With cold front coming, fall fishing heating up, some things anglers should remember

Estuary

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

Comments: Capt. Patrick Kelly of Captain Smiley Fishing Charters found flounder and black drum on a Thursday trip in the Little River vicinity, plus Kelly’s crew caught bull red drum at the Little River Inlet jetties. Also look for spotted seatrout and slot-size red and black drum at area jetties. Trout, red and black drum, and flounder are also available in the creeks of area estuaries. With a cold front on our doorstep and superb fall fishing around the corner, anglers should remember some important limits: black drum, 14-27 inch slot limit, 5 per person; red drum, 15-23 inch slot limit, 3 per person; spotted seatrout, 14-inch minimum size, 10 per person, flounder, 15-inch minimum size, 10 per person, 20 maximum per boat. As mentioned, the autumn treat of landing bull red drum at area jetties and along the channels of inlets such as Little River Inlet and Winyah Bay is underway, plus they are available on near-shore hard-bottom spots in the Atlantic. Anglers are urged to catch these fish quickly with beefed-up tackle and release them carefully, being sure they are revived before letting them go. These fish represent the red drum’s future in South Carolina waters and should be handled delicately to ensure their survival.

Inshore

Look For: Spanish mackerel, king mackerel, bluefish, black sea bass, spadefish, weakfish, flounder, whiting, croaker, pompano, black drum, sheepshead and red drum.

Comments: Charlie Love of Pittsboro, N.C., landed a 23-pound, 14-ounce king mackerel off the Cherry Grove Pier early Thursday afternoon, reports Scott Skrzydlinski. With a cold front pending, Skrzydlinski noted plenty of mullet heading south along the beach. The piers are also producing bluefish, Spanish mackerel, whiting, croaker, pompano, flounder, black drum and a few red drum. Skrzydlinski reported a surface water temperature of 82 degrees and 79 on the bottom at 4:30 p.m. Thursday. Capt. Jeff Maples of Reel Salty Charters in Murrells Inlet fished the Paradise Reef on Thursday and found flounder, bonito, Spanish and black sea bass. Action is heating up on the near-shore hard-bottom areas with numbers of weakfish (summer trout) picking up. Also look for black sea bass, whiting, flounder and bull red drum on the hard-bottom areas.

Offshore

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

Comments: The first true cold front of the fall provides pleasant temperatures but with a tradeoff – a howling northeast wind. After the front comes through Friday, the northeast wind will blow hard, virtually eliminating offshore fishing for several days due to rough seas. Before the blow, offshore trolling was producing solid catches of wahoo and blackfin tuna, with a few dolphin also available. As usual, find a floating object, you’re likely to find dolphin, and thanks to Irma, there are more floating objects than usual in the South Atlantic this fall. Bottom fishing will be excellent when conditions calm down, with grouper, especially scamp, vermilion snapper, black sea bass, triggerfish, red porgy, grunts and amberjack topping the list. Anglers should be aware that cobia cannot be harvested in 2017 in South Carolina waters (to three miles offshore) or federal waters (beyond three miles) and must be released. Also, red snapper must be released in the South Atlantic region.

Freshwater

Look For: Bream, catfish, bass, crappie.

Comments: The river levels and the air temperature are both trending down, and the fishing had turned hot. “Freshwater is on,” said Ronald “Catfish” Stalvey of Stalvey’s Bait and Tackle in Conway. Stalvey reports his dad and granddad, Ronald, Sr., and Ronald, Jr., headed to the Ricefields vicinity Thursday for a little bream fishing. The elder Stalveys caught numerous bream on crickets in depths of 2-4 feet, culling their way to a two-man limit of 60 good keepers. Stalvey reports bass action is improving, with top-water action still good using Ribbet Frogs and buzz baits. Catfish are hitting eels, black salties or most any cut bait including shrimp or mullet.

This story was originally published September 29, 2017 at 2:52 PM with the headline "With cold front coming, fall fishing heating up, some things anglers should remember."