There were a few reports last week of seatrout being caught on live bait. Artificials were not effective. The bait of choice for seatrout was live mud minnows. CT from Tybee Island Bait and Tackle reports these fish are fat and healthy averaging between 15 and 18 inches. This great news! There have been reports of seatrout upriver as well as in the sounds. The majority of the seatrout action has been in the sounds near barriers islands. The seatrout bite is improving but definitely sporadic. Redfish are getting lots of attention. Fishermen are saying they are seeing fish but not many takers. The reds we caught was by hunkering down and pitching live baits. Dirty water while not great is not a major factor when comes to catching reds. Often bait will hide in the muddy patches of water. Muddy water despite limiting a fish’s sight at times can be plus. Last week some of reds we caught was in muddy water. Another trick is get your bait down. A redfish’s mouth is down ward pointing. The shape of a red’s mouth lends itself to putting a bait on the bottom. If the bottom isn’t too shelly a simply 1/4 ounce jig is an effective way to fish a shrimp or mud minnow. A jig on the bottom with live or cut bait is a great way to pick up some reluctant reds!
Last week there reports of big stag bass along outer sand bars. Great baits for large red drum are cut mullet, whiting and menhaden. There was even a report of a large red drum hooked up on a chunk of bluefish. Usually the most productive tide to fish outer bars is the first of the incoming. Shark action is picking up with more atlantic sharp nose sharks showing up as well some black tips and bonnet heads. The whiting bite has been solid! Whiting can be even more fun to catch when you down size your tackle to medium light and light action rods and reels. The smaller hooks are generally what’s most preferred #4’s and #6’s. The only problem with down sizing your tackle is you might hook into a three foot or larger shark which can easily over power light tackle. Nonetheless, fishing light tackle for whiting is a hoot! Sometimes instead of anchoring a fisherman might try drifting along a sand bar. This can be really effective particularly when fishing is slow.
Water temperature is in the low 70’s. The marshes are alive with bait fish! Shrimp in local bait shops is still coming from Florida but hopefully in couple of weeks we’ll start seeing brown shrimp showing up in our water ways. A few reports of cobia in the Broad River. Offshore sheepshead action last week was hot but don’t anticipate this bite to last much longer. Typically a bite will be real hot just before the get cold. It’s just nature. If the offshore bite isn’t workig try a few inshore drops.
Tides are subsiding this week and conditions are continuing to warm. Inshore fishing this week will likely be picking up as conditions continue to improve!
Hope this of interest and help!
Fish On! Capt. Jack McGowan