I’ve always wanted to do a deep drop trip but most of them are far from Charleston but when looking into this I found some info on an area about 90 miles off of Charleston, that scientist believe it to be the Atlantic breeding grounds of Swordfish and Wreck-fish and possibly many other deep water fish. The Charleston bump is a high rise area in what is a generally flat area called the Blake Plateau. These areas in the stream are also called Islands In The Stream, and deep banks, there are a few in the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean but this is the only one close to the SC Coast. The Bump is about 1000-1600 ft in depth and it rises up from surrounding waters of greater than 2000ft,. The Charleston bump is locate in the Gulf Stream that comes up from Florida and causes a split in the current that forces the stream closer to Charleston and further out and this causes deep water eddies on and around the bump that are rich with nutrients to support micro life to mix with the surface on the Charleston bump. It consist of large rock bottom areas with sponge and coral growth with scarps, caves and slopes that can drop several hundred feet to flat valleys with waves of sand and mud hills, its like a mini under water mountain range. Its believed that many of its deep water fish follow a feeding pattern based on the daily vertical migration of food that ascend from the bottom to feed during the night to avoid predation from pelagic predators. As for pelagic fishing it is known as a prime area for large pelagic fish because of its unique features of rock bottoms and tempered currents. This is the commercial fishing grounds for Swordfish and Wreck-fish and believed as the only area to support a Wreck-fish fishery in U.S Waters, with 100lb+ fish caught. To me this seems like a great destination for a long range fishing trip with a potential to produce a lot of species.
It appears to be locate about 81w 31n
What I want to know?
What do you know about the Charleston Bump?
Has anyone done or d
Been there…done that…wreckfish are closed for rec anglers, IIRC. I know I bought a Kristal electric reel 10 years or so ago and they were offlimits shortly after that.
Good bit of info online…I had a bunch of stuff compiled from studies, etc, but don’t know where it all is (it should still be online, though)
Well, I just did some digging around and recreational fishing for wreckfish does open certain times of the year? I really haven’t paid much attention to it over the past few years.
Well I was thinking of more of trophy class pelagic fish opportunities with a bonus of catching some deep water fish, but I totally agree with all 3 of your reasons, + the ride, gas and weather windows. On the NOAA thing I was reading up on oceanic topography, and bathymetry which lead me to several articles published by oceanogropher’s that essentially said that NOAA and other similar programs choose the best natural areas to make MPA’s as well as the better artificial reefs, but you can troll some of the MPA’s, just no bottom fishing or anchoring.
NOAA, NMFS, and especially the SAFMC can all go pound sand with their way of unrealistic and draconian closures, and MPA,s, these bureaucratic twits will keep telling you that there are no red snapper out there, black Seabass are overfished, and the most ludicrous one of all was the closure on hog fish this year. The blind leading the blind leading the blind. Wreck fish, snowy grouper, and Warsaw grouper should all be open to recreational anglers as there is almost no fishing pressure from the public on these fish. The commercial sector with catch shares in place has completely decimated the wreck fish population. When they first started catching wreck fish in the 80s boats would come in with between 15 and 20,000 pounds and most fish weighed around 150 pounds. Now you’re lucky if you see one over 60. And BTW you do not need to go all the way to the bump to catch wreck fish, if you can find good ledges and 1500 feet they are there.
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PROUD YANKEE
Oyster Baron
NMFS = No More Fishing Season
“Back home we got a taxidermy man. He gonna have a heart attack when he see what I brung him”
I’ve got the setup and have done it in isla morada many times but it is easy to prospect when you only have to got 15 miles I would love to get it dialed in up here I leave out of st Helena sound
