Solid Trout and Redfish Action: Winyah Bay, Georgetown SC

We've been blessed with a relatively mild December and as a result, the redfish and trout bite has been as good as it gets! The best trip we've had this month was with Tommy Griggs and Bill Lainey from my hometown of Cheraw SC. These two long time friends had a very memorable day fishing out of Georgetown SC, catching over 25 redfish in the am and 30+ trout later that day. Thanks to a weak but slow moving cold front, the air temps were a comfortable 60 degrees and the skies stayed overcast most of the day which always seems to trigger a solid inshore bite.
The trout preferred the brighter color grubs, particularly the Saltwater Assassin "Chicken on a Chain" with a Chartreuse 1/4oz Jig Head, and the bite really turned on at the top of the falling tide. Although many of the trout were on the small side, it was great to see good numbers of them. The redfish wernt as picky and were basically eating anything from Gulp's Ghost Shrimp to Watermelon Zoom Fluke. 
I cant wait to get back on the water with Bill and Tommy... these boys are great company and excellent anglers!

 

October Flyfishing - Winyah Bay

Between the wind and rain the last few weeks, we've had some great fly fishing trips on both ends of the tide cycle. Early morning flood tides always get me excited, especially in October when the redfish tend to be the happiest. The top of the falling tides have been producing decent numbers of trout although the size of most trout have not been spectacular, they are still a blast to catch on light tackle. On the last part of the ebb, we've been putting up some decent flounder which seem to be very plentiful this year.  Redfish are also feeding aggressively around low tide which makes for some spectacular sight fishing on light tackle and flyfishing gear.

Top Water Redfish, Trout, and Flounder - Georgetown SC

The weekend of Sept 24th, I had the pleasure of fishing with Charlie Wray from Virgina Beach who made the trip all the way down to South Carolina to fish for the entire weekend. Charlie normally makes his annual fishing trip to the Florida Keys so I had the pressure on me to show him a good time and find some fish. It wasn't long into our first trip before a feisty redfish made an impression on Charlie. We picked away at the trout on the higher tides with DOAs and Grubs, then proceeded to bang up the redfish on the lower tides. Charlie fooled a couple of big redfish with a top water plug which made the drive to SC worth while. A couple of flounder also took a ride with us which capped off a great weekend of fishing in South Carolina.

March 2011 - Cape Romain & Winyah Bay

Richard and Danny - ICW

Good News! March is over, the days are getting longer and the water is warming up every day. Between the windy and rainy days we managed to slip out on a few nice days last month and found redfish on nearly every trip. Although the numbers wern’t impressive last month, we caught some nice fish on artificials and some real “Creek Donkeys” on crab chunks in shallow water. You’ll know when it’s time to start fishing with crabs when the inlets are blanketed by crab pots and you cant keep any other bait in the water without a crab trying to eat it. Blue Crabs are coming out of winter hibernation and they are swarming the inlets as they begin to molt. A molting blue crab for a redfish is like crack-cocaine to junkie... they simply cant get enough of them! The best way to fish with crab chunks is to remove the top shell, quarter or half the crab in 2-4 pieces(depending on the size of crab) and remove the legs and claws. A 3/0 circle hook on a Carolina Rig with a 3/4oz egg sinker should be sufficient. I also like to fish this rig with a clamp on cork so you’ll know where the bait is and when a fish has picked it up. Although this method of fishing is not the most glamorous, it is the most effective in early spring.

The boys in Charleston are finding tailing redfish on the flood tides and catching them on a variety of flies including the local favorite “Coperhead” fly and dark colored clouser minnows.  There are excellent tailing tides predicted for Cape Romain in mid April so I am looking forward to getting back on the grass flats and busting a few on the fly rod. We hope to be doing a lot of filming in the coming months so be sure and check out our video page and subscribe to our channel... www.youtube.com/carolinaguideservice/

We’ve also been catching a few flounder and there have been some reports of trout showing back up around Georgetown and Charleston. Look for flounder in front of ditch mouths on the last of the falling tide or around structure like docks and jetties. Trolling for Flounder is also a very effective method that is very popular in Pawleys Island Creek and Murrells Inlet. The local tackle shops are very helpful and will assist you with picking out the right gear and bait for flounder fishing... check with Booty's Outdoors in Murrells Inlet and Pawleys Island Outdoors on 17N in Pawleys Island.  


-Capt. Jordan