Bottom fishing

Saltwater Offshore Discussion
1

Hey guys need help. I have always done trolling, but would love to try bottom fishing. Never done it before. Need everyone’s advice and input. Rigs, bait, locations, etc. Do I need to fish the reefs offshore to do it or look for live bottoms? Thanks

23 ft seafox twin optimaxs

2

I have done both the live bottom areas as well as the artificial reefs. I usually use a set up with a carolina rig and you can use many different types of bait whether its live or frozen bait. Be sure to check the rules and regulations in the DNR book.

3

Bottom fishing is not rocket science. Grab a mapsunique and search from 1 of about 67 million google articles on it for the “chicken rig”. Grab some squid and get some non-stop action. The hardest part of bottom fishing is knowing the regulations which can be found here: http://www.safmc.net/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=FtE0cz%2BiZLg%3D&tabid=248

Ones that are not so apparent are to have a LEGAL dehooking device and LEGAL deflation tool on board (a rusty knife doesn’t count). How do you know if it’s legal? Buy it from a tackle shop. You also need to be using circle hooks. All of these are covered in the regs, but those are probably the most overlooked. Also, if you want to keep sharks of any kind, you need to purchase an HMS permit from NOAA which can also be found using google.

4

Not to hijack but does anybody know of a decent guide or book to all the common bottom species in SC? I have a few books but they cover soo many different fish it would be hard to flip through 300 pages if I pull something up I’m not sure of.

Mayhem
Pioneer 197

5
quote:
Originally posted by TTKarl

Not to hijack but does anybody know of a decent guide or book to all the common bottom species in SC? I have a few books but they cover soo many different fish it would be hard to flip through 300 pages if I pull something up I’m not sure of.

Mayhem
Pioneer 197

Shoot a private message to Phin. Trust me on this…

“I’m not a hundred percent in love with your tone right now…”

6

these are only 86 and 132 pages respectively…
http://saltwaterfishing.sc.gov/identification.html
this doesn’t provide visual ID but is only 11 pages…this stays in my tackle bag…
http://www.dnr.sc.gov/regs/pdf/saltwaterfishing.pdf

The Morris Island Lighthouse www.savethelight.org

7

Thanks for all the pointers!! Prob gonna try it Saturday if the weather is nice.

23 ft seafox twin optimaxs