Never been saltwater fishin before and just bought a 185 scout Sportfish with a 115 Yamaha and decided to just go. Started working the jetties with squid about a foot off the bottom with no luck. Decided to man up an go out a little ways and found the first nearshore reef. Caught 4 sharp nose all three - four feet long and tons of Black Sea bass, but only five keepers. Had a blast and was my first time ever in saltwater never been so excited “and nervous at the same time” to be in the harbor and out in the ocean. Did catch this one fish and I think it’s a rock bass? Not sure. Any help and tips for next time I go out? I’m officially addicted!
Welcome to the site. Not much near shore just yet, last week the water temp was 45deg but there are plenty of Sheep’s on the near shore reefs.Good luck and keep posting!
Thanks, an much appreciated. Water temp was around 55 and it was about 30ft of water. Lost my anchor too, got stuck on reef I suppose. Greenhorn problem lol. Going to get me a gps so I can go farther but not sure how far my boat can handle. It’s great on gas an has about 50-65 gallon tank. Is squid an all around good bait? An what rig/bait do y’all use for sheepshead? Again all help is appreciated!
185 Scout Sportfish 115 Yamaha
“Every storm runs out of rain.”
carolina rig small hook (1/0) fiddler was the combo of the day on the sheeps. next time you have problems with the anchor let out line and back away from it the opposite way it was set sometimes the boat will pull it loose
Thanks I might try an fish for sheepshead this weekend. An I tried the boat pulling method, bout pulled my bow under the water. She was STUCK… I’ll give it a shot this weekend if weather permits an post some more pics! I’d also love to be a deckhand offshore or something I don’t know much but I’m not afraid of work to get some experience and I’m a quick usually self taught learner.
185 Scout Sportfish 115 Yamaha
“Every storm runs out of rain.”
Welcome. You need three things to get you started: a reef anchor see classifieds on this site under the services tab there is a guy who sells them cheap, next a depth finder with a GPS or a handheld, and lastly the ability to read the forecast. Checkout sailflow and the near shore forecast from NOAA. Good luck.
made my first attempt doing something other than inshore fishing this weekend. Unfortunately the only day I could try was Saturday (and I knew it might be dicey Saturday). I’ve had my boat for almost exactly one year so I’ve built some experience on the water, but a rough harbor is the most challenging thing I’ve tackled. I keep my boat at my parent’s place in Mt. P (I live in NC, so I can only make it down once or twice a month). My goal was to hopefully get out to Charleston Nearshore and bottom fish. The harbor wasn’t too bad, but at about 1/2 mile past Sumter the swells started getting bigger and they were pretty close together. I got about 1/3 or 1/2 way out the jetties and figured that it was probably best that I turn as I didn’t know what was ahead of me, but i did realize that things were progressively getting worse as I got further and further out. So I went back and tried to fish grillage for a bit. I tooled around for a while trying to read my depthfinder, which seems to read the bottom deeper than it is (as before I’d never really needed it except to inform me of when I’m really shallow) and then had a hard time getting anchored up, as I was by myself and only got to fish for about 30 minutes until I had to start getting back. Just bought a reef anchor and almost got that thing stuck somehow. (anchored up about 75 yards from the red bouy on the morris island side…not sure if that was the right place or not) Whatever I had it on I must’ve had it on good because i couldn’t pull it up under my own power…had to use the boat, but it came undone eventually. The tide was ripping out and 4oz weights were all I had. I don’t think my rigs (cut mullet) were actually on the bottom (got to get some heavier sinkers I guess). Anyway, needless to say, I got skunked, but I was glad I got out and gave it a go. Get to go down again this coming saturday, so hopefully I can do a little better and maybe have better conditions
Above mentioned items are a must.
Life saving equipment is an even higher priority…Spot or EPIRB, good vhf radio and a handheld backup, 12ga. flares…etc.
As for the anchor, a good reef anchor is really nice for fishing the artificial reefs which is probably where you will gain your most experience. Even then it needs to be rigged properly to release in case it too gets stuck. A Danforth style anchor can be used on the reefs but it has to be rigged to release from the top and pull from the bottom when it gets stuck, IT WILL GET STUCK.
Good luck and welcome to saltwater fishing, sounds like you have a nice rig to get you started.
One other thing, get you a bait board to handle the squid on and keep a “carwash” brush in the boat to immediately clean up the mess from the squid. Those things will stain your gelcoat and can be difficult to clean if allowed to dry.
Rock Sea Bass. Delicious. and very prickly! Watch for the gill plate.
Welcome! And good Luck!
Excited and nervous make for a responsible trip!!
Those sharp nose don’t make bad table fair/ fare sp.
Gut them, leaving head intact(for Mr. Green Jeans), rake the back bone and dip in the water a couple of times then put on ice. Great grilled or deep fried. Any Shark ill prepared is just plain nasty.
