North Myrtle Beach/Little River – August 2022
Patrick, of Captain Smiley Fishing Charters, reports that anglers are finding strong flounder action, including fish to 20” being caught with live mullet or menhaden. Both the Cherry Grove area and North Carolina side (releases) have been producing well, with plenty of action also out at the Caudle Reef off the beach.
The redfish bite has been good upriver for anglers fishing cut baits in potholes throughout the mainland creeks.
Speckled trout fishing has been tough with the recent full moon cycle. Live shrimp provides the best possibility of action, though, as that is what the trout are focused in on this summer.
Just off the beach, muddy water has thrown off the recent nearshore king mackerel action. A few tarpon were being hooked around piers prior to the dirty water, and calmer/cleaner water conditions should help the action on both species.
The spanish mackerel bite has been good on the north side of the Grand Strand. The #1 planer with Clarkspoon setup has been best, with trolling at 6 knots being the magic number. Anglers are also having success casting small silver spoons when finding surface-feeding schools of spanish. The key is to target areas with glass minnow and menhaden bait balls.
Kent Lee, of Leland, caught (and released) this 36″ red drum with cut mullet on a Carolina rig while surf fishing in the Southport area.
Bob, of Strange Magic Fishing Charters, reports that topwater plugs have been working well for both redfish and trout in the backwaters, especially if you have a high tide around sunrise or sunset.
Low tide holes are also producing flounder in pretty good numbers. Anglers are having success casting a variety of Gulp baits, soft plastics, live minnows, and live shrimp.
The Little River jetties continue to produce a mixed bag of redfish, trout, sheepshead, and flounder. A slip cork float rigged with live shrimp will attract strikes from just about any of these species, and adjusting floats to about 1-3’ above the bottom has been key to most of the success.
Chris, of Fine Catch Fishing Charters, reports that on the nearshore reefs there has been a good flounder and spanish mackerel bite. The flounder have been feeding on Carolina-rigged live mullet, pogies, and baby croakers (3-7”), and spanish mackerel are being caught while trolling with mackerel trees or casting gold and silver-colored spoons at schools.
Anglers fishing around the jetty have found speckled trout and redfish while drifting baits along the rocks in the 5-10’ range.
Redfish and sheepshead are feeding on fiddler crabs rigged on 1/4-1/2 oz. jig heads tight to the rocks. Just off the end of the rocks, there are some over-slot red drum (25-30”) being caught during the tops and bottoms of the tide cycles. Cut bluefish, pogies, and mullet, or live pogies (all on Carolina rigs) are producing the bigger and better bites.
There are some flounder holding tight against the rocks, and they’re being caught by anglers fishing live finger mullet on 1/4 oz. jig heads.
Backwater trips are producing a mixed bag of redfish, flounder, trout, and black drum. The redfish are holding in deeper holes back up in mainland creeks or some of the main channels. Artificial baits such as Gulp or Vudu shrimp work well, as do live mud minnows, finger mullet, and shrimp.
Flounder are staged up in many of these same holes and are being caught on similar setups worked slowly across the bottom.
In the main creeks, there have been some speckled trout around sandbars and in deeper channels. There haven’t been great numbers, but the size (17-24+”) has been very good. Slip cork rigs with live shrimp or Carolina-rigged live mullet have worked well. Topwater plugs that imitate mullet, such as Zara Spooks, have also had success.
The black drum are in deeper channels and being caught using cut or live shrimp on the bottom. If the croakers and pinfish are too bad, switching to fiddler crabs can help keep the little bait stealers away.
Bevan, of Chilly Water Fishing, reports that the best bottom fishing action has been found from anglers targeting the 100+’ range. Plenty of triggerfish, porgies, white grunts, vermilion snapper, and some good-sized grouper have been a part of the mixed bags.
Targeting the 70-80’ range has been producing some smaller black sea bass and vermilion snapper, and amberjacks have also started showing up consistently.
Amy Taylor caught this spadefish on jelly balls offshore of the Little River Inlet. She was fishing with Capt. Chris Ossmann of Fine Catch Fishing Charters.
Larry, of Voyager Fishing Charters, reports that boats fishing the 30+ mile range are finding some king mackerel action. A few bonita and scattered dolphin are also mixed in this same range, with most strikes from all three species coming from live bait.
Nearshore, spanish mackerel fishing has stayed consistent, with mixed sharks and a few kings. All three species are being caught from the beachfronts out to 65’ of water.
Offshore bottom fishing has been phenomenal. Runs out to the 120’ range have been producing large vermilion snapper, grunts, grouper, plenty of throwback American red snapper, and a few bonus cobia. Having cigar minnows has really helped produce some of the bigger bites.
Ed, of Cherry Grove Pier, reports that bottom fishing has provided most of the recent action, with good numbers of croaker and whiting around. Some good-sized flounder (to 5.5 lbs.) are also in the mix.
A few schools of surface-feeding spanish mackerel are popping up near the pier for anglers casting jigs. King mackerel fishing is a bit scattered, but with plenty of bait still around, there’s always a chance of kings nearby.
Scott, of Apache Pier, reports that a mixed bag of croakers, whiting, and scattered red drum are all part of the typical daily catch.
Anglers are also seeing a good speckled trout bite (when they get cleaner water).
