My resident, Chris, and I went out to Bulls Bay last weekend and caught several of these. The weather was perfect for trout fishing. It should be even better for trout fishing in November. I'm sending this out to offer a few observations and suggestions for the upcoming "2023 Fall Boys Weekend."
In anticipation of the upcoming event:
Anyone who can come Thursday, we can go fishing on Friday.
Here are the fishing conditions for Friday and Saturday:
High Tide is around 11AM. Weather, fucking awesome.
Friday:
We will be going to Winyah Bay and North Inlet. Target species, trout. Also plentiful are slot Spottails.
Current best fishing techniques: Popping corks fished on 18" leaders. On the popping corks you can use either live bait, which could be live or frozen shrimp and mud minnows. We can easily get them that morning at the Georgetown Ice House. Alternatively, soft plastic grubs on popping corks work as well. If I'm not using live bait I'm also having success with "electric chicken" pattern, white, pink, and purple grubs or paddle tails on popping cork or by casting them and working a retrive. Not having much luck on crank baits. It's basically salt water bass fishing. What's working for me now is casting either casting a popping cork with an 18" leader close to the grass, or throwing a paddletail and getting hits on the retrieve. I'm using a 1/4 oz jig head. Also, the same popping corks are producing on points in water 4-6 ft deep. If by chance you do not have these items, don't worry, I've got plenty to share. don't go by anything, Ive got the tackle, plenty of it to share, so don't stress about going out and buying a bunch of that.
The rods I'm using are 6-7 ft. Lightweight, what you would use to fish for bass.
Saturday:
We will be going to Bulls Bay. Its about an hour drive, but worth it in my opinion. The shrimp there are quite plentiful, which means the fish should be as well. By far, the vast majority of Speckled Sea Bass caught in SC are caught during the month of November, moreso than any of the other months.
Summary:
Bring your normal rods. If you get here with tackle you want to fish with, all the better. If not, dont worry, Ive got plent to share.
BOAT situation: Up until this week I had two boats. I sold the old MAKO last weekend so now I'm down to one boat. Good news is you can go where we will be fishing in a very small jon boat. So, my boat will work, but smaller would actually be better.
MEALS:
Bring cash if you can. I'm thinking we can do a Lowcountry Boil/Oyster Roast. Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. Fresh fish, if we catch them. We can divy it up later, but probably it's going to be around $100-150 per person, for our three dinners. We will get the fresh sea food for those big meals down here when we go to G'town and Mc'Ville. You shoud bring what you want for snacks, breakfast, lunch and of course drinks. Not stress. We will not go hungry. You know this deal. Your total cost to help me cover the weekend might be $100-150. Depends on how we want to go. We will calculculate it and divide it up depending on the expenses, so I'll get the groceries for the fine evening meals and you won't have to worry about that. Everything else for breakfast and lunch is on the individual.
HOUSING:
If you can, bring sheets and bed linins If you can't, I've got some to go around.
Staying at my house, 295 Keysfield Cir Conway, SC.