# North Myrtle Surf Fishing June 5-12



## Nairb (May 6, 2010)

I am coming to North Myrtle for the first time in June and had a few concerns. I usually go to Gulf Shores every year and surf fish almost every night from the beach, mainly for sharks. I have caught some bruiser bulls, spinners, and countless bonnetheads and smaller sand sharks there, anyway, due to the oil spill we have changed at the last minute and have booked a condo on the beach in North Myrtle, Sanabel is the name of the condo I think.

I usually catch grunts or pins and maybe net some whitebait if I can in the surf where we usually go. What are the surf fishing conditions like in North Myrtle compared to the gulf? Can I still sabiki pinfish and grunts from the beach to use as bait?

What advice would you give me going here the first time?

My normal night would be get to the beach just before dark and catch a few baitfish (Pins and grunts minly) and then use a fish finder rig with steel leader with a slip pyramid weight to keep it on the bottom and wait till the drag screams. Is this a tecnique that will work on the East Coast as well?


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## bvo (May 4, 2010)

your bottom rig should work fine. try some cut mullet. the toothy critters will bite that. and you may try sand fleas for the pompano.


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## Nairb (May 6, 2010)

Corrected first post, meant June instead of May. Not a big difference though. I know they catch Threshers from the beach in Nags Head and in OBX, anything like that in the surf in Myrtle?


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## flouder (Jun 23, 2009)

uhm it really jus depends on the weather and water temperate


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## Nairb (May 6, 2010)

flouder said:


> uhm it really jus depends on the weather and water temperate


I know, just speaking in generalities. After fishing in the Gulf so many years, I am wondering how the East Coast differs in terms of surf shark fishing at night.


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## flouder (Jun 23, 2009)

well i dont know to many fishing places or what kind of fish i dont go that far i believe for sure that if u catch a shark and keep it then u will get a fine for it:spam:


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## tightlines (Oct 5, 2009)

Just remember... Shark fishing from the beach is illegal in Horry County (All of Myrtle Beach). :fishing:


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## Nairb (May 6, 2010)

tightlines said:


> Just remember... Shark fishing from the beach is illegal in Horry County (All of Myrtle Beach). :fishing:


This was the kind of question I had. I always catch and release, last year in Gulf Shores we caught and released 3 over 400lb form the beach there. I was afraid of restrictions like this. 

The thing is the way I fish is not unlike fishing for any other species, at what point is fishing from the beach considered "shark fishing"? If I am bottom fishing a live pinfish and a shark bites, am I shark fishing? Serious question.


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## tightlines (Oct 5, 2009)

You should be able to catch anything at that time of the year.. However if you must S fish... Ditch the wire and go with a 80 mono or something. Then you can tell everyone your fishing for a "BIG BIG DRUM" but just don't say the S word. 
Who knows, someone might believe you.... :--|


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## Nairb (May 6, 2010)

tightlines said:


> You should be able to catch anything at that time of the year.. However if you must S fish... Ditch the wire and go with a 80 mono or something. Then you can tell everyone your fishing for a "BIG BIG DRUM" but just don't say the S word.
> Who knows, someone might believe you.... :--|


Yea thats my plan. I am not going to target sharks, so I will use my 50-80lb fluorocarbon leader instead of wire and if I catch a shark it will be in the course of fishing for reds and black drum. The main reason I shark fish in GS is its the biggest thing I can catch from shore lol. I use owner circles so ever if I do accidentally hook a shark while drum fishing it is a mouth hook and the leader is usually enough for smaller size ones. 

I mean if I use a fish finder with a live grunt on fluorocarbon not wire, and catch a shark, and immediately cut the leader and release it, I hardly see how that can be considered a violation of the law but I am an out of towner so I plan to obey the laws and target other fish.

I am sure the big drum will be on the beaches in early June, that are caught in a very similar fashion to what I am used to. If i catch a shark, so be it, but I am not gonna target them.

It is a stupid law though, I will say that. The fact that people think by outlawing shark fishing from the beach lowers the population of sharks by the beach is kinda silly, and shows what our lawmakers know about the species.


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## tightlines (Oct 5, 2009)

You should be fine, just don't chunk half of a 2lb blue out.. LOL. I kinda understand the law with all the tourist around. The problem is... if it was legal you would have a bunch of idiots all of the time, up and down the beach chumming in the middle of the day... and we all know what that out come would be. Believe me when I say that I have seen plenty of 3' to 5' sharks within 20 yards of the beach at myrtle and north myrtle. I am talking about in the middle of the day, and nobody else notices them. However, you will never forget the look on someones face when they are trying to run in waist deep water because they saw one... It's just too d_ _ _ funny


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## Nairb (May 6, 2010)

tightlines said:


> You should be fine, just don't chunk half of a 2lb blue out.. LOL. I kinda understand the law with all the tourist around. The problem is... if it was legal you would have a bunch of idiots all of the time, up and down the beach chumming in the middle of the day... and we all know what that out come would be. Believe me when I say that I have seen plenty of 3' to 5' sharks within 20 yards of the beach at myrtle and north myrtle. I am talking about in the middle of the day, and nobody else notices them. However, you will never forget the look on someones face when they are trying to run in waist deep water because they saw one... It's just too d_ _ _ funny


Yea when I lived in Clearwater a buddy of mine ran a flying banner service and I would go up with him sometime and we say massive numbers of sharks swimming figure 8s inside the swimming area, amongst all the swimmers. The thing most tourists don't understand is they are there regardless. Its where they live and feed. If you have swam more than a couple times in the ocean, you have been within a few feet of a shark. Its just a fact.

I see the chumming thing being a problem. I have never chummed from the beach, have never needed to in the places I frequent. That wound be bad for tourism, i agree with that.

Once I was snook fishing in hurricane pass in Dunedin Fla and there were these 3 Canadian ladies on swimming floats. I saw a huge school of mullet being pushed on the beach and then saw the scales and blood. The 3 ladies paddled into the middle of it saying "Look at the dolphins!!!". I politely asked them when the last time they saw a dolphin with a vertical tail fin. They turned whiter than they already were and got out of there and I grabbed my 9/0 with 200lb braid and wire, hooked an injured mullet, and in about 40 minutes showed them what a 400lb Bull looks like up close and hopefully educated them a bit. We are not food, but at times we get in the way of their food and get bitten. It sucks, but it is their ocean, not ours.


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## vahunter (Jun 16, 2009)

Nairb, although shark fishing is illegal in Horry county, it is only a county law. The DNR will not enforce it, and you will only get in trouble if you land it. You can drive 20-25 min south to Georgetown county and you will be fine to shark fish. When you get down or on your way pm me and maybe we can get together for some night sharking? They are my fish of choice and most of the guys on here do not like the idea of shark fishing, but this fight has been fought before.


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## Nairb (May 6, 2010)

vahunter said:


> Nairb, although shark fishing is illegal in Horry county, it is only a county law. The DNR will not enforce it, and you will only get in trouble if you land it. You can drive 20-25 min south to Georgetown county and you will be fine to shark fish. When you get down or on your way pm me and maybe we can get together for some night sharking? They are my fish of choice and most of the guys on here do not like the idea of shark fishing, but this fight has been fought before.


Cool man I might take you up on that. Yea I ran into the same attitude when I lived in Florida and never really understood it. I mean I understand not liking doing it themselves, but why would people care if you do it? I don't care for fly fishing, but understand why people enjoy it. I cannot understand why fighting a 300lb+ fish on your feet from the beach is not more popular, because after fishing about every way you can, this is my favorite. I used to fish Boca Grand for Tarpon and I can tell you my most exciting experience was beaching my first 400lb+ Bull on Okaloosa Island. I hooked him at about 11pm and finally beached him at about 3am. It was the most exciting thing I had ever done and since then I was hooked.


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## c0ch3s3 (Jul 10, 2009)

you can drive south about 20 min, or even north about 20 min and be out of horry county and shark fish all you want, with no worries. i dont know why people would rather fish for sharks where its illegal, for good reason, rather than just drive the small distance to fish for them where its not illegal to do so.


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## Nairb (May 6, 2010)

c0ch3s3 said:


> you can drive south about 20 min, or even north about 20 min and be out of horry county and shark fish all you want, with no worries. i dont know why people would rather fish for sharks where its illegal, for good reason, rather than just drive the small distance to fish for them where its not illegal to do so.


Yea until the last post I didnt realize that was the case. I thought the law encompassed a larger area then just one county. The statement it is illegal for good reason is argumentative, but a previous poster that brought up chumming and I see that as a problem. Simply going to the beach and casting a piece of cutbait into the surf in the hopes of catching a shark is not the same as spreading a chum slick from the beach, but one cannot expect county law enforcement to decipher a law like that so I guess in that way I understand it.

I guess the way I was thinking about it was from the perspective of thinking it is silly to think there will be more sharks because I am shark fishing than there would be if i am not. I have never been anywhere it is illegal so that was a shock to me, since I already booked and paid and found this out after the fact. I would definitely have booked in one of the other counties if there was anything there had I known this.

I will say though for a vacationer with a family the ability to walk behind your condo and fish after they are in for the night is kind of nice. Thats the thing I look forward to the most from our last several years in Gulf Shores but with the last minute change of plans beggars cant be choosers. I wish I had the time to drive and set up at a remote area more than I will. I am probably just going meet up with some people to shark a couple times while there and spend the rest after the redfish and black drum in the surf behind the condo.


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