Summer Fishing Report 2016
Summer fishing around Hilton Head, SC can be exceptionally good especially if you are looking for fast action! One of the reasons that summer fishing can be so good is because of the diversity of smaller baitfish that grow up within our fertile inshore estuary. Some of these baits would include shrimp, crabs, mud minnows, mullet, herring and menhaden. Due to the abundance of baitfish that are here during the summer we get a real mixed bag of gamefish that move into our waters to include: redfish, speckled trout, flounder, ladyfish, jacks, cobia, tarpon, triple tail, various sharks and whiting to name a few. As you can see our inshore and nearshore waters become quite active during the summer months and depending on the tides and daily conditions we have a number of options on what we can fish for. Lets start with the inshore trout, redfish and flounder; these fish can generally be found around mostly grass edges, oyster bars and creek mouths feeding on the smaller baitfish being washed in and out with the tidal currents. Along with trout, reds and flounder we generally catch small bluefish, ladyfish and smaller jacks as these fish are all targeting the same food source. The one exception here would be sight fishing for redfish on the grass flats; this is a very specialized style of fishing and can be especially effective for this looking to sight fish with either light tackle spinning or fly fishing gear. What I like most about sight fishing is the “hunt”; this type of fishing requires a lot of team work between the captain and angler as we glide through the shallows looking for redfish feeding on crabs and boat placement along with a well placed cast will be needed to get hooked up with these fish!
As we move out to the nearshore waters of the Port Royal Sound we will have the opportunity to catch larger species such as cobia, big jacks, tarpon and a multitude of sharks. The cobia fishing has not been so hot over the past few years. Due to overfishing and under-regulation this fishery has been all but decimated so short of maybe an hour or two here and there I really don’t do much inshore cobia fishing anymore. On the other hand, the big jacks and tarpon fishing has been pretty good over the past few years…these fish generally start to show up by early summer and we catch them until the beginning of the fall months and they feed on mullet, menhaden and herring. On top of that we we have one of the best shark fisheries that you will find anywhere with 17 different species of sharks moving into our waters during the summer months. Some of the more popular sharks to catch would be: bonnet heads, atlantic sharp nose, black tips, spinners and lemon sharks. With a great mixed bag and plenty of action lets hit the water this summer and until next time Catch em Up! Cant. Charlie