Red Bull

My wife and I have been in love with the low country since we got married in Hilton Head many moons ago.  Over our years of traveling to South Carolina, I have discovered a fantastic inshore fishery and you have to get down there and try it for yourself.

The Beaufort, SC area is full of history.  Plantations, traditional southern architecture, Paris Island, huge oak trees, Spanish moss, and low country feasts define this area of the country.  But at the end of the day, shrimping, crabbing, and fishing are the true face of this region.

Sport fishing has always been popular along the coast in the South.  But, have you ever thought of this as a fantastic fly fishing destination?  You should!  These inshore waters are full of redfish, speckled trout, cobia, lady fish and tarpon.

My intent was to come down and fly fish the Broad River for cobia in early June.  This is the prime time for this pelagic species as they come inshore to the Broad to spawn.  Cobia will cruise at the water's surface to hunt while they are in the river and explode on stripped streamers.  These tanks range from 30-90lbs.  Unfortunately, conditions have to be perfect to fly cast for these fish.  Wind can ruin a day of fly casting for cobia as it ruins the surface visibility of these fish.  And wouldn't you know it, the wind kept us off of the Broad Rivers both days I was in town.

Luckily, the South Carolina redfish fishery is fantastic and the redfish are well distributed in all kinds of areas.  So, if there is wind keeping you off of the big river, hit the creeks for redfish.  And we did!

The redfish were tough this past weekend.  There were plenty around, but they did not want to play.  We kept finding schools of redfish, hundreds of fish in a couple of them, and they were taking nothing. We were switching out flies, switching out to lighter tippet...nothing.  They mocked us.  At the end of day one I had hooked one redfish and one lady fish, and lost them both.

Day 2 held greater promise.  The weather reports indicated we may get less wind and be able to chase some cobia, but when we hit the water at 7:00am, it was obvious that was not going to happen.  We headed back to find the redfish again.  I quickly caught a platinum colored lady fish and this time got her in my hand.  This little pygmie tarpon was a spectacular fish.  For her small size she was strong and she was jumping 3 feet out of the water.  What a show!

As we moved on, we found a couple of schools of redfish early that were again snubbing us.  Captain Tuck was working hard and putting us on fish.  I was putting flies right in front of them.  But the fish refused to do their part.  Finally as the tide was rolling out fast we found a large school holding in a deeper hole off of a point to wait out the low tide.  I shot the little black and purple crab imitating fly out in front of a push and BOOM...I was finally hooked-up.

This fish had some shoulders and was pulling strong.  My 8wt rod was doubled over in the fight, but not relenting.  As the fish tired it came near the boat, but not ready to give up the fight, she shot to the back of the boat behind the tower.  Tuck ducked down and the line cleared his head, but then the fish brewed up another plan.  She shot straight under the boat.  That in and of itself is generally a manageable thing, but something happened and my line was no longer pulling.  Tuck reached down to see if the fish was wrapped around something and came up with the fly line with the leader cut off only a few inches long.  WHAT?

As we progressed through the morning it became obvious what happened.  The leader got hung on the
mount for the transducer for the depth finder and in the process broke the mount and then was cut off.  The transducer was just dangling below the boat giving crazy readings.   Murphy was dictating the day and it was starting to stink.

And from there Murphy started plaguing us even more.  The forecast called for partly cloudy with no rain.  And then the rain started.  We moved to a different area in the rain and identified a huge school of fish.  There were 200 fish in front of me.  They were not spooking because to rain was concealing us well.  Cast after cast right in front of them....hundreds of them and not even a sniff.  We moved around this school 3 times and they would not take.  And better yet...we're freezing our butts off from being soaked.  At this point, I'm ready to call it.

Finally, the rain stopped.  The clouds broke and the sun came out.  Tuck and I dried out and our moods lightened.  The tide was rolling back in and we decided to go back and find the school of fish in which I hooked-up earlier.

We found the school waiting in some shallow water at an inlet to a large area where they like to feed.  They just needed a couple of more inches of water and they were going to be able to move into a very large area and spread out a little to feed.  This was our chance to get that fly in front of a lot of concentrated fish.  Tuck gave me directions and I sent the little fly sailing right to his coordinates.  BANG!  FISH ON!  The Tibor reel was singing and this fish was really pulling.  He was moving away fast and staying down.

Tuck asked me, "Are you to your backing?"  I said, "Am I too my backing?  I'm half way through the backing!" I kept the pressure on and got back to the fly line only to be taken to the backing several more times.  This fish was panning out to be a real beast.  After what felt like a 20 minute fight the 29" TOAD finally came to hand.  A perfect ending for the day.

If you are going to be in the Beaufort and Hilton Head area and need a day on the water or you are just looking for a new fishing destination, call Bay Street Outfitters and get on the water with Captain Tuck Scott.  Tuck is a true pro.  He can and will put you on fish, but even more important, he will help you continue to perfect your fly casting and fishing skills.  That in and of itself is worth the price of admission!

AND, this is just the 1st half of my Spring fishing adventure.  Stay tuned for the 2nd half of the story
that will play out just West of Knoxville, TN.