A special trip on a balmy December day along the South Carolina coast

The ride through Murrells Inlet on the way to Pawleys Island was special on this balmy mid-December morning.

Sunrise was well over an hour away, but the temperature had barely dipped below 60 degrees overnight, leaving patches of fog and mist along U.S. 17 Business through the inlet, then Litchfield Beach and into Pawleys Island. Cars were few but, with Christmas Day one week away, red, green and blue lights were many, enhanced in their mystical glow by the foggy conditions.

With the speakers smoothly playing Sirius XM’s Holiday Traditions, highlighted by Nat King Cole’s The Christmas Song, the mood was festive on the ride south.

The occasion was meeting Rob Birchmeier for a kayak fishing trip to the sprawling saltmarsh area south of Georgetown and the goal was to launch just after sunrise.

Birchmeier, owner/operator of Pawleys Island Beach to Creek Guide Service, is a prolific kayak angler who specializes in fishing excursions to local salt marsh and freshwater areas, along with surf fishing trips.

The sun had just risen over the horizon on the east bank of the Intracoastal Waterway when Birchmeier and I began pedaling away from a Charleston County ramp in his two Hobie Mirage drive kayaks.

No motor, just manpower, and the only sounds came from the sea birds and the water lapping at the bottom of the kayaks, in a largely undeveloped area rife with oyster racks and spartina grass along the banks.

The fog was still entrenched and visibility was limited, so we were alert for the sound of power boats, with our whistles handy. We, of course, wore auto inflatable life vests from start to finish of the trip.

After a 20-minute pedal, we stopped along a spartina- lined bank with some shell areas, and the tide approaching high. We began casting and retrieving soft plastic grubs on jig heads and by his third cast, Birchmeier had caught and released a spotted seatrout right at the minimum size limit of 14 inches for our primary target species.

Over the next 45 minutes, we worked along the bank, casting toward and within 10 yards of shore and retrieving the grubs over the drop off. The bite was consistent from trout in the 14-16 inch range and we hit double digits before Birchmeier was ready to move on to the next spot in search of larger fish.

After a move across the waterway and a 10-minute pedal up the bank, Birchmeier hit the jackpot as the tide reached high and started falling. Over the next three or so hours we worked a half-mile area centered around a drain, casting mainly parallel to the bank in 3-6 feet of water. Larger trout were in the mix and we consistently landed fish ranging from 16-22 inches.

In recognition of Release Over 20”, a grassroots initiative in South Carolina promoted by Eye Strike Fishing, we were sure to release the largest trout we caught.

We also found a school of redfish hugging the bank in the vicinity, and caught and released three in the 15-18 inch range.

Meanwhile, the weather turned terrific as the fog burned off, the temperature rose through the 60s with partly cloudy skies as a moderate southwest breeze kicked in.

As the tide eased toward low, Birchmeier decided to check out a winding creek off the waterway, largely inaccessible by boat at low tide but no problem in a kayak. The creek was peaceful, save for the splash of jumping roe mullet, with no other boats or people, only birds, and fish. Working the deep pockets adjacent to shallow oyster racks, the grubs produced three more redfish and one trout.

At dead low, after about six hours on the water, we called it a day and pedaled to the boat ramp.

The lowcountry’s awesome population of spotted seatrout had been on full display, as we wound up catching and largely releasing dozens of trout, plus a half-dozen redfish.

We harvested little over a dozen trout, which produced, as Birchmeier likes to say, some tasty filets. With the yaks secured on Birchmeier’s tandem trailer, the temperature had zoomed up to the mid 70s on the mid-afternoon ride back through Georgetown County. Not bad for the third week of December.

Reflecting on such a terrific day, there is much to be thankful for here on the South Carolina coast this holiday season and throughout the year. Merry Christmas and a blessed 2022.

*For more information on Pawleys Island Beach to Creek Guide Service, visit https://pawleysislandbeachtocreek.com/. For more information on the Release Over 20” initiative, visit https://eyestrikefishing.com/releaseover20/.

This story was originally published December 24, 2021 at 10:00 AM.