Fishing has gone from good to great over the past couple of months in Charleston. Fish are aggressive and feeding better now that the water is warm and the creeks are loaded with bait. Bugs aren’t too bad and the weather has been cooperating lately as well.


Redfish: Biting like crazy, I have seen small shrimp popping in the marshes, so throwing a medium sized shrimp out on a light bottom rig or popping cork is working well. Mullet are schooling everywhere and are perfect bait size, so bring a cast net with you! Menhaden are starting to get larger now, but cut up they make an excellent bait. We have had some tailing tides this month, adding to the excitement.

Trout: Early May brought some awesome trout fishing. I finally caught a trout under 16″ (this one was 15″) this past weekend but before this all of the trout we have been catching were larger and fatter. We nailed 6 while flyfishing one late afternoon on electric chicken clousers, all over 16″.

Flounder: I am not really targeting flounder yet, but they are definitely here. We caught one bouncing artificial grubs off the bottom with a jig head a couple days ago. Their ambush style of feeding makes flounder a fun species for fly fishermen also.

Sheepshead: The jetties are holding some nice sheepshead right now, and inshore fishing for them has been good too. We caught 20 in an hour on light tackle this past weekend.

Bluefish: There are some big bluefish around that are definitely a blast to catch on light tackle. I don’t usually target them, but these fast swimmers seem to be in the smaller flats adjacent to deeper water and will hit anything that moves.

Cobia: The secret is out around town, so the cobia have seen a lot of pressure lately. Just before that, there were quite a few around. The good news is that this is just the beginning of cobia season. Sight fishing for cobia will really get your heart pounding.

I hope this helps! Feel free to drop me a line or send an email if you have any questions.

-Capt. Mike