Broad River flats produces 65 fish on two half-day trips
The redfish action on the Broad River flats has been so good that even Capt. Dan Utley of Fishin’ Coach Charters in Beaufort is talking in superlatives.
“I can’t remember the bite ever being this good in January; usually, you see a lot of fish, but it’s tough to get them to bite, especially on low water,” said Utley (843-757-2126).
What’s gotten his attention over the past few days has been tremendous fishing for schooling reds. His two half-day trips on Friday, Jan. 2, produced about 65 reds, including a handful bigger than South Carolina’s 15- to 23-inch slot limit.
His morning trip, on high water, caught about 50, including a 27-inch fish, a 26-inch fish and four more around 24 inches. Fishing the low water in the afternoon produced another couple of 24- to 25-inch fish among the dozen or so caught.
Utley’s parties were primarily using a Gulp! shrimp in natural color, threaded on a quarter-ounce jighead or fished below a popping cork. The jighead rig worked better, but both techniques involved pitching the lure into an area where redfish had been seen, then deadsticking it – letting it remain motionless on the bottom.
“We found where they were going up in the grass on high tide, and they were schooled up pretty tight. You could see the school where they were pushing water before they went up in the grass, then you could see the grass moving when they went through it,” Utley said. “We were just deadsticking the bait, leaving it right on the bottom.
“I noticed all last month that it seems like there were a lot more redfish on the flats than we had last year, and last year was alright. These fish, they just held tight to the places they chose to feed. They didn’t move off.”
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