Charleston Sport Fishing
Black Sea Bass and Sheepshead on the Wrecks!
January 29th, 2010
Black sea bass and sheepshead have moved to the close wrecks and reefs to spawn. Huge schools of blackfish eagerly take squid and white bucktail jigs fished on 20lb spinning tackle. These fish are great fighters and also great eaters! Sheepshead are also a common catch on the nearshore reefs this time of year. They can be a little more of a challenge because they have a very lite bite that even the most experienced angler has a hard time detecting. When you do hook one, the fight is worth the wait, with their drag burning runs back to the bottom and finally another great reward at the dinner table. Sheepshead make great table fare no matter how you cook them! I am running some winter reef fishing specials! FOUR ANGLERS FOR 4 HOURS FOR $550.00
Posted in Offshore Fishing, Winter and Spring Fishing | No Comments »
Amberjacks!!
June 22nd, 2009
June 15th
Lots of reef donkeys (AKA amberjack), are stacked up on the buoys in the shipping channel. What a workout to pull on one of these!
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Lots of Big Red Snapper!!
June 22nd, 2009
June 9th
After filling the livewell with about 100 menhadden, we ran to 90 ft of water to some live bottom. Immediatly we started pulling fish over the side. There were pink snapper, vermillion snapper, big blackfish, amberjacks, some undersized gag grouper and nice fat sow red snapper! What a bite, we limited out in no time! After filling all our limits, we continued to release lots of nice fish!
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Big Cobia!
June 22nd, 2009
June 8th,
My wife’s uncle and a few of his friends came down from Sarasota Florida to catch some dolphin. We fished on a full moon and it kept the dolphin from biting most of the day. After 6 hours of trolling that only produced a few king mackerel and a barracuda, we decided to drop some lines down to the bottom to catch some snapper. We quickly caught our limit of pink snapper on the 160 ft ledge, so I moved about 10 miles inshore to try to catch some red snapper and grouper. No big reds or grouper bit, but a big cobia about 75lbs came to the back of the boat! I quickly hooked up a frisky live bait. He eagerly ate the bait and after a few jumps that would make a sailfish jealous, the cobia and me slugged it out for about 20 minutes before it was brought to gaff. Back at the dock the fish tipped the scales at a whopping 75lbs!
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King Mackerel are Biting!
May 29th, 2009
May 28
On Thursday, after loading the baitwell with frisky menhadden, we made our way offshore in a 3 to 4 foot southwesterly swell to look for cobia on the shipping channel buoys and later move further offshore to troll for some kings. The first buoy I checked didn’t have any cobia, but we convinced a 40lb amberjack to take a menhadden. None of the other buoys produced any fish so we put the spoons and ballyhoo out to get some kingfish. The first hour didn’t produce any strikes. As soon as I reached the Charleston 60 artificial reef, two rods went off and a few minutes later we landed two king mackerel in the 15lb range. The action was pretty good the rest of the day with a dozen more kings, another amberjack, and a nice spanish mackerel!
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The Shipping Channel Buoys Were Hot!
May 14th, 2009
May 8th
On friday the 8th of May I had a nice newlywed couple that were looking to catch their first big offshore fish! Never having been offshore, they nervously booked a 6 hour trip not knowing what to expect. I wanted to check the shipping channel buoys for cobia because I have been receiving good reports from some other captains. After a long slow ride out on a choppy sea we finally reached the first buoy. Unfortunatly three buoys later we hadn’t spotted a fish! Finally on the fourth buoy we spotted a huge school of amberjacks and along with them was a 50lb. cobia! I tried to hook the cobia, but a big amberjack pushed him out the way and gobbled the bait. Thirty minutes later we landed a nice amberjack. A few hours later we landed three more, and broke off three more on the buoy. There was no sign of the cobia that we had first seen. We then switched gears and trolled for some king mackerel. The rest of the trip didn’t produce any kings, but we did end up with a big gag grouper that we caught on a bomber plug trolled over the top of the Frederick Day Wreck.
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Big Red Snapper are Biting!
May 14th, 2009
April 23th,
Me and a few of my friends from the Barrier Island Ecotours had been planning a bottom fishing trip for months that finally came together when all of our schedules allowed us to fish together. It was a beautiful morning and we started out looking for some live bait. After an hour of searching, I loaded the cast net with dozens of frisky menhadden. The ocean was calm so we had a great ride out spotting a migration of ocean sunfish and seeing many loggerhead turtles. All of these we took as good omens for a great day of fishing. The first spot we went to in about 90ft of water produced a lot of vermillion snapper, pink snapper, black sea bass, and a few nice red snapper. When the fishing slowed there we moved on to a location south about 8 miles in a hundred feet of water that immediately produced a limit of big red snapper to 15lbs. We also limited out on all the other snapper species. Lots of amberjack and sharpnose sharks were released and we even caught a big bluefish. What a great day!
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March 24th Half Day Bottom Fishing Trip
March 25th, 2009
Tuesday morning on the 24th of march we left the dock at around 8:00am. The weather was perfect, not even a breath of wind! Perfect conditions for bottom fishing. The forcast had called for increasing wind and seas in the afternoon. The plan was to be back by 2:00pm before the front arrived. I had a group of four gentleman who were in town on a golf/fishing vacation. On the first stop in 75 feet of water we caught some nice black sea bass and a few grunts. We then moved offshore about 8 miles to a spot in 95 feet where we anchored. The fishing was great! we quickly landed a nice red snapper about 7lbs and everyone was pulling up nice vermillion snapper, red porgys, and large black sea bass. A few small amberjack also came to the boat. It was a great day until we started to head in at 1:00pm. The weather rapidly deteriorated from 2 to 3 foot seas growing into 4 to 6 foot seas and 25 knot winds, breaking just off my starboard bow. The trip home was slow going, all I could do was about 8 to 10 knots. We finally got to the dock at about 4:30pm a little tired and beat up, but we had a great day of fishing!
Capt. Chuck
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Grouper and Snapper Fishing in March
March 16th, 2009
Grouper and snapper fishing in the month of march really starts to get good. Gag groupers start to move back into shallower water between 75 and 120 feet with rising water temperatures. I have had good catches of black sea bass, pink snappers, vermillion snappers, triggerfish, and scamp groupers on 6 hour and full day trips. The gag grouper I have been catching are small and under the 24 inch limit. Larger fish can be found in deeper depths on the edge of the gulf stream this time of the year. Spiny dogfish have been a nuisance and I usually have to move if they show up under the boat.
Capt. Chuck
Posted in Offshore Fishing | No Comments »
Offshore March Wreck Fishing
March 16th, 2009
Large numbers of sheepshead are moving onto the wrecks and artificial reefs to spawn. Fiddler crabs and shrimp have been the best bait and I have caught fish up to 9lbs. on recent trips. Black sea bass have also been more than willing to bite on cut squid and large bucktail jigs. On the last few trips we have been able to get are limit in a short period of time.
Capt. Chuck
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