Coastal River Charters

Colder Water….but fishing should be heating up!
Several cold days this week has driven the water temperature to around 47 degree. Prior to the cold snap there were reports of big trout taken in the Wilmington and the Savannah River. Warmer days going into the Christmas holiday will likely mean the trout bite will be on. There’s still plenty of local bait available but you might want to call ahead. Shrimp have “gone deep”. It’s common this of the year to someone throwing a cast net in 30 feet of water. A couple of warm days and the trout will back in shallow water. This is an excellent time to troll lures like Mitte Mike aka Christmas tree and chartreuse grubs. When float fishing the bite can be on one day and off the next. Warmer temperatures will likely mean active hungry fish with empty stomachs. When pitching, trolling and float fishing fail to produce don’t forget the lowly bottom rig. Sometimes a simply bottom rig will catch fish when everything else fails. A big hungry trout can resist a large mud minnow. When your mud minnow isn’t getting slammed just chalk that drop up for another day.

Redfish are schooling on the mudflats. The flats that most active the ones that heat up easily, are close to deep water and shell rakes. Don’t expect to motor in on these fish. Water clarity is exceptional and currents slow. This combination makes it easy to spook these fish. Just stepping carelessly in your boat can panic a large school. The only practical way (flats boat included) to fish these is plan to be on your mud before the fish arrive and fish light tackle. When pitching plastic opt for something soft and light. Live bait under a small float with a fluorocarbon leader should work fine.

Tides for the remainder of the month look good. Redfish on the mudflats, seatrout as water temperatures rises, stripers on structure and in the current. The best stripers tides have been the top of incoming and the first three hours of the out going. The most intense striper activity is at night. Be careful because the Savannah River can be loaded with debris. Most of fly fishermen are taking striper on deep sinking lines although you might what can happen with a floating line. Look for shadows. Those shadowy areas are likely hot spots. Multiple fish can hold one spot.

Hope this is some help! Good Fishing, Merry Christmas and Happy New Years!

Capt. Jack McGowan

Stripers, Redfish and Seatrout
Most of the striper fishermen have been lamenting the striper has not been strong. The past couple weeks provided several cold days pushing stripers down stream creating a very good bite for fly fishermen, buck tails and live bait. Whistlers and large clousers have worked well on the fly. Bucktail fishermen prefer 1 to 1 1/2 yellow or white jigs. Stripers are also taking both dead and live shrimp and mullet. The striper bite is good. The key to striper fishing, like most fishing, is having a “good drift”. Slow moving water generally isn’t the most productive. Fish structure and look drifts.

The redfish bite has been good but it taking on more of a winter look. Namely slow moving cold, clear water. Fish under these conditions are easily spooked. Most of fish are in small groups, rather than large schools, probably due to fishing pressure. As fishermen avoid cold days it’s likely to see large schools of reds warming themselves on local mudflats. Live shrimp is still available. This is great bait for redfish. You might try gobbing shrimp on your hook. Sometimes fresh dead is more effective than live bait. Fish with minimizing sound in mind and you’ll probably catch some nice reds. There have probably been more second year redfish caught this year than we’ve seen in many season. Some have said we’re seeing more second year redfish due to limits on redfish that in acted a few year ago. Fishing for redfish has been very good!

The seatrout bite is still going on. Some fishermen look at 50 degrees as the critical number when the bite shuts down. At present water temperature, in local waters is around 53 degrees. The trout bite can go either way depending on cold fronts. A couple of warm days will bring seatrout high onto mudflats. The best bite has been by those trolling and pitching grubs in the heads of rivers and creeks as well live bait fishing in those areas. Although we’re approaching winter the late fall bite has been good for fly, artificials and bait fishing.

Good Fishing! Capt. Jack McGowan