Coastal River Charters

Last week there some reports of pretty good seatrout catches! This is good news! Lots of these fish were undersized. Nonetheless, a great sign for the weeks and months to come! The best report reports were fishing on or close to the beach fishing deep with finger mullet. Redfish action has been steady. Most of these fish year’s class of fish are undersized less than 14 inches. Nonetheless there are schools of this year’s fish that are already legal. The school sized redfish 13 to 15 inches appear to be keying on live shrimp. These fish will take a plastic or a hard bait but when you are on a school the instance your shrimp hit the water it’s a bite! Last week was a good for large flounders! These fish can be found close to the beach in tidal creeks with sandy bottoms. We did not catch large numbers but the one we caught were quality fish with the large ones in the three to five pound range. The water temperature is still pretty high around the mid 80′s. As a result tarpon are on the beachfronts as well in the intracoastal waterways. These fish are following the bait (medium size menhaden)! Anchoring off the surf fishermen were catching large sharks, tarpon and stag bass! Stag bass are in the froth. Lots of orange butterflies are around. Fishermen believe when orange butter flies are around stag bass are running the surf. Orange butterflies are here! Sharks can be found in the deeper water. Tarpon like to savagely attack a bait. Positioning your bait where pogies or ladyfish will likely push through could be critical.

As long as the water stays warm we should have tarpon in local waters. Stag should be continue to be working the surf through the fall. The difficulty will working the surf is the large number of small bluefish. This means you will lose lots of bait. Typically the blues are right outside of the froth. There’s no real way to avoid them other than casting to a new spot. If you can work through the blues you will likely get some nice hook ups. The Savannah pattern seems to be six or seven sharks for a shot at a tarpon. This pattern is still holding. Nonetheless, hitting a prime tarpon bite is possible with several tarpon hook ups.

Tides for the coming week look good! Should be plenty of opportunities for some good fishing! Lots of trash fish out there. If you are fishing bait be prepared to go through a lot of bait. Most of shrimp in the inland tidal waters are small. Larger shrimp can be found closer to the sounds and higher in the tide.

Some triple tails off beach as well on tidal flats. Most fishermen are targeting these fish during the change of tide by sight casting to these fish. Another nice fish at is on coast!

Hope this of interest and help!

Fish On!

Capt. Jack McGowan

Fishing was challenging last week due to high tides, muddy water and wind. Despite the conditions lot of small redfish were caught. Some of these fish measured forth teen inches. Most of the redfish are still undersized. The good news is that it looks like there are plenty and there are lots of larger fish!

Fisherman targeting reds back in the grass have been able to find some dandy fish! This is shallow fishing pitching soft plastics or a fly in one or two feet of water. When tides are high fishermen can catch some nice reds in the grass. Last week was no exception!

There is a wide variety of fish in our coastal waters. One fishermen said he had five different fish. Actually this is common. Ladyfish are numerous and can make up lots of the bite this time of year. Sharks while still present don’t seem to be as numerous. When the shark bite begins to taper, the whiting bite is heating up. While large catches of whiting have not been reported. Nonetheless, fishermen are able to catch a dozen in an outing with lots of throw back whiting. When fishing for stag bass, large red drum, a piece of cut whiting makes an excellent bait!

Last week there reports of late season tarpon off the beach of Tybee. There was even one report of a fisherman hooking one off the pier at Tybee. As could be expected that fish got away. Some small seatrout action as well a few nicer seatrout caught last week.

Coming off spring tides last week, large tides over nine feet, fishing should be dramatically picking up. Persistent east,northeast winds have push water well into the river system and it will likely be several days until the tides look normal. Nonetheless, fishing should be picking up as tides are decreasing!

Shrimpers have made some excellent catches in recent days. This is another good sign that we’ll likely have some good fishing in the coming days and weeks!

Keep what you intend to eat and release the rest! Support your local CCA Chapter!

Hope this of interest and help!

Fish On!

Capt. Jack McGowan

Aug 31, 2010

Prior to strong winds the bite was very good! It was possible to catch a seatrout or redfish on nearly every cast. Most of these fish are undersized. However was possible to put together a nice mess of fish. One fisherman said it seems early for whiting. Nonetheless despite lots of rain fishermen can find a nice whiting bite in the sounds. Fishermen fishing for redfish this week are finding better results on the outgoing tide. A strong east wind means redfish will push back into the grass earlier in the tide cycle. Lots small ladyfish in the sounds and river. Ladyfish are an excellent tarpon/shark bait. Tarpon are in the sounds! These fish will likely stick around for a couple of more weeks. Great places to target these is where tidal energy builds up and bait fish abound. Jacks can be seen cruising the inland waterways. Jacks will readily take a variety of poppers, flies, artificials as well bait. Flounders can be found in tidal creeks. Last week there was one report from Salt Pond of one group catching 30 flounders! This is a great time of the year to target flounders! Pitching soft white grubs can be effective in catching flounders. Lots of finger mullet and small menhaden in the tidal creeks. Finger mullet and small menhaden are great bait for seatrout, redfish and flounder! You can avoid some of the small fish like pinfish, yellow tail and croaker when fishing a finger mullet but small bluefish love to chomp through a finger mullet leaving a bloody head. There are lots of small bluefish out there.

The bite has been mercurial. Fishermen who found fish have able to limit out on seatrout, redfish and flounder. One fisherman said he caught what would have been the equivalent of two limits of seatrout, redfish and flounder. Some of the flounder reported in the 20 inch range! That said some very good fishermen have gone out and gotten skunked. Conditions are critical and nature has the final say.

When fishing ideal conditions and nothing happens just keep looking. As barometric pressure drops seatrout can bite very light. Once the pressure stabilizes the bite will return. Last Friday just before the front the bite was good, almost every cast. The following day as front impacted local waters the bait was way off.

Tides are building after Labor Day. Could be a good time to look for redfish back in the grass! Fishing could be challenging. Look for clean water and not too much current.

Hope this of help!

Capt. Jack McGowan