March 24, 2011
Saltwater Fishing Trends:


Little River - Grand Strand - Charleston - Beaufort - Tides - S.C. marine recreational fishing regulations (PDF file). Saltwater Fishing License site.

Fishing trends courtesy www.SCFishingReport.com. Check the site for recent updates and detailed reports.

Little River

* No new reports.

Grand Strand

* Perry’s Bait and Tackle reports that some spottails are being caught in the Murrells Inlet-area creeks, and black drum are being caught around seawalls and out at the jetties. No flounder have showed up yet. Dogfish, sharks and toadfish are about all that’s in the surf, but sheepshead have been caught at the 10 Mile and Pawley’s Island reefs, as well as at the Georgetown jetties.

Charleston

* Sheepshead and Black drum: Good to very good. Haddrell’s Point reports that large sheepshead and black drum are still being found at the nearshore reefs. Inshore sheepshead fishing has also turned back on around jetties, bridges, and rock piles located near deep water access. Fish fiddler crabs or clam pieces vertically on a Carolina rig.
* Spottail Bass: Fair to good. Haddrell’s Point reports that flats redfish have started to break up out of the large wintertime schools, and they can also be found around docks and rock piles. Live shrimp, mud minnows, cut mullet, Gulp! Jerkshad, Mirrolures and Zman Rain MinnowZ have all been productive recently.
* Trout: Improving. Haddrell’s Point reports that a few trout are already being caught in 6-10 feet of water using suspending baits (such as the Mirro-Lure MirroDine or Bomber's Ba-Donk-A-Donk SS series) or finesse style soft plastics.

Beaufort

* Spottail Bass: Good to very good. Bay Street Outfitters in Beaufort reports that, typical for March, flats fish are starting to break out of their big winter-time schools. Some very large fish have been caught on the flats. The population looks very strong, and fish will take a variety of bait and artificials, including flies. Captain Dan “Fishin’ Coach” Utley in Hilton Head reports that fish are very willing to take a jighead tipped with Gulp! shrimp, and on lower stages of the tide sight fishing has been productive.