Went to try my luck at the inlet. I went knowing this time last year i was seeing tarpon and that last week people caught spanish macks there. So my plan was to drop the crab pot and try to catch a spanish and tarpon. I had some spanish rigs and some tarpon set ups. I got there about 6 to 630 am and the sun was already pretty bright and the tide was dead low. I dropped the pot and slow trolled to the inlet. I saw no surface action from bait or fish and there were no birds working the surface. I trolled around for a little bit with some topwater spanish gear but had no action. I drifted around and caught some whiting and a spanish and a few sharpnose sharks. After about an hr with no more spanish and mostly sharks i went to try for reds and trout but only caught croaker, whiting and pinfish on shrimp and had a live croaker out but nothing hit it. After a hr the tide was up most of the way so i tried trolling but got no hits and then drifted where i caught the spanish but got nothing but sharpnose. I decide to drift fish and see if i can spot/find some action. I saw some spanish and lady fish go aerial on some baits and saw 3 tarpon. I saw 1 tarpon jump and bill dance n the exact spot i saw one last year that was 4 to 5 ft and another of similar size roll about a mile away and saw a 3ftish 1 slurp something off the surface in the same area. By this time it is getting reel hot and sunny and all the weekend warriors showed up. Between the heat, mid day approaching and endless wake from the boats i called it a day. I pulled the pot on the way in ready to eat some blue crabs and all i had was stoners. I caught 8 i like 5 to 6 hrs and kept 6 big claws. The 1 crab was a pregger female so i didnt take any claws and the other had 2 small claws even though he was giant.
What i learned. I need to troll deeper because i was marking fish mid way through the water, 10 to 15ft down. The stono river is plagued with sharpnose sharks.
[img]http://old.charlestonfishing.com/forum/uploaded/40inchreds/201864