# Hilton Head Surf Question



## GA Fisherman (Feb 20, 2013)

Hey everyone,

Thank you to all who offered advice a month or so ago, which led to me catching a pompano in Grayton Beach during my first surf fishing experience....truly a memorable experience. 

On another note,I just found out that I will be fortuante enough to spend a week on Hilton Head Island at the end of July this summer. I have been doing some research and seemingly exhausted all options and I still feel like I do not know enough. If anyone has any advice, locations, comments, concerns, places to do some more reading etc... please feel free to share. I am now hooked on surf fishing and looking to catch em' up even though I wont be down on the Gulf Coast. 

Thanks in advance for your help.


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## bigcountryboy (Aug 31, 2010)

I won't call it fortunate to be anywhere near South Carolina in my opinion. Been stuck in this god awful state for over 11 years. But anyway, on to the advice. I live up near Charleston myself and fish the surf almost exclusively. Beaches are completely different here. Little to no gut between sandbars. They beaches are very shallow and flat for a long ways out up here and tide changes are ridiculous. It's best to hit the sand at lowtide and look for features that stand out. I normally start at dead low fishing either right in or just behind the breakers and as the tide comes in I work my way closer til I find the fish. Once the tide comes in pretty good look for deep pockets within 30yds of shore . The best I can describe it is you'll see flat water surrounded by foam from the waves. SC surf doesn't have the variety of fish that we have down in the panhandle. You can pretty much guarantee that every fish you catch will be a whiting until the baby sharpnose sharks (they look like 10in black tips) show up then good luck catching anything else. On occasion you might catch a ladyfish, slot red, or pompano but count on whiting and rays. If you fish heavier casted gear there are plenty of sharks in close but shark fishing specifically is illegal on Hilton head and comes with a hefty fine from what I've been told. If you have any questions hit me up, I can probably answer them for ya.


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## bigcountryboy (Aug 31, 2010)

Oh yeah, with the tides pack light the water can eat up over 100yds of beach in no time on the incoming makes it interesting having to move back 20-30yds every few minutes if you're on a flat beach.


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## JD7.62 (Feb 13, 2008)

I surf fished Hilton Head several years ago as a kid. I remember catching small shark after small shark. I spent the time between bites digging in the sand looking for and finding fossilized sharks teeth which was pretty cool.


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