Ron Davis has been fishing around the Edisto Island area for 18 years, but he only considers the last 3 to have been productive. The first time that Ron ever fished Edisto he was visiting his wife’s parents who had a second home on the island, and he headed up a creek and had a very successful day. However, subsequent efforts in the same location didn’t pan out. After a series of unsuccessful trips, he looked around for help but found little forthcoming, with the majority of local anglers being secretive about their techniques and spots. Eventually he started fishing with the same tactics he used for largemouth on Lake Wylie, putting the trolling motor down and targeting docks and rocks with a jighead and live bait or artificial trailer. He was somewhat more successful with the new approach, but still didn’t feel like he had the big picture figured out. Eventually, after moving to Edisto full time, but still without much help beyond the very occasional guided trip, he figured out that he was missing out on the fish that inhabited the flats off the main rivers, and the mini-flats off the larger flats. Finally his average fishing trips became productive, and eventually very productive.
This summer I was lucky enough to get to fish Edisto with Ron Davis, and by listening to his wisdom I picked up knowledge that would have taken years to figure out. Some of the facts were Edisto specific, but many of them helped me better understand inshore fishing in general. I am extremely grateful to Ron for sharing 18 years of hard-earned fishing knowledge with us, so that we won’t have as many difficult trips as he did along the way.
Ron Davis
Multiple times over a South Carolina state champion in tennis, after a successful college career at Clemson and then Winthrop many people wanted Ron to try and turn professional at that sport. But after a decade and a half traveling for competitive tennis, he wasn’t sure he wanted to attempt to make a life on the road as a tennis pro. After 15 years as a teaching professional, he realized he wanted to do something completely different with his life. Ron had always loved fishing, and his father Ron Davis, was a tinkerer of lure design. Ron Sr. had been working on a new type of bladed lure for 25+ years, and in 2004 a breakthrough occurred that resulted in what became The Original Chatterbait. Its essence is its controlled, restricted oscillation that causes tremendous vibration which is attractive to both salt and fresh water gamefish.
In 2000 RAD Lures was started as a company that specialized in hand-made jigs and spoons, but in 2004, all efforts were put behind the promotion and sale of The Chatterbait. Sales were slow at first, but bass fishermen in the Carolinas began to have better success in tournaments with The Chatterbait than their favorite spinnerbait. Ron and his father spent most of 2005 promoting the bait and getting the word out, but things really took off in 2006. In March there were a couple of major tournaments on Lake Okeechobee, and when Bryan Thrift won the Stren Series event with The Chatterbait a week before the FLW Tour Event, the FLW pros took note. 5 of the top 10 finishers used The Chatterbait in the FLW tournament, and overnight Ron and his father couldn’t produce enough baits to keep up with demand. At that point RAD Lures enlisted the help of Z-Man Fishing Products (out of Charleston, SC) to aid in manufacturing and fulfillment, and the two companies worked together for the next two years to produce several lures in the “Chatter” family that were designed for a myriad of game fish. In 2008, Z-Man purchased from RAD Lures all rights to The Original Chatterbait and still are going strong producing and distributing Chatterbaits to all major fishing tackle retailers.
The Original Chatterbait may well be history’s most copied fishing lure in the shortest period of time, and within a year of Bryan Thrift’s win 77 other companies had produced knock-off imitations. After a hard fought legal battle of 4 ½ years, the details of which would make a fascinating book, the US Patent and Trademark Office has finally done what should have happened years ago and issued a patent on the Chatterbait. Z-Man now owns a very valuable patent, and Ron says that if they enforce it the imitation lures should eventually disappear. After a couple of years out of the lure business, Ron and his father have a new series of lures they have been working on. Lucky for us, though, he didn’t spend his time off playing tennis, and over the last few years Ron has been on the waters around Edisto Island as much as anyone. Even better he is willing to share what he has learned!
Edisto Island
Roughly equidistant between Charleston and Beaufort, Edisto Island is a unique, sparsely developed community located well away from any major town in South Carolina’s low country. Edisto is a little less than an hour by car from Beaufort, and around forty-five minutes by car from Charleston, and driving the backroads and crossing unspoiled marshes to get there feels like stepping back in time. Perhaps because of its isolation, Edisto is a uniquely “South Carolina” beach. When you visit most oceanfront communities in this state you will see tourists’ license plates from all over the country, but not at Edisto. With only a few restaurants and stores, and located miles off any major highway, Edisto Island is about as far away as you can get from the very different cities of Myrtle Beach, Charleston and Hilton Head – and still be on the South Carolina coast. Edisto Island is essentially a fisherman’s paradise, and that’s exactly why Ron Davis moved there!
To the northeast of Edisto Island, the North Edisto River rings the island and meets up with the ocean, separating Edisto from the beach community of Seabrook Island. To the southwest the South Edisto River borders Edisto Island and flows into the ocean beside the Saint Helena Sound; Hunting Island is the nearest populated island south of Edisto. On any given trip Ron usually fishes either the North Edisto or the South Edisto, and they fish very differently. The North Edisto is really just the Intracoastal Waterway, while the South Edisto has a freshwater inflow from the blackwater Ashepoo and Combahee Rivers. This generally means that the North Edisto has cleaner water, while particularly farther up the South Edisto darker, tannic stained water will be found.
The wind is a particularly important consideration inshore fishing around Edisto. Unlike many types of freshwater fishing, where the wind can make maneuvering more difficult but will sometimes activate bait and fish, among other advantages, in general Ron says that there is no advantage to windy days inshore. The wind’s main effects are muddying the water and making it harder to stay in position, and both the North and South Edisto can be more difficult to fish on windy days. Fishing the South Edisto, a breeze from the east is generally less harmful, but a wind from the west will bring in more dirty, tannic water and make fishing even tougher. Regardless of wind direction, Ron says that if you are going to fish around Edisto you need to have protected spots up the creeks for windy days.
Ron points out a couple of other general considerations, particularly for anglers used to fishing Charleston but planning to give Edisto a try. One difference between the waters around Edisto and around Charleston is that Edisto has less flats, and the tides generally come in a little faster. Additionally, down around Edisto the water is generally dingier than in Charleston, and so darker color lures generally offer the fish a better profile.
Edisto Island Inshore Species
I’ve always enjoyed saltwater fishing because of the sheer range of possibilities – when you get a strike, you never know what is on the other end of your line. This is particularly true surf fishing in the open ocean, but a broad range of species are also available inshore. Spottail bass, trout, sheepshead, tarpon and flounder are the most popular inshore fish available around Edisto Island, not to mention black drum, jacks, bluefish, a variety of sharks, ladyfish, skates, pinfish and many more.
Spottail bass
There is little doubt that spottail bass, or redfish, are the year-round king of inshore fishing in South Carolina. Even though migratory tarpon grow bigger and put on a more impressive aerial display during the summer months when they appear here, their numbers are sparse and their stay brief. More hours are spent pursuing redfish in South Carolina than any other saltwater species, and they stay in the estuaries and will eat the year round. Very large spottail bass move offshore, where they are more commonly referred to as red drum, but fish that run up to about 15 or 16 pounds will usually be found inshore. Spottails are also special because they pull like runaway freight trains, and connoisseurs know that blackened redfish is a true delicacy (so good it led to an abrupt decline in Gulf populations until commercial fishing was limited and recreational takes reduced). Akin to freshwater bass fishing tournaments, popular saltwater redfishing trails have developed over the last decade or two.
Spottail Bass throughout the Year
General Water Temperature Considerations
I have long realized the role of water temperature in, for example, locating striped bass or crappie, but since I knew that juvenile redfish spend the whole year inshore I never thought about the impact of water temperature on their locations. Of everything Ron told me, I think his guidelines for locating fish by season will most improve my fishing. The bottom line is that redfish are temperature driven, and if you understand how water temperature affects them you will be able to locate and catch more fish.
While spottails can tolerate a wide range of water temperatures, they prefer 55-80 degree water, and their ideal water temperature is between 65 and 75 degrees. During the spring and fall, most inshore waters – including major rivers and small creeks – will fall within the 55-80 degree range, and spottails will be spread out throughout the estuaries. Anglers have the chance to catch redfish off main river flats, as well as in tiny creeks. However, in the summer and winter water temperatures in the smaller creeks will get very hot and very cold, while temperatures in the bigger water will be more moderate. For example, in the summer creeks temperatures will often reach the mid-90s, while ocean temperatures will top out at 84 or 85 degrees, with the major rivers reaching somewhere in between. This means that in the heat of summer very few fish will be in the small creeks. Similarly when the creeks get very cold in the winter fish will mainly pull out of them, again preferring the moderated temperatures of the main river. In a nutshell, this means that fish can always be found in the rivers, and in the spring and fall they can be found in rivers and spread out in smaller creeks. (I sure wish I’d understood this a few summers ago when I was trying to catch trout and spottails in a small feeder creek behind Isle of Palms, and catching nothing but sting rays!)
Beyond the big water versus little water distinction, within each area fish may feed better when water temperatures move closer to the ideal range. I had one of my best spottail bass fishing experiences on a sunny afternoon in early March; we were fishing midway through the falling tide where sun-warmed water was emptying out into the cooler main Harbor River in Beaufort. Redfish were stacked up and feeding on bait where the warm creek inflow was meeting the main channel, and I caught fish on every cast until a dolphin came through and feasted. Similarly, Ron says that during the heat of summer the middle of the day, when water temperatures get very hot, the bite can really slow down.
Seasons
A pretty good rule of thumb is that in the spring and fall redfish will be spread out everywhere, and in the summer and winter they will mostly be found in the main rivers. There are also many more specific seasonal considerations. For most of this article I will focus on the redfish which choose to spend their time on the main river flats, but at the right times there are also good numbers of fish in the smaller creeks. The creek fish are more likely to relate to visible structure such as docks and trees, and the best docks and trees are proximate to rocks or other hard structure. Creek fish also relate to the mouths of smaller feeder creeks and oyster bars, and as with all saltwater fishing it is vital to fish based on the tides.
Redfish on the flats will feed throughout the winter, but their metabolisms generally slow down and they feed less often. The first warm days of spring, though, will frequently turn the fish on, and they will start to spread out on the flats. Just as I experienced that March day in Beaufort, they can really start feeding.
While there are some differences in redfish behavior on the flats throughout the year, there are many similarities. For one thing, the fish will almost always be shallow. Ron says that it is in redfish’s nature to seek out shallow water where they are protected from predators, and he says that they spend 99% of their time in water shallower than 2 feet. Redfish won’t be found in the middle of the river, and don’t even bother trolling or casting for suspended fish out there. Another good rule for locating redfish is that they will always be found near oyster shells, even if those are very close to the bank. On any given bank there will usually be stretches of plain mud, and this is almost always dead water. There is a lot of life on the flats and it can be hard to tell what you are seeing. However, redfish on the flats can be distinguished from big mullet when they swim away because the latter swim off erratically, while reds swim off straight and throw up evenly spaced out puffs of mud.
Throughout the year redfish can be caught on a variety of tides, but a general rule pretty much year-round is that less extreme tides (away from the full and new moon) offer better fishing. In addition to clearer water, they offer a better window for anglers to find and catch fish since the tides don’t come in or go out so fast. One exception is that on very high tides some of the best tailing activity may occur (more on that later).
Most of the year when the tide gets very, very low, and there is no water over the oyster shells, even though reds may be easy to spot they are usually difficult to catch. The day Ron and I fished we experienced about a 45 minute “dead period” with no bites at the very bottom of the tide cycle, and the bite only restarted once there was a little movement again. For the first couple of hours of the rising tide the fishing can be very good, but when the tide reaches a certain height where the redfish feel safe moving into the grass it can be very difficult to get a bait to them. On higher tides Ron is generally looking for low grass and high oyster shells – in high grass you can’t see the fish, and low oysters will have so much water over them that reds have already moved shallower. On the dropping tide redfish will move out of the grass quicker than they moved into it, not wanting to get stranded on a dropping tide. Once fish come out of the grass they will be found around the same oyster bars where they were schooling early in the rising tide. The mouths of feeder creeks that drain large expanses of flats are also good places to look.
The spring redfish season also coincides with the topwater bite, and when water temperatures are in the peak range between 65 and 75 degrees redfish (and seatrout – the two are often mixed together in this pattern) can be excellent. This pattern generally runs from mid-April to mid-June, and then again in September and October. The best topwater fishing locations are usually 1-2 feet deep spots just off the main river where lots of current runs over live oyster shells. This naturally means that moving tides are best, and a moving tide that coincides with early morning is usually considered the peak topwater period.
In the warmer months the low tide schools will break up and spread out over miles of water at high tide, and this is a prime time when anglers like to sight cast to individual fish which are visible feeding on shallow flats. Generally they are after “tailing” fish; tailing refers to when spottail bass put their heads down and root around for fiddler crabs, often sticking their tails completely out of the water. It is one of the purest forms of sight-fishing, and polarized glasses are not required! While really high tides are commonly referred to as tailing tides, and can be particularly good because virgin flats with huge populations of fiddler crabs may be fishable, most high tides allow some tailing activity somewhere. On lower high tides you simply have to look for deeper grass flats or shorter grass. Generally, fish will tail any time of year when fiddler crabs are out and active.
An interesting fact Ron has discovered is that during the warmer months, the main portion of the redfish diet revolves around fiddler crabs. Ron has filleted reds with literally dozens of fiddler crabs in their stomachs, and all of the spottails he has cleaned in the summer have at least some fiddler crabs in them. A stomach full of fiddlers doesn’t necessarily mean that spottails are doing their feeding exclusively on high tide; fiddler crabs can be found along the edge of the grass and further down the bank on lower tides, although spottails are unlikely to be able to get to them on dead low. Interestingly, even the redfish which spend more of the time around docks and rocks are also frequently filled with fiddler crabs, and so they must be moving back and forth between more likely areas to find fiddler crabs.
Just as the first warm temperatures of spring got that bite going, the first cool front of the fall can also be a huge boon to the fishing. Ron says that a tropical system which, for example, drops the water temperatures from 85 to 82 degrees, can really get the fish moving. Locals usually say that the fish have started “running,” which basically means that they are getting out of their summer ruts and looking for new feeding grounds. Shorter days and longer nights also have an effect, although Ron believes feeding activity is mostly temperature driven.
In the winter the vast majority of the redfish will still be found on flats off to the side of the main river, and if anything they will be even shallower. As discussed earlier they are seeking temperature protection in the main river, but their number one concern is not being eaten by dolphins! With the large schools of mullet having migrated south or way up the rivers, and many other species also having moved out of the estuaries, dolphins have slim pickings and spottail bass are about their favorite food choice. For warmth and protection the redfish form enormous schools, often numbering in the several hundreds, which are very visible to anglers in the clear water. Dolphins will cruise along the oyster bars just off the banks and look for prey, and Ron has seen dolphins crash the shallows and flips reds onto land – and then beach themselves to feed, before wiggling back into the water! Its no wonder that redfish feed slower in the dead of winter – not only does it get very cold and their metabolisms slow down, but they must have a siege mentality.
Tackle
Ron says that not too many serious redfishermen use anything besides braided line, and he prefers 10-15 pound braid on his spinning tackle. On baitcasting tackle he uses 30-40 pound test, because he gets too many backlashes with the lighter stuff. Superior casting distance because of the thinner diameter is a huge advantage of braided line, and the main reason Ron prefers the lighter diameter line on spinning tackle instead of 20 pound test (like many other anglers use.) There is also better “feel” on braided line – anyone who has pulled a Carolina rigged plastic worm across the bottom for bass knows the difference. Ron usually attaches a 3-4 foot length of low visibility fluorocarbon to the business end of his braid.
From December to early April shrimp and baitfish are scarce and artificials are key, but – beyond topwater and tournament fishing – outside of that period live bait is probably the most effective choice. In the middle of the summer, Ron says that if you stick with artificials only you will be “living hard.” For fishing live bait, Ron usually presents the bait on a short Carolina rig or under a rattling float, and since the fish inhabit shallow water he generally uses a 2 foot long or less leader. Ron generally uses a circle hook to avoid gut hooking the fish. If he is fishing with small bait he will use a 1/0 hook, and with bigger bait in the fall he will use a 4/0 hook. But really, though, Ron says that hook size isn’t that important – whether you use a size 6 or a 6/0 hook, redfish will generally hook themselves.
Live or dead shrimp make very good bait, but one of the major drawbacks to shrimp is that so many fish will eat them. Live mullet or mud minnows are also a good choice, although sometimes cut mullet can be preferable to live mullet as the live version will elude the spottails and get away. Cut bait doesn’t escape!
The most important artificial lure in redfishing today is Berkeley Gulp!, and Ron says that it is quite simply “must-have” in artificials-only tournaments. Originally designed for freshwater bass fishing, Ron says that Gulp! wasn’t particularly effective in that application because bass feed more based on sight and vibration than smell. Trout are also mainly sight feeders, with flounder a mix of sight and smell feeders, but redfish undeniably feed based in large part on scent – hence the terrific effectiveness of Gulp!. Most any Gulp! product will catch fish, but among Ron’s favorites is a #1 Gulp Jerk Shad in Sapphire Shine or New Penny color. He likes to rig it weedless on a flutter hook to avoid snags.
For topwater fishing, Ron says that lure selection is really not that important – locating feeding fish is vital. Walking baits such as Zara Spook Juniors and Sammys are good options, and popping baits such as Rebel Pop-Rs will also work. Because the water has plenty of color to it around Edisto, stay away from transparent/ translucent colors and fish white or chartreuse baits.
Trout
Locating and Catching Trout
Some of the rules of locating spotted seatrout are similar to those for redfish, and trout generally stay out of the smaller creeks where temperatures will be most extreme during very cold or very hot periods. During the spring and fall they can be spread throughout the estuaries – when locals say there is a “run” of trout they usually mean the fish are moving about widely.
In the warmer months, most of the major schools of trout will be found within sight of the ocean. Water temperatures are generally cooler close to the ocean, but their location also has a lot to do with spawning behavior. From May to September trout will spawn continually, particularly on full and to a lesser extent new moons, and mature trout will spawn 3 or 4 times during the season. The preferred spawning locations are deep holes near the ocean and proximate to hard bottoms.
When they are not actually spawning trout will stay near their spawning holes and feed around deep flats; ideal places to look for them are 3-6 feet deep at low tide and located near the ocean. Ron is looking for three things when he is locating productive feeding flats near the ocean from May to September – white oysters, clear water, and features that provide a current break.
Pretty much anywhere you see white shell banks adjacent to the ocean will hold trout. White shell banks usually extend well into the water, and they provide a hard bottom for sea fans and anemones to adhere to. This “live” bottom creates habitat for all the critters trout and other predators feed on, and if live oysters are in the area, all the ingredients are there to hold fish during both incoming and outgoing tides. As with redfishing, a mud bottom is a dead bank.
Ron says the importance of clear water for trout fishing is difficult to overstate. In addition to there generally being better clarity near the ocean, tides are also very important. The dirtiest water is usually found on the middle of the outgoing tide, when water is being flushed out of the creeks and mud flats. The peak tide for catching trout is usually from 3 hours after low tide until high tide, when clean water is coming in. This roughly equates to the time when the water is at the base of spartina grass until it reaches its peak height. Dead high tide is an okay time to catch trout, but dead low can be especially tough because the live bottom areas are too shallow at this time to hold schools of trout. During dead low, it is best to fish the deeper edges and holes in the 8-12 foot range that are directly adjacent to the live bottom. Casting 1/4 oz. lead headed grubs tipped with shrimp are the best way to find these deeper schools.
As the tide comes in trout will be found further and further up the rivers, and at middle tide Ron and I fished by the ocean. As the tide rose we were able to follow the line of clear water further up the North Edisto. (Note: The ICW can be a tough place to catch trout, because boat traffic frequently muddies the water.)
The third thing Ron looks for, features that provide a current break, can include points, creek mouths or oyster bars off a finger creek. Basically, you are looking for anything that can speed up or slow down the current and disorient bait, and offers some variety.
When the spawn is over in September, Ron says there can be a slow period until the first major cold front passes and drops the water temperature a few degrees. In October the trout will spread out throughout the estuaries and start to feed again. The beginning of 50 degree nights usually coincides with the trout turning on. Trout will generally be found near oysters, but moving water at the mouths of creeks is also a good place to look for them. In the fall, when creeks are choked with shrimp, a great time to catch trout is the first 2 hours of an outgoing tide in the mouth of a feeder creek that is draining a large grass flat. Trout will stack up even on plain mud to wait for the parade of shrimp leaving the flat as the tide drops out.
In spite of their nickname, winter trout, trout are very sensitive to the cold and the winter can be a tough time to catch them. When water temperatures get very cold, a large number of trout will generally return to the flats seeking warmer water in the shallows. They will also huddle up to warm, dark stumps that radiate heat – last winter when temperatures got very, very cold Ron saw substantial numbers of fish trying to stay warm this way. Ron has assumed these fish must feed at some point, but they have proven very difficult to catch even with live bait. The only catchable trout seem to be over deeper holes in major creeks with some type of structure or live bottom.
Tackle
Much of the tackle that Ron uses for reds is interchangeable with his trout tackle, but in general he is usually fishing a bit deeper for trout. Carolina rigs are less important and popping corks are more important, and under the float he attaches a longer length of leader line, usually in the range of 2-5 feet. A live shrimp hooked through its head is usually his bait of choice. The day Ron and I fished we drifted shrimp under rattling floats along a white shell bank and had regular bites.
Just as with redfish, from December to early April shrimp are scarce and artificial lures are about the only choice. In Ron’s opinion DOA shrimp are the number one artificial bait for trout, although Gulp! shrimp on a 1/8 ounce jighead are also very effective. DOA shrimp are also effective in the spring and fall, but as with redfish anything but live bait is a tough sell in the summer.
One final note about the trout fishing – Ron says that the fishing has definitely been slow this year after the cold winter of 09/10.
Sheepshead
Most of the year sheepshead can be found inshore around Edisto Island. Pretty much anywhere that has a lot of barnacle and shell growth or pilings will hold sheepshead, and docks or piers will hold them most of the year. Seafood houses where shrimp heads are thrown into the water are also excellent fishing spots, and Bay Creek in the South Edisto and Russell Creek in the North Edisto are especially good places to look.
The full moons in March, April and May, when the tides are strongest, are the best times to catch sheepshead, and Ron says he has days around all of those full moons when he absolutely slays them. The heat doesn’t seem to faze sheepshead, and they remain inshore straight through the summer. I was surprised when Ron told me that in the heat of summer he frequently sees sheepshead tailing on the flats, but he says they are very difficult to catch. He has thrown at them for hours without hooking up, but it is possible that a live shrimp perfectly presented might be effective.
In the fall sheepshead will also be found around heavy structure, but when water temperatures fall below 60 degrees, sheepshead generally head offshore to spawn on the nearshore reefs. When temperatures are below 55 they will almost all be gone from the creeks. A Carolina rigged fiddler crab is an old standby for sheepshead fishing, but live and cut shrimp will also work.
Tarpon
In July, August and September, when water temperatures pass 80 degrees, tarpon can be found around Edisto. There are two basic patterns for catching them. The first involves locating sandbars at the mouths of the inlets which run parallel to the beach, and then fishing cut mullet or menhaden on the bottom. Early in the morning is the best time, and you will also pick up a lot of sharks fishing this way.
The other way to catch tarpon is to look for deep holes in the rivers very near the inlet mouths, and then anchor. You want to fish the holes from top to bottom, with some bait selections just under the surface, in the middle of the water column and on the bottom. Chumming is a good way to bring the fish into the holes and up to the surface.
Flounder
There don’t seem to be as many flounder in the area as compared to places like Fripp Inlet to the south or Murrells Inlet to the north, but at times anglers do have good days casting mud minnows on light Carolina rigs in the mouths of inlets and feeder creeks. Not many anglers specifically target flounder at Edisto, and most are caught while targeting reds and trout. The day before Ron and I fished together he had caught a nearly 5 pound fish, and Ron also caught a keeper fish with me in the boat. Overall, Ron reports that he has caught more flounder this year than in years past.
Ron with his flounder
Other species
Ron says that black drum are hit or miss around Edisto, and sometimes in the spring or fall he will get into them. Closer to the ocean bluefish and ladyfish can be thick, and at the sandbars around the inlet mouths whiting fishing can be very good. Off the beaches weakfish (summer trout) are strong at times, and Spanish and king mackerel can be found just off the beach seasonally. This has been a particularly good year for Spanish. I hope the nearshore fishery around Edisto will be the subject of a future article.
Final thoughts
The proverbs “There’s a reason it’s called fishing and not catching,” and “A bad day fishing beats a good day working,” are oft-repeated after a hard day on the water. It’s also generally agreed that if fishing were easy every time you went out the challenge would be gone, and fishing could get boring. But as my father and I used to laugh, we wouldn’t mind if some days it were a little easier.
For weekend fishermen who haven’t yet turned the corner like Ron did, hopefully this article will speed up the learning curve for some of our readers. Maybe it will make your next inshore trip a little more productive, and if it convinces a few readers to check out Edisto Island that’s also a good things. Personally, I’m just grateful that Ron has set me free from catching stingrays in feeder creeks all summer!
My thanks to Ron Davis for “breaking the silence” and being so generous with his hard-earned fishing knowledge. Keep your eyes open for Ron’s new line of lures, which should be coming out soon and will certainly be announced on this site. If history is any guide, they are likely to change fishing again.