Myrtle Beach area fishing report (Dec. 11)

Estuary

Look For: Spotted seatrout, red drum, black drum, tautog, flounder, sheepshead.

Comments: While spotted sea trout action continues to be very good, there are a couple other species — one familiar, one not-so-familiar — to keep in mind while fishing local estuaries. Black drum can be found in many areas, but particularly around structure such as local jetties. Also look for tautog, hanging right at the rocks around the jetties. Tautog, a member of the wrasse family more commonly found further north along the Mid and North Atlantic coasts, have been encountered much more frequently the last few years in Grand Strand waters, including on near-shore bottom spots and artificial reefs. Live shrimp or fresh dead shrimp fished on Carolina rigs are clearly the best bait for black drum and tautog. Live shrimp is the top bait for trout, but plenty of artificials such as plastic grubs on one-eighth or one-quarter ounce jig heads or top-water lures (Mirrolures) will work well also. Red drum are also available along Spartina grass banks and oyster racks, and on shallow, flats-type areas. Water temperature is about five degrees above average in local estuaries, with a reading of 60.98 degrees at 2 p.m. Thursday in North Inlet. Minimum size limits are: 14 inches for trout, 15-23 inch slot limit for red drum, and 14-27 inch slot limit for black drum. There is no size or bag limit for tautog in South Carolina state waters.

Inshore

Look For: Black sea bass, whiting, black drum, weakfish, flounder, bluefish, red drum, croaker.

Comments: Black drum are the best bet along the beach, whether fishing the jetties, surf or piers. On the near-shore bottom spots including artificial reefs such as Paradise Reef and Jim Caudle Reef, look for black sea bass, weakfish, tautog, sheepshead and flounder. Finding keeper black sea bass is a hit or miss proposition considering the minimum size limit for the species is 13 inches (with a 5 fish per person daily bag limit). Black sea bass are plentiful and will hit most any live or cut bait, but many are in the 10-12 inch range. On a Wednesday trip aboard Painkiller out of Murrells Inlet, the crew caught numerous undersized fish and to go with several keepers while fishing in 60 feet of water. Aside from black drum, look for whiting and croakers on Grand Strand piers. Any combination of whiting, croaker and spots have a 50-per-person daily bag. The water temperature was 60.8 degrees at 3:18 p.m. Thursday at Springmaid Pier.

Offshore

Look For: Wahoo, blackfin tuna, grouper, vermilion snapper, black sea bass, amberjack, vermilion snapper, triggerfish, porgy.

Comments: Wahoo continue to be available for trolling boats in depths of 150 feet to the edge (Continental Shelf), with a few blackfin tuna also landed. Look for grouper and king mackerel in depths of 70 to 100 feet. Black sea bass are plentiful but many fish are just under the 13-inch minimum size limit. Expect to go over 20 miles out to depths of 60-plus feet to find a good ratio of keepers. Bottom fishing is also producing vermilion snapper, triggerfish, porgy, white grunts and amberjack. Red snapper, known locally as genuines, can be found occasionally on bottom spots but must be released indefinitely in the South Atlantic Region.

Freshwater

Look For: Bream, catfish, bass, crappie.

Comments: The rivers are below flood stage but continue to be high as they have since the historic flooding rain that occurred in early October. Bream fishing has been slow to non-existent this autumn with the water well into the woods. While the number of anglers fishing on the rivers is low, those going are mainly targeting crappie. “It's crappie, crappie and more crappie,” said Rick Woodward of Rick's Bait and Tackle in Conway. “They're catching some catfish but the catfish aren't there like they normally are probably because of the high water. The bluegill are kind of dormant or people just aren't fishing for them. It's just slow as far as freshwater goes.” Lake Busbee in Conway continues to be a good option for freshwater anglers, with sizable crappie, some to two pounds, landed from the lake.

Gregg Holshouser

This story was originally published December 10, 2015 at 6:11 PM with the headline "Myrtle Beach area fishing report (Dec. 11)."