Fishing has been good prior to the full moon over the weekend. Tides were gentle despite the full moon. Nevertheless, fishing has been off. Are fishing feeding at night and less likely to forage during daylight. This is likely. Wind and tide opposing each other results in slow or almost no drift. Water that is not moving isn’t likely to produce good fishing for seatrout. A drop one can be very productive and almost dead the next. A good drift is a key to good seatrout fishing. Slow or poor drift days can lend itself to fishing for redfish, black drum and flounder. Lots of little redfish can be found around oyster rakes. A few larger reds but don’t expect good numbers of larger reds until bait is more abundant. Bait shops are having difficulty finding shrimp and keeping up with the demand. Shrimp in local waters are a mixture of some brown shrimp and some very small white. The shrimp situation will improve as the summer progresses. As of now shrimp are relatively scarce and bait shops are quickly running out of bait. Ray Golden (Tybee Island Bait & Tackle) is carrying shrimp from Florida. Captain Ray open his shop at 8:00am. Again best bet is to call ahead to make sure bait is on hand. Ray’s number is 912.786.7472. Bo Bowen, Bandy’s Bait Shop, has been consistent is finding good quality bait. Bo’s number is 912.354.6444. Don Adams, Adams ‘Bait Shop, is finding shrimp but keeping up with demand is almost impossible with the bait thats’ presently in the creeks and river. Nonetheless, the Adams always does a great job! Adam’s Bait Shop number is 912.898.1550.
Heading into 4th of July holiday tides look pretty good. There is a slight negative on low water. Anticipate highs and lows to be slightly greater than what’s on your chart. So far this has been the pattern. Usually the best summer time fishing is early in the morning. Flounder and tarpon/shark seem to handle mid heat better than trout or bass. With high tides mid week around mid day this could be a good time to crack out the shark/ tarpon tackle. At present not seeing large pods of pogies. Nonetheless, it’s the right time of the year to start targeting tarpon!
Hope this of help!
Good fishing! Capt. Jack McGowan
“Practice catch & release and join your local CCA chapter”