Daniel Island News – May 18

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!