Morning surface water temperatures are down to around 83 and the creeks are full of bait. Clarity has dropped off a bit with recent rains.
It’s hard to put a finger on why, but Captain Buddy Love with Captain Smiley Fishing Charters (843-361-7445) reports that the action for flounder has been surprisingly good over the last few days. There are still more, bigger fish in North Carolina because of the harvest closure, but in South Carolina creeks they are finding a ton of them compared to a just a week or two ago. They are moving around a lot and feeding best on the falling tide, although they have caught a few on the rising tide. Larger mud minnows seem to be working the best.
It’s still a pretty fair bite for scattered redfish and black drum in the creek mouths with live shrimp on a slip cork rig. The falling tide has been best, and you can also pick up redfish on live finger mullet.
Trout are scattered in the same areas, but they have been pretty small and honestly don’t merit a lot of focus right now.
It’s still a pretty incredible Spanish mackerel bite most days, and the last time they went after them they managed to get ten per hour. They also seem to be getting bigger. But they were most surprised by how good the bite was even after the water got dirtier after storms a couple of nights ago.
Twenty-five feet of water is the magic depth, and you can catch them trolling spoons on #1 or #2 planer boards. There are also still some times when you can cast at them.
