Fishing report (March 4, 2016)

Estuary

Look For: Spotted seatrout, red drum, flounder, black drum, tautog, sheepshead.

Comments: Capt. Mark Dickson of Shallow-Minded Inshore Charters in Little River ran a pair of trips on Tuesday and found spotted seatrout, red drum and black drum receptive. Dickson caught trout on DOAs and Berkeley Gulp, reds on Berkeley Gulp and black drum on fresh shrimp while fishing in deep pockets in Dunn Sound and off Bonaparte Creek. Dickson noted a water temperature of 54 degrees at Tilghman Point on Thursday. Jessica Perry of Perry’s Bait and Tackle reports little angler action this week in Murrells Inlet but slot red drum and undersized black drum have been caught in the creeks. Winyah Bay continues to be inundated by freshwater, reports Capt. Mike McDonald of Gul-R-Boy Service. “We’ve still got a lot of freshwater coming down and all that water’s running right through Winyah Bay to the ocean,” he said.

Inshore

Look For: Black sea bass, sheepshead, black drum, tautog, whiting, croaker.

Comments: Windy weather has plagued near-shore fishing in the last several days, but sheepshead, black drum, black sea bass and tautog can be found on near-shore bottom spots. The best bet is to target sheepshead and black drum with fiddler crabs as keeper black sea bass can be hard to find. Dickson fished a hard-bottom area in 40 feet of water earlier this week and caught numerous black sea bass, but only four keepers above the 13-inch minimum size limit. It’s been a blustery week on Grand Strand piers with minimal catches of whiting, croaker, black drum and silver perch. The ocean water temperature at Springmaid Pier was 54.1 degrees Thursday at 5 p.m., up a little more than one degree from a week ago.

Offshore

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

Comments: It’s been a rough week offshore, but as usual when conditions are nice, fishing can be great. Wahoo and blackfin tuna can be found near the break, and even a few dolphin. Bottom fishing will produce black sea bass, vermilion snapper, triggerfish, red porgy and amberjack. The annual Shallow-Water Grouper Spawning Season Closure is in effect and lasts through April 30 plus red snapper must be released indefinitely in the South Atlantic Region.

Freshwater

Look For: Crappie, bream, catfish, bass, shad.

Comments: “There’s some beautiful crappie being caught,” said Miki Woodward of Rick’s Bait and Tackle in Conway. “We’re really selling a lot of crappie minnows right now.” One angler brought in a huge 2-pound, 15-ounce crappie that measured 15 inches. “He wouldn’t say where he caught it,” said Woodward, with a laugh. Woodward suggests fishing crappie minnows where the shallow water near the banks in the rivers drops off into deeper water. “Fish deep,” she said. Also look for catfish and bream on the same drop-offs. Shad catches are good in the Tailrace Canal near Moncks Corner.

This story was originally published March 3, 2016 at 10:38 PM with the headline "Fishing report (March 4, 2016)."