As summer is winding down the bite is heating up! Redfish numbers are looking good! We’re already catching some of this year’s crop of redfish at 14 inches. These fish are keying on shrimp. Shrimp look abundant! As the bait goes, so goes the fish. Redfish can be found in the creeks and rivers as well in the sounds. As bait pushes inland towards later fall the bite will concentrate more inland. The bite now is spread out. Most of reds we’re finding are close to oyster rakes and marsh grass. These fish are creatures of habit and often use the same structure year after year. Its always good to keep only what you want to eat and release the rest. Leaving fish on flat will mean that those fish will likely attract other fish and that area will continue offer good fishing. As early fall draws near the redfish bite usually heat up first then followed by seatrout. We’re catching redfish on soft plastics, live and dead bait (mostly shrimp).
Some bait shrimpers are consistently making large catches of shrimp. Ample amounts of bait will mean good numbers of fish. Some oyster rakes that were void of fish are now holding second year fish (in the 20 inch range). The bite looks good! There are large schools of fish in the 13 inch range. These fish look fat and happy and are growing rapidly! A good trick is fish close to structure and keep your bait down or on the bottom. Redfish can be in water just few inches deep or several fish deep. One fishing guide in Carolina says most redfish are caught in water about 3 feet deep. That’s a good rule of thumb. Like any fishing it could mean moving just matter of feet. All the bank might look the same to you and me but not to the fish.
Whiting are along the sand bars. Rough conditions can limit the opportunity to fish the sounds or beachfront. Some whiting are being caught in the rivers. If conditions are rough you can try the rivers. You might be surprised what you catch!
Most of the seatrout being caught are still under sized less than 13 inches. Points are favorite places to find seatrout. There are lots of other fish (blue fish, pin fish to name a couple) around so going through a quart of shrimp could happen quickly. Blue fish numbers look interesting as well many of these are close to 12 inch fl. (almost legal size).
Despite ample rain and high tides its still been possible to catch some nice fish! Most the action has on the lower tide stages.
Hope this is of interest and help! Keep only what you want to eat and release the rest!
Fish On! Capt. Jack McGowan, Coastal River Charters