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  1. #1
    I'm your Huckleberry Chuck D's Avatar
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    Question Drop some Cooper River knowledge on me

    Just moved to Charleston and getting settled in. Getting a 22' bay boat that drafts shallow, runs hard, and can do it all (fresh & salt). One of the big draws for me was the Cooper River mega sized bass that get yanked out of that fishery and I have not yet been on it. Anyone that has any info that they can lend would be a huge help as I begin to figure out the Wando, Cooper, Ashley, Wadmalaw, ICW, and various inlets & jetties that make up this amazing water paradise.

    Got up to Georgetown to check out where the BASS event was run and saw some amazing looking water up that way while testing out a few boats. The whole place looks/is fishy so any info that would help compress the learning curve is much appreciated. Thanks a ton!

  2. SC Club Moderator ChampioNman's Avatar
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    #2
    Oh my wandering Jew! Good to see you posting buddy! Great fishery down there, did you pick up something like your old Ranger? There are some big LM in the Cooper, just have to remember its tidal and fish accordingly. If I was down there I'd say screw the bass and chase the reds and trout. Plenty of good sticks down there so ask around. Congrats on your new digs and new ride!

  3. I'm your Huckleberry Chuck D's Avatar
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    #3
    Ha Ha! Thanks Freddie! I'm boat less right now, and looking at a few 23' CC bay boats that draft shallow. Yes, will be chasing reds, specks, and flounder plus vermillion snapper near shore (all my old deep water jigging spoons are KILLING them right now. Had a big fish fry here last weekend on vermillion).

    Kinda need 2 boats here, 1 to go chase inshore and near shore fish and another to run creeks and rivers with like a small flats boat or something like the Ranger Intracoastal. People here spend ALL that they have on boats, I don't get it. $500,000 offshore rigs as far as you can see??? Saltwater fishing makes bass fishing look cheap!

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    #4
    Quote Originally Posted by Chuck D View Post
    Ha Ha! Thanks Freddie! I'm boat less right now, and looking at a few 23' CC bay boats that draft shallow. Yes, will be chasing reds, specks, and flounder plus vermillion snapper near shore (all my old deep water jigging spoons are KILLING them right now. Had a big fish fry here last weekend on vermillion).

    Kinda need 2 boats here, 1 to go chase inshore and near shore fish and another to run creeks and rivers with like a small flats boat or something like the Ranger Intracoastal. People here spend ALL that they have on boats, I don't get it. $500,000 offshore rigs as far as you can see??? Saltwater fishing makes bass fishing look cheap!
    You are in fishing paradise! $500, 000 is a drop in the bucket for most of them guys. Was down two weeks ago and a 92' Viking passed me on the Cooper. Beautiful boat. If I lived there I would have a 28' cc and a 18' ft jon boat. I am to new to fishing the Cooper to really help. Good luck!

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    #5
    Welcome back Chuck, good to know you are still alive...SB...
    2006 Ranger 188 VX with 150 E TEC and I EAT BASS!!!

  6. I'm your Huckleberry Chuck D's Avatar
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    #6
    Good to be back boys! Divorce and resetting one's whole life SUCKS but we all know that. Good news is a new chapter awaits and the Good Lord has been awesome yet again.

    Freddie, got a new rig that I'm dialing in/breaking in now. Got up in the cooper river yesterday and just looked, did not fish a bunch as I'm still breaking in the motor but man, what a confusing mess of a fishery. Everything looks like it should have a 10 lb fish on it!

    Here's the new rig, she's ready to go 25 miles off shore and will get 12" shallow too. Had her in 18" chasing reds last night down on the Wando River near the house.





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  7. SC Club Moderator ChampioNman's Avatar
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    #7
    Schaaaawiiiinngggg!!! Beautiful boat Chuckie!!!! I am so jealous! That's the perfect boat for down here where I am in FL. I'm looking for something just along those lines. The Cooper is loaded I've only fished it one time from the lock down to the Railroad trestle never go in the rice paddies, didn't need to.

  8. Member BILL LO's Avatar
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    #8
    nice looking boat , I moved to Summerville last Oct

    I've fished Back River to the Cooper River Junction (Strawberry Landing the Railroad Trestle ) on the West Branch , up to the Locks and to The Tee in the East Branch

    Like Fred says it's tidal , fish the wood and any small patches of weeds . Have had good luck with June bug Plastics , Chatter baits, and Strike King 1.5 Crank baits

    2009 ELITE 210

  9. I'm your Huckleberry Chuck D's Avatar
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    #9
    Thanks gents! . Freddie hollar if you get up this way or we can look at me hauling this sled down South this Winter to get on some FL giants!

  10. RIP Tonka Reelsore's Avatar
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    #10
    Hell, you need about 4 or 5 different watercraft around here. Inshore boat, offshore boat, bass boat, creek boat/pond boat, and some jet ski’s. Lol No matter what time of the year, you can find biting fish somewhere.
    Sometimes I need my ATV when in my boat and sometimes I need my boat while riding my ATV.

  11. Member Ring King's Avatar
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    #11
    I grew up in Pimlico on the Cooper River and just moved back to the same neighborhood this summer. The Cooper can be challenging but once you figure out the tides and where to go it gets real simple to put fish in the boat. A Texas rigged watermelon red lizard will put fish in the boat pretty much any time of year regardless of where you are. Not saying it's the best option all the time but it will catch fish. On outgoing tides fish the breaks along any of the rice fields with your boat in the river channel and casting up into the breaks. The closer it gets to dead low the better the fishing will be for that pattern.

  12. I'm your Huckleberry Chuck D's Avatar
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    #12
    Great info Ring King, thanks for that. Spent the full day on the upper Cooper today above the "T's" and it was TOUGH. Managed a few small ones on topwater along shady banks but the current flow had me totally buffalo'd meaning I had no idea where to look. Fished boat docks, drops, points, hydrilla flippin & pitchin', threw frogs for hours, and every variation of a TX rig I could muster. Fish location is elusive to me as everything looks so similar so I'm hoping with more time it'll come together.

    Any guidance on the rice fields would be appreciated as I see millions of acres and it all looks so dang good! Thanks again!

  13. Member Ring King's Avatar
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    #13
    Fishing has been tough out there lately. Lots of guys are struggling. A few of the boys I work with have been catching some small fish on scuppernong trick worms and by fishing senkos along grass edges. I’ve been in Florida for the last week and a half fishing the Stickmarsh area but will be on the river Wednesday afternoon. I’ll let you know how it goes. I plan on fishing the Rice Hope area and the Back River.

  14. I'm your Huckleberry Chuck D's Avatar
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    #14
    10-4, look forward to hearing how your outing goes. I plan to be back up there before the weekend or over the weekend if the weather holds and time doesn't get away from me. The big boat does pretty good but can't get to all of the stuff I'd like to get to so I need to learn which tide favors what I'm doing as I can't get back in the rice plantation as far as I'd like so it'll be outside edges for me and lots of worms, flukes, senkos, etc on the outside edges. The current is so strong that there has to be some way to get to slacker water where the fish would set up and don't have to work as hard to ambush their next meal. That's where the smaller boat will help a guy for sure but yep, it's been TOUGH and the hydrilla is so thick you can't hardly get through it. It's a FAR CRY from ol Lake Norman! I love it and catching reds and trout on the same gear makes it twice as fun. I'll post on my next outing too what little bit I can find each time I put another piece of the puzzle together as I work through it.

  15. Member Ring King's Avatar
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    #15
    Well, don’t feel bad about your less than productive outings. We launched at the house (Pimlico) and ran down Durham Canal and fished the back river for a bit. Water was screaming in but the area/water looked fantastic. We punched, cranked, frogged, threw spinnerbaits, and Whopper Ploppers in every little pocket we could find. The water was already pretty high by the time we got out there. Never could draw a strike back there. We then ran to Rice Hope and fished the rice field on the side with the old rice mill. We started in the cuts and then worked back into the ricefield itself all the way to the tree line. Saw some bream popping but only drew one strike on a Horny Toad.

    It was pretty poor out there. We fished from 4:30pm till dark for that one strike. Never did try to slow down and fish plastics. That was probably our downfall. Pulled back into the Pimlico launch and dark and watched my 15 year old catch two back to back from the bank on a Texas rigged senko.

    Shrimp season starts tomorrow so I’m sure the salt will be busy this weekend but I think I’m going to take the kayaks and chase some reds and trout with my wife and son. They have been catching lots of over slot reds down towards Isle of Palms and I’d like to get in on some of that action myself. Also need to find some fish for the upcoming IFA tournament on the 23rd of this month!

  16. I'm your Huckleberry Chuck D's Avatar
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    #16
    Salt has been great, brackish has been pretty good (mid way up the cooper), but fresh water in the cooper has not been that great still. I believe the same, it'll get better as it cools and the frog fishing will get really good in the not too distant future. Need the hydrilla to thin out some as it's so thick you can get out of the boat and walk on it. Lord help you if you pull up some of the mat and see 10,000,000 crawfish underneath of it which is what's going on. The up and downside of being such fertile water, big fish and lots of other options for the fish to eat. Makes it tough but the rewards will be terrific once the bite begins as we get in to the 70's water temps and below I'd wager. May be another few weeks but will take another crack at it once this short term teal duck season wraps up.

  17. Member Ring King's Avatar
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    #17
    I was out last night and am headed out again this evening. We caught 7 last night between 4pm and dark. Biggest was only 3.5lbs and most fish were around the 14" mark. The bite was fairly steady although we missed a bunch. As it got dark and we got nearer the low tide there was quite a bit of topwater action as the fish were chasing the big balls of baitfish everywhere and pinning them against the hydrilla edge.

    There aren't a lot of teal in the river so the hunters haven't be too bad up in the freshwater end. I need to get down in the salt so that I can get some redfish on the grill. There's a big school of reds that have been busting on finger mullet every morning while I walk down the pier to the Coast Guard cutter that I'm stationed on. It's awesome to watch them heard the mullet against the sea wall and then absolutely massacre them. I may bring a rod in the morning and catch a couple before work just or fun.

    Have you tried the shrimp baiting season? If I had a boat for the salt I'd definitely be doing some of that to put some in the freezer! My friends have been doing pretty well with he flounder gigging lately as well down around the lower Cooper and Wando rivers.

  18. BBC SPONSOR cidgrad's Avatar
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    #18
    Quote Originally Posted by Ring King View Post
    There's a big school of reds that have been busting on finger mullet every morning while I walk down the pier to the Coast Guard cutter that I'm stationed on. It's awesome to watch them heard the mullet against the sea wall and then absolutely massacre them.
    You should see when a group of dolphins herd up the redfish on mudflats and massacre them... that's a sight to see. Seen it a couple times back behind IoP.

  19. RIP Tonka Reelsore's Avatar
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    #19
    Quote Originally Posted by cidgrad View Post
    You should see when a group of dolphins herd up the redfish on mudflats and massacre them... that's a sight to see. Seen it a couple times back behind IoP.
    Supposively they only do that here. Seen it a bunch around IOP.
    Sometimes I need my ATV when in my boat and sometimes I need my boat while riding my ATV.