Edisto Island, South Carolina
Overlooked Palmetto State Angling
Inns, Lodges, Resorts
Photos by Jimmy Jacobs.
Located about midway between Charleston to the north and Beaufort to the south, Edisto Island’s fishing gets overshadowed by those two areas. Yet, for late summer angling, the region offers seatrout, redfish, flounder and pompano action.
Edisto Beach State Park lies right in the heart of these angling resources, offering cabins and campsites in a maritime forest or beachfront RV and tent camping. Spreading across 1,255 acres in two sections, the park has seven rental cabins, five of which have one bedroom, while two are three-bedroom layouts. These historic structures were built by the Civilian Conservation Corps during the Depression of the 1930s, but have been fully renovated. Each offers television, coffee makers, microwaves, full linens and cooking utensils. The cabins are located in the section of the park on the mainland overlooking the salt marshes.
For campers, the park provides 117 sites with water and electric hook ups. Fifty of those are on Edisto Island on the beachfront, with the other 67 are in the Live Oak Campground on the mainland. That latter facility also has five walk-in tent sites.
The park has a wide range of family activities, such as beach swimming with a bathhouse, hiking, geocaching, an environmental learning center and boating, On the other hand, when the kids are back in school after labor day, anglers will find the area less crowded.
Access to Big Bay Creek is available from the park boat ramp in the Live Oak area, providing a good site for kayak angling, or from a powered boat. In September the creek and South Edisto River it feeds into both offer good fishing for seatrout on river points and redfish on flats areas. This year the flounder population is above average and those fish are likely to hit flies cast for those two latter species. Out on the beachfront, pompano are present right in the surf line from late summer into the fall.
The town of Edisto Beach is next to the waterfront portion of the park, offering a variety of eateries, with cold libations for kicking back and reliving the day’s fishing.
For more details, visit Edisto Beach State Park’s website.
