Photo by Robert Sloan

Fishing the salt marsh during the warmer months of the year can be every bit as frustrating as it is enjoyable.

Granted, it is one of the best times of the year to be on the water. The days are long, the marsh is alive with activity, the sea breeze is refreshing, and save for the occasional thunderstorm, rain rarely interrupts a fishing trip.

The fishing can be as spectacular as the weather and scenery. I can recall numerous trips when it seemed the redfish were at an all-you-can-eat buffet and my baits were the main entrée. But those trips seem to be more luck than the typical occurrence. Interspersed are many more trips where the redfish seem to be on a hunger strike. Or worse yet, it seemed as if they had evaporated.

Everyone has their favorite fishing holes, and I am no exception. These are those particular points, dropoffs or oyster bars where the redfish always seem to bite. These are the kinds of spots that, when the outgoing tide is halfway down, you just know you are guaranteed a redfish.

I have a couple of those spots, and I had an out-of-town guest a few years ago who was interested in being introduced to Lowcountry redfishing during the summer. We packed the rods into the boat, caught some live bait and proceeded to fish some of these sure-fire holes.

One particular spot that stands out as a favorite is a 100-yard stretch of salt marsh that lies between the mouth of a small feeder creek and a robust point that is guarded by oyster mounds. Along this stretch, oyster bars of varying lengths front the marsh grass.

This spot has produced redfish and spotted seatrout in the past when I drifted live bait under a float or worked artificial baits along the edge of the grass. The fish have bitten on a rising or falling tide.

On this summer day the spot was dry. Pinfish, small bluefish and sharks ripped our live shrimp and finger mullet into chunks, but no redfish. I know every spot isn't supposed to yield fish on every trip, but this spot had always been such a consistent producer.

While we walked the beach waiting for the tide to switch, I thought about why this particular hole might have been unproductive. The one thing that was obvious was that when I had caught fish there before, the marsh grass was golden colored and not the deep green associated with summer. Perhaps it was a spot that was more conducive to redfish when it was cooler.

Out from this stretch of shoreline was nothing but a shallow, featureless mudflat. There was no dropoff or deeper hole nearby. The very thing that made this fishing hole attractive in the fall and winter was what made it unappealing in the summer.

The mudflat provided thermal protection and an escape area during the colder months. During the low tide, the shallower water with its dark bottom heats up more than deeper water. Also, the shallower water makes it harder for bottle-nosed dolphins to catch redfish.

The sun doesn't quit working in the summer. In fact, its effects are even greater. Therefore, the mudflat and nearby shoreline where I routinely caught redfish were probably too hot during the summer for redfish. Possibly, if there had been some deeper water nearby where the fish could escape the heat, they may have staged in the cooler water, then moved up to forage along the shore before retreating again to deeper water.

Apparently, looking for redfish in locations that commonly hold the fish during fall and winter is a common mistake made by summertime anglers.