Fall Redfish in Charleston: Where, When and What to Throw

Ryley Monaghan · October 14, 2026 · 3 min read · Charleston, SC

Fall is the best redfish fishing of the year around Charleston. The water drops out of the 80s, the bait pours out of the creeks, and redfish school up and feed hard before winter. If you only fish one season for reds, make it October and November.

Here's how to fish it, tide by tide.

Why fall is so good

Three things line up at once:

• Cooling water. When the water falls from the low 80s into the 70s, redfish feed more and move more. They push up shallow and stay there longer.
• Bait leaving the creeks. Finger mullet, shrimp and mud minnows flush out of the marsh on every falling tide. Redfish set up at the creek mouths and eat whatever comes out.
• Big tides. Fall brings some of the highest tides of the year. When the water rises over the grass, redfish follow it in to feed on fiddler crabs — the famous "tailing" fish.

Low tide: oyster bars and creek mouths

Low water concentrates fish. With the flats drained, redfish have to sit in the deeper troughs, along oyster bars and at the mouths of small creeks.

• Where: the mouths of feeder creeks off the Stono, Folly River, Wadmalaw and the creeks behind Kiawah and Seabrook. Look for oyster bars with a little deeper water next to them.
• How: stay back and cast to the edge of the bar. On a still day you'll see pushes and wakes — fish moving in schools.
• Timing: the last two hours of the falling tide and the first hour of the rise.

Flood tide: tailing reds in the grass

On the biggest tides, the water covers the spartina grass and redfish swim up into it to root for fiddler crabs. Their tails wave out of the water. It's the most exciting sight-fishing on the East Coast.

• Where: hard-bottom grass flats that flood on the high tide — the backside of Folly and Kiawah, Bulls Bay and the flats off Wadmalaw are all known for it.
• When: only on tides high enough to put water in the grass. Check the tide height — on smaller tides the grass stays dry and the fish stay in the creeks.
• How: pole or wade slowly, look for tails and wakes, and put a small bait a few feet in front of the fish, not on top of it.

The jetties: bull reds

Big breeder redfish — 30 to 45 inches — stage around the Charleston jetties and the harbor in the fall.

• Where: the tips and the deeper cuts of the Charleston jetties.
• How: heavier tackle, a fish-finder rig with enough weight to hold bottom, and cut mullet or a chunk of menhaden.
• Important: big reds are breeders. Handle them gently, keep them in the water and release them fast.

Baits that work

You don't need much. These cover almost every situation:

• Live: mud minnows, finger mullet and live shrimp. Shrimp under a popping cork is hard to beat in the fall.
• Cut bait: fresh cut mullet or menhaden, especially for bigger fish and at the jetties.
• Artificial: a gold spoon, a 3–4 inch paddle-tail soft plastic on a 1/8 to 1/4 oz jighead, and a scented shrimp imitation.
• Flood tide: a small crab-colored fly, a weedless soft plastic or a small piece of cracked blue crab.

Simple tackle for fall reds

A 7-foot medium spinning rod, a 2500–3000 size reel, 10–15 lb braid and a 20 lb fluorocarbon leader will handle every slot redfish you see inshore. Step up to heavier gear for the jetties.

Before you go

Redfish have a slot limit and a bag limit in South Carolina, and the rules have changed in recent years. Check the current SCDNR rules before you keep a fish. Carry a measuring board and keep the ones you release in the water.

Get today's plan

Conditions change every day — the tide height, the wind and the water temperature decide where the reds are. Pull up the Charleston fishing report for today's tides and conditions, or the Folly Beach and Johns Island and Kiawah reports if you're fishing the south side. For the spots themselves — GPS for each one, the rig and the bite window on today's tide — get the full report in NGN.