# January Fishing around Murrells Inlet/Pawleys Island?



## Hopeful (Sep 3, 2018)

It is starting to look like I'll have the month of January off, involuntarily. I've fished the surf and the marshes (from a kayak) into late September, and loved it, but I'm thinking of heading down in January to fill the down time. Any thoughts on whether it would be worth it? Too cold to fish? What would be catchable? Specks in the marsh? I usually use finger mullet from a cast net, what bait would be available and work? I'd really appreciate any insight anyone has. I really could use a positive to look forward to!

Hopeful 🎣


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## SmoothLures (Feb 13, 2008)

Trout, red, black drum inshore. Live shrimp, the bait shops truck them in. Depends on water temps as to exactly what's going on. Call Jay Baisch at Baisch Boys Bait and Tackle and he'll give you a honest report and tell you where to go. 

You could catch a couple red or black drum and maybe some whiting in the surf or off the piers but it's 50/50 whether or not you even lose your bait. There could be clear nose skates and dogfish. The offshore fishing is usually hot if you want to ride to the gulf stream.


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## Hopeful (Sep 3, 2018)

Thanks for your insight. I could deal with some specks and reds. Skates? Even though they pull like Mack trucks, I'm not a fan.


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## rickyble (Apr 28, 2011)

Hopeful said:


> It is starting to look like I'll have the month of January off, involuntarily. I've fished the surf and the marshes (from a kayak) into late September, and loved it, but I'm thinking of heading down in January to fill the down time. Any thoughts on whether it would be worth it? Too cold to fish? What would be catchable? Specks in the marsh? I usually use finger mullet from a cast net, what bait would be available and work? I'd really appreciate any insight anyone has. I really could use a positive to look forward to!
> 
> Hopeful 🎣


i have fished jan and feb and caught fish in the marsh ...off the marshwalk pier...mostly flounder


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## Hopeful (Sep 3, 2018)

Thanks for the info, I'm a bit surprised at the flounder, but hey, it doesn't much matter what tightens the line to me, just that the potential exists!


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## SmoothLures (Feb 13, 2008)

Hopeful said:


> Thanks for your insight. I could deal with some specks and reds. Skates? Even though they pull like Mack trucks, I'm not a fan.


There are a lot of clearnose skates and dogfish in the surf/piers when the water temp is in the 50s.


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## BeachLife (Nov 14, 2020)

Hopeful said:


> Thanks for the info, I'm a bit surprised at the flounder, but hey, it doesn't much matter what tightens the line to me, just that the potential exists!


Theres flounder here in the winter but mostly juveniles up to 18-24 months old. The big breeders and older males are out on the continental shelf in Jan & Feb. Min size limit on flounder is 15", so there might be few oddball keepers around. Creel limit is 10, but that shouldn't be an issue in the winter.

If our friend is catching them on the Marsh Walk that would kind of make sense, since its lit up and might attract bait fish.

In Jan & Feb your best bet are probably going to be speckled trout & black drum, and if you get on or near any of the rock jetties, those are always prime hunting grounds. Even better if you can pull it off, is at the very end of the jetties on first couple hours of outgoing and incoming, although standing on a jetty on incoming can be dangerous.

My dad would fish incoming at Indian River Inlet (DE) back in the 70's & 80s. Used to be a tower on the end of the north jetty that he'd tie himself to so he wouldn't get swept away. Sometimes he fish all the way through the tide, and many times he was the only guy with any fish, and he normally had a stringer or two slung over his back filled with big stripers & trout. He liked drifting sand fleas or throwing a white popeye style bucktail tipped with a chartreuse or while grub.

Live shrimp, dead shrimp, mud minnows, crabs, (blue or fiddler), sandfleas (aka mole crabs), frozen squid are all good bait options depending on whats available.


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## saltwaterron47! (Mar 14, 2017)

when is best time in January and February for trout around pawleys


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