I will be headed to South Carolina in a few weeks and am trying to plan the
best time to fish (I love to fish, but I also have 8 children to take care
of - and most of them do not like to fish - so I want to budget my time
wisely.) So I am trying to determine the best time to schedule for fishing.
I mostly do fresh water bass fishing, so tides, etc. are a new portion of my
equations. My questions are as follows:

TIDES -
Is it better to fish . . .
as the tide comes in?
as the tide goes out?
as the tide is mostly in?
as the tide is mostly out?

I have always had better success in the early morning or late evening - even
into the night. So my questions here revolve around the light from the moon
becoming a factor:

SUN / MOON -
We will be coming out of a full moon (July 3rd - 10th)
Moon phases:
Is it best to night fish when the moon is out?
Does it make a difference if it is low or high in the sky?
Is it better when the moon is not out?
Does the moonlight make any difference at all?

My guess is that the potential for the best fishing would be as the sun
sets, and the tide is coming in, and the moon is rising - from maybe 2-3
hours prior to sunset until 2-3 hours after the sunsets. Second best would
be as the sun is rising and the tide is coming in - again from about 2 hours
prior to the sun rising until a few hours after the sun is up. Especially
if high tide occurs close to the time of sunrise or sunset.

At least those are my thoughts - but since I will only be able to go out a
couple of days - and only for a couple of hours per day - I would like to
make those days as productive as possible.

I also know that weather is a major factor - and any schedule that I make
now will have to be adjusted for weather. The above questions are assuming
no change in the weather. And now that I mentioned it - what should I be
looking for weather wise -

A Low pressure system?
A high pressure system?
Right before a storm?
Right after a storm?

If there is a storm off the coast and the waves are pretty rough - I will
probably be boogie boarding or something with the older kids. Are calm seas
better for fishing?

I will probably be using a set-up with a sinker at the bottom, and two
leaders about 8" long - the first one being about 8" above the sinker and
the second one being about 8" above that. Shrimp and squid are my favorite
baits - but I will also ask when I get down there about what they have been
catching and on what baits.

I appreciate any help that you guys (gals?) can give me.

Thanks!

--
Stan Shepp
York, PA
Center of the Universe