ICW near Bulls Bay gives up plenty of fish
Guide Rob Beglin of Inshore Xtreme Guide Service had put three redfish in the boat this past Thursday morning, when in the span of five minutes, the ICW between Awendaw and McClellanville went from flat calm to rocked by 2-foot waves.
Beglin, who lives in Pawley’s Island, admitted he got a little frustrated as it became difficult to see reds on the shallow flats of the ICW. Then, about 10 a.m., with the wind approaching 25 mph from the southeast, things got to looking pretty good.
“Over there, there they are. Power Pole down!” Beglin shouted.
On Beglin’s first cast, a slot-sized redfish took a liking to a Gulp! shrimp fished on a swimbait hook.
On his second cast, the same thing happened.
Two hours later, with the wind blowing even harder and rain beginning to threaten, Beglin and his party of two fishermen had boated around 40 reds. Only one or two were shorter than South Carolina’s 15-inch size minimum, and the biggest was around 32 inches. In between were a load of fish measuring between 18 and 23 inches. A black drum in the 10- to 12-pound range was a bonus.
“We found a big school in this place last winter, but I hadn’t checked it yet this year,” said Beglin (843-458-1920). “I knew when I saw ’em, we had ’em hemmed up and we were gonna kill ’em.”
Beglin adjusted the spot where he had his Ranger flats boat pinned down several times, but he never moved it more than 50 feet from the time he made his first cast until he called it a day at 1 p.m.
“It seems like in the winter, reds in the ICW sort of get relaxed,” Beglin said. “The boat traffic has fallen way off, and it seems like they’re ready to bite.”
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