May 28

 

Morning surface water temperatures vary around 77-81 degrees at the mouth of Murrells Inlet.

 

Excellent flounder fishing is topping the list of inshorefishing opportunities this week, Captain Chris Regan withCarolina Hook and Fly Guide Service (843-241-7706) reports. On one trip, anglers caught multiple flounder topped by a 29-inch whopper weighing 10.1 pounds.

 

Captain Chris said a 28 inch, 10.1 lb. flounder, was caught on a recent trip.

 

The wind has been a hindrance at times in the past several days, particularly in the afternoons with a gusty southeast wind, but the fishing overall is excellent, Captain Chris said. He’s liking the mid-tides, incoming or outgoing, for the best action. Slack-water conditions are not nearly as productive. He added that live bait and artificial lures are very productive, and at times, the shrimp imitations are outproducing live bait.

 

Redfish are still providing good inshore fishing, and a good mix of sizes is being caught, with some quality fish mixed in. Anglers are catching the reds around hard cover, such as docks and jetties.

 

Fishermen are catching a smaller class of redfish in the 17-18-inch class, generally by fishing around grass and on the flats. Captain Chris reports that plenty of redfish are in the general area, but scattered in various areas. Anglers may have to hunt a bit to find the isolated hotspots, but diligence usually pays off with redfish.

 

Other inshore species that are providing good action include sheepshead and black drum.

 

Nearshore and along the beaches, Spanish mackerel fishing is likely still good, he believes, but windy conditions have made it difficult to get out recently, especially with such good inshore fishing.

 

Terry Madewell

 

May 13

 

Morning surface water temperatures are around 68-69 degrees at the mouth of Murrells Inlet at high tide and about 72 degrees at low tide.  

 

After a period of increased flounder activity for theinshorefishing, the pace has slowed, but plenty of flounder remain in the area. Captain Chris Regan withCarolina Hook and Fly Guide Service (843-241-7706) reports that flounder are still in the area in good numbers and sizes. He said an angler fishing from a causeway recently caught a 28-inch flounder.

 

 

He reports that redfish are still providing quality inshore fishing, but some of the biggest fish are outside the keeper slot. Captain Chris reports that quite a few 27-30-inch redfish are being caught, with most caught around cover such as docks and jetties. He said most redfish are ‘CPR’d’ (caught, photographed, released) anyway, regardless of size.

 

Another common size class of redfish being caught are reds in the 17-18-inch class. These fish are commonly caught around grass and on the flats. Captain Chris reports that many redfish are in the general area, but the big schools anglers found during winter have dispersed throughout the inshore flats and creeks. But unlike some years, a lot of these fish still remain inshore, so anglers may need to be diligent about finding them, but opportunities exist for good redfish action.

 

Other inshore species that are providing good action include sheepshead and black drum, and he knows of one 30-inch black drum caught and released.

 

Nearshore and around the beaches, the Spanish mackerel fishing is holding up well and should continue to be productive for a while.

 

Terry Madewell

 

 

April 30

Morning surface water temperatures are around 68 degrees at the mouth of Murrells Inlet. 

After a week last week where very little changed inshore, this week Captain Caleb Hartley with Carolina Hook and Fly Guide Service (843-241-7706) reports that things are dramatically differently now. Namely, the flounder have showed up, and yesterday Captain Caleb’s boat caught 60-70 fish with about 25% over 16 inches! Tide doesn’t seem to matter, and there is very little rhyme or reason to their locations. Some were caught at high tide in deep holes with 10 feet of water, while others were caught on low tide in as little as a foot of water. While other baits will work mud minnows are hard to beat.

The flounder fishing should stay hot through May, while in general the trout fishing in Murrells Inlet slows this month. Redfish should pick back up, and there should be some good schools found at the jetties. 

Off the beaches out to nearshore bluefish and Spanish should be around in May, and with menhaden already showing up off the beach it’s a near-certainly that some big kings will start to be caught soon either on the piers or at the reefs. Spadefish will also show up at the reefs.  

April 22

Morning surface water temperatures are around 67 degrees at the mouth of Murrells Inlet. 

With almost no change in water temperatures Captain Caleb Hartley with Carolina Hook and Fly Guide Service (843-241-7706) reports that very little has changed with the fishing this week. They do continue to pick up some very large trout, but he is most excited because any day now the big flounder should arrive and start to fire off. 
One note of change is that there seems to be a decent run of bull red drum off local piers like Surfside. 

April 16

Morning surface water temperatures are around 66-67 degrees at the mouth of Murrells Inlet. 

Inshore fishing continues to improve along the Grand Strand, and Captain Caleb Hartley with Carolina Hook and Fly Guide Service (843-241-7706) reports that they are now catching good numbers of redfish in the creeks as well as at the jetties. At the jetties it’s mostly over-slot fish, while inside they are slot-sized. In the creeks the best fishing is around creek mouths and oyster bars, with oyster bars at the mouth of creeks ideal. Both rising and falling tide have been good in these areas. 

The trout bite has also been good, not for numbers but for some high-quality fish up to 24 plus inches. They are extremely scattered and hard to pattern, and they could be found at the jetties or in the creeks, shallow or deep. Live shrimp has been a commonality for catching them but they will also take artificials.

While there have been some good flounder caught already, this should be the week where the keepers really flood the area with the warm weather. They are very hard to pattern so far but creek mouths on the outgoing tide are as good as anywhere. 
Nearshore the Spanish mackerel fishing was phenomenal a few days ago, with catches of 200 common! However, they have apparently pushed into towards the beaches where they are starting to be caught off the piers. 

April 3

Morning surface water temperatures are around 64 degrees at the mouth of Murrells Inlet. 

The big excitement this week in Murrells Inlet is the arrival of the flounder, and Captain Caleb Hartley with Carolina Hook and Fly Guide Service (843-241-7706) reports that on an inshore charter today they have already caught a handful of fish, including two keepers, and they are not finished!  There’s not much rhyme or reason to where they are finding the fish, or what they are biting, and after drifting an area for an hour with live bait and not hooking up they took a couple of casts with artificials and caught one. But earlier the keepers came on live bait. While it’s hard to point to a specific pattern, fishing low moving water (in either direction) in the vicinity of structure has been the best bet. Bait preference is a moving target but mud minnows are generally reliable. 

There are also a few redfish and trout around, but particularly the trout have been very moody. For some reason right now it’s hard to catch either species without live shrimp.

It’s a good time to fish nearshore and about to get even better, although right now you can still pick up some sheepshead and black drum plus Spanish mackerel have started to arrive.  Really the only question is whether the ocean will let you get there – because if it does you will catch fish!

March 24

Morning surface water temperatures are around 58-59 degrees at the mouth of Murrells Inlet. 

There continues to be gradual improvement with the inshore fishing in Murrells Inlet, and Captain Caleb Hartley with Carolina Hook and Fly Guide Service (843-241-7706) reports that more species are starting to show up and feed. Flounder are beginning to move into the creeks, and while the “snot grass” still makes fishing for them tough as it dislodges we are on the verge of some very good days for numbers of fish. While not around in very good numbers yet, they are also starting to see more trout. 

In contrast there are now good numbers of redfish inside Murrells Inlet, but they are in big schools and moving around a lot. The best place to look for them is at the mouths of smaller creeks, and Captain Caleb is particularly targeting flatter, more shallow creek mouths.  

While the jetties have not necessarily been better than inshore fishing, nearshore the reefs have been good for sheepshead and black drum when boats can get out. They have also found some large redfish at the reefs.  

March 11

Morning surface water temperatures are around 55-56 degrees at the mouth of Murrells Inlet. While “snot” grass is still around it is getting easier to fish again. 

There has been some improvement with the inshore fishing in Murrells Inlet, and Captain Caleb Hartley with Carolina Hook and Fly Guide Service (843-241-7706) reports that even though fishing hasn’t gotten “hot” they are picking up a fair number of redfish, trout, and short flounder. There are certainly signs of life!

Water temperatures in the jetties are in the mid-50s but you can find mid-60s back in the inlet, and while that hasn’t created an incredible bite it has caused the fish to gravitate towards shallow water. Both trout and reds (and some of the flounder that are around) are in just a couple of feet of water in the very backs. They are trying to catch them on small paddletail grubs in natural colors, but when that doesn’t working floating live shrimp to the fish has been effective. 

While the jetties have been surprisingly slow for species like trout (“one here, one there”), nearshore the reefs have been pretty strong. The main catch right now is sheepshead and black drum, although one day they got into a school of over-slot but not bull reds. Generally it’s pretty simple fishing where you drop down fiddler crabs, sand fleas, or live or dead shrimp, but the fish do show different preferences on different days. There are also lots of small black sea bass around but only very rarely do you catch a keeper.

Soon weakfish will show up and then Spanish mackerel and bonito. 

February 25

Morning surface water temperatures are around 50 degrees at the mouth of Murrells Inlet and the water is still very clear.    

Once again it’s a tough inshore report for Murrells Inlet, and Captain Caleb Hartley with Carolina Hook and Fly Guide Service (843-241-7706) reports that yesterday he fished for four hours in the inlet and never lost a bait. In all the spots where he expected to find redfish he instead found dolphins, which likely means that they beat him to the fish, but at his trout spots he saw no signs of anything positive. 

Despite some wind they headed to a nearshore reef looking for some action, and there they caught over 100 black sea bass with no keepers. They also caught 12 sheepshead but only 3 keepers, and 1 tautog.  They fished live shrimp, whole dead shrimp, shrimp heads, shrimp bodies, frozen fiddler crabs, live fiddler crabs, and artificial lures, and it was hard to find a lot of pattern. The live fiddler crabs were a little more effective but it was close.  

Overall it’s unclear why there isn’t more action inside the inlet, but also confusing why the keeper ratio for sheepshead wasn’t better. It’s unusual to only catch 25% keepers at the reefs in the winter. 

February 12

Morning surface water temperatures are around 45 degrees at the mouth of Murrells Inlet and the water is gin clear.  

There’s no good news out of Murrells Inlet this week, and Tuesday Captain Caleb Hartley with Carolina Hook and Fly Guide Service (843-241-7706) reports that he and a friend spend all day poling and riding a small skiff through the inshore waters of Murrells Inlet. They did not see a trout or redfish all day, and only saw one school of mullet. From there they moved out to the jetties and never got a single bite. They finally caught one 16 ½ inch flounder (off all things) out of a deep hole, but that was it all day.

Captain Caleb has never seen it this dead, and he is really concerned that the cold seems to have pushed everything out. He did have one friend see a school of reds last week inside the inlet, but there’s no guarantee even those fish are still around. Most likely there obviously are some fish in Murrells Inlet, but with 10-12 feet of visibility there must not be many unless they are stacked up like cordwood in the couple of creeks they didn’t go into yesterday. 

Hopefully the warming trend will get fish moving again because right now Caleb has not spoken to anyone who has been catching anything. He notes that there have to be fish at the nearshore reefs but doesn’t know anyone who has been there. 

February 4

Morning surface water temperatures are around 45 degrees at the mouth of Murrells Inlet. 

Returning to Murrells Inlet to much colder temperatures and about three inches of snow, Captain Caleb Hartley with Carolina Hook and Fly Guide Service (843-241-7706) reports that he has not been inshore fishing since the snow but feels certain that there are still trout and redfish to be caught inside Murrells Inlet. The inlet has plenty of deep spots where trout can hold up, and so he is hopeful there was not too much of a kill. To his knowledge no one has been fishing the last few days, but as more people get on the water it will be interesting to see what is reported in terms of the trout. 

There should be some black drum and sheepshead at the jetties, either fish that have not left to spawn or already returned. And of course there will be both species spawning as well as keeper black sea bass at the nearshore reefs. 

January 22

Morning surface water temperatures are around 49-50 degrees at the mouth of Murrells Inlet. 

On the water a decent amount the last week, Captain Caleb Hartley with Carolina Hook and Fly Guide Service (843-241-7706) reports that there is a fairly healthy population of inshore trout and redfish in the creeks right now. While they are biting pretty well when you locate them, they can be hard to find. 
Giving away another valuable nugget this week, Captain Caleb advises that the lower tides are better and what he is looking for to locate fish is a medium depth hole near a flat. For example, if there is an area which has several feet of water at higher water but then a depression where fish will retreat on lower tide the fish can really stack up in it. Right now they are pretty much exclusively fishing with live or imitation shrimp.  

There are also some trout and reds scattered around the jetties, but oddly there is not a lot of pattern to where they are holding and you just have to cover water with the same baits. What is not at the jetties is black drum and sheepshead, and despite fishing hard his boat has only caught one of each in the last week. Accordingly, he believes they have mostly headed offshore to spawn. 

With the cold front coming it’s anyone’s guess what will happen, but in the next day or two he expects a major feed for anyone able to get on the water before the weather descends. 

Note that Captain Caleb will be away from the Murrells Inlet waters spending time with family the next couple of weeks, but we will pick back up regular reports when he returns.

January 8

Morning surface water temperatures are around 53 degrees at the mouth of Murrells Inlet. 

While he has only just gotten back from vacation and fishing in Tennessee, Captain Caleb Hartley with Carolina Hook and Fly Guide Service (843-241-7706) was back on the water yesterday and has also been keeping up with the fishing closely through guide buddies. The bottom line is that the inshore creek bite has gotten very difficult, and basically the catch is just for occasional red drum. They are catching some fish on very low water at the rise or the fall, but finding them has been a struggle. The warm weather has not been helping, and instead of fish grouping up in schools they are pretty spread out. 

Basically the two places to look for redfish right now are steep oyster banks or deeper bends in secondary creeks, and this is not sight-fishing. Fish are so pressured and by now lethargic in Murrells Inlet that it’s hard very hard to catch them if you can see them and so Captain Caleb is trying to stay as far away from his spots as possible. Live shrimp are the best bait either on the bottom or under a floating cork, but they will also eat artificials. 

But the best action is definitely at the jetties, where there are reds around as well as most of the trout that seem to be in the area. The pattern is as simple as circling the jetties with live shrimp or artificials and working every part. 

The other major fishery right now is for sheepshead and black drum, and while many of the bigger fish have made it to the nearshore reefs already there are plenty of fish as well as some bigs at the jetties. Caleb suspects some sheepshead actually spawn there instead of going further out. It’s the time of year where sheeps can be unpredictable and so taking both fiddler crabs and live shrimp is wise – one day they may show a preference for one and the next day they can refuse to eat the same thing but devour the other. There are also some days where they will eat fresh dead shrimp, and black drum will almost always take them.