Tom Francis wrote in
:

Heh.

I was just curious - we're buying a house in that area up around Goose
Creek in fact.

One of my favorite trips is to put into the salt water side of Bushy Park
at Goose Creek...the Cooper River above the Naval Weapons Station. Then,
go UPriver, taking a left at the T in the river (main channel of Cooper
that turns into the Tailrace Canal in Moncks Corner). Then, you have two
choices. You can continue up the Cooper and Tailrace Canal, through the
free lock in the dam into Lake Moultrie....or....take the short haul by
Cypress Gardens, coming back down into the Goose Creek Reservoir through
its freshwater fill canal, down the reservoir and end up ALL FLUSHED and
ready to trailer at the freshwater side of the Bushy Park dam...right by
your car and trailer where you started....(c;

It's a great daytrip, either way. While you're up in the Tailrace Canal,
be on the lookout for the beautiful eagles who fish the Tailrace Canal
right in front of you, nesting nearby....

There's 3,200 miles of navigable waterways, unspoiled by damned condo
developers, within 50 miles of my keyboard here on the Ashley across from
Magnolia Gardens. I live on the N Charleston side of Riverbend, the big
bend in the Ashley by the AFB main gate. Been here since 1981.


Had a great time in Charleston and loved the fishing. Still can't get
over sitting off Fort Sumter fishing the rip there for specs - within
spitting distance of the Fort.


The secret to fishing in Charleston is to look for those two old black
men in the worst-looking old runabout with the hard-to-start old Johnson
on the back with a few old fishing poles and an old cooler with the drain
plug missing. Follow them at a discreet distance and when they stop make
a note of the best fishing spot at this time of day and tide. They've
been feedin' 8 chillin' off that spot for 20 years....(c;

Love the town too.


Hope you love shrimp. $2.50/pound along side the road any day of the
week. Great shrimp, too, not that crap they feed in restaurants...

Oh, and if you see the crabbers tending their toilet floats, they got the
best Blue Crabs in the boat. They'd just as soon sell to you as haul 'em
back to the store because it gives 'em beer money on the way home the
wife don't have ta know about....(c;

You need two important pieces of gear on your boat, being new here.....

1) - A good working GPS! It is very easy with this much waterways to get
VERY lost VERY quickly. With even the simplest GPS trail, at least you
can back track the course and find your way OUT! Don't depend on finding
another boater. You can boat all day around Charleston and never see
another boat for hours!.....something Floridians can only dream of in the
condo canyons....

2) - A good working DEPTH sounder! With 5-7' tides and the currents that
go with them, that depth on the chart from 1982 is just a pipe dream.
For instance, if you go North up the ICW at anything but high tide under
the swing bridge to Sullivan's Island, it LOOKS like its deep....well,
until the motor starts kicking up because you're on the "right side"
towards the island. The channel under the bridge is only good on the
mainland side. Yeah, it's only pluff mud, not rocks....but you can't
tell the water pump intake about that once the pluff mud becomes the
PLUGG MUDD.

Welcome to Charleston! It's been a helluva ride since the Navy brought
me here in 1966...

See ya at Red's Ice House on Shem Creek in old Mt Pleasant. Raft up with
us at the dock out front. Bring the dog. Red's loves dogs and kids.
Cold beer, great food, friendly Charlestonians, pretty Carolina
Girls....and, you get there by BOAT! What could be better on a warm
Saturday afternoon in the South?