Temperatures are on the rise! This week water temperatures hit around 67 degrees. Warmer water means fishier conditions! The whiting bite has been sporadic with most of the activity near the beach front and in the inlet separating Tybee from Little Tybee. As temperatures continued to rise this week the whiting bite became more wide spread and consistent. Whiting not only a fun, tasty fish to catch they are a harbinger of bigger fish!
With little rain in recent days conditions are salty. Large red drum can caught along the outer sand bar as well first sharks of season. The first sharks to show are medium sized sand bar sharks. There is action with the reds on the flats but these fish continue to be extremely skittish in near clear water. The bite for reds in recent days has been upriver or in the head of some creeks.
Another bright spot is this week there has been some catches of seatrout! The seatrout bite while not hot is encouraging! Live shrimp is favor bait in local waters. Don Adams, Adams Bait House said when winds abate in the coming days he’ll continue look for shrimp. In the mean time Don is stocking shrimp from Florida. These shrimp are little hardier than our white shrimp. Basically, a good bait. The inshore and offshore sheepshead bite has been good! My friend Capt. Wild Bill has said sometimes sheepshead wont bite. Its not that the fish aren’t there its just that the bite is off. Often fishermen want to say the fish moved from offshore to inshore. Likely that isn’t the case. Sheepshead at times can be finicky. There’s not much a fisherman can do when that happens. Fortunately, the overall inshore and offshore sheepshead bite has been good! CT at Tybee Island Bait and Tackle has done a great job in maintaing a ample supply frisky fiddler!
As winds and tides continue to abate fishing will likely continue to heat up! Big red drum in the surf, whiting in the inlets and along the sandbars. Big seatrout in early spring can be found in the mouth of small tidal creeks as they rise from their winter haunts. Look for reds on the flats or in the heads of creeks or up brackish rivers and creeks in search of easy meal. We could use some rain but for the now the warming conditions and the lessening wind is a welcomed change!
Likely fishing will be picking up!
Fish On!
Capt. Jack McGowan
Freedom Boat Club and the Bahia Bleu Marina will an Inshore Fishing Seminar, Tuesday April 19th, 2011, 6:30pm to 7:30pm. I will be presenting the seminar on the porch at the marina.
Please call the marina to register and for the cost. Thank you! Hope to see you there!