# Hilton Head Island, S.C. July 14th-24th.



## HOUSE

Anyone else going to be down there next week? (7/14-7/24) I'll be surf fishing down by North Forest Beach helping my little brother try to impress the girls with those infamous 1-2ft sharks and stingrays. I'll be biking solo around the island early/late stalking some inshore trout/reds if they are where I think they are. Anyone want to team up? I might be renting a kayak for a day.

-House

I'll post pics/report when I return.

I've seen some other posts regarding HHI. You might find these links helpful:

SC DNR: http://www.dnr.sc.gov/fishing.html

TIDES: http://www.dnr.sc.gov/news/tide.html

SATURDAY, July 14
04:51 AM 4.45 H
10:56 AM 0.35 L
05:25 PM 5.45 H
11:55 PM 0.93 L

SUNDAY, July 15
05:42 AM 4.49 H
11:44 AM 0.27 L
06:13 PM 5.6 H

HHI FISHING INFORMATION: http://www.hhisleinfo.com/fishing.htm

FISHING REPORTS/FORUMS: http://messageboard.scfishingreport.com/viewforum.php?f=407&sid=2c5360106288605a307aed4602b4c14b


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## imalt

good luck on your trip


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## CHOPIQ

Good luck Warehouse.Let us know how you do.


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## HOUSE

Day 1 surf fishing started off promising. I was catching whiting and grunts pretty fast on fishfinder rigs tipped with shrimp and squid. Kind of typical, every year one bait seems to out-perform the other, and this year squid seems to be drawing more attention. I caught a 9inch whiting and had it all rigged up for Shamoo, when Johnny Lifeguard came over and rained on my parade. NO SHARK FISHING! The old "cobia fishing" didn't seem to work on him so I packed up early. 5 fish on the fishfinder rig, 1 ray on the main line. Hopefully a new lifeguard in the morning and a few sharks to give the tourists something to photograph. Vampire trout hunting later tonight...
-House

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## FishDork

Good luck, i'll be down there in early august, seem to always do good using shrimp/squid and cut mullet from the surf (sea pines). Caught a few nice sharks on cut mullet last year.

Has anyone tried using sabiki rigs to catch bait from the surf? i've search but can't seem to find if its legal in SC or not. I've seen people using throw nets but i suck at throwing them


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## HOUSE

I had a sabiki rig tied on one of my rigs this morning but it didn't seem to do as well for me as a fishfinder rig on a longer pole. I had most hits from bait by casting it out to the far end of this sandbar. The problem is...its out there pretty far-a good 20yards from shore until the lowest tide.. I saw some kid throwing banannas with a cast net and might see if I can recruit him for some bait if I show him how to toss it. Otherwise I'm going to start keeping some of these little guys and "sacrificing" them where the lifeguard can't see me. 
Johnny Lifejacket just yelled at me again for fishing in "his" section of the public beach. He might be the next one going in. This is going to be a long week!

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## joel_fishes

Warehouse,
I've read your past posts (and Intracoastal's) and printed out your map. Thanks for all the information you have provided for people that haven't been to HH before. I will be down there next week, so if you have any suggestions and are willing to share, I'd appreciate it. I was planning to hit some of the tidal creeks with a shrimp/bobber rig and see what happens.

Thanks,
Joel


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## HOUSE

Joel, I'm down here now so I'll have some fresh information for you. So far it's been pretty good. Lots more family stuff going on this year, so I've only gotten out twice. More reports to come.

I went out this morning on my bike and covered 11miles hounding vampire trout and reds. High tide was at 6:45am and I started an hour ahead of time to get to some of my favorite spots. This year I'm staying down near Coligny so I hit 2 of the ponds off Pope and then the ponds at Shipyard's 2 entrances. I caught a nice bass on a Pop-R before sunrise and had a close call when I spooked an alligator hidden near a laydown that I stumbled upon...a good reminder that I wasn't fishing in Ohio anymore. Have to be extra careful down here. 
I caught a few small junkfish in those lagoons and biked down farther to Palmetto Dunes and Shelter Cove. I hit a nice speckled trout right off the bat as high tide peaked and then had a beautiful red slam a DOA shrimp and peel off line in the same area. It broke off on a bridge piling and took the lure with him. I switched to a long white swimbait and caught two more trout. The were jumping everywhere in the bigger lagoons there and seemed to be feeding on 3inch baitfish, silver bellies and black backs. I caught one on a Smack Tackle Giz3 and a Matzuo stickbait. I also caught the world's largest Pinfish on a BPS plastic minnow. 
Pictures and videos are on my camera so you'll have to wait, I'll try to get some on my phone tomorrow.
-House

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## imalt

I want to see some sharks


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## joel_fishes

Any particular structural areas I should look for when fishing for reds/trout? Current breaks when the tide is flowing? Grass edges? Depend upon the day? Never been to HH, so just kind of guessing. We'll be at the north end of the island not far from Chapin Park.

Joel


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## UFM82

Shark fishing off the beach is illegal ad that's why Johnny stopped you. You were lucky to not get a citation. 

That being said, I don't think I can stop a shar from biting my bait, can I??

I'll be there starting July 29th for week. Can you pm me with your locations and tips? I'll be surf-casting and fishing accessible areas as the resort I am staying at does not allow boat/trailer parking. 

UFM82


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## FishDork

UFM82 said:


> Shark fishing off the beach is illegal ad that's why Johnny stopped you. You were lucky to not get a citation.
> 
> That being said, I don't think I can stop a shar from biting my bait, can I??
> 
> I'll be there starting July 29th for week. Can you pm me with your locations and tips? I'll be surf-casting and fishing accessible areas as the resort I am staying at does not allow boat/trailer parking.
> UFM82


I dont think they can't stop you from fishing if you just say your fishing for something else, if you catch a shark your just suppose to release them. however i dont think its legal to fish at all from a designated swimming area in HHI, at least thats what this link says 'http://www.hhisleinfo.com/fishing.htm' that WAREHOUSE provided.

we stay in sea pines and theres no lifeguards on that stretch of the beach


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## HOUSE

imalt said:


> I want to see some sharks





> I want to see some sharks


I've been slacking on the surf fishing this trip, sorry! I only hit the beach one time so far, it's just too crowded. We are staying at Seacrest and there are two public beach access points here from Coligny...so it's pretty packed. 

I went out last night after dinner and this morning to test a theory about the tides. I hit 3 lagoons with pipes leading to the intercoastal waterway and had mixed sucess. High tide seems to get some activity going, but I had very overcast/rainy, windy skies both times and bait seemed to be scattered. The first day that went so well was very clear and I could see large pods of baitfish (silversides or shad) in the open water and black/gray baitfish along the shores which I think are menhaden. Today and last night I couldn't find a pattern or a lure they wanted. I saw reds cruising the rocks near shore today 15min after high tide, sure wish I had some shrimp. I saw 3 massive trout last night also cruising the area but couldn't land one. Some guys across from me hit a trout on a white stickbait and said they got 2 reds the day before. I only caught 3 pinfish looking things and another speckled trout to brag about. I biked 7miles looking for these guys...I should have hit the beach!

Time for a few drinks. I'll get a shark for you tomorrow morning Imalt 


I might go out two more times- tomorrow morning surf and afternoon lagoonin'. I need to get another DOA shrimp type lure or something dark that resembles these baitfish cruising around.

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## jleegill

I will be heading down first week in August. Can't wait !!


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## HOUSE

Well guys, I just got back...sad to be back in my office, but glad I had a good trip. I didn't get many more fishing hours in after my last post, but I did venture down to Seapines and also fish the surf one last time at night. Seapines was pretty awesome, most of the lagoons are connected by a winding mess of creeks that were exploding with activity. There were large schools of fish pushing 12 inches in most of the connecting waterways outside of the big nature preserve along Lawton Canal Rd. I fished inside the park there and caught black crappie of all things. I saw a few alligators and lots of cool birds, but didn't catch anything exciting. They are in there, though. I've fished there before and caught some big bass, but it gets a lot of pressure.
Surf fishing at night was a bust. I went out at high tide around 10pm but had to get up at 6am to leave so I had most of my gear packed up. I really just went down there to hang out with my brother and sister one last time. On the second cast my reel snapped shut during a cast and my terminal tackle snapped off and went flying through the air out into the ocean. My siblings didn't see it happen so I played it off like I was still fishing and pretended to get a big hit which broke my line moments later. They bought it, but I took it as a sign that the fishing gods were angry with me, so I packed it up for the night. 

Overall, the trip was awesome. I spent a lot more time with my family and only fished the surf twice, so I can't really comment much on the surf fishing this year. For the record, this was my first trip to the island without catching any sharks. That's going to bug me for a year. I did have over 5 big hits, but they just didn't get caught on my circle hooks. Grrr...I learned a few good tips for surf fishing though. While finding bait with my fishfinder rigs, I focused more on casting to the depressions that were exposed during low tide rather than casting really far out. I had non-stop action from areas that were sometimes only 5ft away from me. I also brought down super sharp hooks from Trokar that made a world of difference. I think they were size 4 straight worm hooks, and the fishfinder rig was one of those cheap $0.99 contraptions from Walmart (slightly modified). I know a lot of people complain about getting their bait stolen. I was setting the hook the second I felt a tap and got them almost every time with these sharp hooks and a small piece of shrimp. I had a 9ft rod with a very flexible tip...next year I'll probably just bring a smaller rod with faster action to help set the hook better. The tide and wind really add a lot of slack line, so it's hard to get a good hook set on these little ninjas. Keeping the rod tip down helped, as well as using smaller hooks. 

I focused most of my time chasing reds and speckled trout this year. I found them, and really thought I had them figured out after the first day that went so well, but I lost a lot of my good lures to oyster beds and bridge pilings, so bring extra lures with you since finding tackle on the island is so hard to come by. I really liked the DOA shrimp and soft plastic swimbaits (paddle tails) this year. A big bucket of Gulp Alive shrimp might have been the best thing to bring. A local told me the "Glow" color was his favorite, followed closely by the "New Penny" color. I don't think color mattered as much as fish behavior and weather, however. Clear stable weather on the first day allowed me to target bait fish schools in the middle of lagoons, while increasing winds on the trip really had the bait scattered. There were trout jumping out every day I went out, so I know they were feeding. I saw reds swimming around as well on the first two trips out, but never again after that. I checked my usual spots on 4 different occasions at high tide (+/- 15 minutes) and never saw them again.

Odd trip overall for fishing. Limited beach fishing due to crowds, and I was staying very far from my usual favorite inland lagoons. I had to bike 5 miles to get to my spots so I just didn't have enough time to fish for them thoroughly enough. I hope I didn't disappoint anyone expecting big numbers and bigger stories. Good luck to anyone else going down there. Feel free to contact me for information or maps, I've got a lot more thoughts on fishing HHI that I'll save for another day. I'll post pictures of what I caught when I upload my camera later tonight.


PS: For you guys going down, be sure to check the traffic reports. There was a landslide just outside of Jellico, TN that has the highway down to one lane. It wasn't too bad going down there but on the way back we lost an hour or more sitting in traffic. The construction ironically is centered around "Stinking Creek Rd". Here's a map of the construction in TENN: http://ww2.tdot.state.tn.us/tsw/smartmap.htm


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## joel_fishes

What size hooks do you use with the Gulp shrimp? Lost 2 fish in one of the park ponds this morning. Went to another spot and saw a lot of redfish and trout cruising just below the surface. Had a few half-hearted takes on the cork/shrimp combo, but didn't hook anything. Had a shrimp on the bottom that got some takes, but didn't hook any of those either. I was using a 3/0 Kahle style hook. Didn't seem like it was too big for redfish or trout. Makes me wonder if it was smaller fish grabbing the tail of the shrimp.

Joel


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## HOUSE

joel_fishes said:


> What size hooks do you use with the Gulp shrimp? Lost 2 fish in one of the park ponds this morning. Went to another spot and saw a lot of redfish and trout cruising just below the surface. Had a few half-hearted takes on the cork/shrimp combo, but didn't hook anything. Had a shrimp on the bottom that got some takes, but didn't hook any of those either. I was using a 3/0 Kahle style hook. Didn't seem like it was too big for redfish or trout. Makes me wonder if it was smaller fish grabbing the tail of the shrimp.
> 
> Joel


Check out this video from the late Jose Webe: 





I used a lot of his ideas and fish mine with a swimbait hook just like in his video. I had some of these hooks in my tacklebox from my bass fishing gear. If not using those, I'd go with a jighead. I've got to think it was a 4/0 size hook at least for a 3" shrimp. I think you're right about the fish hitting the end and not the hook, it happens quite a bit. I think the color or scent might be slightly off for them to not commit fully to the strike when that happens.


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## hardwaterfan

interesting reading house, thanks for the reports and info.


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## jleegill

Warehouse thanks for all the info, I am heading down the first week in August. I usually spend most of my time fishing in the surf. I really haven't done much lagoon fishing. If you had to choose just TWO lures for the lagoon what would you recommend ?


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## HOUSE

jleegill said:


> Warehouse thanks for all the info, I am heading down the first week in August. I usually spend most of my time fishing in the surf. I really haven't done much lagoon fishing. If you had to choose just TWO lures for the lagoon what would you recommend ?


I'll give you my top 3 choices for lagoons down there. 
1) Live shrimp free-lined
2) Shrimp & popping cork
3) Artificial Shrimp
 see a trend?

I've had good luck with DOA Shrimp for artificials but I always forget to bring extras. A red took me right under a bridge piling early in this last trip and I lost my only one. You wont find them for sale anywhere on the island 

GULP alive shrimp would be my next choice. They are pretty much the same thing as the DOA but you have the option to hook them differently. I've always been told to go with the Glow or New Penny color.

Lastly, I really like the soft plastic minnow baits down there for trout, but it's hard to pick just one color ahead of time. They seemed to like white this trip, although I'd liked to have had a gray/black back colored one to match the 3-5in baitfish swimming around. I was throwing this Strike King Redfish Magic Spinner (white) but I took off the spinner due to very clear water conditions: 
http://www.basspro.com/Strike-King-Redfish-Magic-Saltwater-Spinnerbait/product/59508/93658
A Gulp mullet in smoke color would have been a perfect choice for the trout I think:
http://www.berkley-fishing.com/products/soft-bait/gulp/swimming-mullet-gulp

(Other notable lures I liked: Smack Tackle's GIZ3 and Seabile's Magic Swimmer- I think they resemble the baitfish down there even though they are both shad patterns.)

-House

(PS: I still haven't had time to upload any pictures, sorry. It's been a zoo catching up with things this week)


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## jleegill

Thanks house. I will definetly put some time in on the lagoons. Any favorite spots that are easily accessible from North Forest Beach area


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## HOUSE

jleegill said:


> Thanks house. I will definetly put some time in on the lagoons. Any favorite spots that are easily accessible from North Forest Beach area


I was just down there at North Forrest Beach @ Seacrest. The beach is pretty packed, so you might not have the best fishing on the surf once the people start showing up around 10am. Hopefully, high tide hits you before then.

Inshore, I fished a few of the lagoons along Pope. There is a really nice lagoon inside Shipyard but I forgot to check if you can still get to it by sneaking in off Waterside Rd (off Pope). The lagoon on Waterside is okay to fish though.

All of the good ponds down that way are inside Seapines or 5+miles up 278 near Shelter Cove. You can still sneak into Seapines, however, if you go back to the school on Fox Grape Rd. Hopefully, none of the guards are reading this thread  The lagoons along the way there are the ones I posted about that were crawling with fish 2 weeks ago.

I love all of these HHI threads, keep 'em coming! They get me one step closer to next summer's vacation 

-House


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## jleegill

Thanks for all the info House. I will be leaving Friday. I plan on taking a pond pole or two. The map is great. Hopefully I will get some time to fish the lagoons. I will let you know how I do. One other question. With the non residence license purchased is that good for the lagoons also ? 

Again thanks for all your tips !

jleegill


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## HOUSE

jleegill said:


> One other question. With the non residence license purchased is that good for the lagoons also ? jleegill


The SC DNR has a very cool interactive map showing the dividing line between fresh/saltwater. HHI is entirely in the saltwater division.


Here's a link to the SC DNR website for fishing licenses for anyone that needs it. They keep weekly tide information on there that helps a lot, too:
http://www.dnr.sc.gov/licenses/pricingnonresident.html

Annual Freshwater Fishing License $35.00
7-day Freshwater Fishing License $11.00
Annual Saltwater Fishing License $35.00
*14-day Saltwater Fishing License $11.00*


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## jleegill

House your a wealth of knowledge !

I will post on your thread if / WHEN I catch the big ones !

Thanks a lot
Jay


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## jleegill

House

Well wish I had better things to report. Caught a total of four croakers on the beach. Nothing in the lagoons in Palmetto Dunes. Fishing was SLOW. Not one ray, shark, or anything else from the surf. There were three of us fishing everyday. Think we got a total of 14 croaker. Did catch a few shark on a night charter. My dad caught a nice black tip for eating. We grilled him up at home ... really good eating. Dad also caught about a 75 -100 lb ray and a 150 lb Tarpon on the charter. The Tarpon was really exciting. I hooked into a bull shark that was estimated at 150 lbs on a rod with 25 lb test. He played around with me for about 20 minutes before he decided he was done and swam off. Never got a good look at him. But I will be at it again next year. Vacation was great ... you know what they say. " The worst day fishing beats the best day at work anytime !

Later
Jay


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## HOUSE

Hey, at least you guys caught some cool fish. I would have felt bad if you had to eat some of those croakers  What charter did you go out on? A 150# tarpon would sure be a good fish story, wow.


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## jleegill

Fished on the Bulldog out of Chart House docks. Pretty much stayed in the river in a couple of deep holes. The tarpon was OFF THE HOOK. The captain said they only hook about 15 to twenty a year. Talk about being busy. I was impressed with the way they followed him that gave dad a fighting chance.

Heading out to a buddies now to bass fish, maybe a little cats later on. Went out there about three weeks ago and tore em up. Caught 8 bass that were 1 to 2 lbs one that was about 3.5. Five or six crappie that were two handers and a couple blue gills on steriods that attacked a floating rappala that was as big as they were !

I'll let you know how this one comes out

Later
Jay


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