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Includes Dewee’s Island fishing report, Isle of Palms fishing report, Sullivan’s Island fishing report, Folly Beach fishing report, Kiawah Island fishing report and Seabrook Island fishing report.

Located just south of the geographical midpoint of the South Carolina coastline, the port city of Charleston was founded in 1670.  One of the oldest and generally considered among the most beautiful American cities, it is the county seat of Charleston County and located on the Charleston Harbor – an inlet formed by the confluence of the Ashley, Cooper and Wando Rivers.  Berkeley, Charleston and Dorchester counties are all considered to be part of the Charleston metropolitan area.  From a fishing perspective, this fishing report considers the area south of Bulls Bay and north of Edisto Island to be covered under “Charleston”.  In addition to numerous inland waterways, this area includes the beaches of Isle of Palms, Sullivan’s Island, Folly Beach, Kiawah Island, and Seabrook Island. 

Redfish (also known as spottail bass, red drum, and other names) can be caught inshore around Charleston the year round, as can spotted seatrout (also known as speckled seatrout, winter trout, and more).  Sheepshead and black drum can also be found inshore most of the year, although in late winter the mature fish generally head offshore to spawn.  There are also an abundance of essentially migratory species that generally come in the warmer months – a broad category in South Carolina – and leave when temperatures cool.  These include croaker, pompano, spot, whiting and of course flounder (juveniles of both species may be present all year), tripletail bluefish, tarpon, weakfish, spadefish, cobia, Spanish mackerel, king mackerel, sharks and more.  Bottom species including black sea bass, triggerfish, porgies, and various species of snapper and grouper can always be found off the coast at varying depths, while dolphin, tuna and even marlin are seasonal offshore species.  Wahoo can generally be caught the year round in the Gulf Stream off South Carolina.  Note that species can seasonally come to South Carolina via north/south migration along the Atlantic coast, or they can seasonally move closer to the coast and then farther out via east/west migration, as well as a combination of the two.  In addition to spawning patterns and water temperature preference, some of these migrations are driven at least in part by bait availability, including shrimp, mullet, menhaden and more.