Five Carolina Saltwater Best Bets

A lot of the same things can be said about fishing inshore. Most anglers only plied local waters during the spring and summer months, with a few hardy souls braving the elements into November and December. However, word has spread about how to catch inshore fish during the off- season, and now saltwater fishing is a year-round sport.

South Carolina's all-season inshore fishery revolves around spottail bass. Also known as channel bass, redfish or puppy drum, spottails are a complete-package fish. They are colorful, have tremendous pulling power, widespread distribution and taste good, if you prefer to keep one on occasion.

"May is a good time to catch spottails," said Capt. Richard Stuhr, a native who has spent his entire life fishing the waters around Charleston. "The fish are still schooled then, and they will stay that way until the water warms up to around 80 degrees."

During the cooler portions of the year, spottails form large schools as a survival strategy. The "safety-in-numbers" approach helps them survive predation by bottled-nosed dolphins. Once inshore waters warm, other prey species are available and the dolphin back off the spottails.

"I look for schools in shallow bays and flats when it's cooler," Stuhr said. "After the water gets warmer, the fish seek more oxygenated water. Places like the Intracoastal Waterway are good, or look around creeks that adjoin flats where the fish were located during winter."

Stuhr follows spottails right through various habitats as the tide changes.

"During low tide, the fish will lie in shallow indentations. As the tide rises, they'll move from these spots to positions around oyster bars. Eventually, the fish will move up into the marsh grass, and then up on the flooded marsh tailing as they look for fiddler crabs."

Spottails will fall for several different baits throughout the year.

"You can catch finger mullet and menhaden in the creeks by May," Stuhr stated. "During the colder months, you can always buy live shrimp or mud minnows at a local tackle shop.

"I like fishing live bait for spottails, and how I fish it depends on the situation. When the risk of getting hung up is low, I will rig a bait on a 12- to 16-inch leader made from 25-pound-test monofilament. An egg sinker will slide on my main line above the swivel that I use to attach the leader. My main line is primarily 8-pound-test," he added.

After the water floods the oyster bars, Stuhr will add a float rig to his spottail arsenal. This allows him to position his baits around and over the oysters without getting snagged. Most commercially made floats come in various colors and sizes, but Stuhr said he uses floats no bigger than necessary to get the job done. He uses red because it's more visible to him and his clients.

Stuhr suggested using a No. 2/0 hook for finger mullet, but scale down to a No. 1 hook for live shrimp. He said the hook can't be too heavy or it will impede the live bait's swimming action.

Artificial baits will work for spottails if you can't find live bait. Stuhr has luck with rubber-bodied jigs, hard-plastic crankbaits and spoons. His color preferences are shades of gold or copper. You might even find him whipping a fly of the same color on an 8-weight, 9-foot fly rod.

Rather than anchoring and waiting for spottails to come to him, Stuhr likes to go to the fish. He will hunt for spottails by poling his boat or easing along the marsh edge with a trolling motor.

"I don't move around hunting trout like I would spottails," Stuhr explained. "Trout are fairly site-specific fish. So once you find the pattern and location, you can generally count on them being there again."

One of the reasons Stuhr isn't poling for trout is because his boat position is usually in deeper water.

"Trout like structure that is near deep water. While they can be right against the grass during high tide, they will flee toward deep water if they are spooked. Once the tide drops, they will definitely seek deeper locations."

Stuhr's favorite time to fish for spotted seatrout is during the last of a rising tide or first of the falling tide.

"I'll typically position the boat out about the length of a cast away from whatever we are fishing," he said. "Some areas might be a pier, point or a creek mouth. It is best to cast to all sides of the structure, but the down-tide side seems to produce the most fish."

After the water falls, Stuhr will move to deep-water locations like the edges of channels or holes in the bends of creeks. Rarely anchoring, he fishes these spots by positioning the boat with a trolling motor or merely drifting. If he lands a fish or two, then he might set up by anchoring.

"Live bait is fine for trout, but I usually fish with artificials as long as the fish keep biting them," Stuhr stated. "I use jigs mostly."

With the boat stationed offshore of the intended area, Stuhr casts the jig shoreward. He'll then work it from the shallowest water, which could be as little as a few feet deep, back toward the boat, bouncing it along the bottom as the water gets progressively deeper. This allows him to cover several possible ranges where the trout might be holding. To Stuhr, the location and presentation of the lure is more important than color.

"I think color gets overrated a lot of times. I haven't used chartreuse lately, but I know it catches fish. Almost any color is successful. Copper and motor oil have been good for me recently.

"Don't be afraid to mix it up a little bit, and see if the trout have a preference," Stuhr suggested. "It takes time to learn how to fish an area, but one of the biggest mistakes I see anglers making is they get too locked in on a specific color or pattern. If you fish slowly and deliberately and hit different spots at different tide heights, you will eventually develop your own pattern."

"I catch flounder pretty much throughout the year," Stuhr said. "That said, May and June are prime months around ocean inlets."

Drifting or t

rolling is the main technique for pursuing flounder at inlets. You will find just as many anglers who prefer an incoming tide as those that like outgoing water. The keys are moving water, varying the depth of your drift, and finding spots that hold the flounder.

Usually flounder will be in only a few feet of water, and will remain shallow, following the shoal water as the tide moves up or down. You can present your bait on a Carolina rig. A 24-inch leader of 20- to 25-pound-test monofilament is suitable. Before tying the swivel to the main line, slide on an egg sinker. You only need to use enough weight to keep the sinker on the bottom during the drift. A No. 1 to 2/0 wide-bend or Kahle hook completes the rig.

"I catch the majority of flounder when using live bait," Stuhr said. "Mud minnows, menhaden or finger mullet are all good baits.

"Besides the inlets, you will catch flounder where you find spottails and seatrout. Flounder can be found lying right in between oyster bars or on flats where the tide is washing baitfish over it. I have caught the fish in as little as 4 inches of water."

South Carolina saltwater fishing is all about surprises. It might be that cobia that took your grouper bait or a skinny-water flounder snatched a spottail rig, but it shouldn't surprise anyone to find good fishing all year 'round.

If you find good cover, pay attention to the tides, the wind, and where baitfish might likely be, you are apt to find a number of different species of game fish in the vicinity.

To book an offshore trip aboard the Teaser2 with Capt. Mark Brown, you may contact him at (843) 881-9735 or visit his Web site at www. charlestonfishing.net. Charleston-area inshore fishing guide Capt. Richard Stuhr can be reached via his Web site at www.captstuhr.com or by calling him at (843) 881-3179.