Fishing report (June 3, 2016)
Estuary
Look For: Flounder, black drum, red drum, spotted seatrout, bluefish, sheepshead.
Comments: Capt. Patrick Kelly of Captain Smiley Fishing Charters has had a good week catching flounder along with red drum around the docks of the Intracoastal Waterway from Little River to Ocean Isle Beach, N.C. Kelly’s crew has simply flipped mud minnows on jig heads around the pilings to catch fish. “It seems like the bigger flounder are under the docks,” said Kelly, who did have one tip. “Big minnows catch big fish,” Kelly said. Kelly reports J.R. Bias and his 10-year-old grandson Collin McKenna and Tommy Gaffney and his 8-year-old grandson Asa Parker fished with him on Memorial Day and had a super catch of black drum (on shrimp) and flounder (on mud minnows). Capt. Mike McDonald of Gul-R-Boy Guide Service had a productive trip in the Winyah Bay area on Wednesday, catching 11 spotted seatrout on artificial grubs. McDonald noted a water temperature of 77 degrees in the bay.
Inshore
Look For: Spanish mackerel, king mackerel, cobia, bluefish, whiting, croaker, pompano, flounder, weakfish, spadefish.
Comments: Spanish mackerel are the best bet near the beach, with fish being found near inlet passes, hard-bottom areas and on near-shore artificial reefs. Trolling Clark spoons or Drone spoons on No. 1 planers (with a long mono or flourocarbon leader) is a sure-fire method to catch the mackerel. Slow-trolling live bait such as menhaden and mullet over reefs may produce larger fish, with a shot at king mackerel or cobia. While fishing the reefs, have a live bait handy to toss to a cruising cobia. Also look for spadefish, flounder, weakfish or black sea bass on the reefs, but remember black sea bass have a 13-inch minimum size limit. Spanish and blues are the best bet on Grand Strand piers with whiting, croaker, black drum, pompano and flounder also available. The ocean water temperature had zoomed up to 80.4 degrees as of Thursday at 5 p.m. at Springmaid Pier. A week ago, before Tropical Storm Bonnie formed, the reading was 75.2 degrees.
Offshore
Look For: Dolphin, blackfin tuna, wahoo, grouper, black sea bass, vermilion snapper, triggerfish, red porgy, grunts, cobia, amberjack.
Comments: There is still solid trolling action to be found in offshore waters, particularly for dolphin and blackfin tuna with a few wahoo around. Capt. Shawn Thomas of Underdog and his crew zoomed out Wednesday afternoon and found Tropical Storm Bonnie had pushed the western edge of the Gulf Stream over the Georgetown Hole. Thomas observed numerous flying fish and even saw a blue marlin free jumping. As for the catch, the crew landed four gaffer dolphin in the 20-pound range and a dozen blackfin tuna with the largest weighing in at 20 pounds. They also had a visit from a sailfish in their trolling spread. Thomas trolled ballyhoo/Ilander and ballyhoo/Sea Witch combos along with tuna plugs, and said “colors didn’t seem to make a difference.” Ally Simmons of Crazy Sister Marina reports bottom fishing is very good. “Vermilion (smapper) are everywhere,” Simmons said, also noting good catches of grouper, black sea bass, triggerfish, porgy and amberjack. Red snapper cannot be harvested in the South Atlantic region and must be released.
Freshwater
Look For: Bream, catfish, crappie, bass.
Comments: The prolonged, accumulative rains over the last several days from Bonnie have caused a rise in the rivers, just when they were getting right. While some of the bream may be in the woods, still look for fish along the edges hitting floated crickets and worms in 2-5 feet of water. A few reports of crappie being landed continue to come in. Catfish are ready to hit numerous baits including cut eels, shad or mullet. The Waccamaw at Conway was at 8.32 feet at 5:15 p.m. on Thursday but still making good tides. The Little Pee Dee at Galivants Ferry was at 6.96 feet at 5 p.m. on Thursday and was projected to rise to 7.3 feet in the next few days.
This story was originally published June 2, 2016 at 6:32 PM with the headline "Fishing report (June 3, 2016)."