Fishing has been up and down this week. A mid week storm dumped needed rain into locals waters. A poor or slow drift coupled with lots of fresh water put a definite damper on fishing. Prior to the mid week storm water temperature in the Wilmington River was at 87 degrees. David Bauerman said he marked the water temperature in the Savannah shipping channel at 90 degrees! That’s hot! The rainfall we received will definitely be a benefit to the marsh system. Fishermen prior to the storm were catching fish. Joe Thomas has been catching nice seatrout and reds in local waters. Capt Jay Rosenzweig said he’s catching about a dozen nice seatrout in an outing. The report has been mixed. Some fishermen are reporting good catches while others are struggling. Local conditions have a lot to with catching fish. Poor drifts and dirty water usually mean poor fishing. Clean water with a good drift is likely to produce fish. Even for those catching fish the bite was more methodical rather than fast and furious.
Prior to mid week storm sharks dominated the sandbars and many inshore drops. Capt. Rick said twice a shark nail a nice seatrout as they were reeling it in. Sharks are plentiful! That said sudden changes in salinity (due to rain) will drive these fish out into the ocean in search of saltier water. Spanish mackerel and sharks are working the sandbars. One fishermen said when pitching a bucktail for mackerel tie on a piece a 20 pound fluorocarbon to help prevent brake offs. One of Allen’s customers ( from River Supply) Tom said this is shaping to a great year for flounder and redfish. Tom said his preference is to pitch a 4″ chartreuse and red bass assassin (sea shad) “red rooster” another good patterns is the electric buzzard. Spinner baits are getting a lot of attention. In subtle conditions a light 1/8 oz. jig or DOA shrimp would likely be a fisher choice. In conditions where a bait is competing with current, high water, muddy water try a spinner. A jig is a lure that can do most anything. On days with poor drifts and hot water fishing a jig deep can produce fish. There been lots of bait in Turners Creeks and not surprisingly there has a report of some large roe caught on menhaden in the creek. Sometimes you don’t have to go far to catch fish. We fishermen are creatures of habits. Often fishermen we travel long distances to fish a favorite drop when often there can be plenty of fish within a short distance from where you started. You might be surprised at what you can catch. The law of attraction (in fishing) is one boat attracts another and another and so on. Fishing an area because there are plenty of boats is a mistake. Look for the conditions rather than the boats. A minimum distance to be courteous when fishing around other boats is 50 yards.
Tides for the coming are the coming week are building. This is a condition I like. Tides look good. Nothing over 7.4 feet. A Springtime characteristic are lower than average lows. Next week we’ll have several days with negative tides. Depending on the wind the low tides could be exaggerated. Catching fish on the bottom of tide during the summer is tough. For best chances of success try to avoid fishing through the bottom of the tide.
Hope this of help! Good Fishing!
Capt. Jack McGowan