Fresh Fripp Island Fishing Reports

Inshore: Captain Patrick Kelly reports that March fishing will depend on weather conditions, and at some point river flats redfish will start to break out of their tight winter schools. There were some early signs this was happening at the end of February. Early in the month sight-fishing should be productive, and both live bait and artificials can catch fish. Later in the month fish should start to spread out more and forage for fiddler crabs. At the same time, structure like docks that hold fish virtually year-round should fish well throughout the month. Trout should continue to get more active in March, particularly in clean, moving water, and they will take live shrimp fished on a jighead or under a cork. Finally, this month many of the larger sheepshead that have moved offshore will return inshore, but there are also plenty of small and medium-sized fish that never left. They can be caught around docks and other structure on fiddler crabs.

Great fishing today! Sunny and cold but bite was fire!!

The waters are warming up and that means these fish are hungry, come book a trip for vacation and catch some stud reds

Inshore: Captain Patrick Kelly (843-reports that February should look a lot like January, and redfish will stay in tight schools. On the river flats they will sometimes be focused on avoiding dolphins, but in the clear conditions you should be able to sight fish for them and get some reaction strikes. Both live bait and artificials can catch fish. There should also continue to be a good bite around creek docks, as the population of redfish in the Beaufort area is clearly strong and structure seems to hold fish 12 months a year. Captain Pat has seen but not yet caught trout after the snow, and this month some fish should be caught in moving water on soft plastics fished on ¼ ounce jigheads. If you can get live shrimp they will often work even better. There are also tons of juvenile sheepshead that can be caught inshore this month, while the bigger ones usually head out to the reefs or the deepest inshore structure to spawn.

Inshore: Captain Patrick Kelly reports that in January redfish will get in even tighter schools. In January sight-fishing is an excellent way to target fish on the flats with natural baits or artificial lures in the clear conditions, but if it gets very cold at some point they may get more lethargic. There can also be reliable fishing around docks, particularly those with some oyster beds nearby. Trout should continue to be caught in deeper holes in the creeks on soft plastics fished on ¼ ounce jigheads as long as it does not get super cold, and they will also take mud minnows – or live shrimp if you can get them. There are still black drum around inshore that will eat cut shrimp, and until the bulk of the better sheepshead move offshore next month they can still be caught on deeper structure with fiddler crabs.

Some winter time studs?