Area fishing report (Sept. 3)

Estuary

Look For: Flounder, red drum, black drum, spotted seatrout, sheepshead.

Comments: On the heels of a deluge of rain earlier in the week, Capt. Patrick Kelly of Captain Smiley Fishing Charters stuck close to the ocean at Little River Inlet on a Wednesday trip. Early in the day around a low tide, Kelly was looking at water that was “really dirty and (with) no bait.” Near high tide, the bait appeared and Kelly’s crew got some bites, catching several flounder and red drum, including a 28-inch red that was carefully released. “I think a lot of the bait got flushed out into the ocean (by the rain),” Kelly said. “The bait came back in on the high tide.” Kelly used cut mullet to catch his fish. Capt. Mike McDonald of Gul-R-Boy Guide Service in Georgetown can feel fall fishing is right around the corner. “The trout are starting to move up and the reds are starting to get more aggressive,” said McDonald, who fished in the IFA Redfish Tour tournament out of Georgetown on Saturday. The captain noted a good showing of flounder as a by-catch in the tournament, including a four-pounder he landed. “I talked with a good many people who caught flounder in the tournament,” McDonald said. Bull reds are starting to show up at area jetties for their late summer, early fall appearance. Anglers are urgently reminded these fish are well over South Carolina’s slot limit of 15 to 23 inches for red drum. These redfish must be released and anglers should do so very carefully, to make sure they are fully revived before letting them go. The future of South Carolina’s red drum population is in your hands.

Inshore

Look For: Spanish mackerel, flounder, bluefish, whiting, pompano, black drum, croaker, spadefish, weakfish, sheepshead.

Comments: As Kelly mentioned, bait was pushed out of the inlets by the heavy rain and was thick along the beach at midweek. The presence of the bait probably had plenty to do with the super day Garden City Beach angler Joe Nelligan had on The Pier at Garden City on Wednesday. He didn’t land any fish due to marauding sharks at the pier, but he did hook up with and fought several large Spanish mackerel, a king mackerel and, to cap the day, jumped off a tarpon. The sharks claimed all the mackerel while the tarpon threw the hook and lived to swim another day. Michael Wallace of Cherry Grove Pier also noted a few anglers have hooked up with tarpon from the Grand Strand’s northernmost pier this week. Aside from Spanish and blues, the piers are producing scattered catches of whiting, croaker, pompano, flounder, spadefish, black drum and sheepshead. Look for spadefish, flounder, black sea bass (13-inch minimum size limit), bluefish, weakfish and Spanish mackerel on and in the vicinity of the near-shore artificial reefs. The ocean water temperature was 82.88 degrees at 10:30 a.m. Thursday at Cherry Grove Pier.

Offshore

Look For: Wahoo, blackfin tuna, dolphin, grouper, vermilion snapper, black sea bass, amberjack, vermilion snapper, triggerfish, porgy.

Comments: Although the bite hasn’t been quite as hot as the last 2-3 weeks, wahoo continue to be the best bet for offshore trolling boats. The ocean finally laid down for Dr. Jason Rosenberg and his crew for their weekly Wednesday fishing excursion aboard Painkiller out of Murrells Inlet. After a quick ride out to the Winyah Scarp on smooth seas, they landed two wahoo in the 20-30 pound range, missed a few bites from some larger fish and also caught and released a barracuda. Rosenberg said they saw scattered flying fish and small tuna and dolphin jumping. Bottom fishing is simply excellent for grouper, vermilion snapper, black sea bass, red porgy, triggerfish and amberjack. Red snapper are off-limits and must be released indefinitely in the South Atlantic Region. Also, the recreational harvest of hogfish (hog snapper) is closed in the South Atlantic Region.

Freshwater

Look For: Bream, catfish, bass, crappie.

Comments: The heavy rain from earlier in the week was just what the doctor ordered for anglers wanting to fish the Little Pee Dee River, which has been drastically low for the last few months. The river has had a rise in it this week and was up to 3.62 feet at midweek. “The Little Pee Dee came up some, now we’ve got to let it settle down a little bit,” said Rick Woodward of Rick’s Bait and Tackle in Conway. “Probably this weekend, it’ll be to where you can fish on it.” The Waccamaw River at Conway was making good tides at midweek, at a depth of 7.7 feet. Woodward says bream are hitting crickets and worms in 2-5 feet of water on the rivers. Cut eels or mullet will work well for catfish.

Gregg Holshouser, For The Sun News

This story was originally published September 3, 2015 at 6:19 PM with the headline "Area fishing report (Sept. 3)."