Palmetto State Fishing
by Brian Cope

Variety. That’s what South Carolina offers anglers. Last spring I took full advantage of this variety in a 2-day stretch that took me from the mountainous Upstate region for coldwater trout to the inshore waters of the Low-Country for redfish, speckled sea-trout, and sheepshead, with a stop in the Midlands between those two for some largemouth bass and catfish.

The Chattooga River was my fishing grounds that first morning. I caught some stocker-sized rainbow trout in the Burrell’s Ford area, sat down on a big rock for lunch, then hiked upstream of Burrell’s Ford to an area that gets very little human traffic. There, I caught two fat brook trout that grow wild in that area.

In between catching fish, I took in the beauty of the Upstate. The land is flat were I live with open farm fields that seem to go on forever. Here though, the rocky terrain gave way to lush greenery and I could only guess—or hike ahead—to see what was always just out of sight.

Once I’d filled my stringer, I headed to my home in the Midlands, unable to shake myself of the fishing bug. I’m lucky enough to have access to some local fishing ponds and I headed out to one as evening approached. I tossed plastic worms at downed trees and got my share of bites. I landed 3 largemouth bass before the day gave way to darkness, and I headed home to dream of more fish.

If that sounds like the ending to a perfect day, then you haven’t heard the rest of my story. Once home, I got a phone call from a friend and fellow angler. He had set some catfish lines and wanted to know if I’d help check them in the morning. “That’d be just fine,” I told him, “as long as we’re done by 8 a.m.” I had yet another fishing trip planned, this time to the coast with a couple of other friends. “We’ll start at 6 and be done in plenty of time,” he assured me.

We checked 30 lines that morning, landing 7 catfish. 6 of the cats were blues and the other was a big prehistoric-looking flathead. We pulled off the river in time for me to meet my other friends, and then we headed to the salt. The marshes and palmetto trees welcomed us to the Low Country, and we started the day fishing 1-mile offshore, at what is known as the “sewing machine wreck,” which, predictably enough, is the wreck of a ship that was transporting sewing machines when it sank about a hundred years ago. Less than 24 hours after catching wild brook trout, I was reeling in sheepshead and black-sea-bass and watching a big loggerhead turtle swim about.

The weather started getting rough and one of my fishing partners announced that he’d be “tossing cookies soon” if we didn’t head to calmer waters, so we followed his advice and headed to the Hunting Island lagoon. Just happy to be out of the rough waves, we all kicked back and cast out some cut shrimp. In a few minutes the bite turned on and we were into the redfish and the speckled sea-trout. Both species seemed to be mingling together in one tiny spot, so as one of us reeled in a fish, another would make a cast to the spot and another hook-up would ensue.

We ended the day by pitching a tent less than a mile from the boat landing at Hunting Island State Park. As the sun set I listened to the freshwater trout I’d caught the day before sizzling in the frying pan on the camp stove. The past two days of activity had caught me and I was very tired. “We’ve been catching big saltwater fish all day and here we are eating fresh rainbow trout tonight,” one of my fishing partners said with a smile.
“Yeah,” I answered, “that’s the beauty of Palmetto State fishing.”

Palmetto State Fishing Article About Fishing in SC.