Aug 7, 2009

By | August 7, 2009

Fishing has up and down and little of both but overall good. Good quality fish. Some days when you think fishing could be a struggle the bite has been good. Despite lots of dirty water conditions can change rapidly. An area had a poor bite the next day can yield a strong bite or vice versa. What’s going on? It’s nature. Patterns are already being to change. Seatrout that were on the beachfront now be found in the sounds. Lots of small seatrout and redfish. Good numbers of blackdrum and sheepshead can be found hanging around shelly points. Massive bonnethead sharks are prowling the coastal waters of Carolina and Georgia. These are top end bonnetheads that hurt fishing tackle if played incorrectly. Large sand bar sharks are in the sounds. Sand bar sharks are fish that must be released but lots of fun to catch. A few tarpon being hooked up, so far not many being landed. Most of the tarpon are being caught on live or dead mullet. Not lots of big ocean menhaden to be found. On some mornings small menhaden can be found all the way from Thunderbolt to South Carolina. Dolphin quickly show up when bait fish are present. Bait fish that were everywhere can quickly vanish. Those who enjoy crabbing are saying we gotten too much rain and crabbing isn’t productive. The thought is the crabs are seeking saltier water. Shrimping still looks good. Don Adams, of Adams Bait House, is finding good quantity and quality shrimp. Those throwing a cast net likewise are finding little trouble in finding shrimp. Some flounder being caught. The best bite this week has been redfish and seatrout.

Intense heat and afternoon storms has meant the best fishing has been during the morning hours. A few tarpon hookups during the early evening but for the most part the best fishing has been during the morning. Anticipate this to be the case for the next several days. Tides for the coming week looks good. The following week evening tides will be springing but for the coming weeks tides should be good. During the summer try to fish early to beat the heat. When seeking seatrout try to fish current. Anticipate more seatrout action on the inside as patterns begin to change to a fall pattern. Although the flounder bite has been slow action will likely be picking up on through September.

Hope this report is of help and interest! Only keep what you plan to eat and release the rest!

Fish On! Capt. Jack McGowan