Hot Beach Nightlife Season

With much of the inshore action slowing for the hot summer months, and if you want to get your saltwater fix without going offshore, this is a great time to head to the beach. However, during the day it can be close quarters sharing the beach with tourists and swimmers, and on the piers it is elbow-to-elbow. What most people don't know is that when temps approach 100 degrees in the daytime, the best time to fish is at night. From 6 PM to 10 AM is the best window for summer surf fishing. A nocturnal angler can expect to see Spanish Mackeral, seatrout, whiting, weakfish, flounder, black drum, bluefish, pompano, and sharks, sharks, and more sharks.

There is really something for everybody in the surf at night. From those who use light setups to throw artificials for Spanish Mackeral and seatrout, to medium live-bait rigs for bluefish, whiting, and black drum, to heavy surf-casting or standup gear to tangle with big sharks.

For those who prefer light setups, I prefer a 7-foot medium to medium heavy spinning rod with a 2500 t0 4000 size spinning reel spooled with 12 pound mono or 20 pound braid. If you throw artificials, I recommend using a 2 foot flourocarbon leader of 20 -pound test. As far as baits, casting spoons, artificial jigs, a jighead with a live shrimp, or a Gotcha plug (seen below) will do the ticket. Gotcha plugs are especially effective on Bluefish and Spanish Mackeral when retrieved very, very quickly.

For a heavier setup, I like an 8-foot medium-heavy action spinning rod with a 4000 or 5000 size reel, or a 7'6" or 8-foot casting rod with an Ambassadeur 5600 or 6500 size reel (or something comparable) spooled with 17-pound mono or 30-pound braid. If the surf is fairly calm with little current, I'll cast a rattling cork rig, like a Cajun Thunder, out beyond the breakers with a live mud minnow or shrimp. When the surf is heavier, I'll use a wire or heavy-mono bottom rig with 2 hooks. Usually at least a 2-ounce pyramid sinker is required to keep the bait down. This setup is a good all-around setup if you aren't sure what you're going to catch.

Surf fishing for big sharks is a whole new ballgame, and will be the subject of the next entry.

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.

...Out Like A Lamb

A predictable March comes to a close as a pleasant, if somewhat warmer than usual, spring pattern emerges. This is a great time to go fishing, freshwater or saltwater, so you really should get out there.

Whiting Bite

Now is a great time to be a pier or surf fisherman. With rising water temps in the mid-60s, the annual run of fillet-sized whiting has started. Good catches of large whiting have been reported recently, and they should only get better going into April. The whiting bite will continue to be good until the water temps hit the mid to upper 70s, when toothy predators, namely sharks, bluefish, and spanish mackeral, will have these tasty little morsels seeking refuge elsewhere.

Not many people realize this, but there are actually two species of whiting. The southern whiting (also called kingfish, not to be confused with king mackeral) is the smaller breed which shows up first and tends to have a lighter color that runs from pink to silver and gold. The northern whiting tends to show up a little later and has a darker, striped pattern of bars in black, purple, or brown. Both are very tasty with light, flaky meat that rivals seatrout and sheepshead. However, their small size limits the size of the fillets.

What whiting lack in size, though, they make up for in numbers and "catchability." Whiting fishing is a great way to introduce kids or landlubbers to saltwater fishing. All you need is a light bottom rig, a couple of small hooks, and some fresh dead shrimp. However, there are a number of secrets to whiting fishing that can turn you into the whiting king of the pier. I normally either tie my own leaders or use a premade pompano/whiting two-hook bottom rig. A 1 to 3 ounce pyramid sinker is sufficient for most current, and make sure to use gold or red hooks. Something about those colors catch the whiting's eye, and I've had whiting bite bare gold hooks before.

A long, limber graphite rod is the best way to go for whiting. You'll see a lot of people using heavy fiberglass rods at the pier or on the beach for whiting, but this is overkill and takes all the fun out of catching them. The limber graphite rod picks up the subtle whiting bite a lot better then a cheap fiberglass rod does, and you'll have people on the pier wondering what you are doing differently when you are hooking up with more fish.

The best secret about whiting fishing is the bait. Fresh-dead local shrimp are by far better than frozen Chinese pond-raised shrimp. Peel them and cut them into two halves. Using smaller pieces will coax the whiting into eating instead of tearing pieces off of a whole shrimp. Peeled shrimp also tend to stay on the hook longer, as whiting will suck the meat out of a shrimp with a shell on. Whiting tend to school and feed during tide changes, either as the tide starts to come in or just as it starts to go out, so try to schedule accordingly if you want to go after them.

Go To Bed

It's that time again this year to fish for bass on the beds. That means sight fishing and flipping baits like lizards and craws. Spring is also a great time for spinnerbaits and wacky worming as well. Check back for a full post next time on springtime bass fishing.

First Post + Tybee Report

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The wind was blowing hard out of the NE at Tybee Island today, but I heard the whiting bite has been epic so I made the trek anyway. Caught a few keepers, but mostly undersized. The surf was up and it was hard keeping anything less than 8 ounces of lead in one spot!