Things on the coast are coming to life! Water temperature is in the mid to upper 60’s. The fishermen’s expression “ 65 and everything is alive” is a pretty good rule of thumb. Mud minnows are swimming along the bank of the creeks and rivers. Mullet can be seen splashing in the rivers. Bait such as mud minnows and mullet are a good indicator of seatrout and redfish not far behind!

There has been some good seatrout and redfish action in rivers where fresh and salt water meet and mix. These places can be good particularly in the spring and fall. There’s been some seatrout action Tybee and Little Tybee as well in the heads of some creeks. Most of the fish being caught are on live shrimp or mud minnows. Bait shops this time of year usually have difficulty finding a consistent of shrimp, so fishermen might want to call ahead if they plan to fish shrimp.

Action on sheepshead has been good this spring! The bite trades between inshore and offshore. Typically around mid April the offshore sheepshead will wane.

Fishermen are finding a good whiting bite both in the rivers and sounds! This bite will likely remain strong until sharks push in. The water temperature commonly associate with sharks is 70 degree and higher. Looks like a strong whiting run! A cut whiting is a great bait for a large stag bass in the surf!

Spring time is a great time to fish the front side of the barrier islands for a trophy red drum! Whiting as mentioned is a great bait. Other bait fish are finger mullet, menhaden and glass minnows. Fishermen will need to fish where baits are pushing through or close structure such as marsh grass or sand bars.

I hope this is of interest and help!

Fish On!

Capt. Jack McGowan, Coastal River Charters

Keep what you want to eat fresh and release the rest!