Myrtle Beach in May

[Shady]

Im going to Myrtle beach in May for vacation. I want to fish atleast one day while I'm down there. I've been looking around at charters, headboats, and even toyed with the idea of either renting a kayak down there or just bringing my own to fish the Murrells inlet area. Does anyone have experience with any guides down there or have any kayak fishing knowledge for the area. Murrells inlet looks like a good place to yak fish.

BTW my wife is going with me on vacation so I would be bringing her along for any type of fishing I would be doing. She's fished with me several times over the years but she is not nearly as interested in fishing as me, but she said she would go if I set it up.

[Redfish12]

I've done pretty well from the Murrel's inlet jetty down there. There is a state park where you can walk out to the jetty from. It's a long walk and you never really know what you'll find out there. We have caught, specks, puppy drum, black drum, spanish mac, sharks, flounder, bluefish, croaker, etc from the same place.

If you take a kayak, check out the oyster recycling launch (it's freeee) of highway 17. Lots of back bay marsh areas for flounder, specks, reds. Watch out for the pinfish, they are relentless. They make good bait though!

No idea on guides, we usually just fish the jetty and I haven't had the chance to go with kayaks yet.

[Capt C-Hawk]

Check with Capt Mark Dickson of Shallow Minded Charters in Myrtle Beach. We had a good trip with him Thanksgiving week catching specks. Send him an email at captmark@fishmyrtlebeach.com or call his cell 843-458-3055

[Shady]

Redfish,
What type of gear and bait/lures would you fish the Murrell's inlet jetty with? I don't have any surf gear and I have very limited surf fishing experience. Are you referring to the south jetty and do you access that from the Huntington Beach State Park?

C-hawk,
Thanks for the tip. I found Shallow minded charters before making this post and thought he would be a good choice for a charter. That's another point in his favor!

[Redfish12]

Gulp grubs bounced on the bottom, gotchas, small plugs, aka all the normal stuff. You can toss top and bottom rigs or drag flounder rigs, just watch out for the rocks. I did better just bouncing a gulp on a jig. I think depending on the current flow 1/4-1 oz was all we needed.

I found a popping cork with a shrimp under it to be the most effective out there though. We caught trout on that. We also fly fished and caught some nice trout and spanish mac one year around memorial day. I can try to find a picture but orange under maroon were working the best. I think that's a good crab/mud-minnow imitation.

A MH rod should be more than enough to handle those types of lures. I used a MH 7ft Bass Pro Extreme, 6'6'' Bass Pro Graphite Series, and an 8weight fly rod. If I were you I'd take at least two rods, one with a carolina rig (1oz egg weight, swivel, 18" leader, khale hook) and put mud minnnows or shrimp and the other toss gotchas or gulp grubs. Just slowly drag it on the bottom. If you're hanging up too much, switch to the popping cork. Both sides of the Jetty are good, but we always had more luck on the inlet side as opposed to the ocean.

Hopefully that helps

[Tucked In]

How about the Outerbanks area, any one familiar with that area, I'm staying on Whale Head bay in Corolla NC, be there first week of May.

[Shady]

Booked up with Capt. Mark of Shallow-minded charters! Can't wait to hopefully catch my first redfish....