Full moon equals big tides and we went out to fish around a very low tide this afternoon.
Except for the wind blowing us off our big water holes, the creeks turned on and rods were bent.
Nancy got it going with her trusty tourist rig with a Zman Shrimpz. She caught two nice keeper trout at our first drop near the Broad River.
After getting rocked from any holes we wanted to fish near and on the Broad River, we headed to some creeks to see if the reds were biting yet on the low tide.
Our first stop yielded five nice trout and 6 reds. All keepers except this one that was a major over slot weighing in at a little over seven pounds.
Nancy scored on her first red on a paddle tail grub in Christmas Tree color to promote the season.
It was love at first site.
Leaving this creek we decided the water was too low to get the boat back on the trailer. So we headed to our redfish drop that hasn't worked at all the past two trips.
But, after Nancy got broken off on a big red, I scored another 28" 7 LB plus fish.
With the cooler water, all of these fish put up quite a tussle.
Hopefully the beginning of a good fall/winter fishing season.
Headed out on a spring like day. Warm and blustery.
The trout got smaller, 10 or so came to the side of the boat, but they were all small fellers.
We did catch two nice flounder that fell in love with the Fried Chicken that Zman builds.
We were saving the best for last as we headed to our redfish drop on our last stop. The tide had died and we can usually load the boat when that occurs.
We wanted to take a stab at the tarpon and see if the reds were running at the bridge on a beautiful morning in the low country.
The reds were there for sure but no tarpon were sited.
As soon as the tide switched to outgoing the bite was on as we landed four big reds in about an hour and left them biting as the mullet supply dried up.
Finished up by taking a few small trout at the mouth in our trout hole.
Sold the tin boat which was a fish catching machine. What a great time we had in it while it graced the back of the ol' Ford pick up.
But, it was time to move on with the way we fish here, and we can't devote enough time to both of the rigs.
So with that in mind, we converted the Seacraft to a more versatile machine with the removal of the T Top and the addition of a Motor Guide XI5 trolling motor.
We have been out a couple of times and got after the fish pretty well yesterday.
Chasing a tarpon has been the emphasis. Not many people here in the low country get fired up about them.
But I do. I heard there was a decent bite right around the corner.
The first trip saw a couple of swirls, but nothing but a big shark that Nancy caught, came boat side.
Yesterday we tried again and I found a school working the shoreline, but couldn't get a hook up as I threw the Wicad, Hogy and D.O.A. Swimming Mullett.
I had planned to do some more inshore chasing, so we headed down to our trout fishing hole towards the Broad River and we weren't let down on the slack low tide.
The trout hole has become a redfish hole, and they have grown from the puppy reds to the bigger keeper reds. Although I caught 5 keepers, they barely were big enough to bring home so back they went.
15" is the SC legal fish. Several were caught at 15 1/2"
Jacks got into the picture too as the fight is hard to resist
It was late morning and I wanted to bag a flounder for dinner, so we slid over to our favorite flounder point and we weren't disappointed as I got one flattie to the boat and lost another one.
I can't praise the new Motor Guide enough. The anchor feature keeps us from tossing the anchor out every stop.
Just press the button and it sits there making adjustments even in the SC tides we have here.
Two times out and fished with it for hours and the batteries remain well charged. Hopefully the technology is tough enough for the salt water environment.
But, it is one of the best fishing tools I have ever used. It follows closely behind the Lowrance HDS and the Trout Trick, which all these fish were caught on.
We wanted to give it a try on a very gentle tide today. A small reprieve in the temps was granted as rain and thunderstorms were churning to the north of us and the clouds kept it very comfortable for August.
We started at our red hole after gathering a little bait for Nancy.
I was paralleling the deep bank with the Walmart Special and a nice keeper trout decided it was time for breakfast.
We quit trying to get a redfish to come aboard after Nancy landed a two foot long gar.
We headed to our trout hole down near the Broad River.
The fish were there as we landed at least 30 fish. Nancy was catching trout out of the back of the boat on a tourist rig while I was hammering puppy drum over and over again in the front of the boat on a trout trick.
As the tide bottomed out we eased over to our flounder drop on the Broad and managed to coax a keeper flounder to the boat.
We headed in as the rain began to fall. As Nancy was backing the trailer in, a Dolphin came up beside me three times begging for anything I would give him. After I finally told him to go away, he did a triple gainer back flip and swam away pissed off.
Should been something happening, but just two little sharks offered today.
The Seacraft is running well as we made the jaunt down to the bridge. Wanted to bump into a tarpon, but stopped along the way looking....nothing to be seen.
As the tide switched to incoming, a school of jack crevalle started tearing it up, but I was unprepared to toss a bait into the frenzy. And then..it was gone.
Nice morning, but hotter than hades cleaning the boat.
We decided to get the boat in the water. I wanted to keep the two stroke running. I have been real negative on going out in this miserable SC heat.
The water was so black and nasty the last few times we dropped the boats in the water, but the water had cleared and I figured if we got up early maybe we could catch a fish, but at least the carbon would be blown out of the ol' mere on the tin boat.
I have been wanting to fish a large island in the Broad River on an incoming tide, the high tide was scheduled for around nine. So, when we hit the water at 6:30 AM I figured we would hit it right.
And we did.
About the fifth cast on a Walmart special that Doug had given me, I flushed some bait out of some weeds. The next cast a 17" trout decided he wanted the Walmart special and surprised the heck out of me.
Nancy then got it the action when a 14" flounder grabbed her tourist rig with a gulp shrimp dangling on a jig head.
I was watching an otter play in the submerged grass and enjoying the morning, when I saw something large swimming up the other side of the island.
Low and behold it was a BIG manatee with her babies. They swam right across the bow of the boat.
This video quickly shows them. I came home and checked to see if they are a common sight in SC. The SCDNR has a form to fill out if you did indeed see one. So, while not rare, we were happy to be a part of something that a lot of folks don't see here in the low country.
After settling down from the manatee siting, I flipped the trout trick to the edge of the grass near the spot Nancy caught her flounder and felt the familiar thump.
A nice 16" flounder came aboard.
We followed the incoming tide up to our home.
Nancy picked up a few small trout at our trout hole, and I had one eat the Walmart special there too.
Our next stop was a new oyster bed we wanted to check out. While we didn't get any bites, we were entertained by some quail that were talking on the island that Clarendon plantation owns. I haven't heard the call of "bob white" since we left the farm in Georgia.
We wanted to fish the redfish hole at high tide and were greeted by a huge alligator guarding the creek just past the hole.
While we we're watching him cruise back and forth, I managed a puppy drum and a pretty 19" trout taken on a trout trick.
We had one more high tide trout hole to try near the old railroad crossing, but all we could manage was a puppy drum.
So, with the sweat rolling and the F 35's making their practice runs we decided to get off the water at 10:30.
It was one of the more enjoyable 4 hours I have had since the heat wave began here in Beaufort.
After having no success last weekend when Hunter was in town, we decided to get after it again and prove that bad luck was due to the extremely high tides.
Today we got up early and hit the water before the sun got too high.
The tide was a gentle outgoing and the wind was just enough.
Everything worked as 16 trout and two reds made it to the tin boat.
Evidence is in this video.
The tide rolled round nice as the early morning tide was a nice low one with gentle currents forecast on each side.
We were able to launch the tin boat two hours before low tide and fish through the high side with ease
And the fish certainly cooperated.
We managed 10 trout, the first Jack Crevalle of the year and two reds, one a keeper and on magnum lines tripping fool.
Nancy got on board first with her famous tourist rig with a new penny Gulp shrimp.
I got going after realizing that not all of the fish that were nipping at the end of my jerk bait were Jack Crevalle. A few more trout came aboard as the tide petered out on the dead low.
With the low tide came the search for redfish and we weren't disappointed.
We headed to our dock red fish hole and managed a nice keeper red out of it.
I got snagged on a rock and was gently tugging on the jig head tipped with a
Trout Trick. I have history of redfish removing the snagged lure and running off with it while I try to figure out why the oyster is swimming. I had a strong premonition that this was about to happen. As I eased the trolling motor over the jig it started swimming off. Hook set. Redfish in the boat. Best lure remover ever made.
We eased into the BIG redfish hole and I quickly had my jig hook straightened by a red after a terrific start to a battle royale.
Being lazy, I didn't swap the jig head out for a new one and was rewarded later with a red actually snapping my hook into.
Finally, I call last cast and wham; hookset; loosen drag; pull anchor; battle red back and forth; captured!
We fished the mid to high tide today. Sometimes these tide things just don't work out.
While it was an absolute beautiful Monday morning, the fishing was a little slow.
They started out quick for Nancy as she was getting set up in the boat at our first drop, she hung her rod over the side with a Gulp Shrimp barely in the water. I soon heard her rod banging against the side of the boat and she yanked the rod up before it went into the water.
She had a trout on the other end that was either stupid or really hungry. Using her equipment as a cane pole she lifted the trout up until he fell off back into the water.
Then at our next stop she lost a monster redfish as it straighten her jig hook out after a fierce battle near some docks.
That was it for her success or lack thereof.
I caught one small trout and then finally connected on a nice 19" trout that was in our redfish hole.
Because of it's callous disregard of being in the redfish hole, it came home with us and became fish tacos Monday night.
After two weeks of gale force winds it is finally settling down here in the Lowcountry.
We have been wanting to get back out after our successful trip two weeks ago and the weather let us go yesterday.
I wasn't real jazzed about fishing the high tide, but I figured once it started to drain out of the river that the trout would bite. And, indeed they did.
We brought 28 to the boat, which is probably the best we have ever done, ever! And we were off the water in about 4 hours.
They bit on a variety of lures which is always nice. Nancy was catching them on a tourist rig, while I was enjoying the bite on a jerk baits and Zman MinnowZ.
After having a month of March to forget, Nancy and I finally got a chance to hit the water again.
The tide was right to hit the two hours before and two hours after the low tide.
I tied on new rigs trying to remember what to use in the spring. I just went with some Florida basics and the ol' trout trick on a jig head.
We wanted to see if the trout had grown any so we headed to our trout drops near the Broad River.
It didn't take long as I landed two nice trout that slammed my suspending jerkbait on a mud line that had developed as the tide was leaving the river.
These were some of the largest trout we had caught here in the low country, a 19" and a 17".
We fished a couple of other holes and caught two more keeper trout along with a few non keepers.
With the tide just starting to come back in we headed to our redfish holes. The first stop near some docks that didn't produce, but our next stop was on fire as four reds came aboard with one monster bull red escaping as it bent my hook straight after a brief battle.
It was a great start to spring fishing as the sight of fish in the boat and bald eagles made it a treat to be outside in the Lowcountry.
A quick tally for the day was 4 reds and 8 trout. Not a bad 4 hours of fishing.
The Big O was stingy for the Chandler crew this year.
We had to leave after 4 days of fishing due to a family emergency. But the other half that got to stay started sending me some pix of some nice fish being caught later the following week.
Day One.
Doug and I only caught four. That was after Nick sent us coordinates on some clear water he had found over on the east side of the lake.
Doug pulling one off a bed
And here he is
Unfortunately my biggest bass
Day two
It was unbelievably tough. We only caught one fish.
But Nick caught a 10 lber on a swim bait.
Day 3.
We caught 16 so we though fishing was picking up. And Hunter had arrived so things looked good for Day 4.
Day 4.
Doug was catching them good. We caught fish, but Doug caught 18 of them.
Caught on Bullfrog swim bait
Hunter did manage a couple that Doug didn't catch.
I haven't spoken with the rest of the crew. But I hope they finished on a high note!
