Fishing report (June 24, 2016)
Estuary
Look For: Flounder, black drum, red drum, spotted seatrout, bluefish, sheepshead.
Comments: Capt. Mike McDonald of Gul-R-Boy Guide Service had a solid trip on Wednesday in the Winyah Bay vicinity, with his customers hooking up with black drum, flounder, spotted seatrout and croaker. McDonald caught the trout and flounder on soft plastic grubs, and the black drum and croaker on fresh cut shrimp. McDonald observed the water temperature has cooled a bit in the last week to a reading of 79 degrees in the bay on Wednesday. Capt. Mark Dickson of Shallow-Minded Inshore Charters in Little River has found solid catches of black drum, flounder, trout, croaker and a few red drum this week, despite predominantly windy conditions. “It's been tough with that southwest wind but we’ve been scrapping some decent fish on most of our trips,” said Dickson. Bonaparte Creek, Dunn Sound and the Calabash River are areas Dickson has been fishing, with best success on a rising tide and the first of the falling tide. Dickson has used fresh shrimp on a Carolina rig for the black drum, croaker and reds, and Vudu shrimp on a popping cork for trout.
Inshore
Look For: Spanish mackerel, king mackerel, cobia, bluefish, whiting, croaker, pompano, flounder, weakfish, spadefish.
Comments: Very windy conditions have wreaked havoc on near-shore fishing this week. On the near-shore reefs, bottom fishing with live mullet or mud minnows can produce black sea bass, weakfish, flounder and bluefish. Slow-trolling live mullet or menhaden, or even dead cigar minnows, can catch Spanish mackerel and bluefish, with king mackerel and cobia a possibility. Have a rod ready to toss a bait to a curious cobia if one shows up around the boat. Also look for Spanish mackerel around inlet passes and on hard-bottom areas near the beach. Troll Clark or Drone spoons on No. 1 planers or trolling leads to catch them. Grand Strand piers are producing scattered catches of Spanish mackerel, bluefish, whiting, pompano, flounder, black drum and possibly king mackerel. The ocean water temperature was 81.5 degrees Thursday at 6 p.m. at Springmaid Pier.
Offshore
Look For: Dolphin, blackfin tuna, wahoo, grouper, black sea bass, vermilion snapper, triggerfish, red porgy, grunts, cobia, amberjack.
Comments: Trolling near the break and the Gulf Stream is still producing some decent catches of dolphin, with a few wahoo and blackfin tuna, but numbers are lower with the water temperature in the low-to-mid 80s. The good news is, the scattered dolphin can be found closer to shore in areas such as the Parking Lot with sailfish in the same areas. Bottom fishing is good but head to deeper water – depths of 70 feet and beyond – to find sizable vermilion snapper, black sea bass, triggerfish, grunts, porgy and grouper. Amberjack are common on most any reef area. Red snapper can be found, some over 20 pounds, but must be released indefinitely in South Atlantic waters.
Freshwater
Look For: Bream, catfish, crappie, bass.
Comments: Ronald “Catfish” Stalvey III of Stalvey’s Bait and Tackle in Conway reports good catches of bream on the Waccamaw, Great Pee Dee and the Ricefields area on the south Waccamaw and Pee Dee. Some bream are being caught on the Little Pee Dee, but many anglers are waiting for conditions to get a little better. “On the Little Pee Dee, they’re catching (bream) but it’s not right yet,” said Stalvey. “It needs to get to 5 to 5 ½ feet. That’s when you’ll see everybody in Horry County out there in their jon boats.” The river level was at 6.54 feet Thursday at 6 p.m. at Galivants Ferry and was projected to fall below 6 feet by Monday. Stalvey notes good catches of catfish on eels with bass hitting Bang-O-Lures, plastic worms and frogs early and late in the day.
This story was originally published June 23, 2016 at 10:33 PM with the headline "Fishing report (June 24, 2016)."