May 15, 2020 Offshore Fishing Report
The best time for offshore fishing is here! The MAHI MAHI have shown up! Every late April/early may the Mahi Mahi and Blackfin Tuna show up in some pretty decent numbers off the coast of South Carolina. When they first show up they tend to be a little deep and close to the Gulf Stream and as May progresses they tend to come in a little closer in the 200-300′ range.
We started out the morning planning on going deep and deep as in 1000 to 1200′ of water in hopes of finding some nice weed lines or birds working some pelagic fish. We left the dock right at about 3:00AM to make sure we would beat the crowds as the word of the Mahi showing up got out pretty quick. We had about a 2.5- 3 hour boat ride so we showed up just in time to set the lines out before the sun came over the horizon. When the sun got high enough for us to actually see, we counted 26 boats around us! We were literally weaving in and out of boats hoping our long line didnt snag the guys shorts as we had to dodge boats LOL. We picked a few Mahi Mahi off in about 1200′ of water before deciding the large crowd just was not worth it anymore. We heard good reports over the radio of there being some fish a little shallower in 350- 400′ so we picked up and ran the 10 miles back west. Once we set the lines back out, it was game on! There were fish busting flying fish on the surface, birds working and just fish everywhere feeding! We instantly started chunking pieces of ballyhoo into the water and created a feeding frenzy while we baited spinning rods with ballyhoo on circle hooks. We all casted out and BAM! All four of us were hooked up to gaffer size Mahi Mahi and then the next thing I know we had 6 dolphin pounding the deck of the boat and then there was “high fives” all around! We worked a few more schools of fish and ended up heading back to the hill with 12 nice Mahi Mahi and was back before 2 o’clock.
Offshore fishing charters are a great way to fill the cooler and take some meat home. Unlike inshore fishing charters we are out there to catch legal sized fish that we intend on putting on ice! Not that we do not keep fish time to time inshore but if you are looking to load up the freezer or even have a fish fry, book you a offshore fishing charter today!