# Squid For Bait In SC



## SmoothLures (Feb 13, 2008)

Anyone ever done any good on squid from the pier/surf in SC? I know they use it offshore a good bit, but I've soaked it while whiting and blues were running good and only caught a 6" croaker (who became bait). I just hate getting the stinking stuff everywhere.


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## bluefish1928 (Jun 9, 2007)

i know bluefish love squid tentacles. personally, shrimp is cheaper and fresher(from poston seafood in Georgetown) andi don't use squid that much. i have seen ppl catching pretty much everythign u could catch with shrimp. squid is tougher and would last longer to pinfish. casting ur cast net in the salt marsh can also catch u some quid somtimes(if u are doubtful of squid working this might be a better idea than buying squid)


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## BubbaHoTep (May 26, 2008)

Smooth, back when I used to fish down there fairly frequently, my fishing buddy and I ONLY used squid from the pier for big whiting. We used to cut it in wide circle cuts (with the quill still inside) and turn it inside out (thus removing the quill) so the purple side was in and the white side was out. Then we'd run it through the hook point twice - we always used kahles in a size 2 or 4 (I still do). We only did this at Springmaid, because that was the only pier we fished back then (mid-80s to early 90s), but it worked well, as long as we stayed about halfway between the breakers and the end of the pier. Up until about early-August, that'd be the right (south) side of the pier. That's how we used to catch them, even in summer. 

I've always done better with squid than with shrimp down there (in terms of decent fish). Pinfish will hit squid, but they're much more apt to gobble away at shrimp instead. I've NEVER been to the pier without a pound of frozen squid in the cooler - NEVER!!! 

Now Danman might be able to give some input here, too. I know he fishes/has fished at Longbay just south of the MBSP. About (heck it's been a long time since I've walked that) half a mile or 3/4 south of the pier, there's a deep cut out there you can cast to at low tide. We used to catch them in there from the surf on squid. We were walking north from Pirateland, and there was a time when I could have told you how many houses up the beach it was and how many houses down from the pier it was, but things change over time. Also, I don't know what any restoration over the past ten years has done to that hole.

Dude, if you get a dozen or so of those little croakers, you need to have a fish fry. 

Let me put it to you this way. If I could use one bait to toss out there and let it set on the bottom, it would be squid.


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## SmoothLures (Feb 13, 2008)

Glad to know they'll hit it. May give it another shot. 

I've sat a few times and fished just past the breakers for whiting but haven't caught a thing with mullet and shrimp mostly. Didn't know they'd hit mullet til I caught a 2.5 lb bull whiting on 'em after seeing a guy wear 'em out while I wasn't getting a nibble on shrimp or squid. Always done my damage casting 50+ yards off the end of the piers... 

Those little croaker I catch usually become bait. Toss 'em out live on a sorta long FF rig for drum, trout, ect, or fillet 'em up for blues, whiting, ect. One of my favorite baits.


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## medicdav66 (Sep 27, 2007)

I have fished the Myrtle Beach area a few times a year and have for many years now, though not as much in the past couple. I have tried to use squid once or twice that I remember, and have never even had a bite on any. The best bait to use is the freshest shrimp you can find. Buy it from a grocery store if you have to, but use fresh shrimp if you want to catch fish. Every fish you can catch from a pier (King Macks excluded) will eat fresh shrimp. Blues, spot, whiting, black drum, pompano, flounder, trout, red drum. You name it and I have caught it on fresh shrimp! I have bought shrimp from Vietnam that was imported to the MB Walmart and gone out and caught fish.


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## SmoothLures (Feb 13, 2008)

Yep, fresh is key. Just hard to find real head on fresh shrimp when the season isn't open.


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## fisher51 (Dec 22, 2008)

When I fished the Savannah area last week I got shrimp at Adam`s Bait in Thunderbolt, I like the guys there they had great tips and good prices. Small but busy shop and Earl and the guys are real...:fishing:


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## Danman (Dec 13, 2007)

I only used squid twice in the few years I fished....mbsp pier and south of the pier to pirateland....I used frozen on a few trips...and the unrefrigerated type I got from ...mart.. 

I can't recall catching anything on em..but maybe a skate....What I did like about using squid was how it stayed on the hook in adverse conditions.....I may have been using too large of pieces.. 

The cut being talked about is right at the boundary of the state park and the last house house of pirateland...I never fished the cut myself but people walking the beach always tell me "they" are catching some down at the cut..Personally I wouldn't pay to get into the park just to fish there..:fishing:


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## SmoothLures (Feb 13, 2008)

Danman said:


> I only used squid twice in the few years I fished....mbsp pier and south of the pier to pirateland....I used frozen on a few trips...and the unrefrigerated type I got from ...mart..
> 
> I can't recall catching anything on em..but maybe a skate....What I did like about using squid was how it stayed on the hook in adverse conditions.....I may have been using too large of pieces..
> 
> The cut being talked about is right at the boundary of the state park and the last house house of pirateland...I never fished the cut myself but people walking the beach always tell me "they" are catching some down at the cut..Personally I wouldn't pay to get into the park just to fish there..:fishing:


So once you're in the park, go north towards pirate land?


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## Jawbonez (Nov 5, 2008)

SmoothLures said:


> Anyone ever done any good on squid from the pier/surf in SC? I know they use it offshore a good bit, but I've soaked it while whiting and blues were running good and only caught a 6" croaker (who became bait). I just hate getting the stinking stuff everywhere.


Hey smooth I've used squid in the summer and caught nothing but small blacktips. Now in the winter this year I've used it off the piers and caught croakers, bull whiting, and the occasional flounder. When I lived up north squid was extremely effective at catching flounder. We would cut it in long strips and place it on a fluke rig and it worked great. The couple times I've done this here in Myrtle we caught flounder so it may be a technique you want to try. Also we didnt just put the rig on the bottom we did a slow retrieve causing the squid strip to dance all over.


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## SmoothLures (Feb 13, 2008)

Jawbonez said:


> Hey smooth I've used squid in the summer and caught nothing but small blacktips. Now in the winter this year I've used it off the piers and caught croakers, bull whiting, and the occasional flounder. When I lived up north squid was extremely effective at catching flounder. We would cut it in long strips and place it on a fluke rig and it worked great. The couple times I've done this here in Myrtle we caught flounder so it may be a technique you want to try. Also we didnt just put the rig on the bottom we did a slow retrieve causing the squid strip to dance all over.


Do you blind cast into the surf and work it back or toss it at a likely spot?


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## Mark55 (Dec 14, 2008)

I have spent a fair amount of time at Pirateland the last few years. In talking to other fishermen along the beach, they have mentioned about having heard about the place you mentioned. I've never found it, but then again I never looked real hard. You say the boundry of MBSP and the last house of Pirateland. There are many houses between the park boundry and Pirateland. Pirateland ends where the campers stop, then there are ocean front private homes north towards the park. Are you saying its by the last house near the park? Having read about it here i will look harder this spring and summer. If you happen to find any more info on it, please post it.


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## BubbaHoTep (May 26, 2008)

Hey Smooth, from MBSP, Pirateland is to the south.

OK. I know/knew of two cuts there. We've had a perm site at Pirateland since 1979, but I have surf fished it only once since about 1993 maybe (wife prefers to go to the pier or up to the inlet at CG and we no longer have a golf cart so toting all that stuff over there is a pain hehe). I wasn't sure what any restoration projects had done there over the years, but here's what I remember.

There's one cut very near the boundary of the upper end of Pirateland and the lower end of Long Bay Estates. I'm pretty sure we used to count it between the second and third houses in Longbay up from Pirateland, but Danman says it's there at the first house at Pirateland (none of that used to be permanent sites, so I'm thinking it's a changed landscape on the beachfront), so Pirateland might have bought some more of that or something. Take his word for it, because I haven't been up to that end of the beach in awhile.

There's another cut, though. The one I was initially talking about in this thread is up to the north a smidge. It's right at halfway between the upper end of Pirateland and the MBSP pier. I was guestimating the distance from the upper end of PLand to the pier to be 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 miles, so that's why I said about 1/2 - 3/4 mile south of the pier in the earlier post (would have to park there at the pier and walk south). In any case, it's about halfway, and you can tell at low tide if the water's clear. 

On both of those cuts, the water drops off fairly sharply. In fact, on the northern one (the one closest to the pier), if you casted straight out, it dropped off so much that you could snag your bait on the dropoff when retrieving it. If we were using shrimp and we were afraid of losing the bait, we'd wade all the way out to try to avoid snagging and maybe losing it.


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## Jawbonez (Nov 5, 2008)

SmoothLures said:


> Do you blind cast into the surf and work it back or toss it at a likely spot?


Well I try to look for a spot. But usually this technique I like to toss at structure(pier) or around rock jetties/inlets.


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## SmoothLures (Feb 13, 2008)

Gonna hop on Google Earth and see if I can figure it out. Will post if it helps.


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## Danman (Dec 13, 2007)

*smoothlures*

If you are standing on the mbsp pier...look south....the first private house you see is about where the state park ends..about 2 to 4 blocks north of the last house is where I see the anglers fish... I have walked south from the pier to the house different times and never have seen any type of cut or may I say landmark to fish this spot.....regular pier fishermen call it a hole 

I have walked down the way in low and high tide and never saw it...I have always walked it when there were no anglers there... 

If you are going to go there....park in the last parking area south of the pier and the walk won't be as long....( and it isn't that far from the last parking area... 

This fishing season I am going to travel lite with just a rod and reel and a small creel and fish from the pier south to the private house and see if I can find another hole or cut... 

If you are on the mbsp pier and look north you will see the springmaid pier...now the first pier was destroyed in the 50's which was a little bit south of the present pier...I would think there would be some structures left from the old pier which would have to mean some better fishing..I tried to find where the old pier was on the internet and still haven't found it...:fishing:


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## SmoothLures (Feb 13, 2008)

Danman said:


> If you are standing on the mbsp pier...look south....the first private house you see is about where the state park ends..about 2 to 4 blocks north of the last house is where I see the anglers fish... I have walked south from the pier to the house different times and never have seen any type of cut or may I say landmark to fish this spot.....regular pier fishermen call it a hole
> 
> I have walked down the way in low and high tide and never saw it...I have always walked it when there were no anglers there...
> 
> ...


Yeah I saw the last parking area and the first house but I couldn't see anything from Google Earth. I'll give it a shot next time I'm down there if they're not biting. 

Did they rebuild on top of where Springmaid was? They may have had to remove it due to boating hazards or something?


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## BubbaHoTep (May 26, 2008)

SmoothLures said:


> Yeah I saw the last parking area and the first house but I couldn't see anything from Google Earth. I'll give it a shot next time I'm down there if they're not biting.
> 
> Did they rebuild on top of where Springmaid was? They may have had to remove it due to boating hazards or something?


Danman's right, according to what several other people have told me over the years, also. The "old" Springmaid pier was just south of the present pier, according to these stories. I have never known exactly where it was originally.

Now, I do know for certain that Hurricane Hugo prompted MAJOR cleanups down there. We lost our place in that storm. Sidelight story: When we were finally able to get back "inside" what was left of our trailer, there were spot and mullet and eels and bream inside the cabinets - no lie - got trapped I guess - we went down to do "reconaissance" work like the next week. There was a lot of junk washed out and in - they dredged the heck out of that stretch of beach. I'd say any remnant of that old pier might have gotten dredged up and out of there then if it didn't happen before that. 

Just my .02 worth. I stay away from the MBSP. The pier's too short for my liking, and they charge what $5 to get in?? I haven't fished on that pier since they stopped letting the admission price go toward your pier fishing ticket. They did that for a LONG TIME - if two of us went in and paid the admission, we wound up paying like a buck for both of us to fish (years ago). Except during the off-season, of course, when there was no one at the gate and no one in the pier to take your money and you could just drive up there and pier fish for free. You used to be able to "walk on" at CG, Surfside, and GC piers during the "off-season," too. Ah, the good old days. Smooth, if you're going to drop a few bucks to get admission somewhere, I'd rather spend the money to get in at H'ton and fish the jetties or the surf down there.


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## bluefish1928 (Jun 9, 2007)

u had fish in ur place after a hurricane? i have heard of snakes and alligators, but fish?


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## SmoothLures (Feb 13, 2008)

BubbaHoTep said:


> Danman's right, according to what several other people have told me over the years, also. The "old" Springmaid pier was just south of the present pier, according to these stories. I have never known exactly where it was originally.
> 
> Now, I do know for certain that Hurricane Hugo prompted MAJOR cleanups down there. We lost our place in that storm. Sidelight story: When we were finally able to get back "inside" what was left of our trailer, there were spot and mullet and eels and bream inside the cabinets - no lie - got trapped I guess - we went down to do "reconaissance" work like the next week. There was a lot of junk washed out and in - they dredged the heck out of that stretch of beach. I'd say any remnant of that old pier might have gotten dredged up and out of there then if it didn't happen before that.
> 
> Just my .02 worth. I stay away from the MBSP. The pier's too short for my liking, and they charge what $5 to get in?? I haven't fished on that pier since they stopped letting the admission price go toward your pier fishing ticket. They did that for a LONG TIME - if two of us went in and paid the admission, we wound up paying like a buck for both of us to fish (years ago). Except during the off-season, of course, when there was no one at the gate and no one in the pier to take your money and you could just drive up there and pier fish for free. You used to be able to "walk on" at CG, Surfside, and GC piers during the "off-season," too. Ah, the good old days. Smooth, if you're going to drop a few bucks to get admission somewhere, I'd rather spend the money to get in at H'ton and fish the jetties or the surf down there.


Oh they charge to get on the pier on top of the park fee? Forget that then. We have a year round pass to get into any SP but still.


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## Danman (Dec 13, 2007)

I had a season pass for the mbsp pier for 3 yrs.. I won't get one this year though..I never saw to many fish being caught...and like bubba said the end of the pier isn't that wide..


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## BubbaHoTep (May 26, 2008)

bluefish1928 said:


> u had fish in ur place after a hurricane? i have heard of snakes and alligators, but fish?


Yes. It was wild. HEHEHEHE Of course, they were fish carcasses. They had washed in and died in there (in the cabinets).

Yeah, Smooth. They charge you admission to the park just to get in the gate. Then, you have to pay to fish from the pier on top of that. Like I said, they used to "credit" your admission toward the pier pass. That was okay. 

The end is too narrow, I agree, Danman. On that end of MB, I'd much rather just go up to Springmaid - longer pier and wider pier all the way around. If you get there early enough, you can get a spot in that little parking garage across the road. On the south end, Springmaid's my pick. I don't mind Garden City (I like being able to park right there at it), but I think it's easier to get snagged on the side of the pier there at the bottom, especially if it's windy blowing from the south, because of how the pier's constructed.

After seeing GCSurfishingGirl's pics, I'm going to find a public parking place down there and try to surf fish that at some point down the road. I've never surf fished in Garden City before.


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## SmoothLures (Feb 13, 2008)

Yeah it didn't look too wide on the Google Earth picture. Oh well. I guess it'd be better than nothing this time of the year when the piers are closed.


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