This is first year in a long time that we’ve had a freeze before Thanksgiving! Cold fronts generally aren’t a problem as long temperatures bounce back. A shot of wintery weather can school seatrout. Fishermen this time of year can complain of no bites only to have another fisherman just a short distance away catching one after the other. Despite finding near prefect conditions if the fish are biting keep moving. Lots of the seatrout this week were in the 15 to 16 inch range. Definitely bigger fish around but the bulk of schooling action has been with keeper sized fish. Look for clean water and drifts aren’t too fast and aren’t too slow. When finding very clean water pitching plastics can be effective! Last week’s most of the bites were soft and slow. The trick with a soft and slow bite is patience. Even when pitching plastics anticipate some of the bites to be soft and slow. Downsizing your plastics, on a soft and slow bite, to a three grub can be a good idea! Glup baits in the shrimp and swimming mullet pattern are favorites. When live shrimp are scarce try putting a Gulp bait under your float. Giving a little popping actions to your float can help talk up a seatrout. Despite the cold seatrout bite has been very good!. Capt. Brian Woelber boat’s in this year’s Cystic Fibrosis Tournament took top honors with a large catch of seatrout. Good job, Capt. Brian!
Shrimp are in! Jimmy Adams said his brother is having to release large net loads of shrimp. Bait shrimpers can only keep 50 quarts in their tanks. As long as the bait stays in fishing should be good! Adams Baitshops as rule tries to stay open through December if the weather is mild maybe longer. Finger mullet can be found in deep holes back and in the heads of creeks. Striper action is heating with several large fish landed. So far most of the striper action has been on shrimp and in the main Savannah River. The Savannah River is also notorious for large seatrout (seatrout over 2lbs). Water clarity is critical. A drop red hot one day can be ice cold the next. When water clarity is poor don’t invest a lot of time on a drop. If a drop isn’t producing in 15 to 20 minuets, even if the conditions are good, its time to move particularly now when fish are schooling. Its not only about conditions, simply are fish there. Finding fish sometimes can be as simply as short move. Seatrout love to hang close to object that break the current and cause rips. Fishermen can often find rips off of points, around gullies and creek mouths as well as manmade objects like pilings and walls. Rips sometimes can produce a hot seatrout bite. If rips aren’t working try fishing areas with hard bottom. Hard bottom usually means clean water. Seatrout bite should be good through the Thanksgiving week. Tides are less than 8 feet. Currents should be favorable for seatrout! Afternoon tides will be decreasing. This week likely mean a better bite for seatrout in the morning and redfish in the afternoon. Afternoon tides are roughly a foot smaller. Small tides mean gentle currents.
Staying warm when fishing in cold condition critical! Just as critical is keeping your hands warms. Wind and cold can make using your hands almost useless. Tip of the week – wear water proof gloves when conditions are cold and do not stick a bare hand in the live well! Landing a seatrout requires feel in your fingers. Wear gloves that cover your fingers. Hand warmers are another good idea.
Hope this of help! Fish on! Capt. Jack McGowan