Morning surface water temperatures have dropped into the low 70s inshore in Little River.   

Water temperatures dropped fast at the north end of South Carolina’s coast, and Captain Buddy Love of Captain Smiley Fishing Charters (843-361-7445) reports that the fishing has really turned on at the same time.  The big red drum run has started, and they are catching them in the inlet around the jetties in 15-30 feet of water with cut bait on the bottom.  They are also picking up some nice bluefish on this pattern, and you should keep an eye open for Spanish mackerel chasing mullet.   

Inside the creeks there is still an abundance of small slot-sized redfish everywhere, as well as a decent number of fish up to 23 inches.  Finger mullet, shrimp, cut mullet, mud minnows and more will all work.  The dropping tide down to low tide when the fish are concentrating has been most productive, particularly around creek mouths, oyster bars and indentations.  They are also picking up black drum on cut shrimp in the same areas.  

There are some nice flounder being caught in both North Carolina and South Carolina, and the best time to fish for them has been from the top of the dropping tide down at creeks mouths and oyster beds as water drains out.  Finger mullet and mud minnows are both working.  

Some random trout are being caught, so they are around, but the numbers aren’t great right now.  

Morning surface water temperatures are around 81 degrees inshore in Little River and the water is dirty.   

There are plenty of flounder to be caught in South Carolina, but with the North Carolina season only open a bit longer Captain Buddy Love of Captain Smiley Fishing Charters (843-361-7445) reports that it’s hard to stay out of that state if you want to catch keepers.  They are catching them on both mullet and Gulp! baits, and the best tide has been the rising tide in skinny water.   

They are also picking up a lot of black drum, particularly around holes and in creek mouths.  The best time to fish for them is around low tide on the last of the fall and the first of the rise, and with shrimp so abundant they only seem to want live shrimp or very fresh dead ones.   

While there are a few trout around they just aren’t prolific yet, but right now even the trout holes (and everywhere else) is filled with small redfish.  Some of them are 15 inches or just over, and then another fourth or fifth of the reds they are catching are 23-30 inches.  It does appear that fishing pressure is making a difference with so few fish in the slot except for young-of-the-year fish that have just gotten there.  Finger mullet, shrimp, cut mullet, mud minnows and more will all work.   

The mullet schools are running the beaches right now, and Spanish mackerel are right there eating them.  Instead of the smaller Spanish that were so common earlier they are now catching big 4-pounders free-lining mullet around the schools.  You can also catch them throwing spoons or topwater lures when they are thick and fired up, and bluefish are in with them.  There are also a few bull drum in the surf and at the jetties but they haven’t quite arrived in numbers yet.   

Morning surface water temperatures have dropped to 79 degrees around Little River and the water is dirty.  Bait is less abundant in the creeks after the storms but still available, while the mullet run is underway in the ocean.    

The storm has blown out the creeks with a ton of freshwater, and Captain Buddy Love with Captain Smiley Fishing Charters (843-361-7445) reports that it’s made catching bait harder.  Instead of throwing the net twice and getting all the shrimp you need for a day of fishing you now have to throw it a lot more to get a few dozen decent-sized baits.  Tiny shrimp are still everywhere.   

But despite that the fishing has actually improved in the creeks, and they are now catching a ton of redfish.  Most of them are just under the slot at 13 ½ to 14 inches, but there are also plenty of better fish around as well.  The best time to fish for them is on the last of the fall and the first of the rise, and at higher stages of the tide they go up in the grass and become difficult to locate.  They are catching the most fish on cut shrimp fished around creek mouths, and they are also picking up plenty of black drum that way.  You also have to contend with a lot of smaller bait stealers.   

Trout can be caught on live shrimp under a popping cork, but the most consistent trout fishing has actually come on topwater lures fished early.  For some reason redfish have not been eating the plugs on top.  

They have also picked up a few flounder even without targeting them too frequently, but the best flounder action is in North Carolina.  In South Carolina you generally have to pick through smaller ones, but they did have one big 23-inch fish on a live finger mullet in South Carolina this week.   

A few tarpon have also been around.   

Perhaps the biggest change with the fishing this week is with the Spanish mackerel, which had been so abundant off the beaches.  With the mullet run kicking off they have been slow trolling Hopkins spoons, but they are now catching them free-lining live mullet and throwing topwater plugs at the mouths of the inlets.  The falling tide has been the best time to target them.