FISH CALL CHARTERS

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Flounder	Wando River Seatrout

In the flats and rivers around Charleston, our clients can expect to encounter Red Drum (locals call them Spottails), Speckled Trout, Flounder, Bonnethead Shark, Sheepshead, Black Drum, Ladyfish, and Bluefish. The harbors and near shore waters provide our clients with a chance to tangle with Channel Bass, King Mackerel, Spanish Mackerel, Jack Crevalle, many different types of sharks, and the elusive and mighty Tarpon.

Red drum is the #1 gamefish in our area. They are very abundent, year round residents that are very catch and release friendly. The red drum goes by many different names including redfish, spottail bass, channel bass, puppy drum, copper back, etc. By any name, you'll know it when one grabs your offering and takes off for the horizon! Redfish are known to bend rods and send drags screaming! Redfishing in the Charleston area is excellent year round. Fall is considered the absolute best time to fish for redfish. During the fall, the fish normally feed without regard for tide or time of day. Catching 20 or 30 redfish per day in the fall is not uncommon! I personally enjoy fishing the winter months the most. There are far fewer boats out, and temps are usually in the 60s. The water clears up considerably in the winter, and the redfish gather into huge schools on the shallow water flats. An average school might have 50 or so fish , but it is not uncommon to find schools of up to 1000 fish! This makes the conditions for sightcasting perfect. There is nothing like picking out an individual fish, casting to that fish, seeing the strike, and then watching the entire fight in just a foot of water!! It really gets my blood pumping! Fishing in the spring can be awesome as well. As the baitfish start to arrive and the water warms, the redfish begin to move around more and feed more. We usually catch some real giants in the spring. Summer also offers some great redfishing opportunities. The fish are more spread out and mixed in with other migratory species so you never know what you are going to catch. We find them in the flats, in the holes, off the beaches, just about everywhere. We love to center in on the "tailing tides" which are the larger than normal tides during the new and full moon phases of the warm months. These are the best times for flyfishing (read more on the flyfishing page). The reds will get up into shallow high tide flats in search of crabs. When rooting for crabs in shallow water, the fish's tail will break the water's surface giving away its location. This makes for awesome sightcasting!! There is nothing like seeing a 10 pound redfish tailing in less than a foot of water. Sometimes the fish will get so shallow that we leave the boat and chase them on foot!! There are only 20 or 30 tailing tides per year so book early if your interested in tailing fish. The big bull redfish also make great summer and fall targets. These are the adult red drum which range in size from from 15 to 50 pounds and feed just off the beaches and around the Charleston Jetties. They normally show up in May and stay through October depending on how quick the water cools. These fish are real trophies, and we will average several fish per trip. The fishing for reds is excellent year round, you just need to know how to target them with the seasons.

Speckled trout, flounder, sheepshead, and black drum are also year round residents. We do not see too many in December-Febuary, but they are still possible with a good warm trend. The trout fishing can really turn on in the fall and spring months. The sheepshead and black drum can be found around bridge pilings and rock jetties, and sometimes even tailing in the flats. We have caught black drum up to 71 pounds! The flounder bite usually turns on in the spring months and last through November, but they can be caught any month of the year. The migratory species start to show up around early June and will hang around Charleston's waters until as late as October. Spanish mackerel, bluefish, and ladyfish make for exciting targets. Most of the time, we will find them busting schools of bait around Charleston Harbor and the many surrounding inlets. These species make for fast and furious action! Huge jack crevalle also prowl the Charleston Harbor in the summer months. These fish average about 20lbs with potential world record 50 and 60 pounders mixed in! These jacks are some of the hardest fighting fish that you'll ever encounter.

We focus alot of our Summer fishing on sharks and tarpon. Bonnethead sharks are an awesome target bacause there are lots of them around, and they pull like crazy! These guys show up in May and average about 15 pounds but will get much bigger. We usually fish for the bonnetheads in same flats that we find redfish, but sometimes around the jetties as well. When one grabs your bait, hold on!! Both kids and adults love them because they are easy to find and hook up without much waiting> Instant fishing gratification! Several clients like to fish for nothing but the bonnets! The currnet I.G.F.A smallfry world record was caught by Troy Beaver aboard the "FISH CALL" in 2003 (picture below). The best part is that we released his World Record Alive! Congrats to Troy on his 17+ pound bonnethead. The all-tackle world record is just over 24 pounds, and we catch them real close and sometimes bigger than that every year. Let me know if you want to target a WORLD RECORD bonnethead or have a youngster that might want to challange Troy's fish! Blacktip, spinner, and sandbar sharks can be lots of fun as well. These sharks are very fast and sometimes jump several feet out of the water. They are usually caught around the sandbars and jetties when bull red or tarpon fishing. We have also caught the less abundent, but huge tiger and bull sharks.

Troy Beaver 2003

IGFA Smallfry World record Bonnethead Shark

Tarpon fishing in our area is getting better and better, or should I say that we are becoming better tarpon fishermen. These fish average about 100 pounds, but we have caught them close to 200 pounds!!!! Most of fishing centers around outer sandbars and cuts in the larger bays. These are a true "Fish of a Lifetime," and are not caught every day. We had a phenomenal run in the summer of 2002 where eight local guides landed 17 out of 41 tarpon in three days. At one time, we were one of five boats hooked up to tarpon! Eventhough Charleston's tarpon fishery is in its' infancy, we have had great success in the last few years. The "FISH CALL" has won the Charleston Harbor Tarpon Release Tournament for the last two years in a row! In 2002, Steven Micheals and I won the tournament with an estimated 120 pounder caught about 40 miles north of Charleston. In the 2003 tournament, we were fishing on the other end 30 miles south of Charleston. We heard another boat landed a tarpon at 8am, so we knew we would need at least two fish to win. Steven caught our first fish at 10am, and then from 11 to 12 o'clock we jumped and lost three tarpon in a row! At 3pm, Steven hooked up again, but this time we landed the 120 pound fish and won the tournament!! We also came in a very close second place in the 1999 Tournament, and no fish were caught in the 2004 Tournamnet. We are still learning everytime we fish for tarpon so if you want to help us pioneer a new Charleston fishery, give us a call and set up a trip. The fall mullet run in Sept/Oct can concentrate the tarpon, sharks, and bull reds in small areas making for some incredible fishing!

Any day of the year can be the best fishing day of that year. That's what is so great about fishing the Lowcountry. I personally like the fall and winter months best. In the fall as the water temps cool, the migatory and resident fish know that their food supply is getting ready to leave for the winter so they will eat whenever they get the chance. This makes for big numbers! I also love the winter months of Dec., Jan., and Feb. The colder water causes the redfish and sea trout to form big schools. It is not uncommon to find schools of 200-300 redfish in a foot of water. There is nothing like hunting for big schools of redfish in very skinny water. The spring and summer months are just as exciting because there is such a variety of species to target. So come get hooked up anytime of the year!