North Myrtle Beach/Little River – December 2022
Patrick, of Captain Smiley Fishing Charters, reports that anglers are now focused on the speckled trout action. Anglers are finding the smaller trout grouped up just about everywhere from the inlet back up to creeks off the river. Bigger fish are mixed in, especially around structure and in current areas such as the jetties. Another good area to target for quality trout are the deeper ledges and docks along the ICW.
Live shrimp has been outproducing just about every other bait. The artificial shrimp such as Vudu and Z-Man baits also are having success, but anglers will do best fishing live bait until it becomes hard or impossible to get.
Anglers can also have success targeting the red and black drum that frequent the region year-round. The red drum can be found by targeting the shallows towards the backs of creeks, while black drum will be in deeper holes around structure.
Black drum can also be caught out on the nearshore reefs, such as Caudle, while bottom fishing with shrimp.
Striped bass are another bonus species anglers can run across while fishing upriver in these cooler months.
Bob, of Strange Magic Fishing Charters, reports that speckled trout have gotten very active and are being caught on live mud minnows and soft plastics such as Gulp or Z-Man baits. A good technique has been to free spool a bait under a popping cork and let it drift with the current to cover ground through the creek or along the ICW.
With the water cooling down, structure becomes key when targeting trout. Look for shelly areas around flowing water, such as smaller creeks or marsh drains. These fish are schooled up tight, so don’t stick around an area if you’re not getting bites.
Flounder are also being caught in some of these same areas, and they’re feeding on all the same baits. Most of the flatfish have been smaller, with the larger fish spending the colder months offshore.
Juvenile red drum are starting to school up in large numbers back in the creeks. Wintertime conditions will have these schools really spooky. Good baits for this action are live minnows, fresh shrimp, cut mullet, and soft plastics.
The red drum can also be found around docks, especially those with nearby structure. Black drum will be mixed in these same areas, and fresh shrimp will be best for targeting these docks for either drum species.
Alex McMinn, of Little River, hooked this speckled trout using a live shrimp on a slip cork rig in the Little River area. She was fishing with Capt. Chris Ossmann of Fine Catch Fishing Charters.
Chris, of Fine Catch Fishing Charters, reports that nearshore ledges in the 10-20 mile range are holding some good grouper action for anglers catching a nice weather window. The standard is live pinfish or pogies. There are typically plenty of red snapper around these same structures.
Anglers fishing the jetties have been finding speckled trout and smaller redfish pushed tight to the rocks. Slip cork rigs with live shrimp have been producing most of the strikes.
If you can find some fiddler crabs, the same slip cork rig will also produce some of the sheepshead that are around.
In the ICW, there have been black drum and sheepshead holding in deeper channels and around hard structures. They have both been hitting live or fresh dead shrimp on Carolina rigs.
Targeting the creek mouths and ICW shell banks has produced some good trout action. These fish have been really keen on holding tighter to the grass banks and scattered shell bottoms. Again, slip corks rigs are a great setup for drifting baits down these banks. With the trout, keep an eye on the weather patterns. If weather is consistent and warm, look more along the shallower areas and grass banks. A drastic temperature drop or sustained cold will push these trout into deeper holes and channels.
In the backwater creeks, there have been small redfish, flounder, and speckled trout staged up in the deeper potholes. Anglers are having the most success with a variety of baits: finger mullet, live shrimp, and artificial baits such as Vudu or Gulp shrimp.
Some of the channels leading back into these creeks are holding a good class of 13-22” speckled trout. Setting up a slip cork rig with live shrimp to drift just off the bottom has been best for these areas. This technique is also producing some black drum and even flounder.
The trout fishing only gets better as the water temperatures push these fish into bigger schools as they hold over for the winter.
Vicky DiGiovanni, of Conway, caught this queen triggerfish on cut squid in 140′ of water off of Little River. She was fishing with Capt. Bevan Hunter of Chilly Water Fishing Charters.
Bevan, of Chilly Water Fishing, reports that anglers running out to do some bottom fishing are catching keeper black sea bass in the 40-50’ range. These sea bass are aggressive feeders and will strike just about anything you drop in front of them.
Some grouper can also be caught on the deeper end of that range, with gag grouper action more consistent in the 15-20 mile range. Live pinfish are the preferred bait of grouper anglers.
The triggerfish and vermilion snapper don’t seem to move much regardless of the water temperatures. Both species are holding on structures in the 90-100’ range.
You can’t make that run offshore this time of year without thinking about wahoo and tuna. When conditions allow for these runs, the deeper ledges have been holding both species for anglers trolling skirted baits.
Chris, of Cherry Grove Pier, reports that bottom fishing has been providing most of the angling successes, with some good-sized whiting being caught.
Samantha, of Apache Pier, reports that bottom fishing has been productive, with catches of whiting, croaker, and even a few late season pompano.
With water temperatures still hovering warmer than normal, there are also some spanish mackerel still being caught. The next big cold front should be the end of this casting bite, though.
