# Stono River- Near Charleston, SC



## Too Busy (Sep 7, 2007)

Went out with a buddy Saturday morning ina screaming wind. It was blowing 20 mph out of the NE and the bay area at the launch was nothing but whitecaps. Decided to fish anyway, so I paddled across the river to a mud bank to throw the cast net. 4 throws and I had over 2 dox good sized shrimp, a blue crab and a 4 inch long spot, so it's time to go fishing.

I jumped back in the yak and had to paddle back across the bay, straight into the wind and whitecaps. Meanwhile, my buddy Jordan has set up on a sheltered point and started putting trout in the yak. I went past him around the point and fished the drop off and caught ladyfish and small perch. After a few minutes we headed to Jordan's "super secret trout hole"

We both got set up to fish a nice oyster bar with a grass line and feeder creek..... everything that just screams trout and redfish. I liked this spot from the moment we paddled up there. I tossed a 1/4 crab out on one rod and fished live shrimp under a popping cork on the other. Jordan did the same and put live shrimp on the bottom on his 3rd rod.

After about 5 minutes I noticed a tap on my bottom rig. Picked the rod up and it felt like a crab nibbling away at my bait, so I gave it a little tug and *BAM * the rod doubles over and the drag starts to sing. After a short sleigh ride under the dock in the background, this big girl comes to the boat. 28 inches and heavy. released healthy.

















A couple of minutes later Jordan hooks up with one of his own. A nice 20" male. relased healthy









We kept at this spot as the tide came up and put a few trout in the yaks, but no keepers. As the tide just kept coming up we noticed a lot of water where we'd never seen it before. I did a little exploring WAAAAAY back in the grass and saw a few tails in the air, some nice pushes, and a few blow ups, but the grass was so thick there was no way to make a good cast.

As the supposed high tide approached we headed over to a nice deep hole where we caught a few flounder 2 weeks ago. When we got there the oyster bar and even the grass were under water. The enitre bend in the river, the feeder creeks, everything was submerged. 

So we set up, climbed out of the yaks to stretch our legs and waited for the tide to turn. And we waited,..... and waited.... and waited... the wind blown tide just kept pouring in. The tide finally turned somewhere between 45 minutes and an hour after when it should have. 

Jordan tossed a 1/4 crab out into the wash from the feeder creek while we worked the bar for trout and flounder. We each caught a couple of trout, but no flounder on this trip. A few minutes go by and BZZZZ, Jordan's drag gives us a wake up call. He picked up the rod, goes to set the hook and nothing. Waits just a second then *WHAM* his rod takes a deep bend and *BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ* the drag starts to scream. You can see the head shaking from his rod tip bouncing while the fish takes line. He tightened the drag a little, gained a bit of line back, then another huge run. By now the fish has taken about 150 yards of line and is going around the bend. 
Unfortunately, the grass and oysters are too much for Jordan's 10 pound Power Pro. :redface: He never got the freight train to turn, but what a rush. 

I can't wait to do it again. I'll have my 9' surf rod with me next time out and soak some peeler crabs with hopes of hooking into one of those big boys.


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## RuddeDogg (Mar 20, 2004)

Nice work guys. Congrats.


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