Murrells Inlet fishing

[dusky]

Anyone catching any Spanish? I've been fishing out of Holden Beach most of this year and the Spanish fishing has not been good. Planning to go to MI next weekend and give it a try.
[signature]

[Tarpon4me]

Welcome to BFT message boards Dusky!!!!!!!!!!!! It's nice to have another Murrells Inlet fisherman around.

As for your question, I went out last weekend to paradise reef and didn't see any spanish come up. I'm planning on going out this weekend as well, so I may see you out and about. The spade fish have been doing very well, however, I didn't see any this past weekend.

I saw one small snake king come up, and he couldn't have been anymore than 12 pounds. Poor little fella, almost not worth putting a gaff in.

It's suppose to be 2 to 4 feet, and i'm not sure what the intervals are, so it's a toss up as to how rough it's going to be. Hopefully it'll be calm. It's only suppose to be in the late 80's, so it won't be too hot.

What do you normally target when you go out?
[signature]

[dusky]

Thanks for the welcome. My favorite hobby is saltwater fishing and i guess the nest best thing is sharing information about it. Usually I fish inshore, trolling for spanish or live baiting for kings at the inshore reefs when I have my wife with me. She loves to fish. When my buddies and I go, we usually go bottom fishing around the vermillion area. I'm fishing out of Holden Beach most of the time now and trying to learn that area. It's hard not to give in and go back to MI. It looks like I will be in Holden this weekend but I have some work to do and probably will not get to fishing. Looks like a front is coming in friday nite and sat.

Good luck
[signature]

[Tarpon4me]

You target the same things I do. On occasion, I also like to chum up some sharks, or something off the wall to break the ice. I'm in it for the sport, and I do love it.

You should let me know next time you're heading to MI, we'll meet up there at the hill and follow each other out. If we could get enough boats, I bet BFT would sponsor us a little mini tournament for BFT members. [cool]

What area do you live in? I'm next to florence, so i've got a bit of a hike to get in the area. With that said, I have to wait for the old lady to let me out of the house long enough to make that trip. LOL, she's not much of a fisher woman, so I have to pick and choose my fishing trips wisely.
[signature]

[dusky]

That sounds good. I live near Cheraw. It's about 110 miles to Garden City from here. Looks like the oil companies may dictate if I fish in or offshore. I've fished inshore a lot at MI and I think the fall inshore fishing is great. What size boat do you have?
[signature]

[Tarpon4me]

My boat is a 21 foot aqua sport. There is a picture of it and my bass boat in the photo gallery. [cool] It's a beast. I just went offshore today, boy what a mistake. It got breezy and the wind shifted to comming out of due south. It was a wet and slow ride back. I think I breeched the boat uncontrolably about a half dozen times. LOL, that's the chance we take as anglers though. I wasn't the only wacko out there, so I don't feel so bad. Talk about a back acke though. I feel like someone beat my back with a baseball bat.
[signature]

[Tarpon4me]

Hey Dusky! It won't be long now and the spanish will be back in the area. You planning any trips over from Cheraw this year? [cool]
[signature]

[dusky]

Hello, nice to hear from you. Yes, I will be fishing out of MI this spring for sure. My "running boat" is in Holden Beach and I am rebuilding the engine on the other one. I will have it there when the spanish start biting. I want to try the bonito, I've heard a lot about them. I've seen schools of them while spanish fishing but couldn't get them to bite. I hear that you have to have a very light mono leader or maybe flo-carb. You ever fished for them?
[signature]

[Tarpon4me]

Yes sir! Anytime i'm targeting fish in the upper water columns, I tie on a flurocarbon leader. It makes a huge difference. Bonito, like it's larger cousins, have excellent vision.

What kind of lures where you using?
[signature]

[dusky]

I'm always pulling 00 or 0 clark or drone spoons, 20# mono leader about 14 to 16' with #1 planer or trolling weight. I've circled aroung the bonito school but never had a strike. I do usually catch spanish but never a bonito. I will try the florocarbor leader for sure this year. I know some people cast to them with jigs but I have never tried that.
[signature]

[Tarpon4me]

Your tactics work well for spanish, as you already know, but for bonito you need to do things a little different. Casting on the school is the most effective way. I'm sure you heard the phrase "match the hatch." What are the fish feeding on? Match your lure accordingly. If it's silver sides, a 3/4 oz spro green and white bucktail. Maybe a Mirror lure in a silver/green color skeem, or a top water plug. Don't try and cast accross the school, stay on the edges or just beyond the edge, and try to keep your boat as far away as possible. So, you're going to need to know your casting limits with what ever lure you're going to use prior to approaching the school. Make sure and use a fluoroleader about 3' long. That should work out pretty good. If you use a Spro bucktail, don't be affraid to add a squid strip to the hook.

There's also a new lure out for spanish. It's call a Boone Spanish Bird. It's just like the larger bird teaser rigs for sailfish, but in a smaller 4.5" size. I'm taking the last lure off and adding a size 1 clark spoon to it. I know that sounds big, but that'll be my "Big Spanish" line. []

I was actually going to ask you if you used steel leader for spanish. We had this debate on the Saltwater board a while back. I actually use to use a short 7 strand leader when I fished for Spanish. But i've noticed that I haven't been getting cut off with out it. I guess they're a little more accurate in thier attack than a king. [] How fast are you trolling for Spanish?
[signature]

[dusky]

I usually troll around 4 to 5 mph, normally looking at the tach about 1100 to 1200 rpm. I bought a new NC Sportsman mag., the guy in there is adding more lures to his leader. I didn't have much time to read the article, bought it on the way to the beach. I tried the black drum in the IC yesterday, no luck. Crabs were plentiful and caught one croker. I wanted to go out but the forecast 3-5 didn't sound too good to one of my fisherman buddies. As the day went by and the wind picked up, I was glad we chose to stay in. It's gonna get better and I'm ready.

Mike
[signature]

[Tarpon4me]

Well, it was calling for 2-4' Saturday in M.I, but you know, it was 2' all day until a little after noon. Beautiful day for the most part. Check out the fishing report I posted, I put as much info in there as I could. I think the water temp was 62 if I remember right. So, it's still a little low for the macks right yet.

I heard the black drum where in the creeks, but I haven't tried them yet. I kinda figured someone would snag a bull on the reef, but to my surprise, no one around us was really catching anything. It was really hard to get anchored up over the structure once the wind shifted. If you can't get on the mark, you're wasting your time. That's where SO many people fail at bottom fishing. Boat placement is so critical to success.

[cool]
[signature]

[Tarpon4me]

Hey Mike, I didn't realize it, but you're not but about 45 minutes down Hwy 52 from where i'm at. LOL It never occured to me before. Like yourself, I primarily like to saltwater fish, but do you like to river fish too?

When the water is too rough, i'll hit the little pee dee river from time to time for some bream and catfish action. Maybe you'd like to tag along sometime. [cool]
[signature]