Anybody fish for stripers in the North or South Edisto or the ICW between Edisto and Charleston in the winter? I have heard of some stripers but where is the best place to fish?
go on net and read about the atlantic south bight riverene stripers.they dont migrate,they stay in the rivers,(ace basin)ashepoo,congaree,edisto area.they will be in deep water around creek inlets at the drop off fattening up for the spawn down river,try anywhere around the saltwater/freshwater point.but stay to the salt side. sc surfman ps try 247 stripers
thats a website 247 stripers sorry sc surfman
Hey, double 6-4:
SC river stripers are native fish, with each river holding a genetically distinct species. They are true brackish water fish - they venture into salt, but they don’t live there.
They move up and down the coastal rivers according to water temperature which is driven by seasonal changes. Stripers like cool water, and will stay down river (ocean side) as long as temps are in the, say, mid-70’s or lower, and head upstream looking for shady spots in feeder creeks and swamps in the summer.
Stripers are found anywhere you have good hiding places - they are ambush feeders, and not terribly selective. They also like fast water. That’s worth repeating - they also like fast water. Look for places where the current is forced to speed up - curves, holes, rice paddy gates, trestles, bridges, rock and timber riprap, etc. The faster current creates turbulence which disorients and overcomes bait so they are easy prey. Fish with the current. They will eat anything, but the standard butterbean white bucktail is still the best artificial around.
All of our coastal rivers hold stripers, but the numbers vary and are not big to begin with. A serious lack of funding means this fish, our state fish, is not very well understood or managed. Current bag limits - 10 fish per day - are unbelievably high, considering the very few studies that have been done indicate an adult spawning population of some 400 or fewer fish per river system. Catch and release is really the order of the day. If you want to eat stripers, get 'em from the lakes, where millions are spent annually on put’n’take fisheries that bring boo-koo dollars into our state.
They also seem somewhat sensitive to light - feeding most actively from sundown to sunup. Native adults can reach up to 40 lbs, though that’s pretty rare anymore. Tales of boatloads of 15-25 lb stripers are true, but getting ancient. I haven’t seen or heard of anyone catching them like that since the 60’s. Too bad. A terrific fish to catch and eat!
McB
To bad the DNR can’t do something about the bag limits. What about stocking? Do you think the numbers in the rivers could increase through stocking??
these riverene stripers break all the rules of the rockfish.it has just been in the last ten years that they figured out that these fish dont ever leave the rivers.they just go back and forth from salt to brackish to freshwater during the year.they spawn far down river,depending on the size of the water.when cold weather arrives again they come back to the brackish and then saltwater in the river.this is a direct contradiction to what rockfish from the outer banks north do.those fish also spawn in bays and or rivers,however they have been known to migrate as far north as canadas east coast,then back again south in the winter. dnr and scientists that study rockfish in the ace river basin(ashepoo,combahee,edisto)have not determined if stocking would work.i would bet they are testing this though. ps.i did catch them years ago in surf(but only few)
Nice post MC!
DixieBoys
Bob & Tim
It is my understanding that they are fattening-up in the salt right now for the pre-spawn but they actually spawn up river…hence the name rockfish. They have studies the Savannah R. population quite extensively and done a great deal of stocking as well. The population there is strong and for the moment they are in abundance.
Rockfish are in every river, you just got to find their ambush point!!
That 10-fish limit ain’t quite what it appears to be. Quote from DNR regs:
Striped bass and/or hybrids
Limit: 10 fish per day (See exceptions.)
Size limit & exceptions: 5 fish per day and
21-inch minimum size limit in the following
areas:
- Broad River from the lock and dam of the
Columbia Canal to its confluence with lower
Saluda River; - Saluda River from Lake Greenwood Dam
to Lake Murray; - Lake Murray;
- Lower Saluda river from the Lake Murray
Dam to its confluence with Broad River; - Wateree River from the Lake Wateree Dam
to its confluence with Congaree River; - Congaree River from the confluence of
Broad and Lower Saluda rivers to its confluence
with Wateree River; - Lake Marion, Lake Moultrie, and the
Diversion Canal; - the Tailrace Canal from Pinopolis Dam to
Cooper River; - the east and west branches of Cooper River
downstream to the US Highway 17 bridge; - Wando River;
- the Rediversion Canal;
- Santee River from the lake Marion Dam
downstream to the Intracoastal Waterway.
Creel limit exceptions:
• Lakes Marion, Moultrie, Murray and Congaree
River from Gervais Street Bridge seaward,
during July and Aug., two of the five striped bass
creel limit may be less than 21 inches.
Effective October 1, 2005–In the Savannah
River and its tributaries and distributaries and
the lands immediately adjacent to them from
the J. Strom Thurmond Lake dam downstream
to the mouth of the Savannah River Defined by
a line from Jones Island, S. C. (also known as
Oysterbed Island) point at N. 32° 02" W. 80° 53";
across Cockspur Island, “Georgia, point at N.
32° 01" W. 80° 52" to Lazaretto Creek, Georgia,
point at 32° 01"W. 80° 52". - Unlawful to possess
more than 2 striped bass, striped bass hybrids,
white bass, or any combination of these species.
Any lawfully possessed fish of each of these species
must be a minimum of 27 inches.
“Would your kids approve?”
Blackwaterkatz
Stripers are under the trussel at Drayton and both the Wallace and Rantowles bridges on hwy 17s.The butterbean 1-2 oz white bucktail with a mylar pink works well.I have also caught them on finger mullet on a carolna rig.You must have a backbone rod and at least 50 pound leader.They will cut you off on the pilings.I have caught plenty under the bridge but when i went by boat nothing.I think my anchor line vibrating in the fast current may have run them off.Or maybe the retreve direction really matters.I just know I have hooked some big fish and lost them to the pilings.I remember the best times were late march at daylight.
Stonoman
stonoman,i think you were gettin em there right before they would go to spawn probably. surfman
i’m with stonoman…as long as the weather and water is cold and there is moving water there…then the stripers are around…heavy bucktails…
Mike Crouch
Sea Tow Charleston
Umm…somebody asked about stocking the coastal rivers…
Been there, done that. SCDNR tried, late 70’s-early 80’s, I think, to do just that.
They were unsuccessful. That’s when they discovered that each river held a genetically-distinct fish. Other fish can live and die, but not reproduce, in the ‘new’ environment. Only adults from the same river can do that.
Back to square one.
Three years ago on a Friday evening, two Walterboro youths pulled out of the Ashepoo with 11 stripers 1-3 lbs. Not old enough to spawn, but if they had been released back to the water, and reached adulthood, they could have added some 5 million eggs (say 5 were females) to the molt, of which maybe some 5,000 fry might hatch…each year. That’s a lot of fish to lose.
The boys weren’t to blame. I complimented them on their catch, asked them where, when, how, etc. (Below the trestle, east bank, outgoing tide, silver/black brokeback Rapalas) We lost a treasure that day.
And so it goes.
McB
dnr claims there is a nice little population of stripers in the 3
rivers down there.ive read alot about it.have you fished for them there?
read some more on the net about these stripers.some articles say the population is suffering mostly in the edisto.however numbers are reported to be increasing in the combahee.they have tagged fish from all these rivers and monitored their comings and goings.they stay to the river they were born in.it has been found that stripers will live
and thrive if stocked with the riverene stripers,but wont reproduce.1
dnr guy has hinted that they might try to remove some breeding age fish from the rivers to breed from however it is they do this.i suggest this is being studied.in the beaufort area gazette,you can pull up articles about saltwater striper fishing in south carolina rivers.they even mentioned guides that fish for them.i also read an article about a guy that comes all the way from atlanta to fish in the cooper river,(he said within sight of city,because he did all his fishing at night),and commented on the city lights.he talked about it being his secret spot,because local anglers didnt show much interest in the saltwater species.his friends in atlanta found out about his secret spot when he had vehicle trouble and asked one to come down here and help.the friend found 2 30= pound stripers in a cooler in the trunk.the secret was out.the guy said he caught them as far out as downtown area and as far downriver as the brackish.he said when he got in to some of these fish,there were alot of them on his depth finder.and went on to say it was that way evry time he caught fish.
I think my anchor line vibrating in the fast current may have run them off.Or maybe the retreve direction really matters.I just know I have hooked some big fish and lost them to the pilings.I remember the best times were late march at daylight.
Stonoman, I know the vibration was not the problem. In fact it usually is a help. In 20 years of striper fishing we usually fish at night, and we have found that our generator running in the boat creates vibration that usually drives them crazy! I have been told that the vibrations of the boat, underwater sound like bait fish breaking in large schools. We have tried with and without the generator, always having lots more success with it running.
Thats strange you think the noise would run them off.Cars and trucks shake the bridge all the time and I figured the fish know its no threat to them.One time years ago the water was so clear I stopped on the way to work and walked back and looked over the bridge and saw the whole bottom covered with big fish.I called in sick and went home and got my tackle and drove back.I was gone about 30 minutes.I came back and threw everything I had for 30 minutes and nothing.Walked back to the bridge looked over and they were gone.To make it worse my Supervisor drove over the bridge and there I am standing with a rod and reel in my hands.He waved went past and I went home waiting for the phone to ring.It never did and the next day He told me dont do it again.I never did.I mean get caught.
Stonoman