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Home |  Young anglers with a trophy redfish |
 Doormat Charleston Harbor flounder |
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. For the inshore waters, 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 common! The weather is perfect, and the fish are on fire! 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 (pics near bottom). 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 (see pics near bottom of page). Winter is usually the best time for flyfishing because of the clarity of the water. 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. The numbers are usually lower in the Spring but we catch some really big fish. For the last several year, the largest inshore red of the year has come 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 warm weather 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 so tailing tides per year so book early if your interested in tailing redfish.
 Average Charleston inshore redfish, 5-6 pounds |  Amy Gabrys showing off an extra large 16 pound inshore redfish |  Average Charleston Harbor bull redfish, over 20 pounds! |  This is a huge bull red well over 40 pounds!! |
After about 4 or 6 years, a redfish is
old enough to breed and leaves the inshore waters to join the spawning population offshore. They
become known as bull reds at this point. We target them from May through October on top of sandbars,
around inlets, around the Charleston Jetty, and in the Charleston Harbor. These fish average about
18 pounds but get up over 50 pounds. Our largest redfish ever, 53 pounds!!, was caught surf fishing
north of Charleston. We typically fish for the bull reds with bait out of the bigger boat. Tarpon
and big sharks live in the same areas so you'll have a chance at SILVER or JAWS when targeting the
BULL. These reds are true trophy fish and beleive it or not, we will typically catch several of
these trophies per trip. If you want a glory picture for your Facebook or Instagram page, this is the trip for
you! This is an all release fishery on my boat. We want to protect the breeders so we'll have plenty of smaller
reds to catch inshore.
Speckled seatrout, 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. They also can be caught in good numbers 5-10 miles offshore
in the Spring. 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! We typically don't target these species unless
specially requested but may catch them looking for redfish. 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!
In the late Spring through Summer, large
schools of amberjack, cobia, barracudas, spanish, and king mackerel take up residence on the artificial reefs and wrecks 5-25 miles offshore. This can be some of the most exciting fishing of the
year. We typically will chum fish to the surface and then sightcast with spinning or fly rods
to fish busting baits on top. Most of these fish are 15-50 pounds and will pull as hard as
anything that swims. The spanish mackerel are smaller but fun on light tackle and quite tasty. Reef fishing is where we can typically keep some fish for dinner. Some of the best eating are cobia, sheepshead, black drum, spadefish, spanish and king mackerel. Cobia
is probably my favorite eating fish in the ocean. Grilled, baked, fried, and even raw, cobia is so good!
We focus alot of our Summer fishing on
sharks and tarpon. With the warm water, sharks are everywhere, and they can be tons of fun on light
tackle. We probably catch more bonnethead sharks than any other shark species. They provide an
awesome target bacause there are lots of them around, they are easy to target, 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, and around the jetties and in the
harbor as well. When one grabs your bait, hold on!! I have several clients like to fish for nothing
but the bonnets! They are so easy to find that I offer a 2 or 3 hour trip for bonnetheads. The I.G.F.A
All-Tackle World Record is currently 26 pounds, and we catch them real close and sometimes bigger
than that every year. As of 2010, we still hold 4 line-class I.G.F.A World Records for bonnethead
sharks. Inluding a 23.8 pounder that my then 5 year-old daughter Greta caught in 2006. She holds the
Women's 16-lb line class and Female Smallfry world Records for that shark. Calvin Masaoka currently
holds the Men's 2-lb Line-Class World Record with a 19 pound bonnethead, wow!! - world record
pictures on the Hall of Fame page. Let me know if you want to target a WORLD RECORD bonnethead
shark. Blacktip, spinner, sharpnose, 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 while targeting
bull reds or tarpon around the sandbars, beaches, and jetties. The "mullet run" in September is
usually the peak for these sharks. Sometimes we'll target the bigger blacktips and sandbars behind
shrimp trawlers. In the early Summer, there are tons of small 12-20 inch "toy sharks" around. These
can be annoying to adults but great for the youngest anglers. We target all types and sizes of shark
including hammerhead, nurse, and lemon sharks. We have also caught the less abundent, but huge tiger
and bull sharks. In June 2010, we had a 12-14 foot tiger shark eat a 35 pound amberjack my angler
was fighting. We actually had the huge shark hooked up for several minutes before the leader parted.
It was an amazing scene right out of National Geographic, pics at bottom of page.
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 up 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 aren't caught every
day. Tarpon fight harder and longer than any fish in the sea. They make scorching runs, jump 10 feet
in the air, and have a mouth of steel making them the ultimate gamefish. I have experienced nothing
in fishing like the excitement I get chasing tarpon. 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 at the same time! We had another incredible tarpon year in 2010. The bait
was plentiful and the tarpon were eating. My clients landed 21 of 37 tarpon bites in 2010. This has been
our best year yet! It's not Florida numbers but had several clients this year who had been traveling
to Florida to catch their first tarpon unsuccessfully. Maybe it was luck, but they fished with me
once and got their first silver king. We have won the Charleston Harbor Tarpon Release Tournament
twice in a row, 2002 and 2003, and then again in 2014. In 2002, Steven Micheals and I won the
tournament with an estimated 120 pounder caught about 40 miles north of Charleston. In the next
year's 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!! The
tarpon season lasts from June through October. There is a fall mullet run in Sept/Oct that can
really concentrate the tarpon, sharks, and bull reds in small areas making for some incredible
fishing! Bill Browne and Matt Bachinski were my anglers for the 2014 win. In the Georgetown
LowCountry Tarpon Tournament I've placed 3rd in 2013 and 5th in 2014. We did well again in the 2018 Charleston Harbor Tarpon Tournament scoring 2nd place. Please check out my Hall of
Fame Gallery for some cool pics. We are still learning everytime we fish for tarpon so if you want
to help us pioneer this new Charleston fishery, give us a call and set up a trip. Be careful, you
might catch the TARPON FEVER!!
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 (see below). 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 plus a chance at the Silver King. So come get hooked up
anytime of the year!
South Carolina "gator" trout, 4 plus pounds 
Most SC bluefish are smaller than this beast 
8-lb sheepshead from 10 miles offshore in February
The elusive jack crevalle, Charleston Harbor
Big king mackerel caught by teen angler from an offshore wreck 
Acrobatic barracuda caught 10 miles offshore 
This 34 pound cobia was my mom's birthday present 2009,
yummy!
A very nice spanish mackerel from the shipping channel
The mighty amberjack
aka "reef donkey" 
Feisty false albacore caught a mile off the beach 
Huge 88-lb cobia caught 4 miles offshore
a few pounds short of the State Record
American red snapper caught 20 miles offshore, 2020
The docile nurse shark, Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge 
This is an average bonnethead shark, 18 pounds 
Fiesty blacktip shark caught at Charleston Jetty
The kids had just finished swimming, 7 foot lemon shark
This tarpon jumped at least 15 feet in the air! 
We decided to land this tarpon from the beach 
Average Charleston tarpon, 80-100 pounds
Back breaking work, but somebody's gotta do it!
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Bulls Bay Tarpon | 
10lb Sheepshead! |  Bonnethead Shark |  Spanish Mackeral |
 My boy Guerin with a frigid redfish, 2009 |  A hundred or more schooled reds, Dec 2010 |  A couple nice fish from that school |  Catch & Release for the Future |
 12-14 foot tiger shark, 8 miles off of Charleston |  That white thing is the head of a 35-lb amberjack! |  We had her hooked up for a little while until, pop! |
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