The only game in town remains the solid redfish action going on in Brunswick County and northern SC. Red drum have hit all year through any kind of weather, and the latest dusting of snow shouldn’t put them off at all. Despite water temps hitting 39 degrees consistently the redfish bite has continued uninterrupted in the backwater creeks.



Redfish schools are numbering in pods of hundreds and they have been roaming the creeks, often in clear water where sight-fishermen can cast them in boats using push-poles. You have to approach the redfish schools in absolute stealth as this time of the year virtually any noise will set them off. Trolling motors and anchors are a definite no-no as they will scare the reds away for hours.



Redfish anglers are using live mud minnows (when they can get them) fished on jig heads just like grubs, letting the tides do much of the work and fishing them very slow. Jig heads of about ¼ ounce are right for this time of the year, and the bite will be when the current is moving in or out.



Those without mud minnows can catch the redfish on Gulp and Fishbites (or other brands) synthetic scented soft baits. You fish these soft baits the same way, very slowly sometimes not moving them at all. The shrimp-bodies and the pogy-bodies are top choices for redfish right now.

Other than the redfish the only other fish “in town” are black drum striking near the bridges, docks and piers. They can usually only be enticed by cut shellfish—shrimp or clam, fished on the bottom right near the structure.

For the drum red or black, fiddler crabs and blue crab chunks or chunks of previously frozen cut mullet are possibilities if nothing else is working. Anglers have reported seeing trout schools from the piers and inshore but no one has reported catching any specks in the frigid conditions.

For more fishing articles see my blog A Dash of Salty and my website Surf and Salt