North Myrtle Beach May 28, 2009
Tripp Hooks, from Ocean Isle, and Hunter Kendall, from Asheville, NC, with a pair of dolphin they hooked while trolling the Gulf Stream near the Blackjack Hole. The 'phins bit skirted ballyhoo while they were fishing with Capt. David Hooks of Capt. Hook Outdoors.
Mark, of Shallow Minded Inshore Fishing, reports that anglers are still catching good numbers of flounder in the area inlets. Unfortunately, the winds over the past week made it tough to find live pogies, which seem to be key to catching the larger flatties. Live mud minnows are producing plenty of action with the flounder, but when they don’t have pogies, anglers aren’t catching many keepers.
Black drum are feeding around structure like the Sunset Beach Bridge, and fresh shrimp fished on the bottom are producing action with them.
Anglers are also hooking up with some speckled trout on Halo shrimp fished beneath popping corks.
Chopper bluefish are still feeding in the area, and anglers hooked blues up to 10 lbs. last week while flounder fishing with live baits.
Red drum are scattered throughout the inshore waters. Anglers are catching decent numbers of smaller reds (18-19″) while fishing for the flounder, trout, and black drum.
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Zane Franks, from Cary, N.C., with a flounder he hooked on a live mud minnow while fishing the ICW near Holden Beach with Paul Dunwell.
Cameron, of Little River Fishing Fleet, reports that anglers found some good bottom fishing on an offshore trip last week.
Fishing at structure in a little over 100′, anglers enjoyed hooking some fat scamp grouper, black sea bass, triggerfish, beeliners, and other bottom dwellers. Cigar minnows and squid produced the bulk of the action with the bottomfish.
Interestingly, several king mackerel (up to 15 lbs.) also fell for baits pinned to bottom rigs last week.
Inshore, trollers are catching a few spanish mackerel, but the water’s been dirty with all the wind, slowing down the bite. The fish were hungry and abundant last week, so anglers can expect to see the mackerel return when the water calms down and clears up.
Big numbers of sharks are looking for meals nearshore, so anglers looking for a big battle not far from the beaches should be able to hook up fairly easily. Large cut baits will appeal to the sharks.
Divers are reporting that the water’s dirty out to the 20 mile range, but the cleaner water should move back in with this week’s calmer weather.
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Mike, of Cherry Grove Pier, reports that anglers have been catching some chopper bluefish on Gotcha plugs, live baits, and bottom rigs. Some spanish mackerel were also falling for the Gotchas on calmer days last week.
Bottom fishermen are hooking up with good numbers of black drum along with some whiting and spadefish.
Anglers fishing live mud minnows on the bottom are catching good numbers of flounder, but many are undersized.
