Tarpon Fishing Report - Aug 2013

Tarpon fishing continues to be productive around the inlets and jetties south of Myrtle Beach, particularly in the Winyah Bay area. Despite the steady action, I don't think we're seeing the numbers of tarpon that we normally have this time of year. Frequent rains in June and July gave us our highest amount of rainfall that we've seen all year, as a result much of the baitfish have been flushed from the brackish tributaries that are normally full of mullet and feeding tarpon. Areas that normally hold good numbers of tarpon, only seem to have a few stragglers. The good news is that the "stragglers" are absolute pigs, and fish in the 140lb-150lb class are being caught. The rivers are also finally beginning to return to normal levels and bait fish are beginning to fill up in the brackish estuaries. I'm expecting the next 8 weeks of tarpon fishing to be the best we've seen all year. In fact, Capt. Steve of Barrier Island Guide Service reported catching 4 out of 5 tarpon hooked one day last week in Georgetown.

Here are a few pictures of a 140lb+ tarpon my good friend Blair Googer caught while drifting a live mullet along off beach near Pawleys Island.