Not much to say other than the bite continues to be really spread out. Spent over 5 hours trying to get the first bite fishing a dock and over a mile of shoreline. All of which are normally very good. Only saw 2 reds near the dock. Tried a few trout spots inbetween with nothing happening. Finally boated a 2 nice reds between some docks heading back to the ramp. It was a decent school of 6-8 fish. Unfortunaly once you hook one your time is limited with the rest before they shut down or move to a more friendly location.
I thought about going to the harbor and should have. The bite in the Stono (Limehouse and South) has been very difficult the last three weeks. There is a lack of small bait (FM, shrimp, and menhaden) which I believe is the cause. The good thing is that I was able to net a few dozen bait size shrimp and saw some smaller ones popping along the bank. I also netted a few small menhaden. Hopefully they will draw the fish back in.
Regardless, this will probably be the last time I fish the Stono for at least a few months. At the end of the month I will be moving from West Ashley to a place off of Dorchester Rd. in North Charleston. There is a lot of work to do with the new property. Fishing time will be in short supply, but the new place has a solution for that:wink:
“There is no hunting like the hunting of man, and those who have hunted armed men long enough and liked it, never care for anything else thereafter.”
Ernest Hemingway
hairball, wish I would’ve been able to meet you while you were still fishing the stono often. you’re one of the few i’d follow on here. sounds like you have a good deal though with your piece of property. should be exciting to learn new spots once able.
meanwhile, I fished Saturday and Sunday from 6:30am to about 7 pm each day to both learn new spots and check on old ones. Seemed like the best bite window was shorter than an hour; pretty much 1-2 hours before low and 1-2 after. Had a pig bust off on dead high and was only able to catch another at high tide on a flat. got to one spot that bent us over and took our man card when we had about 4 or 5 bust us off and never was able to get one in the boat (dock pilings of course; 30 lb braid w/60 lb mono leaders… cut mullet).
Thanks Shamrock. I will back on the Stono from time to time. I am definitely not going to pass it up between Oct and Dec. You will start to see Ashley R. reports trickle in soon and even though it is a 35 mile round trip, I am looking forward to fishing the harbor a lot more often from the convenience of my own dock.
ugggghhhh… so jealous at this… “…from the convenience of my own dock”. so jealous. well that’s my goal in life as well my friend. good luck!
one last thought, question, whatever… for you and txred (and anyone else that fishes the stono like stonoman, ji, penny, etc)… is anyone else having a little bit slower time this year getting reds? I feel like the water temp is slow to rise compared to the “norm”. hell, this time of year last year and before I was already catching sheep in early june but can’t even get a consistent bite out them either. meanwhile, looks like our friends on the other side of Charleston are seeing the “norm” for there area this time of year.