 Delta Guide Service South Carolina Weekly Shallow Saltwater Fishing Report From 12-16-01 through 12-31-01 Once again, not much to report except that we guides are having some really good fishing! Now, it’s not so much the fish that are hard to find, it’s the clients to catch them! The weather has cooled and the water has cleared and the fish can be easily seen. Of course when we can see them easily, they can just as easily see us, so stealth is more important now. Normally we guides only get to fish together on rare occasions, but lately, we’ve had some really good times and good trips together. I’m not going to report on those trips except to say that the fishing for reds has been normal for this time of year and that the trout are not here in any real numbers. No surprise there. Instead of simply trying to find something to write about each week, I’m going to start posting this report twice each month unless something interesting occurs. I thank all of you that read and respond to this report and hope the events of the past year will not permanently affect the guides in our area of the US. It has taken SC quite a few years to get to the point where it considered to be an area where a fisherman can come and have numerous well qualified guides to choose from for a saltwater fishing adventure It would be a shame if the current business and travel problems were to cause some of these really talented and dedicated guys to have to get out of the business and find other jobs. I hope business will pick back up this year and save them. Good luck to all!! Thanks, Gene Dickson South Carolina Weekly Shallow Saltwater Fishing Report From 12-16-01 through 12-31-01 There wasn’t much to report these past two weeks. I don’t know if it was the basically non-eventful fishing of the previous weeks, or the September 11th mess, or just a general slowing of the economy that kept clients away. We only fished 2 trips in these past two weeks where we would have normally fished 12 to 18. I did manage to do some fishing with a couple of the other guides, and we had pretty good fishing each time. The weather has been cool to cold some days and then warming back up. The water has cooled back down and the green algae has died out again and the water is very clear. Small and medium reds seem to be in good supply and a few big reds were taken also. All of them are being caught on artificials which include spoons, soft jerk baits, and crank baits. One trip had 18 reds and a flounder and the other had 7 reds, 4 trout and 2 flounder. Our guide with guide trips totaled 26 reds one day and 17 on the other. The totals for the week were: reds totaled 68 fish; trout totaled 4 , and flounder totaled 3. Thanks, we hope you all have a great new year!! South Carolina Weekly Shallow Saltwater Fishing Report Week of 12-09-01 through 12-15-01 This was a really quiet week as far as bookings went. Only one brave soul came out to fish and he was rewarded with a really good day. There was only a little wind and the bugs were not so bad. He caught several small reds at our first stop while using a 1/4 oz. jig. The tide was low at mid morning so we pushed up into a small flat that has been producing a few fish. The water coming out was 64 degrees and there was bait everywhere. We could see several big fish pushing around some shell beds near the back of the area and we started for them. As I got about half way to them, I saw 3 big ones right in front of the boat and only a short cast away. I got us stopped and the client made one of those perfect casts with the little crank bait he was using. It landed lightly about 6 feet to the right of the fish and when it landed, one of them turned and started easing towards it. I told him not to move the bait until the fish was right at it and when the fish was about 1 foot away, it stopped and was looking straight at the bait. I told him to start with a light twitch and then a slow retrieve and when he did, the effect on the fish was beautiful to see! The fish, which turned out to be a 9 ½ pound red, seemed to have been shot out of a cannon the way he hit the bait. He hit like a run-away freight train with a huge splash of water, and with the screaming of the drag, it was enough to make a grown man’s knees buckle. He landed that one, and proceeded to catch three others, in the 6 to 9 pound size. By then, the tide had fallen so low we had to leave the area or be grounded for the remainder of the tide. We went out to a deeper area and managed to find 3 trout and 2 flounder before the day was done. We caught the trout and flounder on 1/4 oz. jigs with curly tailed lures. The totals for the week were: reds totaled 8 fish; trout totaled 3 , and flounder totaled 2 . South Carolina Weekly Shallow Saltwater Fishing Report Week of 12-02-01 through 12-08-01 Only two trips this week and both were pretty good. There wasn’t much wind on either day, and we suffered with the “no-see-ums.” If you fish in the fall and spring, they can be a major factor in whether or not you enjoy the day or not. A product I have found to be really good against them is made by Johnson & Johnson and is called “Skintastic”, not to be confused with “Skin So Soft” which is simply an inconvenience for the bugs. This “Skintastic” stuff comes in two different types, a clear liquid and a white heavy liquid sort of like suntan lotion. My personal preference is the latter because it seems to stay on longer. Our weather this winter has been unseasonably warm so far. The water is starting to warm back up to the point where the green algae is growing again. A month or so ago, the water was getting crystal clear the way it normally does in the winter. Now, however, it’s starting to get green and cloudy again. I don’t have a clue as to what that might do to the fishing. We are still catching a large number of small reds mixed with the larger ones. Trout are still in short supply but if we have a mild winter and they all survive, we should have a really good spring run of them. The same applies to the small reds. Next season, these little guys will be up into the 3# size and will give a good fight on light tackle or fly rods. The reds this week fell for the old favorites. Namely, the jigs, spoons, crank baits, and soft jerk baits. No one thing seemed to work best and we didn’t use any live or cut bait for the first time in a long while. Two small reds were caught on a weedless spoon fly one afternoon when the wind dropped to nearly nothing. The totals for the week were: reds totaled 17 fish; trout totaled 9 , and flounder totaled 1 . South Carolina Weekly Shallow Saltwater Fishing Report Week of 11-25-01 through 12-01-01 Five trips this week produced some pretty good catches of reds and trout. Lin, our resident trout specialist, had a good trip on them a few days ago. He had 18 trout and 6 reds for the day. That is one of the best trout days any of us have had in quite a while. Like him, I think the fact that there are so few shrimp here, is one of the reasons there are so few trout around. In past years, when the shrimp were in short supply, the trout seemed to be also. I guess they are in the ocean, chasing glass minnows or some such. Tommy had a couple of days with a fly rodder. The wind kept them pinned down until late, on the first day, and then it let up a bit. They had caught several nice reds on cut bait and when the wind dropped, the client loaded the fly rod and managed to catch one nice red, on a “Copperhead” fly before it got really dark. For two days, my group never even took their fly rods out. We never could find a concentration of fish, only a single fish here and there. The water is getting back to a green color, the algae is growing again, and the clear water is not nearly as clear as it was a month ago. There are still some big fish here, in the grass, at high tide, and that is where we’ve been hunting them. Live or cut bait still seems to draw the most hits but a few are still caught on the spoons or jerk baits. The totals for the week were: reds totaled 31 fish; trout totaled 23 , and flounder totaled 2 . South Carolina Weekly Shallow Saltwater Fishing Report Week of 11-18-01 through 11-24-01 At this late a date in the year, I’m going to assume that the wind is not going to let up and give us a break. It’s been blowing now for 11 months so there’s really no reason to think it’s going to stop now. I was out of town for most of the week but Tommy had some really good trips in spite of the wind. He had to resort to cut and live bait and anchoring to catch them, but that seemed to work just fine. One day they came in early because of the weather but they still had 6 reds. On the next two days, they found some big fish in the grass, caught some of them, and broke off several really big ones. They also found some trout one day and several flounder on another. We have some flyrodders scheduled for this week so we’re hoping we ’ll have decent weather. With all the small reds that are around, it shouldn’t be too hard to find a few on the fly, if the wind will only let us. Nothing much more to report for the week but I’m hoping that this one will give us a chance to show just how good it can be here during this time of year. The totals for the week were: reds totaled 29 fish; trout totaled 11 , and flounder totaled 4 . Thanks, Gene Dickson South Carolina Weekly Shallow Saltwater Fishing Report Week of 11-11-01 through 11-17-01 Another windy week. Winds from the North and Northeast plagued us for the whole week but we still managed two trips. The fish are still here and willing to bite if you can get to them. Clear 57 degree water makes it easy for them to find the bait and most of them will bite it if they see it. On one trip we used the soft jerk baits and had good luck with them during the super high tides. We caught several with spoons, but the slower plastic bait was the hands down favorite. In about 4 hours of fishing, it took 7 fish, and the spoons only took 3. My favorite soft bait is the Berkley Power Bait in Piranha color which is sort of clear with metal flake inside. I rig it on a 16 to 20 inch long, 30# XT mono leader with a 30# swivel on top and a wide bite worm hook on the business end. I’ll put a 1/4 or 1/8 oz. bullet weight on the main line and then tie to the swivel. I try to use the lightest weight I can throw so that it doesn’t get hung on the weeds so frequently. We’ve been catching a lot of small reds this season and most other fishermen I talk to have been doing likewise. It would be really nice if we could have a real “bumper crop” of young reds along with the reduced bag limit. That would put the recovery of the fishery on a fast track, and hopefully, there won’t be something to de-rail them such as another winter freeze or poor shrimp crop. The totals for the week were: reds totaled 30 fish; trout totaled 4, flounder totaled 4 and 1 black drum. South Carolina Weekly Shallow Saltwater Fishing Report Week of 11-04-01 through 11-10-01 I only ran two trips this week and they were good ones. Plenty of fish and most of them feeding on the artificials we were using. Mostly jigs but a few were caught on crank baits and spoons. This next week will have a few of the super tides and I plan to try the soft jerk baits in the tall grass. I’m sure some of them will hit the spoons but with the water at 55 to 60 degrees, I think a slower lure will take more hits. I’ll let you know if it does. The clients on the first trip caught 28 reds up to 8 pounds and the second group caught 27 with the largest at 5 ½ pounds. Both days, we saw many fish that were bigger, but we couldn’t get them to bite regularly. In the clear water, we caught quite a few flounder and some were really nice ones of 2 to 3 pounds each. On one of the days, we caught 6 trout and on the other day we only caught one trout. One of our other guides has been having some really good days on the sheepshead and black drum. On several of the days, he has had catches of 5 to 10 sheepsheads and 5 to 10 blacks also. He uses live and cut bait to catch them. The totals for the week were: reds totaled 55 fish; trout totaled 7 and flounder totaled 9. Thanks, Gene Dickson 11-04-01 Not a bad week! Three trips and all were done without a gale of wind blowing. The first, on Tuesday, was one of those trips that reminded me of “the good old days” when the fish were plentiful and always hungry. My client caught and released 48 reds, 17 trout and 2 flounder and was back at the landing early in the afternoon. The fish were all caught on artificials... jigs and spoons. Another of our guides had a day, early in the week, when they caught 31 reds and 11 trout. So, maybe there is a chance that the rest of our Fall fishing will be good after all. I was beginning to wonder if it was the fish, or if it was me. I’d heard of several others making good catches, such as these, but had not been able to confirm it and was somewhat doubtful about the numbers they were reporting. Now, I’m not so skeptical. For the other two trips, which were half days, we found and caught some nice fish in the grass during the big tides we had. We didn’t see any tails, and I think it’s probably a little late in the season to see any and the water on our flats is already down to around 55 degrees. Another of our guides, that sort of specializes in trout, has had several really good days (over twenty fish) in the past two weeks. We’re hoping that we won’t have another cold snap this winter, like the one last year that killed so many of them. I’ve had several other trusted people tell me about catching lots of the small reds. Maybe Mother Nature will give us a helping hand and let these small ones survive. We continue to see dolphin (mammals) in the shallows and in small creeks chasing these reds and trout. I know they also eat mullet, but the trout and reds are easier for them to catch, and they eat many of them. The dolphin have always been here, but I don’t ever remember them in the numbers that we are seeing now, or in the extreme shallows the way we do now. Here’s wishing everyone a successful Fall season! My weeks totals were: reds totaled 54 and trout totaled 25. There were two flounder caught. South Carolina Weekly Shallow Saltwater Fishing Report Week of 10-21-01 through 10-27-01 Of the four trips this week, two were pretty good and the other two were not so hot. The best day had 7 reds and 4 trout. The reds were all around the 6 to 9 pound size and the trout were all about 2 pounds each. The next day had 6 reds and one small bluefish. It was a husband and wife team that day, and the reds were from 2 pounds up to 8 pounds each. We also broke a couple off in the tall grass. One of the poor days, we simply quit early and came home with out ever getting a bite and on the other, we caught 1 red, 2 flounder and 2 trout. In some of the flats we fish, I’ve found the water as cold as 55 degrees early in the mornings before the sun gets up and warms things a bit. The main bodies of water seem to be around the 60 to 65 degree mark. If this cooling trend continues, the fish will start to “bunch up” and the shrimp will leave inshore waters for the offshore areas and deep holes. Then, the fishing will get into the normal Fall/Winter pattern where we see bigger schools of fish that are feeding almost all of the time. Hopefully the weather will ease up a bit and let us have a decent Fall, without all the wind we’ve been having this year. A couple of buddies that fish the surf regularly have been having a really good time of it lately. Some really big reds, 35 to 55 pounds have been caught during these Northeasters we’ve been having lately. It’s hard fishing, but if you like really big fish, that’s always been a good way to catch them. I’ve also been hearing that a large number of small reds are being caught on cut bait. I hope the ones catching them will take a little extra time when unhooking them so that they are put back in good health. It does no one any good to kill a good fish just to retrieve a 10 cent hook! Please, take a little time with the small, and large ones to see that they are sent back to fight another day. Totals for the week were: reds totaled 14 with the largest at 9# and the trout totaled 6 with two around the 2 ½ # size. Also, 2 flounder and a small blue were caught. 10-21-01 The fishing all along our coast has been fair according to the reports I have been hearing. Many of them are being caught on artificial bait (grubs) and of course some are being caught on live shrimp under floats. It seems that this year the catching of the shrimp is getting to be the problem. The shrimp are not here in big numbers in all the areas. However, some areas such as Charleston, are having no problem finding shrimp. We, on the other hand, are not able to even find a few to use as bait, much less find enough to eat. Scientists think the cold spell we had last winter is the culprit, but no one knows for sure. In past years it normally has been no problem catching a dozen or two for bait, in almost any area you might be in. However, now, you need to have a “secret spot” just for catching the bait! Our state’s shrimp baiting season is in full swing, and there is no problem getting a parking space at the landings. In good years, you may have to park as far as a mile away from the landing because of all the cars and trailers parked there. But, this year there just aren’t many shrimp, so there aren’t many shrimpers. Three trips this week didn’t produce the kind of fishing we are accustomed to for this time of year. Of course, we had wind, but not enough to punish us. It just seemed that the fish were not on the feed in the areas we searched in. The biggest redfish was 9 ½ #, and the total for the reds was 10 with about half of them in the 2# to 3# size. Five schoolie sized trout and a couple of blues finished the week. I hope this is just a weather phase or something like that we are going through. This time last year, we were catching a lot of really big fish but I just haven’t been able to find them so far this Fall. 10-14-01 Instead of “here we go again”, it seems to be “not much has changed” since last week. The wind is blowing a gale from the Northwest with clear skies. There were a couple of days with some clouds, but mostly just clear skies and lots of wind. And, we even had a couple of days with “Small Craft Advisories.” But, the fish seemed to bite pretty well in spite of the weather and rough water. As before, clear water, or less muddy water, seemed to be where we caught the fish. Sea trout and reds are in small pods, and there are still a few big ones mixed in with the schools. We had one day where the wind let up just before the end of the day, and we broke out the fly rod and caught several sea trout and small reds. We were using the “Copperhead” fly that we are so fond of, and both the trout and reds loved it. This fly, and others, are tied by Randy Hamilton of “Hamilton Flies.” Quite a few of his creations, including a really good, weighted, Gold Spoon Fly, are now being sold through the Scientific Angler catalog. Randy can be reached at caprandy@bellsouth.net . The total on the fly rod that evening was 4 trout, and 2 reds. The reds were about 2 to 3 pounds each, and the trout were around 2 pounds each. Most of the others were caught with live bait or jigs, since we had to stay anchored most of the time. I believe that if we can get some days with a little less wind, you will be able to catch them easily on crank baits, and spoons. The water has started to cool a bit, and many of the shrimp have already left the creeks. There weren’t many to begin with, at least not in this part of the state. Some of the local guys are having good luck with surface poppers for trout. The “Chug-A-Bug” seems to be one of the favorites along with the “Zara Spook” and “Zara Puppy.” Also, live shrimp under a float is always a deadly rig for the trout when fished close to the grass line on rising water. When using one of these rigs, you will need to have strong line (10# or heavier) because you are also likely to hook into a redfish. And, if you do, he can make easy work of breaking light line if he goes into the grass to do his fighting. My personal choice is for the 20# test Fireline connected to a 20# test Trilene XT leader. The trout are not as leader shy as you may think when it comes to eating a live shrimp. Always remember when using live bait, if you deep hook a fish that is to be released, please don’t tear the fishes stomach open to save a ten cent hook. The fish is much more valuable than the hook so please, just cut the hook off and retie one. If you tear the hook out the fish is guaranteed to die, but if you leave it in, there is a good chance it will survive. It’s official now, the new redfish regulations are being enforced and wardens are checking at the landings to make sure the new law is being followed. I talked with one recently and he said they are currently issuing warnings and citations. Our totals for four trips this week were: Reds totaled 8 with the largest being 10# and several others in the 7# to 8# size. Trout totaled - 9 with most of them around the 2# size. 10-09-01 Only a couple of trips this week and they were nothing to brag about. Once again we had wind to contend with. I know it’s hard to blame every bad trip on the wind because we have some poor trips even when the wind is not a factor. But, it’s the only thing handy to blame it on. We had clear water, good tides, fresh live bait, and willing anglers, we just couldn’t seem to find the fish. We had one pretty good day when we caught a couple of big fish, one at 10.5# and another at 11# and two other small/medium fish and a flounder. It took all day looking and fishing, and then we caught all the fish in about an hour, just before we had to quit the trip because of darkness! The next trip started OK with one 4# red soon after we started. Then not another bite for the remainder of the trip. It’s enough to make a guide cry! I mean really cry – as in falling down kicking and squealing and blubbering like a baby!! Here we are in what we tell clients is our “prime time” of the year, and we can only produce one fish for the day. Oh well, I ’ll dry my eyes and blow my nose and hope to do better next week Maybe I’ll be over the crying by then and be able to give you a real fishing report. |
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