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’t 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 “we fancy.”
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’s an amazing spectacle and a fishery that should be on everyone’s bucket list. And now that it’s on your bucket list, let me explain how it’ll probably be the easiest entry to scratch off.
In case you didn’t 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’re 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—or him—with 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.
Let’s not get bogged down in the details of how to sell the trip to your significant other. You’ll 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.
I do, however, want to talk about scheduling your fishing trip—er, 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—work 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’ve 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.
Tide is everything. Redfish tailing on flood-tide flats is not something that’s available every day. Quite to the contrary, it’s 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.
How lunar cycles impact tide fluctuation is generally consistent throughout the Lowcountry, but how they’ll affect a specific flat is far more individual and is based on the flat’s 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—that is, trial and error—and is something that cannot be Googled.
Below I’ve shared with you my list of flood-tide dates for 2020, which I’ve compiled to help clients schedule their trips—that is, their family vacations.
Potential Flood Tides for Hilton Head / Bluffton 2020
May: 4th (p.m.), 5th (p.m.), 6th (a.m.), 7th (a.m.)
June: 2nd (p.m.), 3rd (p.m.), 4th (p.m.), 20th (p.m.), 30th (p.m.)
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.)
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.)
September: 13th (p.m.), 14th (p.m.), 15th (p.m.), 16th (a.m. and p.m.), 17th (a.m.), 18th (a.m.), 19th (a.m.), 20th (a.m.), 21st (p.m.), 22nd (p.m.), 23rd (p.m.), 24th (p.m.)
October: 12th (p.m.), 13th( pm), 14th (a.m. and p.m.), 15th (a.m.), 16th (a.m.), 17 (a.m.), 18th (a.m.), 19th (a.m.), 20th (a.m.), 21st (p.m.), 22nd (p.m.)
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’t wait too long.
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’t 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’t really matter when tails are sticking out of the water. So if all you have is one morning or one afternoon to sneak out, do it and have fun. At the very least, you’ll get to spend some time on the water in an amazingly beautiful place.
by Josh Boyles
Photos: Paul King
Bio: Josh Boyles was born and raised in the Lowcountry. When he’s not guiding around the Hilton Head/Bluffton area, he’s hosting destination trips throughout the Caribbean. You can contact Josh through Southern Drawl Outfitters (southerndrawloutfitters.com)
