Local fishing report (July 30)
Estuary
Look For: Flounder, spotted seatrout, red drum, black drum, sheepshead, bluefish, ladyfish.
Comments: As August arrives, so have a few seasonal summertime visitors to the waters in local estuaries. Tarpon and tripletail make a showing in the heat of the summer and depart either southward or offshore in September when the water starts to cool. A few tripletail were caught in Murrells Inlet this week, one by Paul Pancake aboard the charter boat Skinny Girl, plus both tripletail and tarpon can be found in Winyah Bay. Capt. Mark Dickson of Shallow-Minded Inshore Charters in Little River reports action has slowed a bit this week but trout are biting early in the day on live shrimp. Dickson, who noted a water temperature of 86-87 degrees, has also caught flounder in Tubbs Inlet and red drum over the 15-23 inch slot limit from the Little River jetties. If landing sizable bull reds either in the creeks, and especially at area jetties, be sure to get the fish to the boat quickly as sharks are lurking ready chomp off an easy meal. Also look for trout, flounder, sheepshead and black drum at the Winyah Bay, Murrells Inlet and Little River jetties.
Inshore
Look For: Flounder, Spanish mackerel, bluefish, king mackerel, cobia, whiting, pompano, croaker, black drum, spadefish.
Comments: Flounder catches have picked up significantly on Grand Strand piers this week. “It seems like everyone trying for flounder is at least catching one or two keepers a day,” said Adam Kuryea, who fishes the Surfside Pier and landed a pair of quality fish, a 21-inch flounder and 16-inch trout, on Monday. Kuryea has seen a few trout and spadefish caught, but has also noticed numerous mullet along the beach. Kuryea has also spotted a few tarpon rolling by this week. Local angler Joe Nelligan caught three keeper flounder in the 16-18 inch range Thursday off The Pier at Garden City. Flounder have a 14-inch minimum size limit. Rick Woodward of Rick's Bait and Tackle in Conway notes sizable croakers to 8 inches have been caught off the Myrtle Beach State Park Pier. Look for spadefish on the near-shore reefs. Spanish can also be found at the reefs, along the beach and near the inlets. Dickson caught five flounder in the 20-22 inch range from the Ron McManus Reef, located 5 miles southwest of Little River Inlet, on Thursday. Head for deeper water, in the 50-foot plus range, for best shot at kings. The surface ocean water temperature at 2nd Ave. Pier in Myrtle Beach was a balmy 88.35 degrees Thursday at 5 p.m.
Offshore
Look For: Wahoo, dolphin, blackfin tuna, sailfish, blue marlin, grouper, black sea bass, vermilion snapper, porgy, triggerfish, grunts, amberjack.
Comments: With August almost here, the wahoo bite took off this week, at least for a few boats. Capt. Shawn Thomas and crew aboard Underdog had a super trip out of Murrells Inlet Tuesday, hauling in six wahoo and a nice king. Thomas fished the south end of the Winyah Scarp vicinity where he found plenty of flying fish and a slight, cooler temperature break. Best baits during a prolific morning bite were purple/black skirted ballyhoo on the surface and split-tail mullet on the planer. Blue/white was the best color later in the day. The wahoo were in the 25 to 35 pound range, the king a 25-pounder with the fish caught 160-210 feet of water. ``It was a pretty good day for this time of year,'' said Thomas. ``Hopefully it's a sign of good things to come for fall.'' Bottom fishing is producing grouper, black sea bass, vermilion snapper, triggerfish, amberjack, porgy and grunts. Red snapper are off-limits indefinitely in the South Atlantic Region and must be released.
Freshwater
Look For: Bream, catfish, bass, crappie, stripers.
Comments: “It's bream, bream, bream, bream,” said Rick Woodward of Rick's Bait and Tackle in Conway. As Woodward says, the summertime bream bite is the best bet on local rivers, but with the water temperature in the upper 80s, chances are you’re going to find them a little further off the bank. “With the hot weather they’ll get a little deeper, they won’t necessarily be right on the bank, but some are,” said Woodward. “There are some nice bream in 4-5 feet of water.” While most bream are being caught on crickets, some anglers are using red worms or popping bugs. The catfish bite is good, and we’ll find out how good this weekend during the Whiskers of the Waccamaw, Between the Bridges Catfish Tournament. The event begins Friday out of Bucksport Marina. Call Brandon Strickland (843-742-9060) or Eddie Martin (843-340-7857) for more information.
Gregg Holshouser
This story was originally published July 30, 2015 at 7:23 PM with the headline "Local fishing report (July 30)."