Grand Strand Fishing Report: A northeast wind has helped produce nice catches off piers
Estuary
Look For: Red drum, flounder, spotted seatrout, black drum, tarpon, Spanish mackerel, bluefish, sheepshead.
Comments: With a stiff north-northeast wind keeping anglers in the creeks since last Saturday, Capt. Patrick Kelly of Captain Smiley Fishing Charters found very good action in the Little River vicinity. Kelly has taken advantage of plentiful finger mullet to catch mainly red drum and flounder plus a few spotted seatrout. The best action has been for reds and flounder. “There are loads of mullet everywhere and the reds are just gorging on them,” said Kelly, who has been catching reds measuring from 15 to 28 inches. “We’ve got a lot of reds in our area. It’s been a great summer and the flounder fishing is pretty top notch right now too.” Kelly says live shrimp have been hard to find, but expects the trout bite to pick up significantly after the upcoming cool spell. Capt. Mike McDonald of Gul-R-Boy Guide Service in Georgetown proved bull reds are starting to show up for their annual fall spawning episode. McDonald boated and released a 41-inch bull red on a Sunday trip in the Winyah Bay vicinity, plus produced more smaller red drum and a few nice trout. McDonald caught the reds on live finger mullet and cut bait, and the trout on soft plastic grubs. Capt. Dan Connolly of O-Fish-Al Expeditions has also caught mainly reds and flounder in Murrells Inlet this week. Connolly’s reds have ranged from small rat reds to 30-inch fish. Connolly has also seen numerous schools of mullet. “There’s plenty of mullet, they’re just everywhere,” said Connolly. On a Monday morning trip, Connolly produced 12 reds including one in the 15-23 inch slot and six flounder with three over the 15-inch minimum size. Capt. Brant McMullan of Ocean Isle Fishing Center is ready to see the cold front roll through this weekend. “It’s going to be nice and cool this weekend - fall fishing getting ready to happen,” said McMullan. “Flounder fishing continues to get good, the big red drum are starting to show up and trout, when the water cools, that will happen.”
Inshore
Look For: Spanish mackerel, king mackerel, tarpon, spadefish, whiting, pompano, flounder, black drum, spotted seatrout, weakfish.
Comments: The northeast wind has meant good fishing on Grand Strand piers this week, namely for Spanish mackerel, croaker, whiting, flounder, and bluefish. Last Friday, the day before the north wind kicked in, angler Mark McDonald had quite a day on the Cherry Grove Pier. McDonald landed a 39-pound, 12-ounce king mackerel and then caught an 18-pounder for good measure. The pier produced a total of four kings on the day. There were some nice catches of pelagics on the Apache Pier as well, with Chris Ott catching and releasing a sizable tarpon, plus another angler caught a 13-pound king. The piers are also producing scattered catches of pompano, red drum, spadefish and plenty of ribbonfish. An 8-pound flounder was reported caught off the Cherry Grove Pier. The ocean water temperature Wednesday on the Apache Pier was 81 degrees. Last weekend, Capt. Jeff Maples of Reel Salty Charters in Murrells Inlet caught a two-person limit of six king mackerel in the Belky Bear vicinity while slow-trolling cigar minnows. Maples also caught a few weakfish on a hard-bottom area near the beach, another sure sign of fall. McMullan noted kings are scattered, for now, with the water temperature still in the 80s. “There are a lot of mullet running down the beach, so the Spanish mackerel fishing has been good,” said McMullan. “We’ve started seeing fair numbers of kings within sight of land. There are also large groups of them in 55-70 feet.”
Offshore
Look For: Wahoo, king mackerel, blackfin tuna, yellowfin tuna, dolphin, sailfish, grouper, red snapper, amberjack, vermilion snapper, triggerfish, red porgy, black sea bass.
Comments: While it will limit or even nullify offshore fishing this weekend, the first big cold front of the fall is bringing much-anticipated changes. “Obviously it’s a transitional time,” said McMullan. “The grouper fishing is going to get much better in 65-90 feet. The wahoo fishing in the stream will be picking up, along with some tuna. We generally don’t see much dolphin (in the fall). All this is predicated on this cool air. (The water temperature) will probably get below 80 with this cooler weather.” Blackfin tuna are a staple in the autumn in the offshore waters but there may be some of their bigger cousins around this fall. Joe Seegers of Hooked Up in Southport landed a 112-pound yellowfin tuna over the weekend, another in a line of what McMullan calls “rogue monster yellowfins” that have been caught this summer off Brunswick County, N.C. “They’re still out there,” said McMullan. “Around the Steeples area, they’ve just been kind of hanging out. We’ve usually got blackfin (in the fall) but we may well mix some yellowfins in this year.” Bottom fishing is excellent in the fall when conditions permit. Aside from grouper, look for vermilion snapper, black sea bass, grey triggerfish, red porgy, white grunts, amberjack and red snapper. Red snapper must be released in the South Atlantic Region.
Freshwater
Look For: Bream, crappie, catfish, bass.
Comments: It’s been a solid week for river fishing in the Grand Strand area. “It’s been some really good fishing,” said Ronald “Catfish” Stalvey of Stalvey’s Bait and Tackle in Conway. “I’ve had a lot of good reports of bream on crickets, in the Waccamaw, the Little Pee Dee – every river is doing really good right now.” Bream are hitting crickets in 2-4 feet of water off the banks. With cooler weather on the way, crappie action will pick up. Stalvey, in fact, reports it already has. “I had a guy come by with a limit of crappie off medium shiners that he caught in two hours on the big Pee Dee, at Yauhannah,” said Stalvey on Wednesday. Live bream and eel are the best baits for catfish, although cut mullet, menhaden or shad will also work. Stalvey says top-water lures such as frogs and buzz baits, plus Texas-rigged worms fished deep are preferred baits for bass.
This story was originally published September 17, 2020 at 12:19 PM.