Christmas Day Fishing Report

3/11 Fishing Recap! Had a group of 4 hop on celebrating a bachelor party, and it was non stop action all day! Started the morning with a run offshore. Caught 4 keeper Black Drum (8 in total), and over 20 small Black Sea Bass. Clients then decided to push back inshore and stop at Shem Creek for lunch. During the afternoon, we raised up our jack plate and went and crawled in the mud where we had TWO double ups on Redfish and caught 13 in total. We ended the night at a spot in the harbor where the reds, speckled trout and whiting were chewing. Total Catch: 8 black Drum, 22 Black Sea Bass, 13 Redfish, 6 Speckled Trout, 2 Weakfish, 1 Sheepshead

Nearshore Fishing Report 1/13 66 Black Sea Bass caught in total! Started in 40 ft and didn’t see the size we wanted, so pushed out to 60 ft and found plenty of keepers. We were picky about the ones we kept today, throwing back lots of 14 inchers. The BSB were caught on squid, live shrimp, but seemed to prefer fresh cut baitfish strips. Used a combination of Carolina and chicken rigs. The key to finding Black Sea Bass this time of year is identifying productive live bottom. Do your research on an app like navionics, and look for area with limestone outcroppings. In between the vast “desert” areas of sand, these outcroppings allow crustaceans and coral to grow. This attracts baitfish, which attracts the predators and voila you have a productive bottom fishing spot!

Weather took a bit longer than expected to push out, so after a choppy ride out, we posted up at the Charleston 60 Reef and IMMEDIATELY got onto the grouper. 2 Gags and a Juvenile Snowy Group were the highlight of the morning. As afternoon progressed the seas calmed down, we switched locations, and our client Arthur (who runs an Orphanage in Honduras) enjoyed pulling up Porgy's and mentioned his family loves to eat them at get togethers. We also caught a monster toadfish, that I feel may have won Toadfish' competition taking place next weekend. After getting our fill there, we switched to drift fishing and came upon a 12 ft Tiger shark with a school of Cobia following. Our Client Devin sight cast to them, and we got to watch as the cobia chased and SMASHED our artificial lure. Watching a 40 inch fish gulp your lure 15 ft away from the boat is a memory you will not soon forget! Cobia have been THICK at the charleston 60 and we counted over 40 cobia following a Tiger shark around on our trip on 8/16. Another great day out with Loaded Dice Charters.