Friday, Apr. 30, 2010

Local fishing report

Estuary

Look for | Red drum, flounder, spotted seatrout, sheepshead, black drum, bluefish, whiting.

Comments | Windy weather has hampered fishing for much of this week, but catches of flounder and red drum in local estuaries remain strong. Capt. Mark Dickson of Shallow-Minded Inshore Charters produced five reds and four flounder, including two keeper flounder in the 15-16 inch range, on a Wednesday afternoon trip. Dickson was using mud minnows in the Sunset Beach, N.C., area. Look for flounder in Tubbs Inlet and near Bonaparte Creek. On the south end, Capt. Mike McDonald of Gul-R-Boy Guide Service reports red drum and black drum are present at the Winyah Bay jetties although water in the vicinity remains muddy. Other species available at area jetties are flounder, sheepshead, spotted seatrout and bluefish. Tom Craddock of Inlet Convenience reports "nice" black drum have been landed in Whale Creek in Murrells Inlet with plenty of flounder available throughout the inlet, though most are under the 14-inch minimum size limit. Jessica Perry of Perry's Bait and Tackle reports legal slot reds between 15 and 23 inches are available in the creeks of Murrells Inlet. Catches of spotted seatrout have been noticeably slow in all areas.

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• Local fishing report

  Local fishing report

  Estuary

  Look For | Red drum, flounder, spotted seatrout, sheepshead, black drum, bluefish, whiting.

  Comments | Flounder and red drum are the hottest items in local estuaries while catches of spotted seatrout continue to be sluggish. Look for flounder in North Inlet, Murrells Inlet, Cherry Grove and Tubbs Inlet hitting live bait such as mud minnows, finger mullet and menhaden. Look for red drum along grass banks, in creeks mouths and at area jetties hitting a variety of live bait plus artificials such as grubs and gold spoons (spinnerbaits). Water conditions are generally murky following rain earlier in the week. Capt. Mark Dickson of Shallow-Minded Inshore Charters in Little River has caught all three species this week while fishing areas such as Dunn Sound, Tubbs Inlet and the Sunset Beach Bridge. On Wednesday, Dickson produced four red drum, 5-6 flounder and a 4-pound trout. Dickson noted a 78-degree water temperature in Dunn Sound at 2:30 p.m. on Thursday. Jessica Perry of Perry's Bait and Tackle

• Area fishing reports

  Area fishing reports

  Estuary

  Look For | Red drum, flounder, spotted seatrout, sheepshead, black drum, bluefish, sharks.

  Comments | Capt. Mike McDonald of Gul-R-Boy Guide Service in Georgetown made the best of the heat and produced a very solid catch on a Thursday morning charter trip in Winyah Bay. Despite water temperatures in the 85-87 degree range, McDonald's crew had caught 8 red drum over the 15-23 inch slot limit, 10 trout under the 14-inch minimum size limit and three flounder on a falling tide by late morning. "We've had a great morning," said McDonald. Capt. Mark Dickson of Shallow-Minded Inshore Charters in North Myrtle Beach had produced three red drum over the slot and a three-pound trout by mid-morning Thursday. Dickson noted a water temperature of 85.5 degrees in the Calabash River and 83.1 at Little River Inlet (Thursday morning). Earlier in the week, fishing was off as Dickson faced a consistently strong southwest wind and hot water temperatures. Sharks are a common catch in all local estuaries.

• Fishing report, April 16

  Fishing report, April 16

  Estuary

  Look For | Red drum, flounder, spotted seatrout, sheepshead, black drum

  Comments | Capt. Mark Dickson of Shallow-Minded Inshore Charters in North Myrtle Beach reports fishing has been a bit off and on this week. Dickson's best trip was on Wednesday afternoon when his clients landed eight red drum and two keeper flounder in the Sunset Beach (N.C.) area using mud minnows on jig heads. Dickson, who noted a 67-degree water temperature at mid-afternoon, reports the ratio of keeper flounder is on the rise. Capt. Mike McDonald of Gul-R-Boy Guide Service reports conditions are still very muddy in the Winyah Bay area and calls fishing for red drum "hit or miss." McDonald also noted he has seen small finger mullet and small menhaden this week. Inlet Convenience and Fishing Supplies and Perry's Bait and Tackle both report undersized flounder continue to outnumber keepers (14-inch minimum size limit) in Murrells Inlet with good action on upper slot red drum (15-23 inch slot limit).

• Area fishing report

  Area fishing report

  Estuary

  Look for | Red drum, flounder, spotted seatrout, sheepshead, black drum, bluefish, sharks.

  Comments | Capt. Mike McDonald of Gul-R-Boy Guide Service in Georgetown has found the big three species this week - red drum, spotted seatrout and flounder - in the Winyah Bay vicinity and has caught them on live and cut menhaden and mullet. "The bay is full of bait," said McDonald, who noted water temperatures approaching 90 degrees on Thursday. "It's just plumb hot," McDonald said. McDonald landed three trout at the Winyah Bay jetties Thursday morning with bluefish mixed in. Capt. Patrick "Capt. Smiley" Kelly of Capt. Smiley Charters in North Myrtle Beach has had a good week drifting live shrimp between the Little River jetties. Kelly has landed red drum, black drum, trout, large whiting, ladyfish and bonnethead sharks on the drifts. "It's really come around," said Kelly. "This week has been the best fishing I've seen in the last 2-3 weeks." Jessica Perry at Perry's Bait and Tackle reports flounder

• Area Fishing report

  Area Fishing report

  Estuary

  Look For | Red drum, flounder, spotted seatrout, sheepshead, black drum, bluefish.

  Comments | Flounder catches remain good in local inlets, with some sizable fish in the mix. Capt. Mike McDonald of Gul-R-Boy Guide Service produced nine spotted seatrout and six flounder in Winyah Bay on Sunday, with the flounder all ranging from 21/2 to 51/4 pounds. All fish on the trip were landed on artificial grubs. Tom Craddock of Inlet Convenience and Fishing Supplies weighed in a 41/2-pound flounder caught in Murrells Inlet. Action of red drum has been simply excellent at times at area jetties, plus reds are available in the back creeks along grass banks and near creek mouths. Also look for sheepshead, black drum, flounder and trout at the jetties. Craddock reports good catches of sizable blues in the 2-4 pound range in the inlet.

Inshore

Look for | Whiting, bluefish, Spanish mackerel, king mackerel, flounder, black drum, red drum, black sea bass, sheepshead.

Comments | The first king of the spring caught off a Grand Strand pier was landed by Wes Christy of Rock Hill on April 23 off Apache Pier in Myrtle Beach. Christy caught the 19-pound, 3-ounce king mackerel on a bluefish at dusk, around 7 p.m. "It's definitely one of the earliest kings I've heard of and the latest in the day as far as [when it was caught]," said Apache Pier worker Bill Craven, who also noted a 30-inch red drum was caught and released earlier this week. Whiting, bluefish and Spanish mackerel have been the main catch on the piers with black drum, red drum, flounder, trout and croakers also available. Perry's Bait and Tackle reports reds over the 15-23 inch slot limit have been caught in the surf at Huntington Beach while Inlet Convenience reports keeper black sea bass are available on the Paradise Reef (3-Mile Reef) out of Murrells Inlet.

Offshore

Look for | Wahoo, dolphin, blackfin tuna, grouper, black sea bass, vermilion snapper, cobia, amberjack, triggerfish.

Comments | At midnight tonight, grouper fishing will open back up in South Atlantic waters for both recreational and commercial fishermen. With the arrival of May, anglers can once again harvest numerous shallow-water grouper species, including gag grouper, black grouper, red grouper, scamp, rock hind, red hind, coney, graysby, yellowfin grouper, yellowmouth grouper and tiger grouper. With the opening of the grouper fishery, all the reef fish commonly caught on local reef/bottom fishing trips are now available for harvest. However, the red snapper fishery is closed in federal waters in the South Atlantic through June 2 and the closure could be extended for another 186 days by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council. Species available on offshore ledges and bottom spots include grouper, vermilion snapper, black sea bass, amberjack, cobia, triggerfish, porgy and banded rudderfish. Offshore trolling near the break is hot when conditions are right with wahoo, dolphin, king mackerel, blackfin tuna and perhaps yellowfin tuna available. Capt. Jay Sconyers of Aces Up produced five kings, including one close to 20 pounds, and a nice catch of black sea bass on a trip to the Parking Lot on Thursday.

Freshwater

Look for | Bream, catfish, bass, crappie.

Comments | "It's about as good as it can get right now," said Jay Booth of Fishermen's Headquarters in Conway. "All the rivers are good and fishable." Catches of bream, shellcracker and morgans on crickets and worms in 2 feet of water at Yauhannah and Samworth on the Great Pee Dee, Bucksport on the Waccamaw and the Punch Bowl vicinity on the Little Pee Dee are very good. Leon and Buddy Boyd of Conway caught 31 sizable shellcracker, bream and morgans, including some fish over a pound, at the Punch bowl on a trip this week. Booth notes good bass action on topwater lures such as gold/black Rapala and Bang-O-Lures. Catfish action, including large flatheads, has been excellent on eels and other live and cut bait. Ronald Stalvey III of Conway won the weekly bass tournament with a three-fish aggregate of 5 pounds, 7 ounces. The event will be conducted again Saturday out of Conway Marina.