{"id":6618,"date":"2020-06-23T23:59:49","date_gmt":"2020-06-24T03:59:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tailflyfishing.com\/?p=6618"},"modified":"2020-06-26T02:56:40","modified_gmt":"2020-06-26T06:56:40","slug":"fly-fishing-the-lowcountry-part-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tailflyfishing.com\/fly-fishing-the-lowcountry-part-one\/","title":{"rendered":"Fly Fishing the Lowcountry – Part One"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tourism is not new to the Hilton Head area. Visitors have been flocking to our beaches, restaurants, and golf courses for decades. However, one can\u2019t help but notice how hip and trendy our corner of the Lowcountry has become lately. Hell, Justin Beiber got married in Bluffton a few months ago, so you know \u201cwe fancy.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Along with the growing popularity of the Lowcountry in general, our fishery has been gaining more exposure as well. Photos of vibrant redfish tails amongst a backdrop of spartina grass have made their way into every fly fishing magazine, blog, and social media outlet on Earth. And rightfully so. It\u2019s an amazing spectacle and a fishery that should be on everyone\u2019s bucket list. And now that it\u2019s on your<\/i> bucket list, let me explain how it\u2019ll probably be the easiest entry to scratch off.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"flyIn case you didn\u2019t see the movie of the same name, a bucket list is a list of indulgences that you would like to engage in before you die. These items are typically spoken about and dreamed about, but they\u2019re rarely acted upon due to their low rank on your list of priorities. However, family vacations generally rank very high on your list of priorities! Telling your significant other that you want to leave her\u2014or him\u2014with the kids for a week to spend thousands of dollars scratching a personal itch is a shaky conversation. Talking to your significant other about taking the family on a beach vacation, on the other hand, is much more positive.<\/span><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s not get bogged down in the details of how to sell the trip to your significant other. You\u2019ll know best how to pitch it. This is a world-class vacation destination that has something for everyone, so it should be an easy sell. <\/span><\/p>\n

I do, however, want to talk about scheduling your fishing trip\u2014er, I mean family vacation. When you come can greatly affect the fishing. I realize that sometimes you can only go when you can get the time\u2014work schedules, school schedules, etc.. Four randomly picked hours to try to make it happen for the client is often all we get as guides, and we can appreciate your struggle between family time and personal time. I\u2019ve run last-minute trips on off tides and had great results many times, but having a little flexibility in your schedule can really set you up for a much greater chance of success. <\/span><\/p>\n

Tide is everything. Redfish tailing on flood-tide flats is not something that\u2019s available every day. Quite to the contrary, it\u2019s an anomaly, happening only a few dozen days per year during the warmer months. Fortunately, flood tides are very predictable, based on lunar cycles, with only a degree of deviation in long-range predictions. I make my fishing plans according to the lunar cycle and then adjust according to the actual tide levels as the date approaches.\"fly <\/span><\/p>\n

How lunar cycles impact tide fluctuation is generally consistent throughout the Lowcountry, but how they\u2019ll affect a specific flat is far more individual and is based on the flat\u2019s elevation above sea level. Different flats will be at different elevations, so knowing what stage of the tide a particular flat will be ideally flooded to hunt redfish is the result of local knowledge\u2014that is, trial and error\u2014and is something that cannot be Googled.<\/span><\/p>\n

Below I\u2019ve shared with you my list of flood-tide dates for 2020, which I\u2019ve compiled to help clients schedule their trips\u2014that is, their family vacations.<\/span><\/p>\n

Potential Flood Tides for Hilton Head \/ Bluffton 2020<\/span><\/p>\n

May: 4th (p.m.), 5th (p.m.), 6th (a.m.), 7th (a.m.)<\/span><\/p>\n

June: 2nd (p.m.), 3rd (p.m.), 4th (p.m.), 20th (p.m.), 30th (p.m.)<\/span><\/p>\n

July: 1st ( p.m.), 2nd (p.m.), 3rd (p.m.), 4th (p.m.), 18th (p.m.), 19th (p.m.), 29th( p.m.), 30th (p.m.), 31st (p.m.)<\/span><\/p>\n

August: 1st (p.m.), 2nd (p.m.), 16th (p.m.), 17th (p.m.), 18th (p.m.), 20th (a.m.), 21st (a.m.), 27th (p.m.), 28th (p.m.), 29th (p.m.), 30th (p.m.), 31st (p.m.)<\/span><\/p>\n

September: 13th\u00a0 <\/span>(p.m.), 14th\u00a0 <\/span>(p.m.), 15th\u00a0 <\/span>(p.m.), 16th (a.m. and p.m.), 17th\u00a0 <\/span>(a.m.), 18th\u00a0 <\/span>(a.m.),\u00a0 <\/span>19th\u00a0 <\/span>(a.m.), 20th\u00a0 <\/span>(a.m.), 21st\u00a0 <\/span>(p.m.), 22nd\u00a0 <\/span>(p.m.), 23rd\u00a0 <\/span>(p.m.), 24th\u00a0 <\/span>(p.m.)<\/span><\/p>\n

October: 12th\u00a0 <\/span>(p.m.), 13th( pm), 14th\u00a0 <\/span>(a.m. and p.m.), 15th\u00a0 <\/span>(a.m.), 16th\u00a0 <\/span>(a.m.), 17\u00a0 <\/span>(a.m.), 18th\u00a0 <\/span>(a.m.), 19th\u00a0 <\/span>(a.m.), 20th\u00a0 <\/span>(a.m.), 21st\u00a0 <\/span>(p.m.), 22nd\u00a0 <\/span>(p.m.)<\/span><\/p>\n

Now that you have some potential dates for your family vacation, I suggest you check availability. There are a number of good guides in the area, but prime dates book quickly. so don\u2019t wait too long. <\/span><\/p>\n

Be realistic in your expectations. I always suggest booking as much time as you can (but this is subject to your financial and marital considerations). A single half-day trip may not be enough time for you to experience success. The good thing about fishing for tailing redfish in the Lowcountry is that cloudy, windy conditions don\u2019t kill your chances as the would in some other fisheries. We might not be able to fish the flat that we want to fish due to the wind, but with all of our barrier islands we can always find a leeward side. Also, overcast conditions don\u2019t really matter when tails are sticking out of the water. So if<\/span> all you have is one morning or one afternoon to sneak out, do it and have fun. At the very least, you\u2019ll get to spend some time on the water in an amazingly beautiful place.<\/span><\/p>\n

by Josh Boyles
\n<\/span>Photos: Paul King<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Bio: Josh Boyles was born and raised in the Lowcountry. When he\u2019s not guiding around the Hilton Head\/Bluffton area, he\u2019s hosting destination trips throughout the Caribbean. You can contact Josh through Southern Drawl Outfitters (southerndrawloutfitters.com<\/span><\/a>)<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

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Tourism is not new to the Hilton Head area. Visitors have been flocking to our beaches, restaurants, and golf courses for decades. However, one can\u2019t help but notice how hip…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6621,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3049,252,29,3059],"tags":[3494,3052,3053,3492,3050,128,2850,3490,3493,3495],"yst_prominent_words":[3476,3478,3485,3480,3487,3473,3482,3470,3489,3484,3475,3477,3479,3481,3486,3472,3488,3474,3483,3471],"class_list":{"0":"post-6618","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-saltwater-fly-fishing","8":"category-saltwater-species","9":"category-tail-fly-fishing-magazine","10":"category-travel","11":"tag-flood-tides-2020","12":"tag-fly-fishing-the-lowcountry","13":"tag-lowcountry-fly-fishing","14":"tag-lowcountry-fly-shop","15":"tag-lowcountry-redfish","16":"tag-redfish","17":"tag-redfish-on-fly","18":"tag-south-carolina","19":"tag-south-carolina-flood-tides","20":"tag-south-carolina-redfish"},"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tailflyfishing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/fly-fishing-magazine-tail-fly-fishing-lowcountry-1-2.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tailflyfishing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6618","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tailflyfishing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tailflyfishing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tailflyfishing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tailflyfishing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6618"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tailflyfishing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6618\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tailflyfishing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tailflyfishing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tailflyfishing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tailflyfishing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6618"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tailflyfishing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=6618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}