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Charleston Fishing Report

Updated Fri, Oct 23, 2026 from live gauge and weather data

Lowcountry central: spartina marsh to the horizon, schooling winter reds in gin-clear shallows, and a harbor where three rivers argue with the sea.

3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Next tide
Low 12:38 AM
Air / High
71 / 71 F
Wind
NE 11 mph

Sources: NOAA tides 8665530, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.

Satellite view
Friday
23
October 2026

Today's Fishing Report

Generated this morning from live readings: gauge, weather model, sun and moon. A fresh report is published here every morning.

3/5Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Charleston lines up a genuinely fishable day across the board. Today brings clear skies, wind NE around 11 mph, steady pressure near 1021 hPa and a high of 71. Tides: high 6:04 AM and 6:30 PM, low 12:19 PM: the moving water either side of each change is when this place feeds. Water sits around 78 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 9:55 AM-11:55 AM and 10:22 PM-12:22 AM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

Redfish (red drum)Excellent

Spring and early summer put redfish on grass flats, shorelines and oyster bars; on the Gulf, fish below spawning age stay inside the bays (TPWD). Sight-cast to tailing and cruising fish or drift live shrimp under a popping cork.

Speckled troutExcellent

Spring brings seatrout back over shallow seagrass, and the spawning season (April to September in Louisiana and South Carolina) keeps them feeding. Popping corks with live shrimp, free-shrimping on the drift and casting to working birds are the main tools.

BluefishExcellent

Warming water pushes the schools north along the coast. Casting spoons and poppers into bait and chunking menhaden are the usual approaches; use a wire or heavy leader every time.

Tomorrow: Similar at 74 F. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.Next report: Sat, Oct 24, 6:30 AMHow this report is made β†’

Before you go

South Carolina requires a fishing licence from age 16, from $10.00 for residents, and salt water needs its own licence here. What a South Carolina licence costs and where to buy it β†’

Chasing redfish (red drum) here? Check the size and bag limits with SCDNR before you keep anything. The season dates for South Carolina, read off the agency, are on the South Carolina seasons page.

Water and weather

Live readings.

Tides

NOAA station 8665530 (Charleston, Customhouse Wharf). Fish the moving water either side of each change.

Fri
HIGH6:04 AM5.8 ft
LOW12:19 PM0.9 ft
HIGH6:30 PM5.8 ft
Sat
LOW12:38 AM0.5 ft
HIGH6:50 AM6.2 ft
LOW1:11 PM0.6 ft
HIGH7:13 PM5.8 ft

Charleston tide chart: the week and the month β†’

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp71 F
High / Low71 / 48 F
WindNE 11-16 mph
Pressure1020.8 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain0% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset07:30 / 18:37
MoonWaxing Gibbous, 91%
Water temp (seasonal)~78 F est.

Bite planner

Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today. Tap a bar to see why.

5 AM8 AM11 AM2 PM5 PM8 PMsunrisesunsetPRIMEPRIME

Which day to fish Charleston this week

The best day on Charleston this week looks like Saturday Oct 24, at 4 out of 5, against 3 today.

Best day this week: Saturday, Oct 24 β€” good at 4/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.

Today, Oct 23 β€” Fair

A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Solunar majors
9:55 AM-11:55 AM and 10:22 PM-12:22 AM
Minor period
4:16 AM-5:16 AM
Sun
07:30 to 18:37
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Showers, 14 mph
Rain chance
0%

Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out: how the score is built.

Species guide

The species that matter on Charleston: seasons, structure and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.

Redfish (red drum) illustration

Redfish (red drum)

Best: late-summer and fall bull run; inshore all year

Red drum (Sciaenops ocellatus), called redfish across the South, is a bronze inshore drum with a black spot near the tail, fished on grass flats, oyster bars, marsh creeks and beaches from the Chesapeake around Florida to Texas. Spring and early summer put redfish on grass flats, shorelines and oyster bars; on the Gulf, fish below spawning age stay inside the bays (TPWD). Sight-cast to tailing and cruising fish or drift live shrimp under a popping cork.

Speckled trout illustration

Speckled trout

Shallow bays spring and summer; deeper water in winter

Speckled trout is the anglers' name for the spotted seatrout (Cynoscion nebulosus), a spotted member of the drum family that lives in shallow bays and estuaries from the Chesapeake to Texas. Spring brings seatrout back over shallow seagrass, and the spawning season (April to September in Louisiana and South Carolina) keeps them feeding. Popping corks with live shrimp, free-shrimping on the drift and casting to working birds are the main tools.

Bluefish illustration

Bluefish

Peak harvest: May-Oct, most in Jul-Aug (NOAA)

Bluefish (Pomatomus saltatrix) are sharp-toothed schooling predators that move up and down the Atlantic coast with the seasons and feed in surface blitzes on menhaden, silversides and squid. Warming water pushes the schools north along the coast. Casting spoons and poppers into bait and chunking menhaden are the usual approaches; use a wire or heavy leader every time.

When to come: the Charleston calendar

Activity by species and month, and how the water warms through the year. Tap any cell.

Species activity by month

1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted.

J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Redfish (red drum)
Speckled trout
Bluefish
SlowPeak

Water temperature through the year

Typical surface temperature for this water type; today is around 78 F (estimated, not a reading).

5060708090JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~78 F now

Angler reports

Real reports from real anglers, reviewed before publishing. The water log below tracks each day automatically.

No angler reports yet this weekBe the first: your report helps every angler who checks Charleston today, and we feature the best catch of the week.

Water log, last days

Auto-logged from live data
Thu, Oct 22

4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Redfish (red drum) led the card at excellent. High of 73 F, wind to 10 mph.

Wed, Oct 21

4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Redfish (red drum) led the card at excellent. High of 73 F, wind to 10 mph.

Tue, Oct 20

4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Redfish (red drum) led the card at excellent. High of 75 F, wind to 10 mph.

Where roughly, what depth, what bait. Skip anything you want to keep secret.
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Before you go

License

South Carolina requires a valid fishing license for adults. Buy online from the state agency; one-day options exist for visitors.

Regulations

SC Saltwater Recreational Fishing License. Red drum slot 15-23 inches, 2/day: the schooling giants are all release. Check SCDNR.

Access

Shem Creek, Remley's Point, Wappoo Cut ramps; Folly Beach and Sullivan's piers; kayak launches throughout the creeks.

About this water

Historic port city where the Ashley, Cooper and Wando meet, Charleston County, SC. The Lowcountry's saltwater capital.

Fishing Charleston: the full guide

The lowcountry system

Charleston's fishery is the marsh: thousands of creek miles winding through spartina, draining across oyster bars into the Ashley, Cooper, and Wando. Redfish are the constant: schooled a hundred strong on winter's clear flats, tailing the summer flood tides, ambushing the drops in between. It is a sight-fishing town at heart: polarized glasses matter more than braid brand.

Harbor and the jetties

Charleston Harbor's rock jetties funnel the ocean exchange: bull reds in the fall channel, sheepshead and black drum on the granite, weakfish cameos, and summer tarpon rolling the color changes off the tips. The nearshore reefs (a short run out) add Spanish, kings, and cobia in season: a full saltwater menu launched from downtown ramps.

Trout in the bends

Winter drops speckled trout into the deep outside bends of the creeks: slow-rolled grubs and suspending twitchbaits produce until the first hard freezes. Spring redistributes them over the grass edges and shell: popping corks with live shrimp is the lowcountry's soundtrack from April through the fall shrimp runs.

Reading the big tides

Charleston's 5-6-ft tide range rules everything: the flood opens the grass (and the tailing game), the ebb concentrates every fish at the drains. The best anglers plan by tide stage, not hour: creek mouths on the last of the fall, flats on the first of the flood, docks and shade through the slack heat.

Common questions

When do Charleston reds school up?

December-March in the clear, cold shallows: schools of 50-200 fish sunning on mud flats. Long casts, small lures, and stealth: the water is transparent and the fish have been cast at all winter.

What is a Charleston flood-tide trip?

Summer big tides (new/full moons) flood the spartina and reds tail after fiddler crabs: skiffs pole the grass edges hunting waving tails at sunset. It is the Lowcountry's signature hunt: book moons months ahead.

Is fishing good at Charleston right now?

Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Nearby waters

Lake Moultrie37 miSantee River39 miLake Marion54 miMurrells Inlet74 miMyrtle Beach87 miSaluda River107 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

Tide predictions
NOAA CO-OPS 8665530 β€” Charleston, Customhouse Wharf
Harmonic predictions, datum MLLW, local time. 11 high and low events returned for today and the next two days. A prediction, not a measured water level: wind and surge move the real thing.
Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 32.7820, -79.9250 in this water's own timezone. A model, not an observation.
Moon and solunar windows
Calculated on this site
Astronomical calculation from these coordinates and the date, not a third-party feed. How much weight it deserves.
The written guide on this page
Pablo Ruiz Quintero
How this page was made. The daily report is computed by our scoring engine from live readings; nobody types it. The written guide was drafted with AI assistance. Unlike our newer pages, it does not yet list the official pages its facts were checked against: that audit is under way, and anything it cannot verify will be taken out. Pablo Ruiz Quintero sets every guideline, the data-verification system and the minimum standards a page must meet to be published, reviews page structure and approves what goes live; the responsibility is his, and the AI carries out the work. We work this way because it is how one person can keep every page current with named sources. Errors are published in the verification log; the full policy is in the editorial policy.

Readings refresh on a 30-minute window. The full method, with every figure and its source, is on how our reports are made. Something wrong here? Tell us and it goes in the log with the date.