Grand Strand Fishing Report: Spanish and king mackerel return to piers and inshore waters
Estuary
Look For: Flounder, spotted seatrout, black drum, red drum, Spanish mackerel, bluefish, sheepshead.
Comments: Kayak angler Rob Birchmeier has found some sizable bonnethead sharks roaming the back creeks of Murrells Inlet hitting shrimp or crab chunks, and has had a ball sight-casting to and then catching and releasing them. Birchmeier also has found plenty of black drum, red drum and spotted seatrout, along with ladyfish and one juvenile gag grouper. The black drum have taken shrimp while the redfish have hit Z-Man soft plastics, shrimp and mullet. Capt. Patrick Kelly of Captain Smiley Fishing Charters has caught mainly red and black drum plus trout in the creeks of Little River this week on live shrimp, which have been plentiful via cast net. Kelly has also caught black drum on docks. “There’s a bunch of small reds out there with a few keepers on cut mullet or live finger mullet,” said Kelly. “It’s been a better than usual summer for fishing.” Capt. Mike McDonald of Gul-R-Boy Guide Service in Georgetown found plenty of fish on a Monday trip. “We’ve been catching a lot of fish, most of them small,” said McDonald. Among the Monday catch were a 31-inch redfish and a nice keeper flounder. “That was two fish out of about 25,” said McDonald. “We’ve been catching trout, reds and a fair amount of small flounder.” McDonald noted a water temperature of 85-87 degrees, even reaching 90 degrees at one spot, but found 81 degree water on a rising tide at the Winyah Bay jetties. Capt. Dan Connolly of O-Fish-Al Expeditions has focused mainly on black and red drum inside Murrells Inlet. “I’ve been catching black drum on live shrimp and reds on larger finger mullet or cut mullet,” said Connolly, who has caught some reds in the upper slot (15-23 inches) and some over the slot. Connolly noted a water temperature of 84 degrees in the main channel of Murrells Inlet Wednesday evening on a rising tide. There has been an increase in flounder action this week also. Tarpon action is heating up with the weather, particularly in the bays, inlets and sounds from Winyah Bay and points south. “They’ve been seeing them and they’re starting to catch a few,” said Ed Keelin of Georgetown Landing Marina.
Inshore
Look For: Spanish mackerel, king mackerel, tarpon, spadefish, whiting, pompano, flounder, black drum, red drum, spotted seatrout, weakfish.
Comments: Dr. Jason Rosenberg and daughter, Lainey, aboard Painkiller found a great king mackerel bite 19 miles out of Murrells Inlet on a live-bottom area Wednesday. The Rosenbergs caught numerous kings and had plenty of double-hookups while slow-trolling small ballyhoo and cigar minnows on jig heads. Rosenberg said an orange jig head with an orange-yellow skirt was the ticket. Kings weighing approximately 15 and 25 pounds were among the fish caught by the father-daughter duo. Kelly, of Captain Smiley Fishing Charters, has had very good success with flounder on the Jim Caudle Reef, located about three miles south of Little River Inlet. Kelly has used finger mullet for the flounder, plus has caught bluefish and Atlantic sharpnose sharks on the reef. Also look for spadefish, black sea bass and Spanish mackerel in the vicinity of the artificial reefs. Spanish are also on the beach, as Connolly of O-Fish-Al Expeditions free-lined large finger mullet to catch four in the 2-3 pound range during a Tuesday trip. Also along the beach, Spanish made a great showing on Grand Strand piers early in the week as the Pier at Garden City, Apache Pier and Cherry Grove Pier all produced nice fish. “The finger mullet run started to show up (along the beach), and the Spanish and kings have shown back up,” said Connolly. Water conditions have improved greatly since the passage of Hurricane Isaias and Grand Strand piers have also been producing catches of whiting, croaker and flounder, with plenty of sharks around. A tarpon was caught and released from the Apache Pier after a two-hour fight this week. The ocean water temperature at Cherry Grove Pier was 84 degrees Thursday morning.
Offshore
Look For: Wahoo, king mackerel, dolphin, blackfin tuna, sailfish, blue marlin, bonito, grouper, red snapper, amberjack, cobia, vermilion snapper, triggerfish, red porgy, black sea bass.
Comments: Capt. Brant McMullan has been surprised with the quality of the trolling action, for August, on trips to the break from Ocean Isle Fishing Center. “The (Gulf) Stream has been surprisingly decent,” said McMullan. “There’s wahoo and blackfin (tuna) around and still a few yellowfin as well. It’s worth going to the break, there’s definitely some fishing to be done.” McMullan reported a pair of very nice yellowfin tuna have been caught this week, with OIFC Capt. Watson Fehlig and Capt. Austin Aycock both producing a 70-pound fish. Keelin, of Georgetown Landing Marina, reports a few boats have made it to the break for trolling action after the storm, with blackfin tuna, king mackerel and wahoo, plus a few sailfish, showing up in the trolling spreads. Capt. Shawn Thomas of Underdog Fishing Charters in Murrells Inlet reports excellent bottom fishing in 120 feet of water with his boat producing vermilion snapper, triggerfish, porgy, amberjack, grunts and scamp on several trips this week. Thomas has shared time with Capt. Austin Keener at the helm. The Underdog has caught kings, bonito and blackfin tuna while trolling. McMullan notes that African pompano have made a showing on the deep-water bottom spots. Red snapper are also commonly caught but must be released in the South Atlantic Region. Boats fishing for snapper-grouper species in the South Atlantic Region are required to have a descending device on board to help with successfully releasing fish suffering from barotrauma.
Freshwater
Look For: Bream, bass, catfish, crappie.
Comments: Hurricane Isaias dropped a decent amount of rain on the area, but not enough to cause devastating flooding like other storms such as Matthew and Florence in the last four years. That’s good news for homeowners along the rivers, and the fishermen. “Thank God they’re at a standstill,” said Ronald “Catfish” Stalvey of Stalvey’s Bait and Tackle in Conway. “I don’t think they’re going to get any higher.” Both the Waccamaw at Conway and Little Pee Dee at Galivants Ferry are sitting just below Minor Flood Stage and are forecast to hold steady for the next four days. There have been good catches of bream despite the high water, as angler Johnny Vereen and his fishing partner caught a two-man limit on crickets from the Pee Dee this week. Fish the tree line in 2-4 feet of water for bream. “There have been a lot, I mean a lot, of catfish caught,” said Stalvey, who said top baits are eels, live bream, black salty minnows and cut mullet. Angler Stephen Todd landed a 47-pound flathead from the Little Pee Dee. Top artificials Stalvey currently recommends for bass are Texas-rigged worms, buzz baits and frogs. Stephen Todd won the weekly Tuesday bass tournament out of Conway with a 2.2-pound bass.