May 4
Morning surface water temperatures are around 71 degrees inshore around Little River.
The fishing has been strong recently at the top end of South Carolina’s coast, and Captain Patrick “Smiley” Kelly (843-361-7445) reports that inshore they catching lot of redfish in shallow potholes back in the creeks on the low to rising tide. Live mullet, pinfish and Gulp! are all working.
The trout fishing is also pretty good but the key is still having live shrimp, available at Perry’s in Murrells Inlet or Dave’s Outpost in Sunset Beach, North Carolina. They are biting along the ledges in the IntraCoastal Waterway or around the rocks at the jetties. They are also picking up some redfish at the rocks.
There are also some black drum being caught on live or fresh cut shrimp on the same ledges where the trout are located, and they will also take fiddler crabs fished around structure. There are plenty of sheepshead that have returned inshore around the rocks but some days it’s hard to weed through the little ones. Still, there are plenty of keepers.
There are some flounder being caught in the Little River area, but by far the best action continues to be in Cherry Grove. Cherry Grove has a smaller inlet which confines the
fish and gives them less room to roam, and so they are much denser. Drifting live mullet or mud minnows is working but Vudu Shrimp are also effective.
There’s been some exciting fishing at the Cherry Grove Pier (843-249-1625), and last week they had the first king mackerel of the year while this week has been an excellent week for Spanish mackerel and bluefish. They are getting tons of 16-19 inch Spanish, while bluefish are a range of sizes up to 3 or 4 pounds. Today the water has gotten muddy and so they are only catching whiting and croaker, but when it clears the Spanish should turn back on. They are also getting some keeper flounder.
Speaking of Spanish and blues, at the nearshore reefs both species are plentiful. They are being caught casting small spoons and Gotcha plugs, and when the weather is calm enough to get offshore the action is hot.