Morning surface water temperatures are in the upper 60s around Little River and the water quality is very bad after all the wind.
Some larger trout have been showing up at the top of the coast this week, and Captain Buddy Love with Captain Smiley Fishing Charters (843-361-7445) reports that they have caught fish up to 24 inches. The key is live shrimp, and the best place to fish is creek mouths in 3-8 feet. It doesn’t matter if the tide is rising or falling, but it has to be moving. Black drum have also been in the same areas eating the same bait, although they will also take fresh cut shrimp.
There are also flounder scattered everywhere right now, especially in the Intracoastal Waterway and at creek mouths. The tide hasn’t made too much of a difference, but they do seem to be catching a few more on the falling tide. Mud minnows are working great, but the crabs are so bad right now that artificial lures like Gulp! are sometimes less frustrating.
Unfortunately redfish have been a little rare recently, but they are picking up the occasional one drifting shrimp. Reds may also be feeding better on low water which they have targeted less often.
The jetties are also holding redfish and black drum, but it’s been too windy to get out there. The same is true for the nearshore reefs, and when they were last able to get out to the 3-Mile a week ago it was covered up in bluefish and Spanish.
