help one sorry fisherman

[homewood3]

i want to catch a redfish or a speckled trout. i've had a boat for almost three years now and fish the shallow creeks out to the jetties of murrells inlet or little river, also cherry grove. i've read the magazines and listened in the bait shops, but i have yet to catch either and this is my third season. i don't think that my problem is bait choice(i use mud minnows, gulp shrimp, doa's, plastic tails, bucktails, plugs, and more), but i'm not at all confident with my presentation or in my abilities to find the location. i'm also not confident that i'm making the rigs correctly sometimes. my boat is 15 foot fiberglass v-hull and i feel pretty good in 2 - 3 feet of water, but am nervous about being grounded for hours if i spend too much time in real thin water, although i don't hit bottom until about 18 inches of water. please be my fishing savior, so that i won't be relegated to pin fish and black sea bass on the jetty rocks this year with shrimp pieces and bloodworms. god bless and thanks for the helpful hints.
PS what does a tailing red really look like?

[homewood3]

COASTAL1: thanks for the help, coastal1. i tried it alittle yesterday and will try it again. i went all the way back past the observation walk at huntington beach state park on a low tide yesterday in murrells inlet creek. it was probably about 1 hour before low tide and there were a couple of tricky spots. i had to lift my engine 2 or 3 times but i made it in and out. i felt good gettin that far back. i didn't fish, but there seemed to be alot of underwater activity back there. thanks for helpin me with that fear alittle bit. do you think there could be some fish way back there.

[Coastal1]

Yes, there are fish back there, find a pool and you'll find them, some leave out with the tide but some remain. I'm more familiar with North of you, Cherry Grove to Little River and Sunset Beach. But it's all the same. Do you have a push pole if not you need one, even a cheap one will do if you only do this every now and then, get a 1" dowel rod, 10 foot long and buy a duck foot for the end, they sell them to waterfowlers..ducks, that's anonther story. R/Chip.