Fishing has been good, real good! That said “it’s still fishing”. A drop that was red hot one day can be ice cold the next. When the drop you’re fishing isn’t producing there is likely a reason : dirty water, poor or no drift, or too much current. Little changes can produce big results. Look for clean water and a nice drift, not too fast not too slow. Sometimes moving your boat a short distance can produce big results. The sea trout has been excellent with lots of fish in the 14 to 16 inch range some fish are bigger some are smaller. Live bait (shrimp) has been difficult to come by. Don Adams, Adams Bait House, attributes the difficulty in finding shrimp due to the heavy rain we had a few ago. Bo, Bandy’s, has been finding shrimp a little further south but as of writing Bo’s boat is down. Joey’s at Hogan’s Marina has been inconsistent in finding shrimp. Don Adams found shrimp today south of Savannah. Don’s brother Jimmy said its been awhile since we’ve had this many shrimp. Definitely good news for those fishing bait! Last Saturday when presented the option no live shrimp we fished some plastics and mostly dead shrimp. Dead shrimp can be productive. We caught nice eight nice trout, three nice reds and a flounder. Just about everything was on dead shrimp. Other fishermen have had good success using Glups under a float. Favorite colors are pearl, chartreuse and red, and new penny both swimming mullet, shrimp patterns, and jerk worms are catching fish. Sea trout can be found well up river or in the sounds. Although bait shrimpers are having difficulty finding shrimp, fish are keying on live shrimp. There are reports of sea trout eating DOA shrimp under the lights at night. November is a great time for sea trout. These fish are on the move and hungry as fatten up for winter. Cool crisp days are synonymous with trout fishing. A cold front passing through can help school the fish. Fishing just before the front or a few days after things have settled down fishermen can find good fishing One fisherman yesterday said they only caught four sea trout but had a great with the redfish. The way I describe it as some days are great redfish days some are great sea trout days. A lots depends on how you’re fishing. Working the currents, concentrating on the rips you’re fishing for sea trout. Fishing structure you more likely to catch some reds.
We’ve caught a varity fish this week: black drum, red drum, sea trout, sheepshead and flounder. Have caught lots fish. When conditions permit large stag bass can be roaming along sand bars looking for an easy meal. Wind and rain has limited the opportunities to fish for stag bass. Some atlantic sharp nose and black tips can be found be in a deeper around the sand bars but most have headed to deeper water. Plenty of 12 inch whiting along the sand bars as well. When fishing for stag bass and mullet is scarce a chunk of whiting will work just fine!
Tides for this week are close to but less eight feet. Should be good tides to target sea trout. Sea trout love current and rips. Incoming or outgoing tide can create rips. Look for rips around points, creek mouths or gullies. The rips can hold fish. Usually the best spot is in the secondary or slower current. Fish a spot just because it looked good and you might be surprised just how fishy it can be!
Hope this of help! Capt. Jack McGowan