Area fishing report

Estuary

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

Comments | Capt. Mark Dickson of Shallow-Minded Inshore Charters reported water temperature readings in the mid 50s, even approaching the upper 50s last Saturday in the Little River vicinity, yes, in early February. “I even saw 57 in places,” said Dickson. Although most juvenile flounder never leave the estuaries in the winter, they normally are dormant and aren’t actively feeding. Keeper flounder (14 inch minimum size limit) have been caught this week, indicating that, indeed, the water temperature is warm enough for the flatfish to be active. “It makes sense – the water temperature is 55-56 degrees,” said Dickson. “The premature fish lay dormant and don’t go offshore. They’re just feeding because they’re not that cold, and there is a lot of mullet in the creeks, from 3 to 15, 16 inches, and glass minnows.” Capt. Mark Stacy had success with keeper flounder in the Ocean Isle Beach vicinity earlier this week using Berkeley Gulps and mud minnows on jig heads. Red drum and spotted seatrout are also available for anglers. It is certainly a rarity for all three species to be actively feeding in early February, but that is the case.

Inshore

Look for | Sheepshead, black drum, weakfish.

Comments | The best bet on the inshore waters is for sheepshead on inshore artificial reefs such as Paradise Reef (three miles off Murrells Inlet) and the Jim Caudle Reef (three miles off Little River). Be prepared to catch and release plenty of black sea bass to get to the sheepshead, however. Black sea bass, of course, are thick on the reefs but cannot be harvested and must be released until June 1. Off the piers and in the surf zone, black drum under the 14 to 27 inch slot limit have been caught this week. The surface temperature was 55.48 degrees at Apache Pier at 1 p.m. Thursday. The water temperature reading at the Springmaid Pier was 55 degrees at 12:06 p.m. Thursday.

Offshore

Look for | Wahoo, blackfin tuna, amberjack, triggerfish.

Comments | What’s happening offshore? “Nothing much,” said Capt. Brant McMullan of Ocean Isle Fishing Center. And with a cold front arriving, the marine forecast doesn’t look promising for the weekend either. Anglers can troll for wahoo and blackfin tuna near the break and a plethora of reef species are on hand. But the current closures leave few fish that can be harvested for recreational bottom-fishing anglers. The closures include vermilion snapper (beeliners) until April 1, shallow-water grouper until May 1 and black sea bass until June 1. 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 | Bream, crappie, bass, catfish.

Comments | Fishing is good on area rivers and should remain good after a rare shot of Arctic air – for this winter – passes through Saturday through Monday. “Fishing’s still pretty good considering we haven’t had any winter,” said Jay Booth of Fishermen’s Headquarters in Conway. “I don’t think this weekend is going to mess it up any.” Booth noted a water temperature reading on Saturday of 57 degrees at Bucksport. Look for bream, morgans and shellcracker hitting worms in 8-10 feet of water and crappie taking minnows 6-8 feet below the surface. Top areas this week have been Yauhannah, Samworth and Bucksport. Luke Cannon of Conway landed a limit of bream and morgans on Saturday at Bucksport. Booth termed the catfish bite as “fair to good” on cut shad. Shawn Taggert of Conway won the weekly bass tournament with a three-fish aggregate of 7.61 pounds. The tournament will be held Saturday, 8 a.m., at Bucksport.

By Gregg Holshouser, For The Sun News

State fishing

Santee Cooper System | Blue catfish: Improving. Captain Jim Glenn reports the catches in terms of numbers have been improving recently. Blue cats have been caught in various depths fairly consistently. Depths from a few feet to 55 feet have produced fish. Targeting blue cats in and around big schools of bait fish in deep water remains a fairly consistent strategy for winter. Lake Marion and Lake Moultrie are very similar right now with approaches to fishing for blue cats. Striped Bass: Fair. Captain Jim Glenn reports that both lakes continue to produce lots of sub legal stripers. Stripers can still be seen schooling in both lakes, but not as often as in past weeks. Shad may not be as likely to come to the surface as often as they would in warmer water when being chased by stripers. Fishing in and around dense schools of bait with live bait or spoons and jigs and trolling are all effective right now. Some folks will use large shiners drifted either under a float or simply suspended under the boat with a sinker and swiveled leader. Stripers will be scattered in various depths depending on where they can find bait. Some striper fishermen have caught numbers of stripers in a few feet of water if bait is present in the area.

S.C. Department of Natural Resources