to use and exact spots to use it, and still probably won’t get a single bite. The people that catch fish in the winter have put years if not decades into fishing when it’s cold. I know guides are expensive BUT it’s probably your best option to catch fish. I personally recommend captain Mark Phelps of ShoreThangCharters (Shorethangcharters.com) and captain Theo Jourdan of Homegrownexpeditions.com because they have put me on fish AND taught me more in a trip than I learned in 20 years of fishing by myself. That being said if you want to do it yourself, google map the areas around charleston, find a flat (consistently shallow, WARMER water) with some oyster beds and look for “nervous” water. Nervous water is easier to see with slack wind. The fish are most active in the middle of the day (warmest part). So ideally you want a dead low in the middle of the day with warm weather and no wind. grab mud minnows as someone already mentioned but bring a cast net b/c cut mullet is hard to beat if you can find them. Good Luck
Okay so dont fish the naval base i probably wouldnt either, if they are in a good mood they just chase you off, or they can give tickets. But the other places i mentioned are good. Any bridge or even docks with lots of barnacles or oysters are the places for sheeps. I would stay away from the harbor tricky in any boat especially a yak. Cooper or wando id say. Coal shoot(burnt down railroad track in lower cooper cant miss it) rock piles, underneath mt p pier bridges, id stay away from ravenel bridge though, marinas captains offices or something, large seawalls with growth, even a dock. Tie right up to them dont even have to use anchor if its legal to tie up to them in that area. Drop fiddlers,oysters,barncles,clams,or mussels on a size 1 or 2 circle hook on the smallest weight you can get away with, look for fast moving water, if you dont get snagged your not close enough to the structure. YOU WILL LOSE ALOT OF RIGS bring plenty or replacemet tackle. When your sitting at home packing your tackle box if you think its enough bring more. In those places their may be trout cruising also use frozen shrimp on them.
A small fish in hand is better than big fish in promise
Thanks yakman, good information there. Was wondering how mudminnows or cutbait under a float would work around the places you named above? Looks like a lot of people are saying soft baits like gulp on a highways are working good now too… Headed to charleston Tuesday. Looking forward to it. Weather conditions looks like its going to be tough. ESP for a rookie like me.
Brett i would try it out never know when your gonna find that school of trout or reds. School starts back on tuesday(im in 8th grade) otherwise i would ask to join as i dont go out in the kayak too much. If you any questions, anything at all go to haddrells point west ashley and ask for scott, tell him yakman sent you and he will answer all your questions!
oops-lost im not getting into this discussion as im not on flat bottoms side in this discussion. I dont know enough to jump in thier and start arguing because i dont know enough about it. But i dont really appriciate people trying to pick fights with me online, im just trying to go on this site and have fun get some advice and give some, no reason for anyone to be like that.
A small fish in hand is better than big fish in promise
