New to James Island, need advice with alot..

Hello all,
My name is Jason and my wife and I just moved here from Spartanburg. We live on James Island. I have always loved fishing. Every time I visited Charleston, I would pier fish on Folly Pier. But now that I live here, I would like to do some other fishing. Shore, reef, bank etc… Not really into boats, but maybe some day. I would say I am an amateur angler. Beginner salt water angler. Back in the Burg, I would fresh water fish every once in a while. But I always loved pier fishing. So I am ready to do some salt water fishing pretty often. I need some advice from gear, fishing spots, bait, rigs, pretty much from the beginning.
I guess I should start off with rod, reel and tackle. I plan on fishing from land and pier. What would be a good rod and reel to start off with? Is there a good tackle shop around here? Or should I go to the Wal-Beast? What kind of set up should I get?

How is the fishing this time of year? We walked out to the pier the other day just to look around. There was a couple of guys fishing with not to much luck.
I have read about the James Island creek. Where is that? and can the public access it and fish from land or shore?
I also read about James Island county park and a fishing dock there.
Any help would be appreciated from gear, rigs, places, tips, bait etc…
I am sure I will be posting a lot and I am glad I found this forum.
Thanks all and have a great day…
Jason

Sent you a pm. Haddrell’s Point in West Ashley is probably a good place to start. They can get you set up with the right rod/reel and rigs. For dock/pier or inshore you might look at a 4000 size reel and a 7ft 10-17lb rated rod. You could spool it with 12lb mono or 15/20 lb braid. Any reel (Shimano or Penn are good) from the 3000- to 5000 size would work for you. For rigs you’ll want some Carolina rigs with circle hooks and some double drop rigs with 2 or 3 oz bank sinkers. Shrimp (live or frozen) is an all around good bait, squid is good as well or cut or live mullet, live mud minnows, depends on what you a targeting, but for starting out you might try shrimp.

Jason,
Come to the annual cf.com oyster roast and meet plenty of people with a lot of knowledge. It is at the James Island County Park. It is very laid back and always a good time.
http://old.charlestonfishing.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=139822