Need some inshore fishing tips

[Rich Stern]

I'm on Fripp Island, SC this week.



Gonna try some inshore fishing tomorrow, and I could use some tips on tackle, species to target, and technique.



I'll be renting a 21' Carolina Skiff from the local excursion place. They rent rods/reels, and there is a tackle/bait shop at the marina. I also have access to a local Walmart. In addition to the perimeter of the island, there are canals, a couple of small bays and inlets. Gonna set out in the morning, around 8am. Tide will be high and receding from that point.



Not concerned about what I catch, but I will have kids/teens in the boat, and I'd prefer an easy fishing experience with easy species to target, advantages of live bait, etc.



Any comments welcome.

 

[TrepMan]

Rich - When we fished Galveston TX, we would buy/use Mulett and Shrimp, gear was typical medium/medium heavy spinning gear, 15-20lb line, i'd rig 1 rod/set of rods with 1/2 to 1 oz egg sinker (depending on the depth and speed of the tide), rigged carolina style, and a 2nd set of rods rigged with a poppin cork and 2-3ft leader below the cork with live bait, so sort of like striper fishing you are drifting with bottom baits and near top baits.



I should have brought you my Humminbird Portable unit 2 weekends ago, i've found that very helpful to see the contour and bait/fish, if you find (hard without electronics unless the rental has one) a hump or deep hole, then you can vertical fish with the same carolina rigs.



Take pictures!

 

[Jimmy Easterling]

Rich, Coastal SC is about the same as Trep said, float a poppin cork over(not into) oyster beds with shrimp for Spottail/Redfish and Carolina rig shrimp and fish the edge of grass and into any water flowing out of the grass rigged with at least 30# test and a steel leader. You will get hooked into the grass quite a lot and anything less than 30# will break off. Also, you need two anchors, one in the front and one in the rear of the boat, if not you will drift and drag your weights off the grass line. Oyster beds next to grass will produce the most. Same as bass, fish any structure, pile-ons ,bridges and trees in the smaller creeks with Carolina rig and shrimp, I have seen some people fish spinner baits around trees. Get a 6 foot casting shrimp net for the shallow creeks for shrimp, if you've never thrown on get someone to show you and at least it will be entertainment for the passengers. Fish the incoming and outgoing tide, the lull between for about an hour and a half will be verrrrrrrryyyyy sllllooowww fishing. Six hours either way should be a good day fishing. If you are going into small shallow creeks, go in at low tide, that way you know you can get out and pay attention to the islands in the creeks so you can navigate around them if you come out at high tide. A detailed map is a must, but you probably already have one. Good luck.

 

[Rich Stern]

Thanks, guys. Appreciate the tips. Turns out we we'll be heading out in the afternoon, rather than the morning. Will do my best to keep the kids entertained!

 

[Rich Stern]

Just back in. We got chased off the water a couple of times by some pretty severe fronts that came through, including one very ominous water spout earlier this afternoon, and a wall of black clouds just now that really opened up as soon as we hit the marina. That's the bad news. The good news is that the kids caught a couple of small bonnet sharks, and that made the trip. The skiff had a basic fish finder on it, and it did a good job of marking the fish for us. We had one other good hookup, but it was on ten pound line with a zebco, and whatever we hooked was way too much for the rig.



Thanks again, gents, for the suggestions. They were very helpful!