FISHING + FOLLY BEACH
After checking out of the Dewberry, fuel up with brunch bowls at Basic Kitchen, then head down to Folly Beach, a half-hour outside Charleston, for a day on the water with Capt. John Irwin of Fly Right Charters. He’s been fishing the Lowcountry flats and marshes for decades and can help even the most novice of fishermen land a serious trophy. The fall “is ideal for hooking trout and redfish on the fly,” he says, since both school up near shore. Fly Right will have just about everything you need to hit the water, but swing by Charleston Angler if you’re looking to score a new rod or reel, or some meaty saltwater flies.
Odds are you’ll be exhausted and grimy after a day of wrangling reds, but no one will care at Folly Beach’s Bowens Island Restaurant, a beachside plywood shack that’s arguably the state’s best seafood joint, where you can grub on crab cakes, fried fish, and fresh oysters. Afterward, check in at the nearby Water’s Edge Inn to avoid rush-hour traffic out of Charleston toward Savannah in the morning.