Fly Fishing Charleston, SC

Fly Fishing for Redfish in Charleston, SC

Late starts, 3 hours in Atlanta traffic, and a barrage of extra expenses blew my travel budget out of the water. Was this worth it?

Charleston, SC Background

Why Charleston?

Charleston presents a unique challenge for the saltwater angler. There are many places along the gulf coast of Florida, Alabama, and Louisiana that offer chances to catch redfish, but few of those locations come with the same challenges as Charleston.

The marshes near James Island and Folly Beach just outside of the Charleston harbor present a unique opportunity to sight fish for tailing redfish. Sneaking up on these shallow flooded grasslands without spooking these fish is itself a victory. We all know that Redfish are known for being spooky and line shy, but that shyness seemed to be dialed in at a higher level in Charleston. 

These shallow pools and creek inlets are a great feeding opportunity for them, but it’s obvious that they are also keenly aware of how vulnerable they are. 

But even if you are lucky enough to hook one, keeping your line from getting tangled in the grass can be a herculean effort. When hooked, the fish often wrap the line around the tall grass. And then all at once the line comes loose, goes slack, you’ve lost all tension, and now the fish has fighting chance to shake the hook. Then it’s a matter of frantically stripping/reeling line in an almost futile attempt to hold onto what could possibly be your only chance at a fish all day.

Redfish Territory

What To Look For In A Guide

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not an incredible fly fisherman by any stretch of the imagination. I might screw up my only opportunity to make that perfect cast. But if I have 3 or 4 shots at it, I’ll probably get it right one of those times. This is where hiring the right guide becomes a make or break decision.

Contrary to what some people think, the guide’s job is not to guarantee that you catch fish. No, his job is to guarantee you have the OPPORTUNITY to catch fish. If you can’t close the deal because you’re spooking fish, or haven’t spent the time learning how to properly double-haul, then that’s on you, my friend.

For this trip I got a good recommendation to call Ryan at https://www.ghostwatersc.com/ for the trip. And I’m glad I did. It became very clear early on that this was an environment where the skill of the guide in just knowing where and how to find the fish is crucial.

While chasing other species of freshwater fish are a matter or putting in the work to catch the “fish-of-a-thousand-casts”, sight fishing for Reds is just the opposite. If you are constantly blind casting into every bit of water you are more likely to spook whatever fish is there before you hook it.

No, most of the time is spent quietly polling across the flooded grass looking for any indication of a feeding fish. And while anybody can spot tails, the trained guide is looking for all subtle variations in the landscape that are out of the ordinary. The movement of grass, water pushing, ripples, and the occasional pop of Redfish using their pharyngeal teeth to grind crustaceans.

Fly Fishing Charleston, SC – My Experience

Fly Fishing Charleston SC – The Hunt

The hunt began when I cast my line to a fish, who disappeared after that first cast. It wasn’t clear if I spooked him, but nevertheless he was gone. I got another couple casts at a fish who just didn’t seem interested in what I was throwing.

The tendency of the fly to catch on the grass also set off a few false alarms. But the third time was a charm. As we moved deeper into the marsh we spotted a good sized fish tailing in the thick grass.

On my second cast to the fish, I casted to the left and overshot by a couple feet. Like Wayne Gretsky said, don’t skate to where the puck is, skate to where the puck is going to be. As I slowly stripped the line in, the fish turned to the left and headed on a collision course with my fly.

I started to feel resistance and at first thought I was stuck on the grass, but when it started to move I knew it had taken the fly. I resisted the freshwater angler’s urge to trout-set the fish and instead opted to strip-set. I’ve been on too many saltwater trips and lost good fish to freshwater instincts. That wasn’t going to happen here.

As the fish raced through the marsh and looped around to the other side of the boat, my fly line wrapped around the grass at an acute angle like strings cutting back and forth in a cat’s cradle. And all at once, the line popped off and put about 10 feet of slack in the line. I immediately thought I lost the fish, but decided to strip in the line before letting out a tirade of four letter words.

Fortunately once I had stripped out all the slack I found that the fish was still on. After another 5 minutes of avoiding grass and holding tension on the line, Ryan and I held our breath as he scooped the fish up in his net. I let out a yell of excitement, and a high five. I could hardly believe that I had done it within the first half hour of fishing. I was absolutely elated.

The rest of the trip was filled chasing redfish deep in creek inlets and attempting to track schools of speckled trout with my drone. Perhaps I had used up all my good luck with the first fish because my subsequent attempts were not fruitful, and my drone broke a blade and took a bath.

Maybe that’s karma for trying to spot fish with a drone and I deserved it. I’m still unclear about whether using a drone to spot fish is considered ethical or not. But I can at least rest assured that the fish I did catch used the old fashioned method of spotting fish from the elevated platform on a guide boat. Add the ruined drone to the list of things that went wrong on this trip. Although to be fair, I was able to recover most of the footage from the SD card.

But now that it’s over, I’m brought back to the same thought I had while trying to stay awake on the drive down – is this worth it? Now that it’s over, the traffic, the lack of sleep, and the extra cost doesn’t even matter. And when I see the pictures and remember the hunt, I know that it was truly worth it.

Our advice when planning your trip to go Fly Fishing Charleston, SC