Area fishing report (April 16)

Estuary

Look For | Flounder, red drum, spotted seatrout, black drum, sheepshead.

Comments | Although the weather hasn’t been cooperative this week, flounder catches continue to improve with more and more keepers being caught in local inlets such as Murrells Inlet, Cherry Grove, Tubbs Inlet, North Inlet and Pawleys Inlet. Mud minnows or finger mullet are the baits of choice. If “snot grass” is troublesome, try floating minnows just above the bottom to minimize aggravation. Jessica Perry of Perry’s Bait and Tackle reports sheepshead and black drum are making their move back in toward the inlets and have been caught at the Murrells Inlet jetties this week. “They’re pushing back in,” Perry said. Red drum and spotted seatrout are also active in local estuaries.

Inshore

Look For | Bluefish, Spanish mackerel, whiting, flounder, black sea bass, weakfish, sheepshead.

Comments | The rainy, cool weather has dampened the spirit of most anglers with spring fishing fever this week. Still, Grand Strand piers are producing decent catches of whiting, with most fish in the 10-11 inch range, along with blues and croaker. There have been very scattered catches of Spanish this week. The Pier at Garden City reports a few trout – both weakfish and spotted seatrout – have been caught. On the near-shore reefs, look for sheepshead, weakfish, black sea bass and flounder, with Spanish and blues also in the vicinity. Perry notes weakfish over three pounds have been landed from the Paradise Reef (Three-Mile Reef) off Murrells Inlet. After topping out at 65-66 degrees a week ago, the ocean water temperature has taken a nosedive below the coveted 65-degree mark. The reading was 62.71 degrees at 3:15 p.m. on Thursday at 2nd Ave. Pier.

Offshore

Look For | Wahoo, blackfin tuna, black sea bass, vermilion snapper, amberjack.

Comments | There have been a few decent weather days within the last week and the catches by offshore trolling boats have been surprisingly good. Boats have returned with catches of all three components of a Carolina Offshore Slam including wahoo, blackfin tuna and dolphin. “I think everything’s early,” Perry of the early showing of dolphin. Bottom fishing is very good for black sea bass and vermilion snapper with triggerfish, porgy, grunts, amberjack and banded rudderfish also available. Bottom fishing will get a boost in exactly two weeks when the annual shallow-water Grouper Spawning Season Closure is over on May 1. Red snapper are off-limits indefinitely in the South Atlantic Region and must be released.

Freshwater

Look For | Bream, bass, catfish, crappie.

Comments | “The bream are just carrying on on the lower end of the Waccamaw,” said Rick Woodward of Rick’s Bait and Tackle. “You can catch your limit in no time. They’re hitting the crickets like everybody wanted them to on the throw lines.” Woodward also notes good bass action on the lower Waccamaw, in the Ricefields vicinity. Anglers are eager to go bream fishing on the Little Pee Dee, but the river remains too high.

By Gregg Holshouser, For The Sun News

This story was originally published April 16, 2015 at 6:37 PM with the headline "Area fishing report (April 16)."