Fishing Experiences & Techniques
This week, fishing in the late afternoon and early evening has been outstanding. Redfish and Trout are chasing shrimp during lower stages of tide. So, they are easy to find. Locate jumping shrimp and there is a good chance you have found feeding fish. A quick cast into the feeding area often produces a solid strike.
A sparsely tied tan Clouser Minnow is an excellent shrimp imitation. As such, it has been my go to fly this week. The bite is on. Tie a few flies and go catch some fish.
From my article in the Daniel Island News last week.
Fishing and catching are not synonymous. There are times when fish are simply difficult to catch. Saturday, was one of those days. My friend, Sean Burke and son (Elliott) met me at the boat landing a little before 8:00 AM. We launched the skiff into the last of the falling tide. Our plan was to target Redfish shallow and then switch to Trout when the tide began to rise. Things started out well. A few minutes after we started fishing (near a submerged oyster bar in 1-2 feet of water), both Sean and Elliott had already caught a Redfish. The Reds has an affinity for a Z-Man MinnowZ Houdini, which I was not using. Sean and Elliott (who were using the MinnowZ Houdini) had steady action until the tide stopped. When the bite turned off, all I had managed to catch was a single tiny Trout. Of course, Sean and Elliott kept a steady banter about my poor performance dragging them down.
Things changed after we switched to Trout on the incoming tide. Sean joined me in the poor performance fishing club. The bite was not great but somehow Elliott managed to get all the bites. A fact he constantly reminded Sean and me about. We were all using the same lure and working the same retrieve cadence but Elliott caught all the fish. To make matters worse, he completed an inshore slam by releasing a 14-inch Flounder. Speaking of which, on July 1st the Flounder minimum size limit was increased to 15 inches.
Towards the end of the trip, I made a small rally after switching to a StreakZ 3.75 Blue Back Herring on a Trout Eye finesse jig. This left Sean all alone in the poor performance fishing club. We elected Sean the club president (since he was the only member).
Fishing and catching are not synonymous. If you are having one of “those” days, the club is seeking new members. Contact Sean Burke for more information.
Exploring new areas is one of my favorite aspects of fishing. Recently, I have been spending time in the back country of the Florida Keys. When you live in Charleston, South Carolina getting to the Keys is a bit of drive. Especially when towing a boat. In order to make the long drive less worrisome, I asked the folks at Charleston Trailer to design and build a high quality trailer for my skiff. After hundreds of days on the water and thousands of miles on the road, the trailer looks and operates like it was brand new.
When you travel to fish, catching fish should be your primary concern. To make getting there (and back) problem free, invest in a high quality trailer.
A lot of fly anglers spend more time at their vise than on their skiffs. While I enjoy tying flies, I enjoy catching fish more! As such, my files are all very simple and easy to tie. They are not very pretty but they do catch fish. This time of year, Redfish, Trout and Flounder (along with everything else that has fins and teeth) get really focused on eating shrimp. Thankfully, a sparsely tied tan Clouser Minnow looks just like a shrimp.
Recently, I started using Steve Farrar’s Flash Blend for all my shrimp and glass minnow flies (which are sparsely tied Clouser Minnows). This material is easy to work with and provides a translucent silhouette in the water. It helps me to quickly tie simple but effective flies (that catch fish).
Step away from that vise and go fishing!
After Fishing in the Keys for a few weeks, I have returned to Daniel Island. In my absence, the water temperature jumped several degrees and the fish have settled into their summer time habits. While a hungry fish will eat pretty much anything, in the summer they have a definitive preference for shrimp.
On Saturday, this was particularly evident. New moon low tides were running a foot below normal. On extremely low or negative tides, predators gather in shallow water areas and feast on shrimp. With very little water in the creeks, the shrimp are easy pickings for Redfish, Trout and Flounder. With this in mind, my plan on Saturday was to get super shallow (less than a foot deep) and look for feeding fish. However, a slight miscalculation found my skiff stuck on an oyster bar in the mouth of a small creek. Math was never my strong point but even I know that a skiff with a 6-inch draft will not float in 5 inches of water. Silly me.
Stuck on the bar in the sweltering heat, I drank a bottle of water and pondered my options. About then, a school of Redfish began chasing shrimp just ahead of my grounded skiff. So, I grabbed by fly rod, tied on a shrimp imitation fly and exited the skiff. Thankfully, the bottom was reasonably firm and I was able to wade into casting distance of the fish. My first presentation of the fly was immediately crushed. The fish were not particularly large but they were hungry (and I was stuck). Thus, I decided to stick around for a while. For the next hour or so, I enjoyed a hot Redfish bite, both figuratively and literally.
Fishing in the Keys is great. But, there is no place like home.
Many thanks to all who attended my session on June 6 @ The Charleston Angler. Standing room only on an evening with torrential rain! To keep up with my daily fishing adventures, follow me on Instagram @captgregp. Thanks again for your interest and support!
As promised, providing a copy of my presentation below. Click the link to down load a copy.
This is what I look like when I am not fishing. Since I fish most of the time, this is a rare photo (on the order of a big foot sighting). Of course, when I am not fishing, I like to talk about fishing. Please join me at The Charleston Angler (West Ashley location) on June 6 at 6:30. I will cover patterns and techniques that help me to consistently catch fish and complete inshore slams.
Hope to see you there!
Captains David and Elliott Peralta Working a Tripletail On the Fly
The essence of fishing is not catching fish. It is about spending time with your friends and family. Some of my more memorable fishing trips are when fishing was hard and catches were few. Saturday was one of them. Given busy schedules, it had been a couple of weeks since Elliott (my son), David (my brother) and I had fished together. For us, this was an unusually long time between fishing trips together. Our plan was to launch an hour before high tide and target Trout then switch to tailing Redfish at the top of the tide. The plan went south almost immediately. A strong breeze made for choppy conditions in the Wando River. This made for poor water clarity and the Trout bite was slow. Dave and Elliott managed to catch a few on Z-Man MinnowZ (Houdini) lures. I caught zero. A fact pointed out (often) by Elliott and David.
At the top of tide, we left the Trout (they were not biting that well anyway) and moved to an area of the marsh that was supposed to be submerged by the high tide. Unfortunately, the tide was not high enough to allow Redfish access to the area. Historically, per the moon phase and tide cycle, this was the ideal location. We checked a few more areas with the same results (not enough of a tide to flood the marsh). With Plan A (Trout) and Plan B (tailing Redfish) a total bust, we drifted along the marsh edge discussing Plan C. About then, I spotted a small Tripletail hanging around a marsh point. Elliott has never caught a Tripletail on the fly, so this became our Plan C. Elliott jumped up on the poling platform, Dave handed him his fly rod and I positioned the skiff for a good downwind fly presentation. With nothing left for me to do, I settled in to watch Elliott and David work the fish. The Tripletail refused the first fly (a Clouser minnow). So, David selected a shrimp pattern for Elliott to try next. We held our breath as the Tripletail slowly tracked the fly. Only to turn away at the last second. Elliott, David and I exchanged “did you see that” looks. We repeated this sequence until the falling tide forced the Tripletail into deeper water. Elliott did not catch his first Tripletail on the fly.
From a fish catching perspective, it was an awful day. From a family experience perspective, it was unforgettable.
Sometimes, a fishing trip does not go as planned. This was certainly the case on Friday evening. Elliott and I decided (at the last minute) to target Redfish on the fly. It was breezy but the wind was forecast to subside, making for challenging but fly fishable conditions. The wind did not subside. Elliott thought I was bringing my 8-weight flyrod and I thought he was bringing his. We ended up fishing with an inexpensive 6-weight flyrod that I keep on the skiff (for just such emergencies). It was way under-powered for the size fly (a chartreuse bead chain Clouser Minnow) and wind conditions (15 knots) but it was all we had.
Upon arrival at our designated fishing area (a shallow area with a slight channel), we immediately saw a small school of Redfish chasing shrimp. Elliott volunteered to pole the skiff and I took the bow with 6-weight fly rod in hand. My first, second and third casts were simply awful. The wind kept knocking my presentation off line or short. In such conditions, an 8-weight fly rod would have been a great help. For the next hour, we cast to several fish but it was more of the same. I resolved to buy an 8-weight fly rod and keep it on the skiff.
Just as I was about to give up, Elliott spotted a single Redfish tailing beside an oyster bar. It was a short downwind cast and my first accurate fly presentation of the evening. On the first strip, I felt weight and thought the fly had gotten hung up on the oyster bar. Very frustrated, I began cussing and tried to break the fly off. Then I realized, it was actually a Redfish. Elliott made a comment about “the worst hook up on the fly” he had ever seen. He was laughing so hard, I thought he would fall off the poling platform. I began laughing too.
We eventually caught, photographed and released the fish. Fly fishing can be a challenging endeavor. Especially, when you forget to bring your fly rod.
Between bad weather, skiff maintenance and my daughter (Maddie) graduating from college, I did not get to fish much last week. However, when I did manage to get out, fishing was quite good. Especially for big Redfish on the falling tide.
Late Wednesday afternoon, Elliott and I decided to fish the Cooper River and Clouter Creek. We launched the skiff at the newly renovated boat landing near Bellinger Island. Which, by the way, looks and functions great! After a quick run into the Cooper River, we began casting Z-Man MinnowZ (Pinfish) lures on quarter ounce Trout Eye jigs to creeks that were draining into the main river. It took a while to find the right drain but when we did it was game on with big Reds. Most of the fish were over the slot (of 23 inches). A few were way over the slot. Elliott caught the biggest one of the trip, a 30+ inch bruiser. As a bonus, Trout were also feeding in creek mouths. So, Elliott and I had steady action well into the evening.
The most productive technique was a long cast into the mouth of the creeks. We imparted an erratic jigging and wiggling retrieve as the tide swept the lure into the main river. Most of our strikes occurred in the current seam where the creek and river met. Trout were holding deeper and the Reds were feeding tight to the creek mouth. So, if a Redfish did not eat the lure, a few seconds later (in deeper water), a Trout usually did.
While I typically fish in the Wando River, Clouter Creek and the Cooper River system are full of Trout, Flounder and Redfish. So much so, that I believe I will be spending a bit more time there!