Local fishing report (Oct. 15)
Estuary
Look For: Red drum, flounder, spotted seatrout, black drum, croaker, spots, sheepshead.
Comments: Capt. Mike McDonald of Gul-R-Boy Guide Service in Georgetown doesn’t mince words when describing what the water in Winyah Bay looks like. “Absolutely nasty,’’ McDonald said on Thursday. “That’s the only way I can put it. It’s just real trashy, real bad.” The ugly water comes with a caveat though. “The fish are biting damn good,” McDonald said. The captain had four trips on Sunday and Monday and produced good catches of red drum and spotted seatrout. Using mainly soft plastic grubs on jig heads, McDonald’s crews had a total of about 30 red drum hook ups and caught 16-17 of those fish, plus about a dozen trout. “If you get out there and hunt ‘em, you can find em,” said McDonald. “They aren’t spread out, they’re bunched up.” Up the road in Murrells Inlet, Capt. Englis Glover, host of Reelin’ Up The Coast and the Southern Anglers Radio Show, gave the trout a try with Jeff Burleson of South Carolina Sportsman Magazine. The duo started by catching a pair of trout on topwater lures early in the day plus Burleson landed a 26-inch red drum on topwater. They finished with nine trout total, with the rest coming on Vudu shrimp. Glover noted spot action is very good in the inlet currently with some true yellow bellies being caught. “The inlet is a traffic jam of spot fishermen right now,” said Glover. Anglers are limited to 50 fish per day for any combination of spots, croaker and whiting. In Little River, Capt. Patrick Kelly of Capt. Smiley Fishing Charters had decent success on a Wednesday trip in the creeks, producing a few stripers, small flounder and a black drum on live shrimp. “In this area, you’re not seeing as many finger mullet as you were,” said Kelly. “There’s a lot of debris and trash in the water. It’s definitely got that coffee look.” Large spawning-size red drum well over the slot limit of 15 to 23 inches continue to be caught at area jetties. These fish must be released and anglers should have them well-revived before doing so.
Inshore
Look For: Spanish mackerel, king mackerel, whiting, weakfish, flounder, bluefish, pompano, red drum, black drum, croaker, spadefish, sheepshead.
Comments: The big bull reds are also being found along the beach under schools of menhaden (pogeys) as well as on near-shore bottom spots. “You’ve got lots of menhaden on the beach and there are sharks, kings and (red) drum on the bottom under them,” said Kelly, who notes the schools are in eight to 15 feet of water. The menhaden schools also offer pier anglers an opportunity to hook into a big red drum, too. Once again, these spawning fish should be carefully released to help the future of red drum stocks in South Carolina. Near-shore bottom spots, including artificial reefs like Jim Caudle Reef (three miles south of Little River Inlet) and Paradise Reef (three miles east of Murrells Inlet), are also producing weakfish, black sea bass and flounder. Grand Strand piers are producing a variety of species including whiting, spots, croaker, pompano, bluefish, Spanish mackerel, flounder and black drum. Anglers are limited to 50 fish per day for any combination of spots, croaker and whiting. Ocean water temperature at Springmaid Pier was 74.3 degrees at 1:48 p.m. Thursday.
Offshore
Look For: Wahoo, blackfin tuna, dolphin, grouper, vermilion snapper, black sea bass, amberjack, vermilion snapper, triggerfish, porgy.
Comments: Capt. Derek Treffinger reports he headed offshore with a crew out of Ocean Isle Fishing Center aboard the OIFC’s World Cat catamaran on Monday. The trolling portion of the trip produced two wahoo in the 40-pound range and three blackfin tuna in the vicinity of the Black Jack Hole and a shallower area. Black/purple, pink and blue/white were the hot color combinations. The crew switch to bottom fishing gear and added 14 vermilion snapper (beeliners) and three triggerfish to the catch, plus released a hogfish (hog snapper). Bottom fishing is also producing black sea bass, red porgy, amberjack and grouper. Red snapper are available but must be released indefinitely in the South Atlantic Region.
Freshwater
Look For: Bream, catfish, bass, crappie.
Comments: On the rivers, the devastating flooding continues to be a huge problem. Fishing is virtually non-existent and boaters are urged to stay off the rivers until the waters recede. Large amounts of debris is in the water, which is a danger to boaters, and boat wakes can further damage properties that are being affected by the flood waters.
Gregg Holshouser
This story was originally published October 15, 2015 at 9:00 PM with the headline "Local fishing report (Oct. 15)."