Myrtle Beach 2020 Jan.10

[Big Cliff]

Well, we are starting to establish a routine which seems to be working quite well; up by 5 am, coffee and catch up on emails and such, a light breakfast and dressed and out the door by 6:45 (the pier opens at 7:00) meet up with a couple of the guys and head out to our spots on the pier. Fish until about noon (or whenever the bite lets up) then spend the rest of the day relaxing, shopping, or doing tourist things. I've been here 11 days now and so far only had one day where it rained enough in the morning to delay things. Temps in the most part have been well above normal, high teens almost every day with a few low 20s thrown in, anything above 0 is fine with me and it doesn't look like I'd be doing any ice fishing if I had stayed back home for the winter 😉

This is a different kind of fishing, you are always fishing in the same area (the pier is 1206' long) so you can move around quite a bit but it's not like ice fishing where you can just pick up and move a couple of miles. Because you are fishing the same area you start to notice other variables quite a bit. Water depth (except for the tides) is a constant but other things like wind direction, tide levels and direction (in coming, out going, or slack), water colour, water temperature' light conditions...... It's pretty interesting how subtle differences can have a huge effect and learning all the variations and combinations of those factors can change things significantly.

Just like any kind of fishing some days are fantastic, others it's a struggle to get a dozen fish for the morning. We mostly use artificial bait,  a product called FishBites seems to be the most popular among the regulars although some guys will use shrimp, squid, or cut bait if they are trying for sharks and things. We don't bother with that, we want whitings. Sometimes something as simple as the size of hook you are using can make a huge difference a #6 or #8 seem to work the best, whitings have a fairly small mouth, if the bite is aggressive a #6 works best because they don't swallow the hook as often and it's easier to re rig and get your line back out there.

It's funny to watch guys coming out for their first time; most of them come out with a great big heavy rod and reel rigged with 40# + line and a hook big enough to anchor a small boat, they feed a lot of fish but don't catch much. If they are polite and friendly we quickly show them the ropes, share tackle and bait and they are catching fish in no time. The others usually go away frustrated and we don't see them again LOL.The guys  I fish with use much lighter tackle, light to medium action rods and for the most part 10-12# test line, you do have to be able to handle larger fish, flounder and mackerel are rare this time of the year but they do happen and because of the tides we usually use a 2oz sinker.

Well, that's enough rambling for this morning, time to get my day started.

Tight line and stay safe!

 

 

[DanD]

I really enjoy reading about your adventures; please keep them coming!

Thanks.

Dan.

[ketchenany]

How do you cook the fish? They are selling at 2.99 lb this week, may want to try some.

[mamona]

3 hours ago, Big Cliff said:

Well, that's enough rambling for this morning, time to get my day started.

Keep going your rambling  Have a good day!

[Big Cliff]

1 hour ago, ketchenany said:

How do you cook the fish? They are selling at 2.99 lb this week, may want to try some.

Same way as you would cook perch, sometimes I use a tampura batter and deep fry the smaller fillets. I don't know what store bought ones would be like, the ones we eat are caught, cleaned, and cooked or frozen  within hours. 

[ketchenany]

They are selling them whole with the head so they are probably a few days old.

 

[DanD]

Googled whitings to see what they look like and the first thing that popped to mind was Mr. limpet. LOL

I need to go fishing!!! LOL

Dan.

[sofabed]

Thanks for the report Cliff. I enjoy reading them and  you have me really interested in traveling to the area as retirement looms this year.