South Carolina coastal fishing

Spending a few days on the Steed River just inside the fresh water-salt water line. What fish should I expect to get? Need to know what tackle and bait or lures to use. Thanks in advance.

Lots of Bass, Bluegill, Catfish, and White Perch in those waters. There's Crappie there too, but it depends on what time of year you go to catch them in numbers. Stripers will be the same as Crappie. There should be some American Eels around too.

What you catch will depend on how you fish.

Steed Creek is in Francis Marion NF, that's about an hour south of me. While I could tell you all about how to fish the saltwater side around Cape Romain, as for the freshwater of Steed Creek, I can't really advise as far as fishing there, because...

A: I've never fished it

and

B: I suck at freshwater fishing. Only way I can catch freshwater fish is in my own pond in the back yard. That's how horrible I am at freshwater fishing!! :mrgreen:

[url=https://www.tinboats.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=352479#p352479 said:

PSG-1 » Yesterday, 07:31[/url]"]Steed Creek is in Francis Marion NF, that's about an hour south of me. While I could tell you all about how to fish the saltwater side around Cape Romain, as for the freshwater of Steed Creek, I can't really advise as far as fishing there, because...

A: I've never fished it

and

B: I suck at freshwater fishing. Only way I can catch freshwater fish is in my own pond in the back yard. That's how horrible I am at freshwater fishing!! :mrgreen:

Click to expand...

So your point is how not to fish the freshwater of the coastal rivers of S.C?

I personally have not fished the coastal rivers of S.C, but I spent a good part of my youth fish the fresh, salt, and brackish waters of coastal NC and I doubt there's very much difference between the 2 fisheries. We lived on the Yeopim river (waterfront) and also fished the nearby Perquimans river. These rivers are south of Elizebeth City NC around Hertford NC. We also lived on the Cherry Point USMC base that's located on the Neuse river.

We (my 2 brothers and I) would spend our days during summer vacation chasing Bluegills and other sunfish, Bass, and White Perch (which aren't actually a perch but a Temperate Bass cousin to Saltwater Striped Bass) from a 12' tiller tinny with a 9.9 on it. Our most successful artificial lure was the red and white Beetlespin:
https://www.basspro.com/Johnson-Original-Beetle-Spin/product/15602/?hvarAID=shopping_googleproductextensions&om_mmc=shopping_googleproductextensions&kpid=15602%26adc=pg_315_11128_531528bbe4b0561180689ee6_41411266591
I don't know what this lure mimicked in that area but the fish would tear it up and I've never done as good with it anywhere else. We would throw it around Cypress knee beds and catch big bull 'Gills, Bass, and the ever present White perch. We also used minnows and live crickets fished below a cork.

At night we would target catfish off the dock using worms mostly, but also cut bait and small eels we would catch in the minnow trap. The small eels were killer for the bigger catfish, a 6-8" eel was perfect. We would also catch bigger American eels while fishing the docks at night, some nice 36" "Tiderunners". We would also catch the occasional Flounder at night, and they almost always bit the worms (crawlers).

I have fond memories of those days and nights of over 40 yrs ago and would like to go back and fish that area again for old times sake. Just thinking about it I can smell the Cypress trees in the evening mist.

Never fished Cherry Point, NC, but we have driven through there many times on our way to the NC OBX, that is some beautiful country up there! And of course, there are HUGE expanses of water up there. They have 1000 times the amount of water that SC has along the coastline, especially considering the expanses of the Core, Pamlico, Currituck and Albemarle Sounds. Anytime I see a boat with a NC registration in SC, I always ask myself "why in the hell would anyone from NC, with all that water, want to come down to this little pond?" Makes no sense. But I digress.

It seems like the bream were far more plentiful in the rivers around coastal SC when I was little, you couldn't throw a rig out without catching a bream. Now, you really have to try to hunt for them. I don't know if it's loss of habitat, pollution, or predation from larger species that is wiping them out in our coastal rivers, but something has affected them.

But, at least with my pond in the back yard, I can catch rainbow trout at the beach (from October to May, anyhow) Now there's something the rest of the freshwater fishermen in my area can't say! LOL

As for saltwater fishing, I could write volumes of books on the subject. But not for freshwater. I do enjoy being on the inland rivers and cypress swamps, but if I had to catch fish to feed myself to stay alive, I would starve to death.

Thanks for the advice and other observations. I live in the mountains of western NC. SC coastal waters are hours closer than NC coast. May be that's why NC boats go there. Certainly all the Outer Banks provide more coastline and a bigger variety of fishing environments. We take what we can get. I too am really good at snagging overhead and underwater structure. Now if only I could hook a fish that would break my line.

I had planned to use a long fluoro leader for invisibility, but my 10# mono is smaller diameter than my 6# fluoro. Concerned about what knot to use to tie them together. Maybe I should just stick to crabbing.

My advice would be to try some saltwater fishing while you're down here.

Try the low incoming tide around oyster beds, you will find red drum, trout, and black drum, along with the occasional flounder. Use lightweight spinning tackle and try casting jigs, or, use a float, and try floating live shrimp (if you can keep it away from pinfish) Fiddler crabs also make good bait, especially if you fish the higher grass flats as the tide gets close to flood stage. This is where the large red drum will be feeding on fiddler crabs.

Also, you can try trolling with mullet minnows or mud minnows in the deeper creeks at low tide for flounder. As for crabbing, a couple of good old hand lines and a dip net, or a crab trap placed in the right location, should provide enough crabs for a good meal.

Unfortunately oyster season just closed a couple of days ago, but clams extend to the end of the month. There may also be some shrimp in the creeks that can be caught with cast nets, but this time of the year, they may be a bit small for eating....but will definitely be about right for bait.

Try the first hour of incoming tide in shallow muddy water for shrimp. Crabs prefer slightly brackish water, as do shrimp.

Use the Blood Knot for joining two lines together:

https://www.animatedknots.com/indexfishing.php?LogoImage=LogoGrog.jpg&Website=www.animatedknots.com

Click on the knot for animated instructions.


Crabbing is great fun, and I'll pick crabs all night until my fingers are raw!

I've been known to crab and fish at the same time.

Well, I have a lot to learn about fishing tidal creeks. The water never stops moving! Was actually on Awendaw Creek. Used spinning outfits with 6# and 10# mono. Beetle spins. drop flies, baby black shad plastic, gold and silver Little Cleo. Caught a seven inch cast fish twice. One crab was legal size. A bust, but pretty.