New to the forum. Need advice

Hello all. I live in Richmond Va and have to head to Charlotte to pick up my bird dog on Saturday. I would like to head to the Charleston area to fly fish for reds. I’m planning on trailering a 16ft skiff. Good idea/bad? Can anyone point me in general area to focus? I understand from reading on here that they should be schooled up on flats. Any and all advice is appreciated. Thanks.

I would go to Isle of Palms Marina. Put in and then run to the area where Capers island is. I’ve had tremendous luck the past few weekends finding schooled up Reds in the shallows in that general area.

Will Dawes

Two new members! Welcome!

Long haul pulling that skiff. From Charlotte might be easier to head to George town? Google public ramps and most all should give you a fair shot at it.

Good luck to you.

What Tinny said! Please be careful and pay attention to your chart plotter. We had folks injured and killed in the area from the IOP marina to the inlet as a result of running aground. One threw the passenger over the bow then ran over her. My Brother lives in the Short Pump area. Good luck!

quote:
Originally posted by grousehunter

Hello all. I live in Richmond Va and have to head to Charlotte to pick up my bird dog on Saturday. I would like to head to the Charleston area to fly fish for reds. I’m planning on trailering a 16ft skiff. Good idea/bad? Can anyone point me in general area to focus? I understand from reading on here that they should be schooled up on flats. Any and all advice is appreciated. Thanks.

Chris Woods


People will forget what you said…
People will forget what you did…
But people will never forget how you made them feel.

Capt. Justin

1st off thanks for the replies. 2nd…HOLY CRAP does it get shallow quick. I drove from Richmond and got to Dewees Island area right at high tide. Thought to myself that this looks awesome. Flats for as long as the eye can see. After putting in, I motored up a creek and then poled over a grass flat. Really just poking around looking for fish but didn’t see anything other than some bait. Poled to a corner of the creek that was in 6ft of water and proceeded to blind cast a black/purrle fly for about an hour. No takers. Water was cruising out of the creek at this point.

I saw another boat head out to more open water so I decided to head that way. I was just putting along with my motor trimmed and hit a bit of bottom out in the middle of a pond. Enough of that so I headed back to the creek. By that time water was flooding out of the creek. Decided to go back to the landing and thank God I did. I launched in about 5ish feet of water. When I got back it was less than 2ft. Oh and btw bring flats boots/wadingshoes/anything because I ended up recovering the boat barefoot.

Lots of lessons learned. Still had fun and was able to make it more of a trip to pick up my bird dog. I’ll be planning better for next time. Definitely different water than the Chesapeake.

Chris Woods

We have around 6’ tide swings here. Welcome to S.C. and welcome to the forum.

Sea Hunt 212 Triton
“Head East”

It was ebbing not flooding.