It happens every year. A few people find the perfect weather day (always a week day) and head offshore. This normally happens in late February or early March and all of us say, “It’s going to be an early season”. The truth of the matter is that we have an early season every year and most of the time all it takes is a few adventurous anglers and some cooperative weather. The water temperatures generally begin to rise in mid-February in the lowcountry and as the temperatures rise so do the odds of finding some great action off our coast. A quick glance at last years reports page will show you that last year was “an early year”. There were many reports of tuna, wahoo, dolphin, a few marlin and Mako sharks caught last year in early March.
I have spoken with many of the anglers that enjoyed the early season success last year and they all said the same thing. First and foremost, they took a chance and went fishing. All of them picked a day where weather and sea conditions were favorable and safe. Each one also did their homework and took the time to view a sea surface temperature map to see where the warmer water was ripping from the Gulf Stream. Most of the fish were caught along the rips where they spotted birds and bait and many saw schools of tuna working bait on the surface. Everyone agreed that this time of year, more so than any other, it was crucial to find the warmer water. As spring progresses and the water warms fish spread out more, but during the early part of the season the pockets of warm water are much tighter and so are the schools of fish.
If you are not sure if this season is going to be an early season, all you really need to do is pick a good weather day and head offshore. There have already been some nice catches of wahoo, dolphin, and tuna and it is only a matter of days until someone hooks into a marlin.
One important thing to keep in mind about fishing offshore this time of year is the lack of crowds out there. During the peak months of April, May and June there are ma