July 8
Morning surface water temperatures are about 85 degrees at the mouth of the Port Royal Sound, even higher in the flats at low tide. Water clarity is good on the incoming tide; the outgoing tide tends to dirty some areas.
Captain Trent Malphrus withPalmetto Lagoon Charters (843-301-4634) reports that the inshorebite has been interesting with water temps rising. He has noticed that the redfish have been more active in the middle of the tides, with water either incoming or outgoing. He's targeting creek junctions and isolated shell mounds.
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Captain Trent said early morning, and big reds, are a great combination right now.
Captain Trent has also noted that the reds are feeding better in deeper water. They’ve been sluggish on the mud flats at low tide with water temps at 91 degrees, so he’s been fishing deeper water on the lower tides. He also reports seeing that all the reds he’s caught in deeper water have shrimp tentacles hanging out of their throats, so they’re gorging on this morsel.
He's had success using the Gulp shrimp on a 1/4-ounce jig head, and it's been producing in the deeper water, specifically around 6 to 8 feet. Throwing topwater lures and ‘walking the dog’ early in the morning has been best from 5:30 am to 6:30 am. He said to pick your best spot to start the day right for redfish. Later in the day, the most productive tactic has been live bait, such as finger mullet or porgies, and he’s free-lining baits in the current on points, creek mouths, and submerged shells.
Captain Trent is using a 25-pound fluorocarbon line with 4/0 circle hooks and only adds a little weight, like a 1/4- or 3/8-oz split shot, to help get it a little deeper when fishing over 5 feet of water. But he’s primarily fishing it naked with nothing but a hook.
At this time of year, Captain Trent said to find the cleanest water to fish; fishing in dirty water is tough with live bait. But if you switch to fresh-cut bait, the reds find the bait much easier. That’s not his preferred tactic, but sometimes conditions dictate that anglers fish dirty water, and this tactic works well.
He said some trout action has occurred recently, but nothing spectacular.
Terry Madewell
July 2
Morning surface water temperatures are about 85 degrees at the mouth of the Port Royal Sound. Water clarity is good until the outgoing tide.
We will have a complete inshore report again next week, but this week we have a quick “big game” report from Captain Kai Williams with Awesome Adventure Charters (843-816-7475).
It’s finally full-on tarpon time in the Hilton Head area, and in both the Port Royal Sound and the Calibogue Sound there are plenty of silver kings. Menhaden are abundant and anchoring live bait has been effective, but they have also caught one tarpon on a dead menhaden. While captains and local experts have hotspots where they know fish are likely to be found, it’s hard to go wrong fishing around anywhere there are large schools of menhaden (or mullet).
Bull reds are also feeding, generally in deeper water, and there are also schools of big jack crevalle that can be seen crashing bait on the surface. The Calibogue Sound has lots of them right now. When you find feeding jacks they will eat about anything you throw at them.
June 26
Morning surface water temperatures are about 83 degrees at the mouth of Port Royal Sound. A recent cool snap had dropped it back to the upper 70’s.
Inshore fishing is taking the spotlight right now in the Hilton Head area, with multiple species providing excellent action. Captain Kai Williams withAwesome Adventure Charters (843-816-7475) reports that he has also been catching a variety of fish species, including bull reds, Tarpon, multiple shark species, and bluefish.
Captain Kai said the bull reds are a favored target right now, and he is catching them in Port Royal Sound using live menhaden on the bottom in about 20 feet of water. The redfish action has provided a consistent bite for his clients, but on a typical day, he diversifies his efforts.
On Wednesday of this week, he made two trips, and, based on the time of day and tides, he took advantage of several fish species. He began early with bull reds and enjoyed considerable success. Then he switched tactics to fishing for sharks, which is also highly productive.
While targeting sharks in an area of Port Royal Sound where he’d already caught Tarpon recently, he had a top live bait offering out to target Tarpon. While helping a client land a shark, he handed the Tarpon rig to a 15-year-old angler. In those few moments while handling the shark, a Tarpon took the bait and was briefly hooked. It provided a spectacular jump, allowing Captain Kai to estimate the weight at around 80 pounds. But the young angler had not gotten the hook set solidly, and the Tarpon shook the hook. But the boat excitement level was off the charts.
The action was pretty much nonstop all morning.
The afternoon trip was equally productive for sharks and bluefish, but stormy weather limited where they could effectively fish. But Captain Kai found a spot loaded with sharks, and they caught four species: Blacktip, Spinner, Bonnethead, and Blacknose. Plus, they enjoyed good action on bluefish. Eventually, storms ran them off the water a bit early.
But the good news is that Captain Kai said this outstanding fishing should remain a solid pattern for the next several weeks. Tides and weather may influence specific choices daily, but experiencing excellent action across a diversity of species is the norm right now.
Captain Trent Malphrus with Palmetto Lagoon Charters (843-301-4634) also reports that the inshorebite has been good for reds. It’s been mostly live bait, such as finger mullet or porgies, and he’s free-lining baits in the current on points creek mouths and submerged shells.
Captain Trent is using 25-pound fluorocarbon line with 4/0 circle hooks and only adds a little weight, like a 1/4- or 3/8-oz split shot, to help get it a little deeper when fishing over 5 feet of water. But he’s primarily fishing it naked with nothing but a hook.
The bite has been good both ways in the tide, coming in and going out, with the middle of the tide being the most productive.
Captain Trent said to always seek the cleanest water to fish; fishing in dirty water is tough when using live bait. But if you switch to fresh-cut bait, the reds find it much easier. That’s not his preferred method, but when conditions require him to fish dirty water, this tactic works well. With plenty of live bait available, he’s not used artificials as much recently.
Give Captain Kai or Captain Trent a call; the fishing is excellent!
Terry Madewell
June 10
Morning surface water temperatures are about 80 degrees at the mouth of Port Royal Sound.
Action on inshore redfish has been excellent in the Hilton Head area, and yesterday, Captain Trent Malphrus with Palmetto Lagoon Charters (843-301-4634) reported an outstanding trip, with redfish action on fire for six straight hours.
Captain Trent said the morning fishing began around 6 am, working topwater lures, specifically the Spook, with the ‘walking the dog’ retrieve around the mouths of small creeks, where they join with larger creeks. The tide was outgoing and about halfway down, and the creek junctions where birds were active were ground zero for redfish action.
This topwater action lasted about 90 minutes, then, as the sun rose, it slowed. Captain Trent said the key to knowing which creeks to fish is the birds. See the birds at that tidal situation at creek junctions, and you can bet the forage is available and redfish along with them.
Redfish action is excellent in the Hilton Head area Captain Trent Reports.
As the tide dropped toward low, he caught some live bait, then moved to the flats targeting mud points. He used free-swimming live bait to work the mud points; the redfish were all over the bait, and hookups were quick.
Later, on the incoming tide, he began catching redfish by fishing live bait along the shell mounds scattered throughout the creeks. That tactic also provided excellent redfish action for the first half of the incoming tide. He targeted spots where water flowed through the shell mounds.
After mid-tide, the bite slowed and finally stopped, but he’d had 6 straight hours of fast action.
He said the redfish action is on fire right now and he expects it to continue.
Captain Trent said he saw a few tarpon and even spent about 10 minutes trying to catch one. But only a few tarpon are congregated in the area currently, not enough to offer reasonable odds of a hookup. He said they’re filtering in, and tarpon will become a better possibility soon.
Trout fishing is still good when the water is clear, but it wasn’t clear enough on this trip.
Captain Trent’s advice: Come redfishing now!
Terry Madewell
June 3
Morning surface water temperatures are about 79 degrees at the mouth of Port Royal Sound.
The summer inshore fishing season is off to a busy but successful start for Captain Trent Malphrus with Palmetto Lagoon Charters (843-301-4634), who reports that both tides have been producing for redfish mixed with a few nice trout. On the outgoing tide fish are stacked up and waiting for bait to flow out of creek mouths, while on the incoming tide long shell points that stick way out have been most productive. Both artificials and live bait are working, mostly finger mullet but a few menhaden when available. These patterns should hold well into the month, although trout may start to feed better early and less during the day.
Tripletail have showed up and all month they can be caught hanging on trash lines and around debris, and Captain Trent notes that jack crevalle (which he considers highly under-rated as they pull hard and feed on top) are great to cast at this month. Soon a few tarpon should show up in the creeks along with the trout and reds, and each year they see more and bigger sharks cruising the mud flats.
In the rivers May was an excellent month for cobia, the best for years, and Trent says that sight-casting for fish on slack tides should catch fish well into June. Captain Kai Williams with Awesome Adventure Charters (843-816-7475) reports that he has also been catching tarpon and bull reds in the rivers, and they should also be around off the beaches throughout the month.
Nearshore when you can get out the cobia fishing is already very good at the reefs, and it should stay that way for several more weeks. Spadefish are also around in good numbers and shouldn’t leave in June.
May 22
Morning surface water temperature is 75 degrees at the mouth of Port Royal Sound.
Fishing news continues to be exciting and fast-paced for inshore fishing, and Captain Kai Williams withAwesome Adventure Charters (843-816-7475) reports that fishing for several species is excellent, with bull reds, Spanish mackerel, and cobia all producing excellent action. He thinks the remainder of May should provide plenty of species diversity and excellent action.
Captain Kai's clients have been catching bull reds using live and cut mullet.
Captain Kai said some of the most exciting action is catching bull redfish. He’s catching these big fish inside the sound around various sorts of structure. Right now, both live or cut mullet is working great for the bull reds. When targeting reds in the creeks, Captain Kai said he’s having better results with cut bait. The bite has recently switched from live to cut in the creeks.