Coastal River Charters

Fishing has been on and off during the last week. On the other hand despite an indifferent fishing lots of bait is showing up in feeder creeks. Tons of bait will likely mean good fishing when wind and rain abates. Despite less than ideal conditions there were some reports of redfish and seatrout caught. Good catches were five to ten fish Shrimp is available at Adams Bait shop. Nonetheless shrimp can be difficult to find this of the year so you might want to call ahead.

The Lowly Whiting
The lowly whiting is a pretty nice fish and definitely a sign of Spring. Some of the first whiting caught were reported last week. The numbers are small but these fish are starting to move! Lots of rain can keep bait fish from entering the sounds. As rains abates expect bait to push in. Large schools of small menhaden were present in the Wilmington River. Twice we hooked into a flounder while bottom fishing the river. Bait fish and whiting will bring in sharks as well lots of other fish.

Seatrout activity is picking up! Chuck at Cransman said there have been good catches in the Vernon River on speck rigs! Every fishermen has his favorite color so ask Chuck what’s hot. Fishermen have been catching seatrout on tsunami black/silver mullets. Action in the Savannah River has been slow with not many fishermen venturing in that direction due to poor water conditions.

Tides for the coming week look good for redfish and sheepshead!

Good Fishing! Capt. Jack McGowan

Fishing this week by all accounts has been tough! Strong winds and negative combined to make conditions difficult for those targeting redfish. Despite unfriendly conditions some fish were caught in local waters. Most if not all of the fish caught were caught on some kind of bait. Opportunities were few and far between for those pitching plastics. Best results were had by those sitting on a drop and fishing bait (shrimp or mud minnows) and waiting. The best catch reported was only five redfish. Tough conditions! Don’t despair better conditions are just around the corner. The tides for the coming week are in the 6 to 7 foot range with above average height on the low water.

Sheepshead
Fish with my friend Bill Jerrill from Yellow Bluff Tuesday the 15th for “high tide” sheepshead. This is a little strang for me. Usually I think of inshore sheepshead as primarily a low tide activity. Bill proved we could effectively target sheepshead on high water with good results. Tides in the 6 foot range lend to sheepshead fishing throughout the tide. If the wind blows get a bucket of fiddler crabs and fish structure. The inshore sheepshead are little smaller than the offshore fish. Nonetheless we caught some nice fish, the largest around four to five pounds. Bill says the offshore fish are the spawners and he doesn’t like to keep them. We kept the largest fish of our outing. On days with poor drifts fishing for sheepshead can produce some nice tugs as well nice fish. It’s not the most dramatic fishing but it can produce. Look for structure and vertically fish next to it allowing your crab to go almost to the bottom. A nice alternative when the fishing slow!

Redfish
The Redfish Tour Open Tournament was held at the Bahia Bleu Sunday March 13th. The tournament was scheduled for Saturday but postponed due to wind. Capt. Stan Allen’s boat finished in first place, Capt. Matt Starling boat was second and Capt Ray. Crawely boat finished in third place. Those fishing in the tournament fair like the rest of us. Fishing was tough. The good news tides and conditions will be improving. The next redfish tour event in Savannah is October 14th/15th. This is a fun event designed for friends and families! Bait fishing is allowed.

Savannah River Striper Forum
Georgia Department of Natural Resources presented and interesting and informative forum on the Savannah River Stripers Tuesday, March 8th at the Mighty Eight. The DNR stated stripers near Savannah are facing major stresses by widening and deepening of the river, river alterations and the tide gates Despite pressure on this fish it appears to be in good shape by all counts. Local stripers populations might be at higher numbers than in their hey day in the 70s. This resurgence is due in part to a 16 year moratorium and careful management including stocking. At present the DNR proposal is to allow fishermen to take two, 27″ stripers and larger. According to the DNR this proposed limit present the best choice.. The fish should have an opportunity to spawn allowing for a possible viable self sustaining stock. The presentation lasted about 15 or 20 minuets for about 20 years of work. Georgia fishermen account for 97% of those fishing. Georgia has done the work and it’s anticipated that South Carolina will follow Georgia lead in adopting the same limit.

Looks like good news for this fish, the fisherman and those who might on occasion want to take a couple of fish!

Good Fishing! Capt. Jack McGowan