Gettin Cranky on the Cooper

I have not used conventional fishing gear for the bulk of this year, as a matter of fact I have only picked up a spinning rod twice this year but after an interesting offer from my buddy, Capt. Chris Margate I had to go take a walk on the dark side.   Capt. Margate is the King of Saltwater Crank baits and he offered to take me out and let me see what it was all about.

Normally crank baits are a freshwater lure used for largemouth bass but redfish have the same kind of mentality, ambush predators and love structure as well, so I thought this might be fun.  We met at the landing and launched his 24-foot Shearwater bay boat and we headed out to his favorite hunting grounds.   As we ran down the river, pelicans cruised inches from the water, dolphins swam along in small pods and the smell of the marsh filled our noses.   It was a little overcast and comfortably warm and we both knew the conditions were perfect for early morning fishing.
As we motored up to the first spot and dropped the trolling motor we talked about the lures we would use.  A long billed Rapala was the choice to start with, the current was ripping petty good and spinner baits would not do well in this current.   With the current so strong the spinner baits would lay over on their side and not look right, he explained.  My first cast went straight across the creek and hung itself neatly in an overhanging branch.  Yeah, it’s been a while since I threw a lure this heavy.  We both laughed as we motored over to un-hang my lure.  It took me a few minutes to get the hang of the conventional gear again, but I quickly adapted and was putting my lure where I wanted.   As we worked our way down the bank feeling the crank baits ticking off the structure and digging along the bottom we talked about fishing and the techniques we were using.   As my lure reached the end of the structure it was banging around on and I was about to pull it in to re-cast I felt a sharp tug and the rod tip started dancing.  I pulled my rod tip up to keep pressure on the fish and a beautiful speckled sea trout, close to eighteen-inches came up and was quickly netted.  This was cool.  My first sea trout on a crank bait.  We were off to a good start. After some quick photos the fish was released and swam off back to the structure he had come from.

 

Capt. Margate has been fishing these waters for over 30 years now and knows every spot down the creeks and rivers where fish hold.  His first boat was a 14-foot jon-boat he bought when he was 14-years-old.  Since he wasn’t old enough to drive, his Mom would take him to the landing and drop him and his boat off and he would spend countless hours exploring the waters around Charleston.  From tiny creeks on the Cooper River to the jetties he ran that jon-boat everywhere.   As he got older he joined the U.S. Navy as a Corpsman and was medically retired later on in his career.  He owned his own business for a while but the pull of the water was strong.  He continued his fishing and learned more and more about the waters and made the decision to become a guide and began his guiding career and never looked back.   I asked him what his favorite kind of trip was and he replied, “I love taking kids fishing, teaching them and watching their faces as they reel in fish is awesome,” he said with a big smile.   We talked about fishing and our favorite fish and spots.

As we worked the section of bank over we got to the end of one spot and moved to the next spot down the creek.   The current was a little slower here so we switched to spinner-baits and fished the bank over pretty well.   No one wanted to get hooked there so we motored to the next stretch of bank.   Back to the crank-baits we went.  After a few casts I felt a tug and the rod bent over hard and the drag started peeling off.  We both looked at each other and I know we had the same thought, that’s a Redfish.   The fish bulldogged down into the structure and fought pretty hard.  I gave it a little slack and the fish swam out of the structure and I was able to get it up and away and close enough to the boat to be netted up.

Twenty-three and a half inches of coppery redfish goodness was lying on the deck and we were both excited.  Another first for me, my first redfish on a crank-bait.   After some quick photos I held the fish over the side facing into the current, after a few seconds her gills flared and with a strong kick of her tail and a splash to my face she was swimming hard back to the bottom of the creek.  We continued down the creek working over spots and landing more trout and just talking about fishing, boats and our experiences in the Military and our families.   As we continued to work down the river the bite slowed down but we both knew the fish were there.  I put the crank bait down and decided if I was gonna step to the dark side today and fish with conventional gear I was gonna go whole hog.  I grabbed a rod rigged up with a popping cork, stuck a mud minnow on the hook and tossed the float toward the bank.  The float was on the water for about five seconds before it was gone and the drag was singing.  Another nice little redfish was in the boat.   We floated minnows down the bank and caught a few more small redfish and trout.  I tossed my float back out under an overhanging tree, as it floated with the current I looked away for a second to say something to Capt. Margate and I felt a tug.  I looked back and there was no float and my line was steadily moving up-current.  I reeled down and the line came tighter and the drag began its beautiful melody.   As I reeled the fish in I thought we had another nice trout until it rolled on its side and I saw the telltale black lines on silver scales of a striped bass.  Another first for me, my first South Carolina striper!

As we fished the tide came back in and the water got a little too deep for the spots we were fishing and we called it a day.  We ran back to the landing, passing dolphins, pelicans and other fishermen.  Another banner day on the water with a great fisherman and friend was in the books.  As you can see he’s a pretty good phtograpger too!   If you’d like to have a great day on the water yourself, from the small creeks we fished,  to the reefs a little off shore and anywhere in between,  give Capt. Chris Margate a call. His bay boat comfortably hold 6 people safely and is a smooth ride.   You can find more information, rates and photos of some of his trips at http://www.qualitytimeoutdoors.com/Home_Page.php
Or you can just  give him a call at: 843.425.7259