Fall Seafood

Fall is hands down the best time to be in the Lowcountry.   The water is still warm and it’s hot enough to enjoy a beach day without the full summer sauna effect. As an ecotour company, we work long hot hours in the summer and it’s bittersweet the first morning there’s a chill in the air and the first sunset cruise we put on a jacket. (*We’re total wimps – that’s 75 degrees.  We’re used to sitting out there at 100 degrees.  We also wear sweaters in restaurants during the summer. Don’t judge us.)  We have a moment of sadness that long lazy summer days on the water are coming to an end. Then we remember that it’s about to be fall – the BEST time to be on the water in the Lowcountry! 

Estuaries are often referred to as the “nursery of the sea”, and it’s easy to see why.  SCDNR estimates that 3/4 of all species harvested for food in our state spend some or all of their life cycle in the estuaries.  This includes everything from smaller inshore recreational species (like red drum, sheepshead, spotted sea trout) to popular offshore species (like grouper and cobia). Our estuaries provide a rich ecosystem with plenty of food available for both spawning adults and juveniles.  Small creeks, marsh grass, and oyster beds offer space to hide from predators for growing fish.   

We often joke that estuaries are a 24 hour all you can eat seafood buffet – you just need to know how to access it.  And that’s never more true than in the fall.  Fall is when our shellfish shine. Softshell crabs in spring are divine, but crabbing the old-fashioned way (with chicken necks on a handline) has long been one of my favorite ways to spend a late summer/early fall afternoon.  One of my earliest memories is of picking crabs with my grandmother and anyone else needing to get out of the sun! 

If shrimp are your thing, a 60 day shrimp baiting season starts in Sept. and it’s a great way to combine exercise with grocery shopping!  But for many it’s dropping water temperatures and the start of local oyster harvesting that mark the real changing of the seasons.  Love them or hate them, it’s hard to imagine fall/winter in Charleston without oyster roasts.  Oysters are easily the most challenging thing to harvest, and it makes them all the sweeter. 

There are few things better than ending a day sitting around the table with family and friends, watching the sun go down while enjoying a local seafood dinner caught hours before.   If you haven’t experienced fall on the water – cooler days, estuaries teeming with life (we didn’t even talk about the birds!), seafood, and the golden marsh at sunset – now’s the time to get outside and explore.