Brown likes to poke around the structure for flounder during low tide. He will usually float a mud minnow, shrimp or finger mullet among, around and off the structure. If he's not using a float, he will use a 1/4-ounce jighead with a piece of bait attached, and slowly work it around the structure and back to the boat.

"Charleston Harbor is loaded with docks," Brown said. "You could spend all day just working the docks along the Mount Pleasant side for flounder.

"When people ask me about catching flounder, I ask them if they have access to a dock. If they do, I tell them to just work the pilings by vertical jigging. They're surprised that you can catch flounder like that."

Brown suggested anglers try the pier at Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor or the old coal-loading dock on Town Creek. He also added that any of the groins coming off the local beaches would hold flounder, which is good for shore-bound anglers. He has observed that flounder would normally be found on the sides of the groins and seatrout on the tips. His speculation is that the seatrout preferred the current coming around the tips of the rocks.

BLACK SEABASS
The next two species of fish are obliging underdogs of the saltwater fishing world. Black seabass and whiting are cooperative biters that are equally suited for the table.

Black seabass can occasionally be found in very nearshore waters, such as jetties, but most are associated with nearshore reefs and other structure. These fish are suicidal eaters, chomping on nearly anything you drop in front of them, which makes them good targets if young anglers are aboard. They even bite under nearly any condition any month of the calendar.

Because they rarely reach large sizes, as a really nice fish would be about 3 pounds, so you will need a few if you plan to eat them. Despite the appearance of being rather abundant, please be mindful of how many you keep. Also, there is a 20-fish limit with a 10-inch minimum size.

Black seabass can be caught using any sort of cut bait. Small pieces of shrimp, clam, squid or even pieces of other fish will suffice. The bait can be fished on a standard two-hook fish-finder rig with only enough weight to keep the rig on the bottom.

Good populations of seabass are found on any of the nearshore artificial reefs listed by SCDNR. You can get a list of the reefs at the SCDNR Web site. Go to www.dnr.state.sc.us, click on "Fish" at the top and then click on "Artificial Reefs" located along the left margin.

The artificial reefs can receive a lot of fishing pressure, thereby reducing the seabass size and abundance. Fishing outside of the high-pressure summer months helps, but another suggestion is to seek out new areas. When boating in nearshore waters, keep an eye on your depthfinder to locate other areas of structure, which usually tend to be subtle piles of rock. Various commercial maps have been produced that feature many of these areas that might be ignored by other anglers.