Grand Strand Fishing Report: Red snapper mini-season has arrived, Spanish are near shore

Estuary

Look For: Flounder, black drum, red drum, spotted seatrout, sheepshead, Spanish mackerel, tarpon

Comments: The water conditions in Winyah Bay are still not good, says Capt. Mike McDonald of Gul-R-Boy Guide Service in Georgetown, but the fish continue to cooperate. On Monday, a trio of anglers used live finger mullet to boat 14 red drum, four flounder and a pair of nice spotted seatrout while fishing with McDonald in the Winyah Bay vicinity. All three caught a Carolina slam of red drum, flounder and trout. With another rainy week in the books, don’t look for much improvement in the water conditions in the bay soon. “The best way to explain it, is it’s nasty,” said McDonald of the water conditions. “We won’t have any decent water coming down any time soon.” A week ago, McDonald’s clients caught 23 redfish ranging from a few dinks to near 30 inches, but most of the fish were within South Carolina’s 15-23 inch slot limit. Mid-week rain hasn’t helped the fishing for Capt. Patrick Kelly of Captain Smiley Fishing Charters in Little River, but he still managed to catch flounder, black drum and trout. Before the rain set in, Kelly had two very good days on Monday and Tuesday when flounder action on both sides of the state line was very good. Kelly reports artificials were working well for the flounder, especially the Berkeley Gulp curly tail swimming minnow in white. Capt. Dan Connolly of O-Fish-Al Expeditions has used fresh dead shrimp to land black drum this week in Murrells Inlet, especially around the time of low tide, and live finger mullet on the low incoming tide to catch redfish. Connolly called the flounder bite “okay” using large mud minnows or finger mullet on both sides of high tide. Ed Keelin of Georgetown Landing Marina reports Capt. Jordan Pate of Carolina Guide Service caught and released a tarpon in the Winyah Bay area Thursday. “They’re supposed to be here,” said Keelin. “Hopefully we’re going to start catching them.”

Inshore

Look For: King mackerel, Spanish mackerel, cobia, spadefish, whiting, pompano, flounder, black drum.

Comments: The rainy weather hasn’t helped water quality this week and there has been little king mackerel action near the beach. Neither the Cherry Grove Pier nor the Apache Pier has produced king, with the last one landed on July 4. Spanish mackerel, however, has been a different story as Grand Strand piers have seen good catches of Spanish this week. Calvin Dickerson of Apache Pier reports Spanish and flounder have been the top catches along with whiting, black drum and spadefish. The catch of the week goes to Sybrant Baccas who landed a 25.5-pound cobia from the Apache Pier. Steve Gann of Cherry Grove Pier reports a nice increase in flounder action, with 10 keepers on Thursday as of noon. Gann has also noticed a major increase in catches of spadefish. “Spadefish have been everywhere,” said Gann. “We’re catching a lot of small spadefish.” Anglers are reminded that spadefish have a new 14-inch minimum size limit that went into effect this spring. Gann also reports catches of Spanish, whiting and croaker. Look for kings on artificial reefs and live-bottom areas, but the best numbers are likely to be found on bottom spots in 50-70 feet of water. The ocean water temperature was 83 degrees Thursday at Apache Pier.

Offshore

Look For: Blackfin tuna, wahoo, king mackerel, dolphin, sailfish, blue marlin, bonito, grouper, red snapper, amberjack, vermilion snapper, triggerfish, red porgy, black sea bass.

Comments: The 2020 mini-season for red snapper is here, with fishing set for four days including this Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and again next Friday (July 17). Keelin notes numerous boats were preparing to head out of Georgetown Landing Marina, along with other ports, over the weekend to take advantage of the limited opportunity to actually harvest a red snapper. The limits for the four days of fishing are one red snapper per person per day with no size limit. Keelin notes a variety of baits will produce red snapper including live pinfish, menhaden or cigar minnows. Frozen squid and cigar minnows, along with fresh cut bait will also work for red snapper. Of course, other species including grouper, amberjack, vermilion snapper, triggerfish, black sea bass, porgy, and grunts will also be landed on the red snapper trips. Keelin reports a Georgetown boat, Earl E Bird produced 16 blackfin tuna on a trip along the break this week. Keelin has also seen a few wahoo show up. Further offshore, in depths of about 600 to 1,000 feet, blue marlin and sailfish have been caught and released. “I’ve seen six or seven (release) flags in the marina,” said Keelin.

Freshwater

Look For: Bream, bass, catfish, crappie.

Comments: “The thunderstorms are keeping everything slow,” said Ronald “Catfish” Stalvey of Stalvey’s Bait and Tackle in Conway. “There are very few people on the rivers, but the few that are going are catching quality fish.” The water remains high on local rivers, but below flood stage. The Waccamaw at Conway remains just below Minor Flood Stage, at 10.17 feet at 11:15 a.m. Thursday. The Little Pee Dee at Galivants Ferry was holding steady below Minor Flood Stage, at 7.83 feet at 11 a.m. Thursday. Look for bream in creeks and coves off the main river in 2-4 feet of water and offer crickets under floats on a throw line. Stalvey suggests targeting bass on tree lines, in ditch mouths and around lily pads. Top artificials are hollowed-body frogs and Texas-rigged worms. “Eels have been the ticket for catfish,” said Stalvey. Landon Doyle caught, weighed in and released the winning bass, a 4-pound, 9-ounce lunker, in the weekly Tuesday bass tournament out of Conway Marina. Doyle earned $480 for the win.

This story was originally published July 9, 2020 at 3:03 PM.