I trailer a boat to the Georgetown/Pawleys area to visit family and always do a little fishing. Mostly fish the Wacamaw but recently I have been trying to learn Winyah bay and also North Inlet. I take it easy in Winyah because it’s a tricky shallow mother fricker. Any tips on navigating it would be greatly appreciated.
Get a nautical chart for the bay. That will give you an idea of areas to watch out for. Keep an eye on the tide and wind direction. That place can get nasty in a hurry.
18’ Hewes Bayfisher
I live in Georgetown and the bay can be a little tricky if you have a gps unit pay close attention to the numbers in the water section of the map these are mean low water depths, and travel accordingly to those depts. Around the islands give yourself a plenty of room around each end for the points do come way out and it becomes a problem at about 1/2 tide. As far as Jones creek going to North Inlet unless you can follow someone take it easy. Stay to the left going in and to the right coming back around 20-25 feet off of the bank. As you are going up Jones from Muddy bay around 1/2 to 3 quarters of a mile in the creek will open up. This is a tricky spot. If you go strait their is a big mudflat right there. you will need to take a hard left and hug the far bank around the curve and then break back across the creek to run the rest of the way to the inlet. The best way I have found to run the creek is on low water so you can see all of the oyster beds and mud flats . It is a real tricky place so be careful. Good luck and tight lines the fishing is good right now .
What Todd said. Also fish the jetties. Lots of fish, and lots of room.
avoid muddy bay… watch the tips of islands (some have old pillions and some have debris scattered… i would avoid mother nortonas well… your your dead set on the north inlet and jones creek seems sketch(it can be without help) run out past the jetty’s and north. the sand bar in the entrance can be tricky at times. like others have said knowing the north inlet is a bit of the key… ive seen people hug the bank…
i had a navionics platnium+ map on a lowrance hds gen2 for the area and seen almost 0 difference in the loaded map… winyah bay seems to be a ghost story to chart companies…a few of the dnr numbers do not exist… the “artificial reefs” were never dropped i have ran them all in the bay with hd down scan/side scan and come up dry as a bone. winyah bay has almost 0 traffic compared to Charleston… so it gets 0 attention as far as support thats my opinion…
my advice on the jetties is dont follow anything up the north inside if it has a jack plate with a 150-200 i have seen to many people follow the wrong boat and get in trouble. just stick in the shipping channel and avoid the big sand bar… play it safe… allot of people fish the dog leg and the tips… i guess its preference
no mans friend is called no mans friend for a reason…my girlfriends from georgetown took my boat up there let her dad captain because he’s fished there his whole life and he works at baruch… he even drug the bottom a few times…as far as the fishing thought this would help a bit…
http://www.southcarolinasportsman.com/details.php?id=1579
Those reefs were dropped. I fished them after with little to no success. They have probably been been moved around and busted up with the current. I could produce some killer structure and would do so if I was year round there. I think if they just dropped a crap load of rip rap in some areas it would bring in reds, trout, sheeps, and black drum. There are plenty of places that get tidal movement, but not hard current. When I retire, I will start this project, fiddy pounds at a time…