On the other hand, at neap tides the water moves too slowly around the changing phases, so fishing the tide at least halfway in or halfway out, when the water is moving faster, is better.

Schools of trout move up and down the beach, so using a trolling motor and tossing live shrimp into the breakers is a good method for finding the fish. When Capt. Doss finds some trout, he stops, drops the anchor and fishes the area hard.

The captain always keeps four different types of rigs on his boat. The one most used is the slip-cork rig. In this, the cork slides up and down the line, a knot tied to keep the float at a set distance from the bait; the knot can be adjusted up and down to change depth when needed. Doss uses live shrimp whenever they’re available.

The rig that’s second in Doss’ esteem is the popping cork rig, a relatively new creation brought to our coast from the Louisiana area. A 5- or 6-inch section of rigid wire runs through the cork with a couple beads on either end. The cork and beads slide on the wire and make a clacking sound when jerked. The noise imitates the popping sound that a distressed shrimp makes when escaping a predator and can attract trout from several feet away. The cork is set at a fixed distance from the bait, so for fishing in 6 feet of clear water, Doss sets the depth at 3 to 4 feet.

The next rig that Capt. Doss keeps on board is a small spinning rod set up with a leadhead jig and a curlytail or paddletail grub. The color of choice for the grub is electric chicken, a chartreuse and pink combo. Other popular colors are pure white or glow-in-the-dark white. Shrimp imitations made by DOA also catch fish on this setup.

The fourth rig to have handy is another light spinning rod with a Carolina rig. This consists of a hook with 16 to 20 inches of leader, connected to a swivel, with a small egg sinker above the swivel. Doss baits this with a live shrimp or bullhead minnow and retrieves it slowly across the bottom. Trout and flounder can be picked up using this method.

If specks are what you want, call Capt. Doss. Anytime. He’s made it his goal to learn how to boat a limit of trout at all times of year -- not just the best times!

SHARKS
Having by now guided customers for over a quarter-century, Captain Vernon Reynolds grew up fishing the Georgia coast. Among his favorite fish to target: sharks, various species of which that frequent our waters in May and throughout the summer months being hammerhead, bull, tiger, nurse and sandbar. Blacktip sharks also show up; Reynolds touts them as the best-eating of the varieties.

To catch sharks, Capt. Reynolds occasionally chums, although he noted that when the fish are abundant at this time of year, it’s not usually necessary. He carries a few light-tackle spinning rods and, using live shrimp, catches whiting to use in turn as bait.

The captain generally anchors the boat in 12 to 20 feet of water and then puts out a couple of bottom rigs using a live and a cut whiting. He also puts out a float rig or two, dropping the bait about 6 or 8 feet below the surface.