Live bait has been key to excellent December catches
Capt. Steve Fralin of Ugly Ducklin’ Charters said the speckled sea trout are thick in the creeks around Edisto Island, and catching them isn’t a problem if you’ve got plenty of mud minnows.
When Fralin says the trout are thick, he really means it. On that recent trip, Fralin and his crew released over 50 trout and kept 25. Fralin likes to keep things simple; as long as the fish are biting live bait – and as long as live bait is available – he doesn’t see any reason to do otherwise.
It’s not just the trout keeping Fralin (843-908-2071) and other Edisto anglers busy.
“The bull redfish are just off the beach,” Fralin said, and these trophy fish are also readily eating live mud minnows.
Rob Powers has also been having good luck fishing around Edisto. Live shrimp are tough to find now, but when he does find them, he said the redfish are eating them like candy.
“I am catching some bait shrimp in a 30-foot deep hole. It takes about six to 10 casts to get a couple dozen,” said Powers, who is catching a mixture of bull redfish and slot-sized fish. Electric chicken grubs on quarter- and eighth-ounce jigs are doing the trick on sea trout for Powers and his friends.
The trout are coming in big numbers for anglers, particularly on the southern side of the island where a lot of 100-fish days have been reported recently. Staying away from muddy water seems to be the key to finding trout, and most of the action is coming on the incoming and outgoing tides, with a lull throughout ebb tide.
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