Have a buddy that moved to Hilton Head and he has access to a boat, but doesn't know beans about fishing. I know some beans about fishing; freshwater fishing! Honestly though, the more I saltwater fish, the more I'm interested. I just don't know what will be biting mid-October. I'm sure we'll stay in shore and fish the salt marshes, creeks and bays and not venture out into the open ocean. Assuming we'll try and get some shrimp and maybe some type of baitfish (mud minnows, etc...). Since he's going to be living there, I want to really begin learning about baits, techniques and fish. Think we're gonna see if we can get any pompano on the beach and sheepshead and trout on the boat, just because I know how to catch those and roughly where they should be. Flounder? I think it's a good season to catch them, but they might be out of season as far as keeping them.
Any saltwater fishermen out there?
- Thread starter kkott
- Start date
I've fished with a buddy on the Florida gulf coast a few times and that's been it for inshore. The key for reddish and the rest was to fish the tide. The best fishing was when the tide was running and the worst fishing was on a slack tide. A lot of the locations that produce look like the usual places on freshwater that produce.
That's all I got. Good luck figuring it out. That can be pretty beer intensive, so stay well stocked and safe.
That's all I got. Good luck figuring it out. That can be pretty beer intensive, so stay well stocked and safe.
We're both boating novices... like really novice! We might take a few, but most of the beer is staying in the fridge in the condo, hopefully to augment the grilling of fresh fish!
Maybe I'm becoming more of a fisherman than I thought, but the most impressive thing I saw in those pics, was this hogfish! Good God, I'm not sure it's not photoshopped! But, just to reassure you, the next 12 most impressive things I saw were all women, or parts thereof!Somebody say fishing?
This is the weekend I'm heading to HH to fish with my friend. He joined Freedom Boat Club and has the vast experience of about a 15 minute orientation and welcome demo, and Friday we're hopping in a boat and leaving the dock for a 3 hour tour; a 3 hour tour... Just kidding, but we're gonna try and not kill ourselves or sink a boat that isn't ours and catch some fish along the way. I focused on the ability to catch bait so I am taking a bait trap and bought a cast net and hoping we can catch some types of live bait: shrimp or minnows in the cast net, mud minnows in the trap and maybe some fiddler crabs in the marsh or sand fleas in the surf. I'm hoping to target inshore fish like red drum, black drum, flounder, speckled trout or sheepshead from the boat and also might try to catch some pompano or whiting in the surf if we get sand fleas or shrimp. His son is a freshman at UNC and is on fall break so he's going to join us. Can't wait, should be a blast!
Key to inshore fishing is water movement, ie tides. Best inshore fishing for most any area Carolinas South is going to be Red Drum or Red Fish. Also can get after speckled trout and Flounder but Red Fish is a wonderful fish to play and equally wonderful to eat should you keep it. Do not eat anything over 30" (Bull Reds) as the meat gets gnarly. Anything you keep in the slot (20 to 27") is money to eat and to catch. Have fun and enjoy your buddies boat! As you outline, sheepshead are also a species and triple tail, though not caught often, are a prized sportsman's fish. If ya'll choose to go offshore, it's an entirely different ball game for all the obvious reasons.
I know it wasn't directed at me, but get something like this in 1/8 and 3/16 oz sizes
And rig it with one of these super flukes where the hook weight is in that belly channel. You'll want to try some different colors from dark to light.
Target your casts at the back side of oyster bars where the current is coming over them. Keep it moving. It's just like bass fishing.
My florida fishing buddy refuses to use live bait, but even after 3 trips with him I don't think we ever really needed to have it.
Depends on where i am fishing. Shrimp, dead or alive (alive obviously better) under a cork that you pop to gain their attention works. Bait is usually 3’ or so below the cork. Red fish will hit a bait even if they aren’t feeding just because they are irritated. If there are birds working and hitting the water, they are likely hitting shrimp. And fish are also going after the shrimp. So, if ya’ll see a group of birds “working” and banging the water, set up your boat on a drift and throw a plastic where they are hitting the water and you’ll pull in fish. Good luck!
Back from HHI and had a great weekend. Perfect weather and we took the boat out and back each day and managed not to sink it. The fishing was OK, but not great. The first spot we hit was a deeper hole and we got into quite a few black sea bass, but not large enough to keep. Think we caught 9 of those and 12 fish total, and then it tapered off. The 2nd day we tried more traditional oyster beds, creeks and flats and didn't have much luck. Never caught a redfish, trout or flounder. Mainly a trial run with the boat, but would have liked to have caught more fish, but we still had a fun weekend. Also didn't catch any live bait and the bait shop didn't have any live minnows or shrimp so it was all frozen. His son hooked a shark and got him to the boat where he broke off.
As the saying goes, any day on the water is a good day and always better than being in the office. Glad ya'll had fun. Cheers!
I have rented a boat a couple times out of the salty dog complex, and have gone into the low country.
It is very relaxing being back there. Did you see any dolphins run the fish up the banks? Told it is one of the few places where they fish in that form.
No, but there were tons of dolphins around, probably more than I've seen anywhere. Seemed every place we traveled to, we saw them. I was down in FL one time and there was a point with a retaining wall and above that was a nicely kept lawn up to the houses/condos. A worker was cutting grass with headphones on and dolphins were around in the water and they were batting fish with their tails to stun them. Occassionally the fish would hit the retaining wall and fall back in the water and the dolphins would grab it, but one got booted over the wall and cartwheeled about 25 yards right in front of the guy cutting grass. I don't think he had any idea what had happened and was trying to understand why a decent sized fish when cartwheeling by in front of his mower.
