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.
