South Carolina Charters

Saltwater Fishing In South Carolina

South Carolina has mild winters, fertile waters, and 2,876 miles of shoreline, including bays and inlets on the Atlantic Ocean. Plenty of knowledgeable fishing guides and charter boats are available, too. All that adds up to some great saltwater fishing.

Offshore trolling for king mackerel is extremely popular with anglers. The state record fish weighed in at 62 pounds and was taken off Charleston. While trolling offshore, you might also catch bonito, barracuda, dorado, wahoo, bluefin tuna, and yellowfin tuna. The state record barracuda weighed 65 pounds and was landed off Georgetown, and the big dorado was a 74 pound-6 ounce fish that was caught off Mt. Pleasant. The winning wahoo, at 130 pounds, 5 ounces, was landed off Murrell’s Inlet. The record bluefin and the record yellowfin weighed 396 pounds, 14.4 ounces and 241 pounds, 12 ounces, respectively. South Carolina charter boats and their crews know the state’s waters well and can help you land a trophy.

The state has also produced some big billfish. The species that call these waters home include blue marlin, white marlin, sailfish, and swordfish. The largest of these was a blue marlin that weighed 881 pounds, 12 ounces. It was caught off the coast of Charleston. If you’re after a big billfish, South Carolina fishing charters can accommodate you.

Charter Fishing In South Carolina

Deep sea bottom fishing is also popular in the state, although it takes almost three hours to reach the Gulf Stream. Once you’re there, you’ll have ample chances to catch grouper, snapper, trigger fish, and sea bass. The largest grouper ever recorded in the state weighed 310 pounds, and largest snapper was a red that tipped the scales at 37.5 pounds. All these bottom fish are great on the table. South Carolina fishing boats for bottom fishing include charter boats and party boats.

Inshore fishing includes prowling the Intracoastal Waterway, Charleston Harbor, river mouths, and around jetties. Typical catches are redfish, spotted sea trout, sharks, sheepshead, and the occasional tarpon. The best South Carolina fishing guides for this type of fishing are usually those with smaller boats and shallow drafts.

Shark fishing is more popular than ever, and South Carolina is well blessed in this area because of the rich food supply. Shark species found in the state’s waters include the Atlantic sharpnose, the bigeye thresher, the bonnethead, the bull, the dusky, the finetooth, the lemon, the hammerhead, the sandbar, the sand tiger, the shortfin mako, the silky, the spinner, and the tiger shark. Among all of these, the most prized by anglers is the mako. These fish make numerous runs and leaps when hooked, and they get big. The South Carolina state record mako weighed almost 392 pounds. If you don’t want to go it alone in your hunt for “Jaws,” check out South Carolina fishing charters that specialize in shark fishing.