Slow Fishing on the Saltwater Side

It's been awhile since my last post, but things have been busy, and until recently, the fishing had been good. However since Tropical Storm Barry blew through things have been quite rough. The large roe seatrout have been spotty at best, and the odd redfish might only be found on a high tide in the grass. Heavy rain, though a blessing for farmers and landscapers alike, has made the water quite muddy. Even offshore, the greenwater extends out almost to the Navy towers.

Captain Johnny of Amick's Deep Sea Charters said that this is one of the toughest years they have ever had bottom fishing. The big red snapper and grouper are few and far between, and it is a struggle to limit out on even beeliners. They have had very consistent bites, though, from amberjack and dolphin. Mike Argenta, Assistant Store Manager at Bass Pro Shops, was fishing in 300 feet of water Sunday and caught a surprising amount of kings for that depth. The dolphin bite was hot, too, and they broke off a decent tuna. Cobia fishing in the Broad River and offshore continues to be good as well. A couple of reports of tarpon have been filtering in from the Brunswick area as the tarpon season gets a good jumpstart. Hopefully this year will be much better than last year's lackluster performance from the silver kings.

Surf fishing has been hit-and-miss. Whiting and bluefish are biting well, and those who fish a live whiting or blue on a wire fishfinder rig might get to tangle with a big blacktip or sand tiger shark. Good seatrout catches have been reported on the beaches using live mud minnows.

Area Fishing Report 4/11

Inshore Report

Despite a recent cold snap, area inshore fishing continues to be strong. Redfish continue to congregate on the mud flats on sunny afternoons, and will take soft plastic jerkbaits, DOA shrimp, live shrimp on a jighead, or Berkley Gulp! shrimp (try the Lime Tiger color). If a strong high tide moves them into the grass try throwing a weedless spoon. Seatrout are still found in deeper water, and will take curl-tail grubs, shad-tail jigs, and of course, shrimp. A few reports of the bigger roe trout are around, but with water temps in the mid-60's it should still be a week or two before they will really show up. On the surf/pier front some bigger whiting are starting to show up, as well as an unusually high number of spot (spotted croaker) catches. A few sharks are showing up, and pompano should start to show up as well as the water nears 70 degrees. Striper fishing in the Savannah and Ogeechee rivers is starting to wind down, but there are probably still a few around that will hit mullet or mud minnows.

Offshore Report

There have been some amazing black seabass catches lately on the nearshore wrecks and artificial reefs. Some boats are limiting out just a few minutes after arriving at the fishing grounds. Red snapper and grouper catches have started to improve as the bottom fishing season ramps up. One lucky angler fishing on Steve Amick's Scat II caught a nice red snapper in the 16-20 pound range at the Snapper Banks on March 31st: a nice catch so early in the season. On the trolling front, the water is still a little too chilly for the big kings to show up, but a few early runners might be around. Some outstanding reports of wahoo have been coming in from the Stream, and guys have been catching them on ballyhoo with hair-skirted Islanders or other teasers over the nose.

Bottom Fishing Report 4/3

After a week of watching the marine forecast and crossing our fingers, we were able to take a trip to the Savannah Snapper Banks yesterday with Captain Johnny Fulcher of Amick's Charters aboard the Scamp. The boat, which handles smaller trips than Steve Amick's big Scat II, just had a new engine installed that tops the boat out at over 30 knots. While choppy 3-5 foot seas kept us from reaching that speed, the maiden voyage of the Scamp was very quick, getting to and from the Snapper Banks in about 2 hours.

Cpt. Johnny put us on the spot and our 5-man group quickly limited out on beeliners. We got 4 good red snappers, including one in the 15-pound range, and a couple of keeper scamps. I caught one gag grouper which was barely undersized, but the law's the law. Other catches included some big black sea bass and triggerfish. One common pattern on the southeast Atlantic coast is that sharks become highly active after a period of blustery conditions. This was the case again yesterday, as we caught about 10 reef sharks, each causing fishing to stop for awhile as the shark circled, tangling lines. At one point a shark tangled the lines of every angler on the boat!

Despite shark troubles, it was a great day and the conditions smoothed out as it went along. The only bad part was the 50 pounds of fish I cleaned when I got home! Pictures of the trip coming soon.

Cobia Arrival

Apparently the cobia have finally moved into the area, being caught in Wassaw Sound in Georgia and Port Royal Sound/Broad River South Carolina. The above 50-60 pounder was caught in Port Royal Sound according to a post on the SavannahNow Forums. Bait of choice was dead menhaden (pogy).

Seatrout Mamas
The inshore locals have been dominated by reports of large seatrout, some greater than 20 inches. These roe trout have been rather fat as well. I have to stress that it is very important that you carefully handle and release the largest and healthiest of these female seatrout. They are the ones who will spawn and have offspring that are more likely to grow to large sizes as well.

Snapper Time
I"ve got some more info on the recent trip some friends of mine took with Captain Steve Amick. They visited the Savannah Snapper Banks and limited out on vermillion (beeliner) snapper almost immediately. In addition, they caught several scamp grouper, some huge black seabass (the biggest catch of large seabass I've ever seen...), and several keeper red snapper and grouper, including one 17-pound red snapper. All in all, they had a great time and the haul totaled over 400 pounds, which Cpt. Amick declared the largest catch so far this year.

Offshore Forecast
The chances of anyone getting offshore until at least Wednesday are almost 0, with gale winds throughout the period whipping up some monster wave action. A semi-cyclonic low pressure system spawned off the recent cold front has moved into place offshore of the Carolinas and Georgia, and is forecast to sit there for the next few days. There is even a chance that it might take on tropical characteristics and become a tropical depression before the hurricane season even begins. Needless to say, this front will prevent pretty much any offshore fishing until mid-next week.

Inshore Forecast
Anyone thinking of fishing in the sounds or beachfronts this week needs to think again. High surf warnings are posted up and down the coast, meaning that any safe fishing will be done in protected areas higher up in the creeks and rivers. Tides are returning back to good levels, but the onshore winds are likely to make tides a little higher than they are forecast. This could mean that trout and redfish will try to bury themselves in the sheltered marshgrass at high tide, so those with low-draft skiffs might be in luck if they work the shallow water holes in the marshgrass. The backsides of barrier and inshore islands will not only offer protection from the wind, but will give you a better chance at landing some of the big trout available.

Freshwater Forecast
Sometimes it's nice to be a freshwater fisherman because you don't have to worry quite as much about things like high seas and gale winds. In fact, wind and choppy water can sometimes add up to great bass fishing. Before the last cold front went through, I was fishing a local pond right as a squall line was approaching. The bass bite suddenly turned on and I caught 3 good fish, one approaching 5 pounds. The next day I returned and the wind was howling following the front. I Texas-rigged a black Culprit worm with a 1/8 ounce worm weight and swam the worm briskly across the bottom. I caught 4 good fish within the space of 30 minutes, including one approaching 6 pounds. Just goes to show you that just because the conditions aren't comfortable for you doesn't mean that the fish isn't comfortable.