Fishing report (Aug. 26, 2016)

Estuary

Look For: Black drum, red drum, spotted seatrout, flounder, sheepshead, tarpon.

Comments: Capt. Mike McDonald of Gul-R-Boy Guide Service and Capt. Lin Fore of Low Country Expeditions headed to North Inlet Tuesday and caught 15 trout on plastic grubs, live shrimp and cut shrimp. A few sharks, including an aggressive blacktip, picked off a few trout while they were reeled in. McDonald noted a water temperature drop to 81 degrees on Tuesday, down from the mid-80s. Capt. Patrick Kelly of Captain Smiley Fishing Charters in Little River enjoyed a very good flounder and trout bite earlier in the week, but catches slowed a bit on Thursday. Kelly caught trout on live shrimp or DOAs on a popping cork and flounder and red drum on live finger mullet. “There are finger mullet everywhere,” said Kelly. “If you put anything ‘shrimpy’ out there, it’s going to get bit.” Capt. Jeff Maples of Reel Salty Charters stayed in Murrells Inlet to catch black drum, flounder, red drum and croaker on Thursday. Maples’ crew caught four keeper flounder and a 16-inch red. Jessica Perry of Perry’s Bait and Tackle reports reds are showing up at the Murrells Inlet jetties, with flounder and black drum the best bet inside the creeks.

Inshore

Look For: Spanish mackerel, king mackerel, whiting, flounder, weakfish, black sea bass, spadefish, pompano, black drum.

Comments: It’s been another flounder jubilee on the piers and from the surf on the south end of the Grand Strand over the last week to 10 days. Low levels of dissolved oxygen and an algal bloom have occurred in the water within at least a few hundred yards of the beach and flounder have congregated in the surf zone, searching for oxygen. The phenomenon has occurred and flounder have been caught on piers from 14th Ave. Pier and south, but dissolved oxygen levels are returned closer to normal and catches have curtailed as of Thursday. The most flounder were caught on the Pier at Garden City, Surfside Pier and Springmaid Pier. The phenomenon has occurred three times in the last 12 years along the Grand Strand. When the flounder slowed down, the Spanish mackerel picked up, as jiggers have used straw rigs to catch Spanish in decent numbers this week, although in most instances the Spanish have been right around the 12-inch minimum size limit. Also look for whiting, croaker, bluefish, weakfish and pompano off the piers. Capt. Jeff Maples of Reel Salty Charters was live-chumming finger mullet on Tuesday at Paradise Reef, in preparation for Saturday’s Spanish Mackerel Derby out of the Mullet Hut in Murrells Inlet. Maples was surprised when a couple of skinny king mackerel, weighing 19 and 18 pounds, respectively, took the mullet. Jessica Perry of Perry’s Bait and Tackle reports a peanut dolphin was caught 11 miles offshore. The ocean water temperature was 84.9 degrees Thursday at 5:30 p.m. at Springmaid Pier.

Offshore

Look For: Grouper, vermilion snapper, black sea bass, porgy, triggerfish, grunts, amberjack, wahoo, blackfin tuna, dolphin, sailfish, blue marlin.

Comments: Trolling action has been good for wahoo, as is typically the case in August. The number of blue marlin encounters has been surprisingly high, plus sailfish are around as usual in late summer. Trolling can also produce king mackerel, blackfin tuna, dolphin, barracuda and bonito. Bottom fishing is very good for grouper, especially scamp, amberjack, vermilion snapper, black sea bass, porgy and triggerfish. Red snapper are off-limits in the South Atlantic region and must be released.

Freshwater

Look For: Bream, catfish, bass.

Comments: It’s been more comfortable on the rivers, with air temperatures and the humidity considerably lower especially early in the week. Bream catches are good in depths of 3-8 feet along the banks, with fish hitting crickets or worms. Look for bigger bream in the deeper end of that range. Fresh cut eel is a prime bait for catfish, but fresh cut bait such as mullet or shad will work too. Conditions are right on the Little Pee Dee, where the water level was at 3.67 feet Thursday at 6 p.m. at Galivants Ferry.

This story was originally published August 25, 2016 at 7:56 PM with the headline "Fishing report (Aug. 26, 2016)."