Family Fishing Along the Kiawah River

One of our vacation highlights while we were down at Kiawah during the second week of June was the fishing. The ocean and inter-coastal waterways are teeming with a variety of fish whether it is flounder, reds, trout, shark and so much more. These areas are also plentiful for netting blue crabs and shrimp. For those anxious to shellfish, just remember to bring some cast nets or traps and be familiar with the SC fishing regulations. I am definitely going to give crabbing a try during my next visit.

Our focus during the vacation week was on fish. We managed to do all of our fishing from the pier at Rhetts Bluff on Kiawah Island. The Rhetts bluff area features two piers (only one for fishing), boats launch/landing, and even a gazebo to picnic or seek refuge from the rain.  There is even a portion on both piers that have covered sections. This little roof came in handy when we went fishing on our second day down in Kiawah and experienced a quickly approaching downpour.

With light fishing gear, tackle box, and my two sons and father in law along, we were able to cast some lines from the end of the pier using cut up squid and mullet. The squid is the ideal bait for inter-coastal fishing, as it is rubbery and the dense tissue stays on the hook pretty good in spite of the numerous bites. The fishing pier has a great stainless steel bait station to cut the bait and has a hose to rinse off.

What started out as slow bites for the first hour quickly turned to catching a bunch of croakers. (You’ll know a croaker when you catch one by the noise they make).  We then managed to catch even a few smaller sharks and a ray.  My father in law had a serious fish on his line until the line snapped. That was a painful reminder that we should have been using heavier line, especially when casting heavier baits towards the middle and deeper parts of the river. For those that want to get a little flavor of salt water fishing without going through the exercise of chartering a boat, I highly recommend doing some fishing along this Atlantic inter-coastal spot. It is also a great way to introduce fishing to the younger anglers.