Inshore:

Congratulations to Patrick Johnson for taking the overall largest sheepshead in our 6-week sheepshead tournament that just recently ended. Patrick’s stud tipped the scales at 11.45#’s. Thanks to all that participated! With such great tournament results it kind of goes without saying that the sheepshead bite has been very good. We have weighed many fish over 10 pounds in the past few weeks, all of which have been coming from our inshore waters. Live fiddler crabs,oysters, and clams are all good baits of choice. Target areas with heavy structure in 8-15ft of water. The Redfish bite also remains very strong right now. Large schools of reds have been holding on the low tide mud flats, and have been readily taking live minnows and shrimp, Gulp! baits, and the latest and greatest has definately been ZMAN’s PaddlerZ series. I prefer either smokey shad or redbone as colors of choice in these new paddle baits. Trout have been available but in inconsistent numbers. Try looking around shell rakes and creek mouths in 5-8ft of water for some trout. I like a DOA shrimp under a popping float as a locator bait and once I do locate some fish, I ZMAN ultra shrimp free-lined into the same location is deadly.

Offshore:

Bottom fishing continues to constitute the majority of the offshore fishing reports lately, but a few boats did make it out to do some trolling the past week and reported back that there are still a few nice wahoo hanging in 150-250ft, especially if you can find a nice “edge” with a temperature break on it. Sailfish seem to have tapered down, but we did hear of a couple more being caught last week in 600ft. On the bottom side, while most species remain under a closure, solid reports of grouper have been coming from 90-160ft…with some nice triggerfish mixed in when you drop down some smaller baits.

Scott Hammond
Manager – Haddrell’s Point
843-573-3474

Inshore:

A wide open sheepshead bite has been producing lots of big smiles with anglers the past couple weeks. Great numbers of BIG fish have been flooding in. Though fiddler crabs are still the bait of choice and the most commonly used, clams and oysters have also been producing. Fish around almost any heavy structure in 8-20ft of water for best luck with the sheepies. Redfish are the other fish that are also feeding heavily right now. Big numbers of fish are schooling on the low tide flats, and there are still good numbers as well holding around rock piles and shell beds. Gulp! jerkshads, ZMAN PaddlerZ, and suspending MirroLures (17MRseries) are all great baits to throw for the reds. Got Pro-Cure????

Offshore:

The few boats I have spoken with recently that have been able to slip out have reported back that there is still some nice wahoo along the ledge (150-250ft) and a few sailfish still hanging around 400ft. On the bottom side, while a large majority of our bottom fishing species are under a closure right now, some anglers have still been getting out and finding a pretty good grouper bite in 100-160ft of water. Live pinfish, cigar minnows, and a butterfly style jig are the baits of choice.

Scott Hammond
Manager – Haddrell’s Point
843-573-3474

Figured this may help anybody that has been on the unsuccessful side lately. We fished the Wando River and started fishing about two and a half hours after low tide. First stop produced nothing but we were only using mud minnows and shrimp under a cork(what I thought would be sure-fire).. Second stop produced three nice sized reds with the minnows under a float.. Fished for another hour with nothing.. Finally decided to try a DOA shrimp with a glass rattle and that seemed to do it. We were getting bites litterally right off the bottom. Just bouncing the DOA shrimp off the bottom SLOWLY seemed to be the trick. We were using the 1/4oz in white w/ chart. tail, silver holographic, and the clear w/ firetail. All colors caught fish but definitely needed to be inches off the bottom. Just figured I would share this with others as it turned our slower day into a more productive day.. Good luck to everyone! P.S The NEW G-Loomis Walleye rod is a definite must when working artificial baits. You can feel the bite sooo much more…

Capt Mike Able
Haddrell’s Point