Lots of small reds, specks means great fishing in future

Creel limits helping Stono River fish, Charleston guide says

A lot of fishermen turn up their noses at the thought of catching lots of small fish, but Capt. Rawling Pratt-Thomas of Charleston Inshore Charters said the past week has convinced him that there’s a bright side.

“We have caught dozens of juvenile speckled trout and redfish; they’re everywhere,” said Pratt-Thomas (843-834-1061). “The (creel) limits are really starting to pay off for us.”

Fishing in the Stono River as far south as Wadmalaw Island, Thomas caught better than two-dozen specks and two-dozen redfish in trips last Friday and Saturday. Most fish were in the 12- to 13-inch class.

“We were fishing live shrimp under a cork or on a split-shot rig, and we were fishing Exude shrimp,” Pratt-Thomas said. “The best fishing was on slow-moving water – either flood or dead-low tides.”

Oyster shell beds gave up the most fish, but bridge pilings were also productive.

“You’ve got to go where the bait is; look for bait,” he said. “You get in a spot with a lot of bait, and even if the water is muddy, the trout will still nail a shrimp you float past them.”