Area fishing report

Estuary

•  Look For | Spotted seatrout, red drum, black drum, sheepshead.

•  Comments | With the water temperature still in the low 50s, spotted seatrout are still active and in feeding mode. Capt. Jacob Frick of Ocean Isle Fishing Center in Ocean Isle Beach, N.C., reports trout can be found in depths of 8 to 15 feet and are hitting chartreuse grubs. Look for red drum on the shallow flats and in the grass, often in large schools. Try gold spoons, cut shrimp or mud minnows for the reds. Action at area jetties remains solid with trout, reds, sheepshead and black drum all available.

Inshore

•  Look For | Black drum, sheepshead.

•  Comments | The ocean water temperature is hanging in there, still above the 50-degree mark on Jan. 19. The best bet is for sheepshead on inshore artificial reefs, but black sea bass, which cannot be harvested and must be released until June 1, are attacking most baits before they get to the sheepshead. Otherwise, smallish black drum continue to be caught in the surf zone reports Bill Craven of Apache Pier. The largest black drum caught off the pier this week was 12 inches, which is below the slot limit of 14 to 27 inches for the species. The surface ocean water temperature at Apache Pier was 52.01 degrees at 5 p.m. Thursday. The water temperature at the Springmaid Pier was 52 degrees at 3:48 p.m. Thursday.

Offshore

•  Look For | Wahoo, blackfin tuna, amberjack, triggerfish.

•  Comments | As of Thursday, the offshore marine forecast looked very good for Sunday, perhaps providing anglers with a window of opportunity to head out to the break for a little wahoo and blackfin tuna action. Bottom fishing could be excellent, but most desirable species are off-limits. The current closures on bottom fish include vermilion snapper (beeliners) until April 1, shallow-water grouper until May 1 and black sea bass until June 1. Also, red snapper are off-limits indefinitely and must be released. Among the species recreational bottom-fishing anglers can currently keep are amberjack, grunts, porgy, triggerfish and banded rudderfish.

Freshwater

• Look For | Crappie, bream, catfish, bass.

•  Comments | “It’s going to be a warm weekend, get out there and fish,” said Jay Booth of Fishermen’s Headquarters. Areas such as Yauhannah, Samworth and Bucksport are producing good catches of bream and crappie. Look for crappie hitting minnows 8-10 feet below the surface and bream, morgans and shellcracker hitting worms in 8-12 feet of water on the bottom. Action for catfish in the 2-3 pound range is fair on nightcrawlers. Saturday’s winner in the weekly bass tournament was Danny Martin of Conway with a weight of 5 pounds for a three-fish aggregate. The tournament will again be held Saturday out of Bucksport from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Call 397-3474 for more information.

Gregg Holshouser. For The Sun News

State fishing

•  Santee Cooper system | Catfish: Fair to good. Captain Jim Glenn reports that most days the blue catfish bite is fair to good, and fish are being caught in various depths from 4-10 feet on down to 50 feet. The concentrations may be greatest in deeper water. Both anchoring and drifting with fresh cut gizzard shad, menhaden, perch or mullet will catch fish in the right places. Striped Bass: Fair to good. Captain Jim Glenn reports that anglers are catching plenty of striped bass in both lakes, but very few 26 inch fish are being landed. Perhaps 1 in 50 is a keeper for most anglers, but the good news is that striper appear plentiful and most are robust and healthy. Fishing 35-50 feet deep with live baits including big shiners and gizzard or threadfin shad is working, and anglers are also having success trolling and chasing schooling fish on the surface with jigs, spoons and surface plugs. Shellcracker: Slow. Some caught in creek channels, but not really worth putting a line in for them.

S.C. DNR