Friday, Feb. 5: Area fishing report

Saltwater

Estuary

Look for | Red drum, spotted seatrout, black drum, sheepshead.

Comments | Red drum are the hot ticket in local estuaries, with fish schooled up in the cold water. Capt. Mark Dickson of Shallow-Minded Inshore Charters in Little River found a school in a shallow pool near Bird Island during a break in the weather on Wednesday, catching and releasing about 40 fish. Dickson and crew were using a 3-inch Gulp shrimp and Gulp crab on jig heads to entice the reds plus they released a keeper flounder. Dickson also spotted a lethargic trout in clear, shallow water. Red drum have a 15-23 inch slot limit with a 3-fish bag limit in South Carolina and a 18-27 slot limit and 1-fish bag limit in North Carolina. Otherwise, look for sheepshead and possibly black drum at area jetties.

Inshore

Look for | Black sea bass, sheepshead, black drum, whiting.

Comments | "It's real, real slow," Bill Craven of Apache Pier said of the fishing action. Grand Strand piers are stuck in winter mode with only a few dogfish and the occasional undersized black drum under 10 inches being landed. Whiting are still a possibility. The surface ocean water temperature was about 48 degrees on Thursday. The best bet for inshore anglers continues to be for black sea bass in depths of 30-60 feet. Sheepshead and black drum are possibilities on inshore bottom spots.

Offshore

Look for | Wahoo, blackfin tuna, bluefin tuna, black sea bass, triggerfish, amberjack.

Comments | Weekend weather has been horrific of late, and this weekend is no exception. When boats have had a shot to venture out to the break, wahoo have been waiting. Excellent catches of wahoo were brought to the dock from Georgetown to Brunswick County in January with blackfin tuna also in the mix. As has been well documented, bottom fishing is hardly worth the expense, much less braving the weather. Only black sea bass, triggerfish, grunts and amberjack can be legally landed among common reef species. The most common shallow-water grouper species including gag, red and scamp, are closed for both recreational and commercial anglers through April 30, recreational and commercial fishing for red snapper is closed through at least June 2 and the recreational fishery for vermilion snapper (beeliners) is closed through March 31. Sorry.

Freshwater

Look for | Shad, crappie, bream, catfish, bass.

Comments | Shad season in South Carolina's rivers is underway and Jay Booth of Fishermen's Headquarters in Conway has seen some big returns. "The shad we're getting are huge, I've had some to 4-5 pounds," said Booth. "They are big for this time of year." Otherwise, local rivers have a serious rise in them thanks to plenty of recent rain. "Water's running high everywhere," said Booth. The best bet is for crappie with fish hitting minnows. Booth weighed 11 crappie landed by James Powell and Thomas Small of Conway that tipped the scales at 15.2 pounds with a big fish of 2.8 pounds. L.G. Todd of Conway landed 27 crappie from the Samworth area on Wednesday. Catfish are more active with the arrival of shad, especially in the Wacca Wache and Bucksport areas. Cut shad is currently the perfect bait for catfish. Booth has heard of catfish in the 15-20 pound range landed. Look for bream and morgans hitting worms in 12 feet of water. The water temperature at midweek at Yauhannah was 48 degrees.

STATE FISHING

Santee Cooper system | Catfish: Fair to good. Captain Jim Glenn reports that the bite has gotten more sporadic, and he's having some very good days and then some slow days right behind them. This probably has a lot to do with the fish's metabolism, and by this stage of winter the cats are slowing down and eating less. And with stunned or dying shad around for a while now, many of the fish may have already gorged. On Lake Moultrie his boat has caught some good fish up to about 50 lbs in the current on the lake side of re-diversion at Russellville. Other catches have been in deep water along the navigation channel in Lake Moultrie near bait schools. Some fish have also been caught shallow in 3 to 10 ft of water. A variety of cut baits are productive. On Lake Marion, Li'l N8s Bait and Tackle in Sumter reports that threadfin shad are gathering in deep water and catfish are nearby. The cats can be found in the Little River area or along the main river channel. The best bite has been on ledges about 28-30 feet deep beside 40 feet of water. Most people are using cut blueback herring, available at Li'l N8s, for bait. Largemouth bass: Slow. Captain Inky Davis reports that fishing in the cypress trees above the I-95 Bridge he has caught a few nice fish by fishing a Zoom plastic worm very slowly in five feet of water. Fish will stay shallow even in the cold as long as there is oxygen and bait. Bream: Slow. Captain David Hilton reports that bream have gone very deep and will be lethargic for the next month or two.