Summer is officially here. With the heat has come slower blue water trolling, along with better fishing from the harbor out to about 130 feet of water. The options for fishing are almost endless this time of year. Inshore fishing in the harbor, around the jetties, and just off the local beaches can produce a variety of sharks including blacktips, sharpnose, bull, lemon, bonnethead and occasional tiger sharks. In addition to sharks, big redfish in the 30- to 45-inch range can be caught in the same areas, and hooking a big tarpon is definitely not out of the question.
Venturing a little farther offshore out to about 30 to 90 feet with live menhaden and pinfish can result in big grouper, black sea bass, triggerfish, spadefish, amberjacks, sharks and even cobia that stay in the area throughout the summer. Look for areas of hard bottom, where rocky bottom or artificial reefs hold huge numbers of a wide variety of the fish just mentioned, and either drift across or anchor over the good bottom, drop down some bottom fishing rigs with the live bait, and let the chaos begin. It’s a great idea to send a couple of surface baits out while bottom fishing which can land you a kingfish, cobia and maybe even a dolphin (mahi-mahi) or two that has wandered into the shallower waters during the summer months. The 90- to 130-foot range can result in all of the above species with the addition of a possible wahoo or two, as well as a better possibility of dolphin and vermillion snapper.
If you are still itching to go to the deep blue waters of the gulfstream, this time of year is a good time to leave the dock around midafternoon and do some trolling for dolphin, wahoo, sailfish and blue marlin until sunset; then set up to drift for swordfish once the sun goes down. On a good night of swordfishing, you can expect to get plenty of bites; and the crews who are dialed in on how to do it often report three to six caught fish a night. Just make sure you take a very good look at the weather forecast and pick a pretty night to be outthere. For detailed instructions on how to set up for swordfishing, Jeremy Burnham at Atlantic Game and Tackle in Mt. Pleasant is a great resource for information, and his shop provides all the tackle you will need to do any of the types of fishing mentioned in this article.Additionally, Haddrell’s Point Tackle in Mt. Pleasant or West Ashley is also a good resource for advice and tackle.
Always remember safety first on the water and that being prepared for a variety of different fish and fishing techniques can make the difference between a mediocre day on the water and a successful day on the water.
Capt. Jamie Holcombe
Full Circle Fishing Charters
www.fullcirclefishingcharters.com
(843) 209-1895
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