Morning surface water temperatures are around 68 degrees inshore around Beaufort.
There are still redfish tailing and eating fiddler crabs on high tide around Beaufort, but Captain Tuck Scott with Bay Street Outfitters (843-524-5250) reports that overall he can tell that feeding pattern is starting to fade. In the Harbor River it’s pretty far off, and in the Broad River it has also slowed down but not as much. While there are still plenty of fish getting up on the flats and trying to feed, perhaps in a sign that fiddler crabs are less abundant in the cooler conditions they aren’t putting their tails up to eat fiddler crabs as frequently.
The upside to that is that because they aren’t gorging as much on high tide they will feed more around the rest of the tide cycle, and he is seeing lots of fish chasing shrimp around oyster mounds both inside the small creeks and on the bigger water outside of high tide. Consistent with that, Captain Patrick Kelly with Boogieman Fishing Charters (843-962-3503) reports that he is finding a really solid bite for a number of species, but particularly redfish. They are ranging from 13 to 30 plus inches, and it seems like fish of similar sizes are grouped up together in different areas. Certain docks might hold a lot of smaller fish, while another spot might be holding mostly 23-30 inch fish. As far as bait they aren’t picky at all right now, and Captain Pat is catching them on everything from Gulp! to cut bait to live shrimp.
It’s also been a really good trout bite, and his boat is catching fish drifting live shrimp along grass lines at higher tides. On lower water they are catching them off drops in around 6 feet of water. The best bite requires tides and areas with some current.
They are also picking up black drum and even sheepshead around docks.
It’s still an exciting time at the Hunting Island State Park Fishing Pier (843-838-7437), and they continue to catch tons of over-slot red drum out towards deeper water. It can’t last forever but this has been a good bite for several weeks now.
