Yes, the time has come – summer on the water! I’ve been fishing a fair amount this summer, and was super excited to get a new Jimmy Styks board at the end of June – just in time for a long Independence Day weekend in Georgetown. You might have seen on Instagram that I recently partnered with Women’s Outdoor News as one of their columnists – woohoo! I was previously on their Featured Blogger list (and was beyond delighted to be included), but now an actual columnist for them??
Could. Not. Be. More. Excited. My column is sponsored by Vista Outdoor, who’s list of brands is epic, to say the least. I am thrilled to be working with such an amazing company and group of women. First up on the list of articles I’m writing for them? Paddle board fishing, of course!
The article covers everything you’d need for a successful day on the water, and the best way to reach that honey-hole fishing spot. You know – the one that you can’t get to by boat, or need a pal’s boat to reach? I’ve made lots of updates to my paddle board fishing essentials list.
Click here to read the full article.
As for the rest of my fishing adventures so far this summer? Let’s get to it!
Honestly, the water here in South Carolina has been reminiscent of a hot spring, so previously promising fishing spots are essentially saltwater bathtubs. Fish have headed to cooler waters [i.e. deeper water], so getting to them on my board proves to be somewhat of a challenge. Never fear! That doesn’t stop me from trying.
I fished a fair amount over the July 4th weekend but didn’t have too much success, catching just a few pinfish, and definitely plenty of rays. Sun rays, that is.
More rays of sun than I would have liked, actually. We had some excellent flood tides that weekend, and an extra high tide usually means and extra low tide. On the 4th, I got caught by that low tide and ended up in about 3 inches of water, surrounded by pluff mud. In case you’ve never been around that stuff, know this: where there is pluff mud on the coast of South Carolina, there are inevitably oysters. Ohhh maahh gahhh I cannot explain how awful that was. Thankfully I had sneakers in my kit and was able to safely (albeit painstakingly) wade walk through the mud. The trick was getting my board and gear out with me. The fins on the board made it impossible to push or drag (plus I didn’t want to risk snagging an oyster bed), and having my kit attached made the front want to nosedive every time I lifted it from the back. So, I detached my kit and carried it as far as possible until I found a safe spot to put it down, then went back for my board, picked it up, and carried it to where I’d set the kit down. Over and over, for close to 400 yards. That doesn’t sound too far, but in 105* heat, 167% humidity, and knee-deep pluff mud, it might as well have been 4,000 yards.
Yea, remind me to never do that again. Whew!
It’s ok, though. I didn’t mind cooling off in the flood tide.
In case you were wondering – yes, Angus did jump off the boat and swim over to me at one point. He then proceeded to scramble up on my board and immediately lay down. I guess he didn’t want to be left out? Good boy!
Anyway – I’ve gotten on the water a few times since that debacle, and loved every minute of it.
That time I was about to take a photo and a little shrimp jumped in my lap and I almost fell off my board.
Let’s just say it has been an excellent summer so far, and the paddle board fishing adventures will only continue. Who’s excited?!