Awesome Adventure Charters

REDFISH: Redfishing in Hilton Head Island is great for fly and light tackle anglers 12 months a year. Redfish use the nutrient-rich coastal marshlands of Hilton Head, SC as a nursery and typically stay around for 3-5 years, or until they grow 30+”. Redfish live in a number of interesting places which all require different fishing methods for a successful day on the water. During the Winter months, when the water is anywhere from the mid-60s down to the low 50s, the water is much more clear to the eye due to a lack of planktons and algae that require more sunlight and warmer temperatures to grow. When the waters around Hilton Head are cool and clear, sight casting the flats is at its prime. With schools up to 300+ redfish in size in only a foot or two of water, you can imagine the sight fishing is just unreal. These redfish will not always be in feeding mode as they use the shallows for warmth and protection from dolphins. When you do get the weather, tides, and fish cooperating at the same time you are likely to have a fishing day you will never forget. Spring and Summer months are also a blast when it comes to the flats. Rather than fishing the low tide mud flats during winter, the high tide spartina grass flats are the place to be to sight cast redfish. According to the moon phases, higher tides will flood the marshlands which are home to fiddler crabs. Redfish will cruise into areas so shallow that their backs may be above the surface as they slosh around sucking crabs from their burrows. As the redfish comb the bottoms of the flats, their golden tails break the surface and wave to you as if they are saying, “Hey, I’m over here. Cast right here.” Warmer months are also great for targeting redfish around structure such as docks, rocks/bulkheads, oyster bars, and grass points. Fall is the ultimate redfish season for light tackle and fly anglers. With large white shrimp in great numbers though out the marshes and rivers and the cooling water temperatures, redfish just plain gorge themselves. Fall is a great time to book a full day charter because redfish will begin schooling in good numbers on the low tide mud flats and still tail up on the high tide spartina grass flats. When anglers think of low country redfish and trout action, they typically think Sept-Dec. These are also great times to target redfish with artificial lures and flies such as gold spoons, Z-man soft plastics, Gulp Shrimp, and topwater plugs. Once a redfish outgrows the marsh, they are known as “bull reds” that live the rest of their lives in giant schools out in the ocean. These bull reds return to the sounds and rivers along Hilton Head, SC annually to spawn starting in September and can be successfully targeted through December. The bull red season provides action-packed, red hot fishing with redfish ranging from 15lbs to 35lbs! These are drag peeling bulldogging, head shaking, fighting machines on light tackle. Bull red fishing is typically a deeper water, cut bait style of fishing with some opportunities on the fly and artificial lures. For more information on bull reds

COBIA: The Spring cobia run here in Hilton Head Island makes for a very unique cobia fishing experience.  These highly migratory fish enter the sounds on each side of Hilton Head Island in May and stay around through June.  Port Royal Sound is the most important spawning grounds on the East coast and has very high concentrations of spawning fish.  Cobia grows to about 100 pounds and average 20-40 pounds around Hilton Head.  The larger of these fish, of course, is the females which carry bellies full of roe.  Cobia is interesting looking, to say the least, like a cross between a catfish and a shark.  Many (too many) value cobia as table fare and most end up being sold to restaurants around the island.  These large brown predators are being over-harvested in our area and their population is dropping at an alarming rate. While some hunt cobia for meat, we hunt cobia for the thrill of hooking a 50 pounder on fly and light tackle only a few hundred yards from the marsh!  As cobia overeat and get full, they approach the surface to utilize the warmer temperatures for digestion. When tides are slow and winds are calm, large cobia can be seen quite a ways away as they send out their own wake across the surface, like a small brown submarine. Cobia are not the smartest fish in our waters so as long as your offering is in sight of a surface cobia, you have a pretty good chance at a hook-up.  Medium-heavy spinning gear loaded with 30lb braided line and 10-12wt fly rods are my go-to for inshore cobia sight casting.  Large eel imitations and large saltwater plugs are often eaten at first glance.  Live bait, of course, is almost a done deal if placed in front of a curious cobia. Brightly colored flies that imitate eels and large baitfish work well in white, green, orange, and red.  This fishery is very seasonal so mark your calendar and let's go sight cast a huge cobia!

BLUEFISH: Bluefish are a lot of fun to catch whether your a little kid, or an elite fly fisherman. The bluefish around Hilton Head, SC average 1-6lbs and are not hard to entice. Silver spoons, shiny flies, and even live bait can get you hooked up to some bluefish.  When bluefish are traveling in large schools, it can be very productive to drift around the school and cast lures and flies into tidal rips and around sandbars or other structure.  Small bluefish make great bait for other predatory fish such as cobia, bull redfish, tarpon, and sharks.  Loading up the bait well with little “snapper blues” on light tackle and using them as bait for the more challenging target species is a lot of fun!  Come on and lets catch em’ up!

SHEEPSHEAD: A great tasting fish that frequents old dock pilings and rock walls. Toss a live fiddler crab to these big saltwater panfish and get ready to set the hook!

WHITING: These smaller fish are great for kids and adults alike. “Critter fishing” at its finest with fish ranging from 10″-15”