Inshore:

You know it has the potential to be a fantastic spring for fishing when you have friends and customers coming through the doors with pictures of 20 and 22″ trout in the middle of March! Yes the trout bite is going well, and while catch numbers have been around 10-15 fish a trip, the size has been great consider it is still March. Live shrimp or Trout Tricks fished in 5-8ft of water have been the ticket lately, especially around smaller creek mouths and slews. Reds continue to be found in good nnumbers on the shallow low tide flats, and have even heard a few rumors of fish being seen tailing up in the grass this early in the season. Cut mullet, live minnows, Zman PaddlerZ, and Live Target baits have been some of the more consistent baits. Sheepshead in the 2-6 pound range are still plentiful around bridges and rock piles using fiddlers and live shrimp. The nearshore reefs have started to take off with sheepshead and black drum reports, and again live fiddlers are almost impossible to beat on the reefs for bait.

Offshore:

WAAAAHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOO! Fire up the grill boys, the wahoo steaks are sitting in 150-250ft of water just waiting to be brought back home! Reports of 2 to 7 wahoo in a trip have flooded through the doors this past week and half, at least for those who braved a little wind and chill in the air to venture out. Also got a great report today in from the Georgetown Hole/Southwest Banks area of a very good mess of blackfin tuna in the 15-20# range being caught. Pull smaller baits waaayyyyy back off your riggers for best success with the blackfins while trolling, and dont hesitate to bring along a couple spinning outfits and topwater plugs….hard to beat the excitement of casting topwater into a busting school of blackfin tuna!

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

Inshore:

Finally the weather has begun to cut us a little slack the past few days, and after the past couple weeks we certainly can use the break from rain and wind. Obviously reports were pretty slow up until the past couple days, but the improvement in weather translated into some pretty good fish reports coming back through the doors While anglers are still seeing some large schools of reds up on the shallow flats, we have also begun to see a little taste of spring with reds starting to gravitate to structure (docks,rock piles,etc) in smaller pods. Still hearing cut mullet being a go to bait, but artificials such as a Live Target Mullet, Chatterbaits, and Gulp! Flats worms have also produced well as of late. Surprising enough, have had several customers in the past few days reporting a handful of flounder being caught (yes I know its barely even march!) and good sized trout being found in 5-10ft of water using Trout Tricks and Zman PaddlerZ around shell points and the center of feeder creek mouths. Sheepshead reports have been somewhat hit-and-miss, with better reports coming from rock piles and bridge pilings in 8-20ft of water. Live shrimp and live fiddler crabs are still going to be your baits of choice for the sheeps.

Offshore:

If you have been patiently looking at your bluewater rig in the driveway or at the marina just waiting for offshore to kick off, you may not be waiting much longer! SOLID reports of wahoo have come through the doors by the handful of anglers who have made the trip out, including one of our good customers catching 5 good sized wahoo in…..get this….130-140ft of water. While this may sound more like an early April report, water temps around the ledge and just inside have been hanging around 68-69 degrees…just warm enough to hold some awesome wahoo steaks! The nearshore reefs are still producing some pretty good sheepshead and black drum for those willing to battle through the hundreds of black sea bass. Also still a lot of False Albacore all over live bottom areas from 60-120ft of water, quite a sporting fish on light tackle!

Turkey Report:

2 weeks from opening day in the woods(Game Zone 6) and from what I have seen we can expect a strong spring turkey season. Last year this time I had already encountered multiple hens sitting on nests already, due to the incredibly warm winter we had last year which led to a bulk of the breeding season taking place before the season opened. This year, as of this past week, I have just started to see the break up of winter flocks of birds into more of a spring time grouping. Up until this past week i was still seeing gobblers hanging in bachelor groups and hens in large groups with last years poults. Gobblers are starting to split up and stake out their territories, and gobbling activity is slowly increasing each day that passes. Both Haddrells locations have everything you need for the spring turkey season including tags!

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

Inshore:

Winter slow down? Nope, not this year! Yea thats right, here we are through the bulk of winter and have kept a solid trout bite right on through the cool temps. The past week has yielded some more solid catches of trout in the 15-19″ range using Trout Tricks, live shrimp, and Zman PaddlerZ. Target them just a little deeper in the 5-12ft range, but typically suspect creek mouths from warmer months will still produce. Instead of working the edges of the creek mouths, try slowly bumping the bottom with your baits near the deepest part of the creek mouth for best success. Sheepshead continue to provide solid action on fiddlers and live shrimp, and though there has been a lot more smaller fish than big ones, the numbers reported have approached 50+ fish numerous times the past couple weeks. Reds are still in tight schools on the shallow flats, and more the anything else anglers are saying nothing has been out-catching good ole cut mullet.

Offshore:

Yes! We have some offshore action to report this past week! A good customer of ours, Randy Cowart, slipped out in his Regulator last week and found 69degree water along the ledge and found wahoo in feeding mode. The wahoo were found in 250ft of water just off the ledge. Though wahoo were the only “meat fish” reported coming back to the hill, anglers looking for light tackle fun will find more false albacore than their forearms can withstand on live bottom areas from 60-150ft of water. Throw small silver spoons for best results on the falsies.

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

Inshore:

Sheepshead continue to provide good reports, much like the past few weeks. Though the jetties are producing a few nice fish here and there, better reports as of late have been from inshore areas such as bridge pilings and docks that have a lot of barnacle and mussel growth on the pilings. Fiddlers are always a go to bait for the sheeps, but live shrimp and oysters have also been producing as well. Reds are still in their tight winter time schools, but most encouraging has been their willingness to feed the past week. Several weeks back many local anglers were complaining about the reds having “lock jaw” up on the shallow flats, but that seems to have turned around in the anglers’ favor as reports of 10-20 fish have been common from those venturing up on the flats. Trout, believe it or not, are still producing some decent reports on into February as well. Key is fishing more “finesse” style baits that you can work slow in the water column. Baits such as Trout Tricks, finesse shads, “stick” baits, Zman Streakz, etc are all good choices this time of year. Fish them slowwwwwwwww! 5-10 ft of water around creek mouths, ledges, and oyster points are good ambush points to tangle with some cold water specks.

Offshore:

About a week and a half ago we had some decent weather that allowed some of the offshore guys to slip out. Wahoo consisted of the better reports, with the best success coming high speed trolling in 150-250ft of water. Other than wahoo, the only “ocean side” reports I have had have come from our nearshore reefs (30-60ft) where some anglers were doing pretty well with sheepshead and black drum using fiddler crabs. Biggest key to being successful with these fish is to stay anchored on a piece of structure long enough to give the over-abundance of black sea bass all “sore mouths” in order to be able to get your bait past the BSB’s and get to the sheepshed and drum.

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

Inshore:

Well we knew those warm temps and calm days could not last forever in January, but with the climb in water temps during that time and with us now cooling back off, it has sparked another flurry of trout action here in the lowcountry. The trout bite had begun to slow down coming into January, but reports the past few days have indicated some quality action on the trout. Creek mouths and shell rakes in 4-8ft of water have been producing not only some decent numbers of trout, but also some nice fish including several in that 20-23″ range we have seen this week. DOA shrimp free-lined, the go-to Trout Trick, and Zman 4″ PaddlerZ have all been consistent bait choices. Sheepshead reports have still been good using fiddlers and live shrimp around heavy structure anywhere from 6-25ft of water, including some fish over the 10# mark. Redfish were reported to be schooling up in large numbers this past week, but many said that they were experiencing “lock-jaw” during those abnormal tides coming off that new moon. Fortunately, the most recent reports indicate that the reds have started to feed again a little more aggresively and have been willing to take live minnows, cut mullet, Zman StreakZ, and Gulp jerkshads. If you have not been by and checked out some of the new colors we now carry in the Gulps, you need to come by and check out some of the Punk Prawn, Satay Chicken, BBQ chicken, Pilchard, etc….some pretty cool and effective colors new to the shelves!

Offshore:

Calm weather finally allowed some of our offshore guys to get out on the pond this past week. Trolling reports consisted of a lot of bonita along the ledge, but there were some wahoo caught just outside the ledge in 250-400ft of water, with the best reports from those that did the high-speed trolling that allowed them to cover a lot more territory. The reef fishing reports still echoed what many have been saying for a while, and that is they cant hardly get past the abundance of black sea bass in order to pursue the other reef species. Those that stuck it out and weeded through the BSB’s did report back there are a fair number of sheepshead and black drum in the 3-6 pound range once you get through the sea bass. Looking for a drag screaming challenge on light tackle? Grab you spinning gear and get out around 60ft of water and find some of the false albacore schooling on top. Small silver spoons and casting jigs are a can’t fail for these, and pound for pound you will be hard pressed to find a more powerful fish to tangle with.

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