October starts the beginning of the best fishing the Charleston – Kiawah & Edisto area’s have to offer. The waters are starting to cool off and the fish are starting to feed for the coming winter months.
This month is also the time the big bull reds come inshore and the small bait stealers such as perch, pinfish and grunts are pretty much gone.
The inlets and river mouths are where we target the big reds. We use a variety of baits on heavy tackle so that we can land the fish quickly
and get them back into the water. Most of the fish we catch are 35 – 50 inch fish. Baits are whatever we can catch or have on hand.
Mullet, ladyfish, pinfish, crab or other fish will work. Fresh is always better than frozen but if all you have are frozen, use it, the tide stage does not seem to matter.
Inshore, the sheepshead bite is really good on low water working pilings, rocks or downed trees with fiddlers for bait. Also, put out some shrimp or mullet and you may catch some reds, flounder or other fish as well.
Most species of inshore fish relate to structure in some way. It is not uncommon to catch many species of fish in one area using shrimp. Using mullet will get you better fish but limits the variety as sheepshead and black drum will not take a mullet on a regular basis.
The creeks are full of baits this month and you need lower tides to catch the shrimp in a cast net. I prefer a 6 ft 3/8 mesh net.
The nearshore reefs are another area to fish this month. Look for days when the winds are calm and head out with a variety of baits, I usually take mud minnows, fiddlers and frozen or live shrimp as well as several different plastics.
Once we get a bite going, switch over the plastics. Any shrimp pattern will work with Gulp 3″ White or ZMAN shrimp will work. Others will work too, I just use shrimp. Try different colors or patterns to see what works best.
Black Sea Bass, Reds, Weakfish, Black Drum, and Sheepshead can all be caught this month but the spades and spanish have probably already left the nearshore reefs.
Capt. Michael Waller
SaltFisher Charters
843 224 8197
