Coastal River Charters

Trout, trash fish and clean water
Sea trout are moving into the creeks in search of their favor meal. For medium sized trout is shrimp the meal of choice. Water temperature at present is still hovering around 70 degrees this means there are still plenty of bait steelers (pin fish, needle fish and yellow tails) present. When conventional float fishing fails to produce you might pull out your favorite plastic. We’ve had success on plastics resembling finger mullet and sea shad. When fishing a plastic the bite might be hard and fast or soft and subtle. It been said when working a plastic – don’t stop . My thought is to the contrary. You can stop a bait, work it at constant pace, vary the retrieve or twitch your bait.. A hook set should be firm enough to accomplish its objective and no more! Redfish can mouth a bait. By this I mean the fish has picked up your bait but hasn’t committed. He can just as easily spit your bait or inhale it. I’ll set the hook on a redfish holing a bait. More often than not the result is hook set squarely in the size of his jaw. Sea trout are known for aggressive hard strikes. On the other hand, a sea trout can “bump” a bait. Usually after a couple bumps a frenetic bite will follow. Both redfish and trout are head hunters. A head strike will often stun or kill a bait then the trout or red will follow up to enjoy his meal. Select plastics that work. ( see Chuck King @ Cranmans or Allen @ River Supply). There are lots of plastics on the wall but all aren’t equally effective. Things to look for in a plastic color, size and shape, smell, and last but not least feel. Look for colors that stand out. Counter shading or multiple colors that mimic or exaggerate work well. A plastic that feels fleshy can draw multiple strikes on a retrieve from the same fish. The size of plastic for redfish and trout is usually between 2 to 6 inches with a 3 inch plastic as standard. The smell of a bait is important if not for anything else it mast your our odor. If you’re not satisfied with the scent on your plastic you can sweeten your plastic by rubbling it with shrimp or by putting a small chunk of shrimp on its hook. There are several salt water scents in the market. Fin Essence and Berkley attractants work fine. Garlic favors know for years by fresh water bass fishermen and are equally suited in salt water. Gentle tides has meant water clarity has been exceptional. Couple clean slow moving with tons of bait steelers and you might want to try your hand at plastics. You might be surprised.

Tides are building with a high tide Sunday the 26th of 9.3 feet couple spring tides with a northeaster this could make for challenging fishing. Nonetheless the cool down will likely heat up the trout bite. Day light saving time ends on the 25th so remember to fall back, set your clocks back on Sunday. Fish’n been good!

Good Fishing! Capt. Jack McGowan

Bass Abound (Redfish)
Early fall is time of year when living is easy. The days are noticeably shorter and milder. Life seems to beat to a different pace in the fall. Fall is measured by things like tassels on the marsh grass, incredible colors and of course bass. Those of us who grew on the coast simply called redfish, bass.

Next few weeks should be exceptional for redfish! These fish normally forage on fiddler crabs. For the next several weeks shrimp will make up a large portion of their diet. Many small reds or first year fish are now legal 14 inch size, some are larger. Second year fish can be found in creeks on flats and near the sounds. These fish can be taken on incoming or outgoing water although outgoing tides usually produce nice opportunities to tangle with quality fish. Its not unusual while fishing a grass line to release two or three dozen keeper sized reds. When the small fish stop biting fish between 23 and 30 inches might moved in. The fish don’t bite this every day. Tides, luck, porpoises, wind, water clarity, interference from an unwitting angler and all play a part. The biggest factor is possibly the one we have the least control over that is porpoises. Porpoises can scatter a school fish to parts unknown and turn world class fishing into asking your fishing buddy what just happened!

Last fall Chuck King, manager of Cranmans Sporting World and I were scouting for trout and bass. Drops that I fished earlier in the fall weren’t producing. Chuck said lets fish a big bass place of his. We caught all sorts of fish. I estimated we had 50 bass between 7 and 10 pounds. Chuck had two on the fly. The fishing was spectacular!. A few days later on a similar tide I found porpoises all over the grass line. I motor in to drive the porpoises out. Four casts produced four fish. I got one 10 pounder to the boat. Then the porpoises were back. I often tell clients porpoises are the real fishermen. Instead of begrudging them you might as well look at them with awe and on some days with little envy. When porpoises discover the school of reds you’re trying to fish just move on. Drawing porpoises to boat is a crowd pleaser but should done with caution. Porpoises that get to use to human contact might come up to boat just to investigate who’s in their water. My suggestion is keep contact to a minimum.

With a little luck, the next several weeks should be ideal for redfish. Mild temperatures and plenty of bait will likely mean a strong redfish bite. Often fishermen who are not familiar with redfish will impressed my their fight. Its not unusual for a small fish to fight like he thinks he’s a big fish! A big fish might scream off yards of line as he high tails it to the grass or an oyster rake for protection. The best trout fishing usually takes off after the first winter cold snap. Before the cold snap think redfish! These fish will usually hold close to structure, if you’re not fishing close to structure you’re likely missing a lot of fish. Think in for bass and out for trout. My preference for a live bait hook is a gold #1 khale hook. The key for any bait in bass fishing is that it needs to be fresh (per Spud Woodward senior DNR biologist), the fresher the better. Bass will readily take a live or dead bait such as a large shrimp, a mud minnow, pogies or finger mullet. The stomachs of most bass are filled with fiddler crabs another excellent bait. Shrimp nonetheless is the primary bait during the fall.

Capt. Ray Crawely saids shorten leaders on float rigs as the tide ebbs (sometimes one foot or less). Capt. Ray prefers a 20# so the leader. My preference is a heavier leader, usually a 30# flourocarbon. Large fish can and will be in skinny water (usually less then 2 feet). It’s make little sense to fish skinny water with long leader but it’s done all time. Fish lighter tackle that less likely to spook fish. Plastics can and do work well. DOA shrimp are great in skinny water. Remember work your bait or plastic at a realistic pace. SLOW! For best result fish close to structure and on lower tide stages. When the drop you’re fishing fails to produce try drifting a bank. When someone is hooked into a “good fish”, ease your anchor over. The fish will often give themselves by push of water, a wake, jumping shrimp or you might see all or part of the fish. Spooking fish isn’t the kiss of death often fish will return to the same area. Allow for everything to settle down and you might be surprised! My belief is there is good noise and bad noise a thrashing redfish might turn other fish instead of scattering them. Tossing an anchor over or running your boat in shallow water will definitely spook fish.

Enough taking about reds let’s go fishing!

Capt. Jack McGowan

Tackle and fishing update Chuck King landed 6 redfish bewteen 4 and 6 1/2 pounds on live shrimp with me on 10.13.03 using a low country poping float. Light tackle is effective.

Fall has officially begun! Fall means fishing! Cooler temperatures give a welcome break as seatrout school and move into local creeks. Last week fall fishing was off to a slow start with spring tides and strong winds. Further south around St.Simons there were reports of some of the best tarpon fishing of the year. Off of Warsaw and Little Tybee fishermen reported seeing smaller tarpon. In short there are still a few tarpon in our waters but that wont last long. October is generally thought of as the month for stag bass in the surf. These fish are over the legal keeping size but can be fun to catch! Outer sand bars on the first of the incoming are usually deemed the most productive areas and tides to fish in the surf. Small trout are numerous with occasional catches of larger trout reported. As fall back under 8 foot fishing should be hot!

Chuck King at Cranmans said the adjusted popping float is catching fish. Some of the best trout of season have been caught on Chuck’s popper (several four and five pounders). The flounder bite is slowing down but the seatrout bite is heating up. Action in the Savannah for the most part has been slow. Some four and pound stripers have caught but thus far the Savannah River hasn’t taken off. Look for good fishing in the creeks as fall arrives. Tides look good through the week and on through the weekend. The biggest factor appears to be a breezy north wind. Despite the wind fishing should be improving.

Good Fishing! Capt. Jack McGowan