# Newbie Surf Fishing in Hilton Head and SC in General



## Fishindoc

I'm a bit new to surf fishing in South Carolina. Spent many years fishing in New Jersey when I was a kid, mostly bay fishing, and am just now getting back into fishing. I have had a chance to fish the surf in Montauk and got hooked on the fun of it and never know what may be on the end of the line. 

I live in Bluffton, SC, and have spent some time surf casting in Hilton Head this summer and Fall. I would love to know more about the seasons, when the fish are running, etc.

I have some solid gear and am looking to become a student of the sport and figure out the places to go in order to catch fish. I'm open to lures or bait and have used both from time to time.

Any help would be most appreciated!

Mike


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## DANtheJDMan

Fishindoc,
Welcome to the forum.
I fished SC water for the first time this June and have done fairly well I would think for a newbie not knowing where to go and where to get bait. I caught 8 oversize drum this summer and that means over 36 inches oversize drum. I know that is nothing in North Carolina in one day but I am from Iowa originally.
I'm mostly just a bait soaker and like to hurl lead from the beach. I'm set up to fish Hatteras but don't need that kind of power down here.
You need fresh bait not frozen if you're a soaker and little hooks to catch whiting for the cooler and table and to use for bait on the big rods.
Look for good places on the beach.
I never fished Hilton Head but on any beach, you need to look at what is under the wave break.
You really want a rip tide from an outsuck of water from the beach. The beach will tell you where to fish if you look closely.
If the bank is high then the water is deep right off the beach.
If it's flat then the water is shallow and you need to look for small differences that hold fish.
Look for sand fleas and ghost shrimp holes. There are a lot of ghost shrimp on Hunting Island. You can pump them out of the sand. I asked if it was legal on Hunting and they said it was. 
If you spike your rods you need really good spikes. There are southern rays out there that will take your rig to Bermuda.
I had a 6ft tarpon take a fish off one of my bait rods this summer on Tybee.
I caught a 5 ft bull shark on Edisto Island a couple of weeks ago.
It has been great fishing. You gotta fight the rays in the summer.
It's hot but man I like fishing from the beach.
Good luck. I have never fished Hilton Head. It looked like there was no place to park and...


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## oldguy

I have had a few opportunities to fish the beach at Hilton Head. I have had the most luck in the fall around October. I have caught slot size reds, whiting, bluefish and spots there. I use fishbite shrimp in the pink and the green colors. Use the bloodworm for spots. Crazy but there was one time when the green was the taker and the pink was not touched. I usually cut up the first small fish that I catch for bait. Sometimes I use my cast net to catch live minnows and rig them with a wire rig that I make myself that permits me to rig the bait with a treble hook at the tail. Good when the blues are running. Plan to walk out a good distance to cast as the beach is flat in most areas. High to falling tide has worked well for me. If the whiting are there in numbers, I save $$$ by soldering a small "keeper" wire to my hooks and just buy cheap Talapia at the food store for bait. Good luck and tight lines.


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## Fishindoc

Thanks, Dan! I've gotten at least one whiting each time out, but nothing more other than stingrays. I'd like to target reds, but no luck yet!


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## Fishindoc

Thanks, old guy! I'm a big fan of fishbites, but haven't had luck with bigger fish quite yet. I've been wondering if my hook size is too big...I'm using 5/0 gamaktsu octopus circles. What are you using?


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## DANtheJDMan

Fishindoc, 

If your catching rays your in the right place and your half way there with a fresh whiting to cut for bait. Your hooks are too small for big drum and too big for whiting. 

The best bite that I have had at Hunting, Edisto, and Tybee has been the first 2 hours of incoming tide. I did catch a nice 36" red drum of the beach on Tybee at about an hour before low tide. You get the first hour of incoming with the sun coming up or going down and you will have a big red in the near future. They are still catching them at the point in Hatteras so they are still around. 
Find an out suck where you can see the water from the surf drains back from the beach at high tide. There is a channel out from that or the water would not flow back that way. 
I fish 4 rods. Two long rods with cut heads /bellies on fishfinder rigs with either a 9 0 circle or a 8 0 J hook way out on each side of the out suck. Short rods with fresh shrimp and river rigs with 2 - 4 size Owner light cirles in the out suck or on each side shorter. 
I have to finish the last two college courses for my BSME degree this weekend but I will be free next weekend and my wife will be somewhere between Fort Collins, CO and Augusta, GA bringing my daughter home for Christmas. She is a vet student at Colorado State and has 3 big dogs. I may have a day to see if there are still a couple of big boys around on Hilton Head. I have never fished there yet. Like I said I was scared during the summer of so many people and no place to park. 
DAN


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## Fishindoc

Dan,

Great information! Thanks!

Congratulations on finishing up your degree! That's very cool stuff and a huge accomplishment. I know you'll be glad to get that wrapped up.

I'm also wrapping up a semester as a teacher this week. I know how busy that can be!

I'd love to fish next weekend, if I could. I'm recovering from surgery that I had today. I'm not sure that I'll be healed up enough by then, but let's see what happens.

Good luck with your classes!

Mike


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## Fatback

Some good information being shared in this thread. So I'll add some more.


When to go fishing? Of course the best answer is always when you can! But for a more accurate depiction of the best times to fish I go by water temps. I get my water temp info from the Fort Pulaski NOAA weather station. The link, http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/station_page.php?station=FPKG1.
I do not truly start my surf fishing season until the water temp moves past 65 degrees, this usually happens in early April, but sometimes end of March. If you are like me, by early March I have cabin fever and have made too many rigs, done maintenance on every piece of fishing equipment I own, and I am sitting on go time. So the first pretty days in March roll around and I can't stand it anymore and hit the beach. I use that time for fishing practice, work on my cast, break in new line, and generally spend some time on the beach seeing how my spots changed over the winter. I have caught dink Whiting, saucer sized Rays, spotted Hake, and Dogfish during this time. But, what I really am targeting during this period is the elusive Sand Tiger shark! I want to knock this one off my species list. All the ST sharks caught from the beach in our area happend during early spring. I know of 4 landed in the last decade. Maybe mine will come in 2017, as I have tried for five years and had no luck.
Go time, water temps are past 65 degrees and time to fish. Fishing can be slow during the warm up between 65 and 70 degrees, but some quality fish can be landed during this time. Bull Whiting start to show in good numbers and the Big pregnant Blacktips get to our area and are hungry and feisty. If you're lucky you can maybe get into the lead group of large Pompano as the make their way north, Mmmmm good. The Pomps are extremely hit or miss at this time but if you find um' they will be big.
Prime time, water temps are 70 and rising and it's on! This is it ya'll, this is when every trip to the beach will be at least good if not great. This prime time begins usually in late April and lasts till mid to late June. Everything shows up in our waters, never know what you will land. A couple years ago I landed a Guitarfish, cool uh? During this time I start paying a lot more attention to tides and time of day when considering hitting the beach. For tides I ALLWAYS like to fish two hours before and after the change regardless of low or high. Remember when the tide stops moving the fish normally stop feeding and move around and start feeding again when the water moves again. For tide heights I generally target sight feeding fish during lower tide height periods and smell feeding fish during spring tides. This is not a rule but generally tide height predicates water clarity.
Best time of day, from half hour before dawn and for the next 4 hours is by far the most productive time to fish. If given a choice I would only fish that period of time for the rest of my life, that's how strongly I feel about it. But I do fish the evenings, last two hours of daylight can be good at times and for you shark guys this is a good time to have a good bait out for them. 
Don't forget barometric pressure. It does affect fishing. I do look at it but the only time it will my change my plans is when its really high or really low. So here is the skinny on barometric pressure, this is info the guids keep secret, so shoooh. Rising Barometer: Fishing is best. Rapidly Fluctuating: Indication of good fishing. Static Barometer: Fishing is poor.Falling Barometer: First part of the fall is good. After fall continues for several hours, the more it goes down the poorer the fishing. So, if it's middle of May, good high/low tide at dawn, water temp 72-74 degrees, light westerly wind, two foot clean rollers and a rising barometer you fellows can be well assured that Fatback has a chubby! And finally, for me the spring season stops when the water temp hits 80 degrees. This happens sometime in mid-late June and water temps will continue rising into the mid eighties. This is dead time in the surf and lasts till end of August or first of Sept. I don't fish the surf during this time but will hit it hard again when the water temp drops below 80. Hope all this info helps everyone out.


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## DANtheJDMan

Fatback, 

Thanks for the information. I used to live 1,200 miles from any beach and when we went to the beach it was fish no matter the conditions. 
Now I live 3 hours away and I can pick the day and the tide and the conditions that are better. 
When we fish the beach we leave here at 3:30 am and get to the beach a little after when we should. 
For me right now the biggest problem is getting fresh bait that early in the morning. 
I know I need to man up and learn where to throw a cast net and get my own fresh bait. I just need to learn where to stop and get a cooler full of cob mullet. 
I just picked up a SL30SH to put on my red rod. I had either used a big spinner or Squall 12 on it before and never had a reel on it that could hold the line that you need on a beast of a rod. I still might go and fish this coming weekend just to check out Hilton Head and to dial in the ballistic if I get a chance to go to OBX for memorial day. 
Hey, is there any place local I can get reel parts. This Diawa came without any brake blocks. I'm learning where stuff is in this part of the country. 
Thanks man I'm sure I'll see you on the beach sometime. You see a guy with a CPI sr cart and some huge custom made aluminum sand spikes all conventional reels that is me. Prolly have a JD hat on. 
DAN


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## MadDawgJ

Dan,
Other than some garage repairmen having spares I haven't ever seen any locally available parts and just order them. I'm a Penn man so can't recommend any Diawa sites, sorry. Grab your bait the day before so you can be out first thing, I double bag fresh shrimp and toss it in the fridge so I can go straight to the surf and not be trying to find good bait. 

Since I won't be moving to Brunswick now and we are getting more Tybee surf fishers I might get a seine net next season and split the bait with who ever is there to help pull it. We will see.


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## Fatback

Dan
I'm a Penn guy to. But there is a tackle store here locally that has a full time rod and reel repair shop. They might have what you need. River Services in Thunderbolt, located before the ICW bridge when headed east on US80 (Victory Drive).
Buy and learn to toss a cast net.


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## Hbbone

I actually just joined the website as I saw this post, i'm a bit more of a rookie than you, but will be in HH in the next week or so and looking to go out and try some luck, if anyone happens to know of any pinned post about HH that would be great! Thanks!


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## oldguy

Fishindoc said:


> Thanks, old guy! I'm a big fan of fishbites, but haven't had luck with bigger fish quite yet. I've been wondering if my hook size is too big...I'm using 5/0 gamaktsu octopus circles. What are you using?


The largest hook I use for the fish I mentioned in my post is a 2/0 circle. I have caught reds in the 30 pound range on that small of a hook. I like the circle hook because it usually prevents gill hooking and makes for a healthier release for fish over slot. Also, prevents me from having to hard set a hook.


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## Fishindoc

oldguy said:


> The largest hook I use for the fish I mentioned in my post is a 2/0 circle. I have caught reds in the 30 pound range on that small of a hook. I like the circle hook because it usually prevents gill hooking and makes for a healthier release for fish over slot. Also, prevents me from having to hard set a hook.


Thanks, Old Guy. I think the hooks I've been using are too big. I'll try the 2/0 circles. Much appreciated!


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