Edisto Fishing Forecast
While I love the diversity of fish the different seasons bring us each year in South Carolina, if I had to pick my favorite month of the entire year it would be October. For Edisto, it means the peak of bull red season, growing numbers of trout and redfish in the creeks, and great bottom fishing offshore.
More bull reds will be caught this month near shore than any other month. They hit like a freight train and can be caught on a variety of different baits. The trick is using fresh bait! Large schools of mullet and menhaden should be easy to find. Fish live or cut bait on the bottom with 60lb. mono leader and 5/0 circle hooks. Remember, a lot of these fish are massive, pushing well over 40 inches and fight very hard. To make sure you get a healthy release, use appropriate tackle and don’t spend 20 minutes trying to get the perfect profile picture. I fish with Penn 6500s and 7500s on stout 6-foot, 6-inch rods spooled with 60lb. braided line. Set ups like this will keep the time you spend fighting each fish to a minimum.
Cooler water temperatures do wonders for the inshore fishing around Edisto. While there are plenty of redfish of all sizes in the creeks, the speckled trout begin to show up in greater numbers. Waters around the South Edisto typically are not as clear as they are in other areas around the state, so most of the year we like to fish live and cut bait around structure and live bait under popping corks as opposed to using artificial bait. However, when the fish are in good numbers and cooler waters begin to clear up, artificial baits can be very effective. Artificial shrimp under a popping cork or worked along the bottom is one of my favorite ways to catch both redfish and trout in October. As always, look for long stretches of live oyster banks in creek mouths.
October also means great bottom fishing offshore. The artificial reefs should produce larger size black sea bass and triggerfish, while your favorite live bottom should hold grouper and large numbers of vermillion snapper. Hard to go wrong with fresh squid and cigar minnows, but don’t forget the sabiki rigs. Live pinfish are the way to go for big grouper!
Whatever fish you plan to target this month, be responsible and stay safe on the water. Be sure to follow Fontaine Charters on Instagram and Facebook to keep up with what we are catching. Hope to see you out there and good luck!
Capt. Jimmy Skinner
Fontaine Charters
(843) 270-8087