Thread: Little Lagoon and surrounding area

Originally Posted by Dekuk

Just following on from your answer to question 1. What species are usually caught in the surf April time? I enjoyed catching Black Drum in South Carolina last year, and although there were not massive fish they put up a good fight.

In the surf, in April, I'm using peeled, fresh-dead shrimp on a carolina rig. You can expect to catch pompano (best tasting fish that swims), whiting, flounder, and redfish. You can also expect to catch an occasional small black drum (also very good on the grill) hardtail, hardhead catfish, and ladyfish.


In Little Lagoon, I've had most of my success with speckled trout, flounder and redfish. As noted in other posts, I prefer artificial bait, most notably a paddletail plastic bait. If you're getting ONLY bites from hardhead catfish because they're too numerous, then go to the paddletail baits. Come the first week of April, I'm fishing the pier for cobia, spanish mackerel, and sheephead (for which you'll want to use either live shrimp or live fiddler crabs).

Originally Posted by eym_sirius

In the surf, in April, I'm using peeled, fresh-dead shrimp on a carolina rig. You can expect to catch pompano (best tasting fish that swims), whiting, flounder, and redfish. You can also expect to catch an occasional small black drum (also very good on the grill) hardtail, hardhead catfish, and ladyfish.


In Little Lagoon, I've had most of my success with speckled trout, flounder and redfish. As noted in other posts, I prefer artificial bait, most notably a paddletail plastic bait. If you're getting ONLY bites from hardhead catfish because they're too numerous, then go to the paddletail baits. Come the first week of April, I'm fishing the pier for cobia, spanish mackerel, and sheephead (for which you'll want to use either live shrimp or live fiddler crabs).

Thanks. I have used artificial baits in Florida without much luck. I am not too clued up on artificial baits so may of been rigging them wrong, but if they help me avoid Catfish I will give them a go.

Originally Posted by Dekuk

Thanks. I have used artificial baits in Florida without much luck. I am not too clued up on artificial baits so may of been rigging them wrong, but if they help me avoid Catfish I will give them a go.

One of the great things about the paddletail baits (see pic) that I use is that they're rigged, ready to go. You just cast them out and retrieve them. I use a steady retrieve and vary the speed according to the depth that I want it to run. They're made of a tougher plastic than curly-tail baits that you put on a lead-head jig, so you experience, less, the problem of a fish biting the tail off of your plastic bait.

The downside to fishing paddletail baits is that they don't catch everything. You won't catch sheepshead or pompano on them. The upside to fishing paddletail baits is that -- they don't catch everything! You won't catch catfish or pinfish. You can catch flounder, redfish, speckled trout, bluefish, ladyfish, and maybe spanish mackerel (if your line is cut by a fish, it was likely a bluefish or spanish mackerel).

You'll want to use relatively light line and a rod/reel combination that can throw the paddletail bait a long way. Because the bait relies on movement, the longer the bait can stay in the strike-zone, the more fish you'll catch. Also key is confidence. Expect a bite on every cast and keep your focus. When you get into a pattern of casting out and reeling in, it's easy to let your mind wander and start thinking of your next cast or what you're going to have for dinner if you don't catch anything! Reflexively, come back on the fish, setting the hook immediately when you detect a strike. I like fishing with artificials because it's proactive and productive.

It's a versatile bait too!

You can vary the speed of the retrieve to work more of the water column and offer a different 'look' to fish that may have 'turned off'.
A slow retrieve just above the bottom increases the likelihood of 'close encounters' with flounder ;-)

Weight of the lure and bait size are a factor to consider with the depth you want to fish to get the presentation you want at a particular time or location.

What weight are those lures in your pic E_S?

Originally Posted by Pier#r

What weight are those lures in your pic E_S?

I lifted that pic from another site. A brand that I like a lot is "STORM", the "Wildeye Swim Shad". If it's reds and trout, I'll sometimes use a bigger bait, hoping to hook up with bigger fish. That'd be the 4", 7/16 oz.

I'll go down to 1/4 oz, 3", for flounder, just because they're bad to grab the back half of the bait and not get the hook. I'll let it sink to the bottom and keep the retrieval slow, if super-boring, for flounder.

I've absolutely killed flounder, before, using a 5" plastic worm with a U-Tail (Zoom) on a Carolina rig. It WAS a 6" motor-oil colored worm that I bit off the top inch or inch and a half, dragging a foot or so and pausing. The strike would feel like the peck from a spotted bass and I'd just set the hook immeditely. I don't know whether the flounder thought that it was, a shrimp or a small eel - or what, but it worked very well. I haven't tried it in years because I've had so much success with paddletail baits, but I probably need to revisit that technique in the coming year. I also caught many redfish on that same plastic worm setup.

Old timer on the eastern shore once told me that a small grape colored bass worm fished Carolina style or cut in half on a jig was the best bait ever for flounder.

Originally Posted by eym_sirius

The downside to fishing paddletail baits is that they don't catch everything. You won't catch sheepshead or pompano on them. The upside to fishing paddletail baits is that -- they don't catch everything! You won't catch catfish or pinfish. You can catch flounder, redfish, speckled trout, bluefish, ladyfish, and maybe spanish mackerel (if your line is cut by a fish, it was likely a bluefish or spanish mackerel).

.

Thanks for the help, If it helps me avoid Catfish and Pinfish I will give them a go.