For detailed information about Hunting Island State Park, you can contact park officials at 2555 Sea Island Parkway, Hunting Island, SC 29920, or call the park office at (843) 838-2011

Another similar saltwater opportunity for fishing and crabbing exists well to the north, between Myrtle Beach and Georgetown at Huntington Beach State Park. Access is easy via Highway 17. If you are coming from Murrells Inlet, the park entrance is three miles on the left. If approaching from Georgetown, it's 20 miles up Highway 17 on the right.

There's good fishing from the surf as well as from the jetty here at the park. Fishing from the jetty can be a great family adventure. First, it's easy, no boat required. Second, there's room to walk around and the youngsters can enjoy snacks and soft drinks while fishing. Third, a wide selection of saltwater fish will be available. If you fish with medium tackle and use shrimp as bait, you'll have no problem getting plenty of bites from a variety of fish species.

If you bring your boat, there's good access at Oyster Landing, about a mile from the park entrance. There's not as much saltwater territory to fish as there is at Hunting Island, but just to the north is Murrells Inlet, which is quite famous for a variety of inshore saltwater fishing.

Also, to add to the family adventure, there is a 2,500-square-foot Education Center that includes a saltwater touch tank. This will likely be a big hit with the family if you take a break in the fishing action. My wife and I have learned that sidebar adventures such as this are always a good touch when you have inquisitive and energetic kids looking for stuff to do.

For additional information about Huntington Beach State Park, contact the office at 16148 Ocean Highway, Murrells Inlet, SC 29576, or call (843) 237-4440.

Moving back inland, we'll look at an out-of-the-way spot on a lake not many fishermen know about. Fishing Creek Lake is a smallish lake sandwiched between lakes Wateree and Wylie. But the lake offers great bream and catfish action during the month of June and is an ideal location for an out-of-the-way family outing.

The lake consists of a little more than 3,100 surface acres and has plenty of woody cover available, which makes it a prime bream fishing lake. In addition, during June (and really throughout the summer), the fishing for channel catfish is sensational. Not many fishermen take advantage of this catfishery, which is what makes this lake quite special for a family trip.

For bream fishing, the same tactics as described earlier for other waters work great here. Crickets and worms worked around the shoreline and woody cover will produce plenty of bream. The bream are not sensational in size, but they are respectable if you're willing to cull smallish fish. But that's one of the positive aspects for a family trip: There are plenty of bream to catch.

But we'll also focus on the catfish action here for a family trip.

The only species of the "big three" that I've caught from the lake has been the channel catfish. There are blue catfish in Wateree downstream and Wyllie upstream, but for now, focus on channel catfish for the best action. During June, key your catfishing efforts to points and river channels for best action.

You do not have to necessarily be in deep water to be successful. However, having deep water nearby is usually a good rule of thumb. Many times, I'll anchor the boat in 10 to 12 feet of water. I'll fan-cast bait to deeper and shallower water until I figure the combination of depth and structure the fish prefer that day.