The saltwater season has really kicked off over the past 10 days with the weather temporarily stabilized. That’s got the redfish and speckled trout on alert around the Charleston area.
“Redfishing on the flats has been outstanding,” said Capt. Jamie Hough of Flat Spot Charters (843-364-1759). “And the trout fishing has been real good. We’re catching trout in the Ashley and Cooper rivers and running up toward Capers Inlet and up towards Bulls Bay for the reds.”
The reds have been biting best on a dead-low on mud flats, Hough said, because the sunlight is really warming those dark bottoms as the water level drops.
“It’s really great if you can find an oyster bed that’s off the (marsh) grass enough that they can get between the oysters and the bank and away from the (bottlenose) dolphin,” Hough said. “They’re hitting pieces of blue crab, and they’re starting to hit finger mullet and cut bait.”
Specks are in deeper water, Hough said, generally biting seven to 10 feet deep during the last two hours before low tide. The most productive bait has been a DOA shrimp – fished either pre-rigged as it comes out of the package or under a popping cork.
“If you fish ‘em under a cork, you’ve got to make sure your leader is long enough to keep the DOA about six inches from the bottom,” Hough said. “The other thing that’s been real important is dipping them in garlic-scented Spike-It chartreuse dye. About all the trout we’ve caught have been hitting the baits we’ve dipped.”
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