Fishing Report (Updated 5.9.2008)

Spottail Bass: Good.  Fish are beginning to spread out and feed aggressively on the large mullet schools which are showing up, although some spottails are still congregated in large schools.  Spottails are beginning to tail in large numbers in the grass and can be sight-fished for by lure or fly fishermen.  Some topwater action is also being reported. 

Trout: Good.  A mild winter should make for an outstanding trout season and warmer temperatures have improved trout fishing over the last week. The fish are beginning to spread out through the rivers and creeks; however, more fish are being caught near the islands than in the Broad River area.  Fish holes and drops, although some topwater action is being reported on the Bite A Bait topwater lure.  Around low tide fly fishermen are catching some good-sized trout on lime green and orange rattling flies near the creek banks alongside spartina grass.  

Flounder:  Good.  Flounder are showing up in the inlets and beginning to be caught throughout the creeks.  Fish soft plastics or mud minnows along the bottom.  Most fish are still at or below the legal limit; this may improve somewhat as the season continues but biologists suspect the average size of the flounder stock is smaller than usual this year.

Sheepshead: Fair. Catches of sheepshead are still being reported around inshore bridges, pilings, and wood, but many of the larger fish seem to have headed offshore to spawn.  They should be back in time for late spring and summer.

Cobia:  The cobia have arrived and some really nice fish are being caught. Anglers can target cobia with the traditional bait of live eels, but menhaden, bluefish, croaker, whole squid and crabs are also effective.  Try to fish the entire water column – have one rod shallow, another at medium depth, and another on the bottom.  Best fishing is two hour each side of the tide change – when tides are running strongest fish are unlikely to bite.

Paradise Pier:  Some decent whiting have been caught as well as black tip sharks and stingrays.  The biggest catch is blue crabs which are being caught by the 5 gallon bucketful around low tide.    

Bottom Fishing: Black Sea Bass are still abundant; fishermen should take a variety of baits with them including shrimp, squid, and cigar minnows.  A particular method to see what the fish are biting is to chum with each bait and see which is eaten.  The legal limit for black sea bass is 12 inches, for red snapper is 20 inches, and for grouper is 24 inches.

Offshore: Dolphin, wahoo, and king mackerel are all being caught although yellowfin and blackfin tuna are not around.  In the recent King Mackerel Tournament from Fripp Island the winning king weighed 22.5 caught by Full Tilt, the winning weighing wahoo weighed 38.1 caught by Redemption, and the winning dolphin weighed 26.9 caught by Sugar Rene. 

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