You’ll find more success if you fish for what is here this time of year

This week, fishing felt like a Don Henley song. In the Lowcountry, sharks and tarpon are the boys of summer and this week they were gone. While I have not seen a Dead Head sticker on a Cadillac, I am pretty sure the boys of summer are gone. Catching sharks behind shrimp boats is super easy and very reliable (in the summer). On Saturday, I did not get a bite. After striking out on sharks, I ran the Pathfinder just off the beach looking for rolling tarpon. For the past few months, finding tarpon on the beach has been a regular thing. Saturday, there were none to be found. On the ride back to the boat landing, I resigned myself to the fact that summer is truly over.

After spending Saturday targeting the boys of summer (and not catching anything), Sunday I focused on a more available species — speckled trout. In the fall, trout form large schools and feed aggressively. So, this time of year, they are usually pretty easy to catch.

Thankfully, this was the case on Sunday.

The trout were stacked up in the mouths of small creeks that were draining into the main river. Casting a Z-Man TRD or Trout Trick into the creek mouths produced steady action. After releasing several trout, the porpoise with the wonky fin that Brody (the amazing fish finding dog) scared off last week, returned. Brody was not on the boat with me. With no dog deterrent, the porpoise swam right up to the boat and stared at me. I felt like it was looking for that barking furry thing that it swam around with last week!

While the transient warm water species are leaving town, the resident inshore species are going off. Unlike me, if you fish for what is here, you will more than likely meet with success.

Contact Captain Greg Peralta at captgregp@gmail.com or call (843) 224-0099.