The lowcountry is home to many unique sporting traditions, chief among them being sight casting to tailing redfish on a flood tide. The arrival of fall signals the peak of flood tide season, and there are few better locations to witness this natural phenomenon than here at Brays. It’s not uncommon for the anglers in our community to plan their schedules around an evening flood tide, especially when wind conditions are calm and the air and water temperatures are perfect.
What is a flood tide?
At Brays, and for most of the lowcountry, a flood tide is generally considered to be an incoming tide greater than seven feet. At that point the tide floods onto the hard-packed flats that exist around saltwater creeks, making these areas accessible to hungry redfish for a two-to-four hour window on either side of the high tide. Some of the flats surrounding Brays are wade-able, but most can only be accessed by a technical skiff, kayak, or any other low-drafting watercraft.
Why fish a flood tide?
A flooded saltwater flat presents a bonanza of food for redfish, with the main course being fiddler crabs. Redfish cruise the flats searching for these crustaceans, and upon locating them, go nearly vertical trying to dig them out of the mud - when this happens, due to the shallow level of the water on the flat, their tails stick out of the water and provide a subtle indicator to anglers of their presence. Since open season on these feeding grounds only happens occasionally for redfish, they hit them hard once the tide allows them access, feeding with reckless abandon in a predator-free environment stacked with food.
As you can imagine, the opportunity to capitalize on this feeding frenzy is too much to resist for the avid in-shore fishermen. Redfish are not picky eaters, and that is especially true during a flood tide. As long as the appropriate fly or lure is presented in close proximity to a tailing redfish, the odds of coming tight are in your favor.
A flood tide usually offers multiple opportunities at catching fish, but any seasoned angler will tell you that the experience of fishing a flood tide draws them in just as much as the prospect of landing a trophy redfish. From witnessing the excitement of a saltwater flat teeming with life, to silently floating through the Spartina grass on the bow of a skiff hunting for tails, there are so many aspects of flood tide fishing that set it apart from other fishing scenarios. It’s true that flood tide fishing is just one of many pastimes unique to Brays, but it is certainly one of the most cherished.