Fall brings about a lot of changes around the Lowcountry. Hunters are in their tree stands, oyster roasts are in their final stages and, according to Capt. Mike Able of Charleston’s Able Minded Charters, the inshore fishing is starting to really get good.
“When the water temperature starts cooling, the fish eat more aggressively, and at the same time will be more likely to eat artificial baits because of the natural bait starting to leave the creeks,” said Able (843-475-7696). “For most of my trout fishing, I tend to work creek mouths and dropoffs where bait would normally flush over and be eaten.”
Able’s most-productive artificials have been a D.O.A. or Z-Man shrimp rigged 30 inches under a popping cork. He casts upcurrent and lets the rig drift the edges of the dropoffs, popping the cork every 10 seconds. By doing this, Able said, you cover a lot of ground and make a good bit of noise to grab the trout’s attention. As the water cools even more, however, Able suggests removing the cork and allowing the bait to drop to the bottom, just like a real shrimp would do.
For redfish, Capt. Able suggests a 5-inch Gulp! Jerk shad in pearl/white on a weedless setup.
“Using this setup on a lower tide around oyster beds and creek mouths is the way to go,” Able said. “Other baits I love to work, and that can definitely catch both species, would be topwater plugs such as the Super Spook Jr. in the silver mullet or trout color and the Badonk-A-Donk in the redfish color.”
Along with those, Able uses the Mirrolure MirrOdine in chartreuse or silver. It’s is a suspension bait and definitely produces fish, Able said.
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