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01/25/12
"Loving It!" Shallow Minded
Normally this time of year I am searching for a flight to somewhere much further south because of the cold. This has been a much different winter than what we have seen for a very long time, tempertures in the high 60's and low 70's have prevailed over the normal 40's and 50's that we normally see. The Redfish have schooled up thick and at times we have seen them in groups of close to a hundred, sounds crazy, but true. Mark Stacy, Terry Helms and I fished a group of fish on Monday that was easily 100 fish maybe more, and they were nice upper slot sized fish, most pushing 7 or 8 lbs. We have had a few slower trips too where we only scraped out a handfull of fish, but I feel most of this is because we were just a little bit behind the tide. New moon tides have made it a little tougher to predict and 30 or 45 minutes can be the difference in catching 20 or just 5, that's fishing! Overall I have been really fired up about the weather, the repeat clients that are calling and the abundance of Redfish that are hanging out in our backwater creeks. The long range weather forecast is for more of the same great weather that we have already seen. I am really looking forward to the upcoming weeks and hopefully the weather will remain consistent as this is looking like the best winter for business that I have seen. Thank you all that have and are scheduled to fish with me, I really appreciate your business.
Capt.Mark
01/17/12
"Weekly Update" Shallow Minded
   
The Redfish and Trout bite has remained really solid over the past week. Redfish have been patrolling the shallows all over, Shallote River, edges of the I.C.W. and Dunn Sound are just a few places that have been consistently producing fish. The Trout bite has been decent and at times incredible in the canals behind Cherry Grove, Ocean Isle and Holden Beaches. Chartruese Trout killers by Sea Striker on 1/4 or 1/8 oz. jigheads have been working best for the Trout while Gulp Shrimp or the new Gulp Flats Worm has been my preferred bait for the Reds. It was 65 degrees here today and the forecast is for more of the same, do yourself, your kids and or anybody else in your family a favor and get outside and enjoy some of our state's beautiful coast. Catch you guys on another tide!
Capt.Mark
01/04/12
Tide and Weather are Right! Shallow Minded
We have been slammed by a Northern cold front that has barely brought the Mercury above freezing the past couple of days. I'm not complaining after all the beautiful weather that we have experienced, and honestly we needed it to cool off some. When the water gets in the high 40's the Redfish tend to be not quite as spunky and settle into their winter haunts away from the Dolphins that patrol the edges of the I.C.W. The fish school in large groups, sometimes in the hundreds and become much more predictable and easy to target if you have the right type of boat to target them. This is when a "flats style boat" a true "technical poling skiff" is called for. Flat bottom skiffs and Jon Boats will not work as well because you need a boat that has zero hull slap or noise to really get on the fish in super shallow water. Thus was the case today, as we saw fish literally with their backs out the water, and although we only caught two 22 inchers (both on fly) we never really tried fishing Gulp baits on spinning gear. I'm quite confident after seeing how these fish responded to flies as to what would have happened if we would have thrown Gulps at them. I still have a couple of trips open this weekend and with the tide right and the weather forecast almost perfect now is the time for you to get down here and give this fishery a shot! I ended up catching a cold last week and we did not make the trip down to North Inlet but we still have future trips planned and will hopefully help you guys beat the winter blues with this report. Please keep the feedback coming as I look forward to hearing your reports and about your fishing adventures. Happy New Year!
Capt.Mark
12/20/11
"Shallow Minded Adventures"
    
There is still some great fishing here along the Grand Strand and the weather has been Awesome (70 degrees today). Last week Capt. Mark Stacy and I took a break from the local fishing scene and headed south to Folly Beach to fish with Capt. Gresh Megget of Reel Screamer Charters. The plan was to chase a few skinny water Redfish in the backwaters near historic Morris Island. Capt. Gresh is a native of this area and is full of information about the history of this area and the Civil War battles that took place near here. Within minutes of the dock he had us working three nice groups of Redfish in really shallow water, Mark's first cast produced a 23 incher. That's basically how the rest of the afternoon went, we would pole the boat into casting range, catch a fish or two and then would have to pole back up to the school and catch some more. The Dolphins moved in to feed and crashed our party busting the schools up and that's when we decided to call it quits and headed back to the dock. Thanks to Capt. Gresh for his hospitality and I certainly am looking forward to getting back down there again real soon.
Mark and I loaded the boat and decided to head back north to Georgetown and spend the night so we could catch the tide right in North Inlet the next day. Terry Helms meet us the next morning and after a quick breakfast the three of us loaded up and started across Winyah Bay. It was a beautiful morning and you could feel the anticipation as we have had great sucess in this area in trips past. We fished hard all day in all the creeks that we had caught fish before leaving no Oyster rock unturned, but it was just not meant to be. Finally at the end of the day, just as we were running out of daylight we found a good group of fish and Mark got the "Skunk" out of the boat catching a solid 22 incher. It was still a blast fishing there with a couple of good friends and I can't wait for the next trip.
I have not fished the past couple of days so I went out scouting today in advance of some upcoming trips just to get a feel for what's going on here in Little River. The backwater creeks were alive today, glass minnows, mullets, loads of Redfish and even a few Trout were very active in just about every spot that I ventured into. The mission of my trip was just to spot a few fish in the shallows and not to sore mouth the local population. The mission was quickly accomplished after I spotted several large schools of smaller Reds in the 16-20 inch class, I could not resist and caught a couple of 17-18 inch Reds on Gulp swimming minnows. I brought along my fly rod and it was just too pretty of a day not to give it a shot and since I was by myself I knew that I would not get the normal ridicule from my usual fishing partner. I spotted a group of what I thought was two or three nicer fish working a oyster bar just up the creek and started easing to them. I was running the trolling motor painfully slow making sure that I did not make too much noise and blow my shot, but the fish must have sinced something and stayed just out of my casting range. Finally after a long stalk I got a chance and sure enough made an absolute horrible cast behind the fish. But wait they did not move and what I thought was 2 or3 fish was actually 8 or 9 and they were nice ones in the 26 to 30 inch class. Quickly I fired another shot in there and this time my spoon fly luckily landed perfect, strip strip, fish's gils flared and he ate, hooked up! After a true fight and a mighty effort the 28 incher was brought boat side for release. At 28 inches and 8 lbs it was my personal largest Redfish on the fly and man was I pumped up! I'm looking forward to fishing with clients in the next few days but one way or the other I'll be out there. I want to thank all my new and repeat folks out there for another great year and wish all ya'll a very Merry Christmas. Stay tuned for more reports as rumor has it that the Shallow Minded Mafia has called for an all out assault on the North Inlet Redfish the first of next week. Catch you guys on another tide.
Capt.Mark
12/06/11
"December Sun Burn!" Shallow Minded
Wow it's hard to beleive that I came home today from fishing with a sun burnt face, but I did. Stupid me should have known better but you just don't think about putting on sunscreen in the Carolinas in December. Our Speckled Trout fishing has been one of the best in history; granted most are a little on the smaller side, but the numbers have been terrific. From the the Little River Swing Bridge to the Sunset Beach Bridge, Trout have been caught on DOA shrimp or Halo shrimp in very consistent numbers. South of the Little River Swing Bridge there has been a very steady Trout and Striped Bass bite from the guys trolling Rattle Traps and soft plastic minnow immitations on jigheads. I have been focusing most of my efforts on the winter Redfish population, but due to the warm weather they seem to still be in fall mode and not schooled up like they should be. We have seen and caught quite a few but the big numbers are just not there yet. I must congratulate Brandon Sauls and Nesbit Noble for smoking the big Speckled Trout today on the jetty's bringing a nice 5.9 and 6.0 lber to the dock. I must also mention Terry Helm's 10 plus lb Striper caught this afternoon near the NMB Main St. bridge, way to go guys! It is hard to update this report in the busy summer months but I do my best and hopefully my winter reports will help you beat the winter blues. Stay tuned, the ""Shallow Minded Captains" have lots of winter excursions planned and we'll keep you posted about our fishing adventures!
Capt.Mark
11/05/11
"Trout and Reds" Shallow Minded
    
Well folks the big Reds that have been out at the inlet have come and gone for the most part. We have switched gears and started focusing on the backwater Redfish and Speckled Trout that have been hanging out in the I.C.W. The Trout fishing has been unreal lately and 30 plus fish days have been the norm. Most have been just undersized but after the doom and gloom fish kill reports from last winter this is very encouraging. The Redfish are just starting to school in all sizes and with cooler temperatures coming this will become more common as they start to inhabit their winter haunts. We fish year around here and some of our best fishing is in the winter where sight fishing for Reds in shallow water is a blast. Give me a call for some great shallow water action.
Capt.Mark
Capt.Mark
10/13/11
"Serious Fishing" Shallow Minded
    
After several days of adverse weather, the conditions have finally gotten right and the fish that we all new were here are biting. The big Redfish are chewing at the inlet and inside I found quite a few nice Trout along the edge of the I.C.W. Floating live shrimp for Trout is a sure fire way to catch them if they are there. The Big Reds can't refuse a fat pogy or medium size mullet but don't count out chunks of crab as the fishing pressure increases. Meanwhile inside the backwater creeks fellow fishing friend Terry Helms caught 8 or 9 nice Redfish up to 30 inches in the shallows while Capt. Mark Stacy reported some nice Flounder and plenty of Black Drum behind Ocean Isle Beach. We have also caught a few King Mackerel along the beach front near Cherry Grove Pier recently, thus proving the fall bite is on. The weather is perfect and the fish are doing their thing so come on down and let's go get after them. Catch you guys later.
Capt.Mark
09/25/11
"More Redfish" Shallow Minded
Capt.Mark
09/21/11
"Reds" Shallow Minded
   
It's pretty simple, go to Little River Inlet and put a live bait on the bottom and you will get bit. The Redfish bite has been really good out there this week, and although it is a little crowded everyone has been respectful to clear lines or motor out of the way of hooked up anglers. The bite should remain strong for at least two more weeks and we should see some larger fish move in soon. The fishing is good here now and despite the weather I am looking forward fishing the inlet for the next couple of weeks. The backwater fishing will "fire off" in late November and we will fish the shallows all winter in the 17 foot Phantom flats boat. The winter flats fishing is based on tide and we only run one 4 hour trip a day and these slots are fillilng fast. The best fishing of the year is slowly approaching and if you want to get hooked up give me a call. Catch you guys on another tide.
Capt.Mark
09/01/11
"FISHING SKINNY" Shallow Minded
   
Some folks think the name of my boat; Shallow Minded has a lot to do about me, but really it has all to do about where I like to fish and the way that I like to fish in really shallow water that you can see the fish that you are in pursuit of. Summer fishing demands fishing in deeper water at times to be the most productive, but now as fall approaches and the weather starts to cool the backwaters start to heat up, fishing wise. For the past several days I have concentrated on fishing the shallow flats on the flood tide and have been amazed at the amount of life and activity that is up there. These areas only have water on them at positive tides which we have been seeing this week due to the new moon and North to East winds. I watched two Redfish today eat baits at less than 20 feet from the boat and they never knew we were there. The big Redfish have shown up at the inlet and rising tide is best, we have seen fish up to 42 inches but if it's like last year they will get bigger in the next few weeks. Please call if interested in a fishing trip and I'll get back to you in the late afternoon. catch ya'll on another tide!
Capt.Mark
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