Palmetto Dunes REDS are HOT!
BY TRENT MALPHRUS Penny Malphrus kisses a very lucky fish!
DUDES, I can’t believe Summer is over. So long to long hot days on the water. With the days getting shorter and the nights getting cooler, you sure can feel Fall in the air. I love this time of year in the Lowcountry. A day on the water becomes pleasant with no humidity and light winds out of the northwest. There are so many different types of fishing to do this time of year. You can go way offshore to troll for wahoo, dolphin or bottom fish for many different types of fish. You can also fish the inshore wrecks like the Tire Reef, White Water or Fish America. These inshore wrecks will be holding flounder, weak fish, big reds and many more smaller varieties of fish. DUDES, my favorite days on the water are spent in the back waters of the Lowcountry fishing the creeks. This is the time of year the shrimp are very plentiful in the creeks. I love watching reds chase shrimp in the shallow water of n o st a G the Lowcountry. Floating popping corks with rank eral Store’s, F n e G s e n u D shrimp brings back a lot of memories for me Palmetto when I was a little kid. This was my Dad’s favorite way to catch redfish and speckled trout. The only draw back to using shrimp this time of year is you need a lot of them. Every fish in the ocean seems to eat shrimp and this time of year there are a lot of different fish in the creeks to eat them. As long as you know how to find the shrimp, you can have some of the best fishing of the year. One of my Dad’s tricks for finding shrimp was to cruise the mud banks slow enough to cause a wake to break on the mud. With this technique, you can cover a lot of shoreline in a short period of time without throwing the cast net. Once you find the shrimp, they will start jumping from the wake hitting Grace’s 1st Redfis h with Uncle C harlie Weather the mud bank. Just a couple of throws and you are off for a great day of fishing. This only works at s & Dad, Jim low tide, if it’s high tide, you are going to have to put a little more work into getting the shrimp. At high tide, the shrimp move into deeper water and they become harder to find. With a DUDE PROFILE: Captain Trent Malphrus is one good fish finder, you can find them on the bottom where they are holding. With a of the rare natives of Hilton Head Island. This has little time and effort you can find and catch all the shrimp you need for a day on been his only home for almost forty years. Trent the water. was born into a family that has thrived on the Lowcountry’s rivers and estuaries for hundreds Let’s see, I talked about offshore, inshore, the creeks and I saved the best for of years. They fished, picked oysters, crabbed, last. The Palmetto Dunes lagoon system has to be hands down my favorite place shrimped and frolicked in anything that has to do to fish this time of year. The red drum in the system stay split up in the Summer with Mother Ocean and still do to this day. Trent’s dad was the most hard-core fisherman he has ever months. That all changes with Fall and the water cooling down DUDES. This known. brings all the reds together for the Fall spawn. This has to be one of the best times Trent got the fishing fever at a very young age of the year to fish this unique system. I can’t put in to words how good the fishing as he followed in his father’s footsteps. All of the fishing knowledge he has attained originate in his gets this time of year but I will try. On any given day of fishing the canals, you can father’s teachings. Trent now works to perfect his catch the redfish of a lifetime. If you are looking for that redfish of your dreams, skills and achieve a greater level of understanding this is the time of year you are going to catch her. With some of these fish pushing of fish and the intricacies of fishing. Trent’s father over 50 pounds, it’s hard to believe you can catch such a monster in a landlocked has passed on, but would surely be proud of his son and his love of fishing. Trent was introduced to the Palmetto Dunes lagoon system when he was about lagoon system. Palmetto Dunes is not the only place to catch such trophies. eleven years old. His father would bring him to work and drop him off to fish all There are smaller canals all over the Lowcountry that hold fish like this. Palmetto day in the brackish lagoons. These lagoons are abounding with wildlife like red-tail Dunes is definitely my favorite spot bar none. Fall is truly the time of the year to hawks, ospreys, otters, kingfishers and an occasional alligator. Trent now lives and works in Palmetto Dunes on Hilton Head Island. It is here, catch big redfish. Well DUDES, I hope this bit of info will help you in your amid this familiar saltwater kingdom, that he is now raising his own sons. Every Fall fishing adventures. morning when he wakes up to this great big world, Trent’s son runs to the back
Tight Lines Dudes
Captain Trent Malphrus
843.301.4634
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door. Staring out at the dock he asks his mother, “has daddy already gone to work?” Occasionally, he rises early enough to find the skiff still moored at the dock and asks if Trent has caught any fish yet. It seems another Malphrus has started down the road toward a life-long love of fishing.
Fall 2011