Local fishing report (Oct. 29)
Estuary
Look For: Red drum, spotted seatrout, black drum, flounder, croaker, spots, whiting, sheepshead.
Comments: The arrival of the month of November is mere hours away, and for estuary anglers from Little River to Georgetown that means two species should show up strong – spotted seatrout and black drum. In fact, catches of both species have already been good and should increase in the next couple weeks. In addition, red drum are in the process of schooling up for the winter. Capt. Mike McDonald of Gul-R-Boy Guide Service in Georgetown had a solid trip on Sunday, as his crew caught 7 red drum, 6 black drum and a sheepshead. On Thursday, McDonald’s group caught numerous large whiting on cut shrimp on the lower end of Winyah Bay and also an 18-inch spotted seatrout on a plastic grub. McDonald noted the water temperature in the bay had increased to 70 degrees as of Thursday afternoon. While catches of spots have been hot in Murrells Inlet in the last couple weeks, Capt. Shannon Currie of Catch-1 Charters noted that catches had slowed as of Thursday afternoon in the inlet.
Inshore
Look For: King mackerel, whiting, weakfish, flounder, bluefish, red drum, black drum, croaker, spadefish, sheepshead.
Comments: It hasn’t been a week conducive to much fishing on the inshore scene in the Atlantic, thanks to windy and rainy days. Bull red drum can still be found on near-shore hard-bottom areas, but the numbers appear to be dwindling. Capt. Jay Sconyers of Aces Up Fishing put his clients on a few reds in the 35-40 inch range during a weather window of opportunity on Thursday. The same bottom spots are holding weakfish (summer trout) and black sea bass. Remember black sea bass have a 13-inch minimum size limit and a five-fish per person daily bag limit. Weakfish have a 12-inch minimum size limit but anglers can only keep one-fish per person per day. As the water cools in the month of November, look for more keeper black sea bass to show up on bottom spots such as Paradise Reef (Three-Mile Reef), Jim Caudle Reef and 10-Mile Reef, among others. Cherry Grove Pier reports a good run of spots on Thursday morning, and there have been occasional good runs of spots on other Grand Strand piers. Catches of black drum have also increased on the piers but most are under the 14-26 inch slot limit. The piers are also producing whiting, croaker and a few flounder. Water temperature was 70.3 degrees Thursday at 4 p.m. at Springmaid Pier.
Offshore
Look For: Wahoo, blackfin tuna, dolphin, grouper, vermilion snapper, black sea bass, amberjack, vermilion snapper, triggerfish, porgy.
Comments: Catch the right day and trolling can be fantastic on the offshore ledges. Case in point, the day Jeff Martini and crew had aboard his boat, Dirty Martini, Sunday at Winyah Scarp. Trolling skirted ballyhoo, the Dirty Martini crew caught eight wahoo, all in the 50-pound class, and four king mackerel. In all, the 12 fish weighed over 400 pounds. Martini had selected the day as his day to fish in the ongoing Hook-A-Hoo Rodeo and their biggest fish, a 58.96-pounder, is in third place in the tournament, which ends Saturday. “The bite started at 9 a.m. and continued to 2:30 p.m.,” said Martini, the founder of the tournament. “They were hitting everything. Color didn’t matter. We must have missed 15 fish.” Bottom fishing is very good on offshore bottom spots. Look for grouper, black sea bass, vermilion snapper, triggerfish, red porgy and amberjack. Red snapper are available but must be released indefinitely in the South Atlantic Region.
Freshwater
Look For: Bream, catfish, bass, crappie.
Comments: The Waccamaw River was at 10.6 feet at Conway Thursday, just below flood stage. With area rivers slowly receding from the flooding, a few anglers are getting back out on the river to try some fishing. “They’re slowly but surely going back to their fishing,” said Rick Woodward of Rick’s Bait and Tackle in Conway. “I haven’t seen any nice catfish or bream. I saw some nice crappie off the big Pee Dee which empties out first.”
Gregg Holshouser
This story was originally published October 30, 2015 at 4:00 PM with the headline "Local fishing report (Oct. 29)."