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.   

Morning surface water temperatures are around 65 degrees around Little River.

The Spanish mackerel fishing is on fire this week, and Captain Buddy Love with Captain Smiley Fishing Charters (843-361-7445) reports that from the beaches out to about 5 miles offshore they are wearing them out. Fish are running up to 3-4 pounds, and the numbers are excellent. Spoons are working very well.

At the nearshore reefs there are also bonito, summer trout, bluefish and more around.

The flounder fishing has picked up with better weather this week, and there continue to be a good number of flounder in the creeks. As the snot grass disappears they will get easier to target on the bottom.

Trout are being caught at creeks mouths, along banks and at the jetties. Fish are biting on both the rising and falling tide, as long as there is moving water. The best depth range has been 5-8 feet of water.

While they are catching some fish on Vudu Shrimp, Gulp! and even on the fly, live shrimp is hard to beat.

There are black drum mixed in with the trout being caught on the same live shrimp, but you can probably pick up more black drum fishing on the bottom with fresh cut shrimp. The best concentrations are also a bit deeper in 10-15 feet of water.

Unfortunately most of them are small right now.

A few redfish are being landed as well, mostly on low tide in skinny water or holes. Some are also being caught around creek mouths on the dropping tide when everything is being flushed out of the creeks. The fish are generally now in medium-sized schools on low water.

Fresh cut shrimp is also working the best.