“Late spring and early summer is a great time of the year for redfish, especially using live bait,” said Capt. Reid Simmons (843/452-8844). “The tackle shops will have live shrimp for sale and the next best bait is little menhaden.”

Simmons explained that the shrimp found in the creeks this time of the year are normally still too small to use for bait, which is why anglers would have to purchase them. He also likes menhaden about 4 to 5 inches long, and by the start of summer, he said it might be hard to find baits that small.

“I like to fish the baits under a float on an ebbing tide,” Simmons said. “Redfish schools will be in smaller bunches than you normally find them during the cooler times of the year. The good thing about this is you can fish the entire length of a shell bank without spooking a whole bunch of fish when you catch one.

“After you catch one fish, you can ease down the bank and there’s another one waiting,” Simmons said.

Simmons recommends that anglers find as clear water as possible that’s dumping out of side creeks. He said that they don’t have to be large creeks but should have clear water.

“I don’t overlook the flooding tide but it can be harder to pattern the fish then,” Simmons said. “As soon as the water is up into the grass, however, I’m back in there with the fish looking for them.”

For spottails up in the grass, look for areas of thinner grass, and work a gold spoon or spinnerbait through the area. Flies, such as Clousers, Deceivers or any crab pattern, are effective as well.

SPOTTED SEATROUT
They aren’t called winter trout for nothing. Spotted seatrout shine when the temperatures begin tapering off to more manageable levels after the heat of summer.

Spotted seatrout are predatory schooling fish that feed by sight. And the clearer water that comes with cooling temperatures brings this fish into its element. Baitfish are balled up and leaving the creeks for the winter, and spotted seatrout are there to greet them.

Their propensity to bite in the fall makes spotted seatrout the No. 2 inshore saltwater fish in the state. Having a distinguishing spotted pattern that would rival the colors in jewels across the upper half of their rocket-tapered bodies makes spotted seatrout pleasing to eye. Like their spottail cousins, they’re good to eat, too.

But good spotted seatrout fishing doesn’t have to be an end-of-the-year event.

“The large spotted seatrout will begin showing up in creeks during March,” said Capt. John Irwin of Fly Right Charters (843/860-4231 or FlyRightCharters.com) and Charleston Angler in West Ashley. “I usually find these fish in water about 12 to 14 feet deep.”

Irwin suggested that fishermen use live shrimp on a Carolina rig to target these big fish. Because live shrimp will not have arrived in local creeks this early in the season, you will have to buy them at local tackle shops.

“Besides live shrimp, baby menhaden are another bait,” Irwin said. “Once they show up, these are the best bait in my opinion.”