Grand Strand Fishing Report: Action hot in ocean’s warm water, cold in overflowing rivers
Estuary
Look For: Flounder, spotted seatrout, black drum, red drum, tarpon, Spanish mackerel, bluefish, sheepshead.
Comments: Murrells Inlet’s Eric Cox and Greg Plummer had a fantastic day tarpon fishing with Capt. Jordan Pate of Carolina Guide Service out of Georgetown Landing Marina on Wednesday in Winyah Bay. After waiting out a line of storms, the trio caught and released three tarpon out of four bites, with two hitting menhaden and one an artificial. One tarpon was estimated in the 120-pound range and another about 90 pounds. Capt. Chris Ossman of Fine Catch Charters had a super day for flounder early in the week in the Little River vicinity. Although keepers were few and far between, Ossman and crew caught 17 flounder. “Good to see them all in there,” said Ossman. “It seems like they are on a really shelly bottom. Dragging your bait along shell bottom, oyster bottom, scattered shell and a mixture, it gives them a place to hide and ambush their prey.” Ossman has also caught trout, red drum and black drum on live or fresh dead shrimp. Capt. Mike McDonald of Gul-R-Boy Guide Service in Georgetown has had a couple of great trips his last two times out. Last Saturday was red drum day as McDonald and crew boated 17 red drum, some in the 15-23 inch slot and some over, plus three trout and one black drum. On Monday, trout stepped to the forefront as 11 were caught including a 4 1/2 -pounder. Five red drum, five flounder and two ladyfish were also caught on the trip. McDonald, who noted a water temperature of 84 degrees, used a combination of live finger mullet, cut bait and soft plastics to catch the fish.
Inshore
Look For: Spanish mackerel, king mackerel, cobia, tarpon, spadefish, whiting, pompano, flounder, black drum, spotted seatrout, weakfish.
Comments: Capt. Perrin Wood of Southern Saltwater Charters found Spanish mackerel receptive Wednesday at Myrtle Beach Rocks. On a Monday morning trip, Wood found a good bite of flounder at Paradise Reef, located 3 miles east of Murrells Inlet, as his crew boated three keeper flounder over the 15-inch minimum size limit in the 16-20 inch range. On his afternoon trip the same day, Wood’s group released a triple-header of undersized cobia that measured in the 32-inch range. “We caught those on light action rods, that was pretty fun,” said Wood. “We caught one on the bottom and two swam right to the boat.” Wood called the bite of king mackerel in the Belky Bear vicinity, where he found a water temperature of 82-83 degrees, “inconsistent.” Ossman of Fine Catch Charters also has had success with flounder on the near-shore artificial reefs adjacent to Little River Inlet, including the Jim Caudle Reef. Cherry Grove Pier reports scattered catches of a variety of fish this week including Spanish, pompano, whiting and a few spadefish. Schools of menhaden have been spotted in the surf but no kings have been landed this week. Look for Spanish mackerel trailing schools of menhaden and mullet along the beach and near ocean passes. The ocean water temperature was 86 degrees Thursday morning at Cherry Grove Pier.
Offshore
Look For: Wahoo, king mackerel, dolphin, blackfin tuna, sailfish, grouper, red snapper, amberjack, cobia, vermilion snapper, triggerfish, red porgy, black sea bass.
Comments: Wood of Southern Saltwater Charters headed out to the vicinity of the Georgetown Hole Tuesday for some trolling action. The crew had cedar plugs and ilander skirts with ballyhoo in the spread and produced five blackfin tuna and a 50-pound wahoo. “There was pretty water out there,” said Wood, noted he was fishing in 250 feet of water in the vicinity of the Georgetown Hole with a water temperature of 83-85 degrees. Mark Smith and crew of Wound Tight had a super catch on a bottom-fishing trip out of Georgetown Landing Marina Wednesday, putting a six-person limit of vermilion snapper (beeliners) in the box along with a scamp grouper and assorted strawberry grouper, red porgy, white grunts, grey triggerfish, and amberjack. The crew got on the fish in 115-120 feet of water southeast of the south mound at Winyah Bay. Three red snapper were also caught but the species must be released in the South Atlantic Region.
Freshwater
Look For: Bream, bass, catfish, crappie.
Comments: The rivers remain high, just below minor flood Stage, and there hasn’t been much angler action. “Not much of nothing has been happening,” said Ronald “Catfish” Stalvey of Stalvey’s Bait and Tackle. “We need those rivers to go down.” Fish can still be caught despite the high water, and Stalvey recommends working crickets along the tree line off the main river in 2-4 feet of water for bream. Fish drop-offs and deep holes for catfish, with eels, live bream, black salty minnows and cut mullet considered top baits. Angler Summer Farrand won the Tuesday bass tournament with a 3-pound, 2 3/4-ounce bass. Stalvey notes top baits for bass are Texas-rigged worms, buzz baits and frogs.