Trout trolling/ guide problems

First time fishing in a few weeks which is a long time for me. I dropped in at low tide and did the old push it off the trailer to keep the old one wheel spinning Ford out the mud. Fished a area that has become heavily pressured in the last two years. Every time I go I see 6 to 12 people fishing the same 1 mile strip of creek. It’s a shame because the fishing has went down hill so much and I’ll blame it mostly on the guides since I’ve heard them telling clients how they used to keep 50 and 60 trout a trip but the trout fishings no good anymore so now they keep the reds. Oddly most the fish now are tiny… Usually a few kayakers, a few locals and the same two guides that absolutely fish the hell out of the one spot. The locals and kayakers are respectable but those two guides are a joke. I don’t have a problems with guides in general but it’s kind of off putting when you see the same guides fishing the same hole day after day and sometimes multiple trips a day. I feel sorry for the locals who’s dock you fish at every day. There should be some kind of rule that doesn’t allow that bs. I would think a guide would have more then 1 spot he can rely on or maybe some pride and not absolutely rape a spot. Anyway got a few trout on the troll and missed a few throwing the jig. Trolling against the current was the secret with the shallow water. Only landed little guys but lost a few nice ones. Not much of a bite until the tide started moving and the fish seemed to still be in fall pattern and haven’t went to winter patterns where they stay schooled up in the pockets. They were biting a little lighter then early fall but not as soft as a winter bite. Every trout I caught was a male about 12 inches or so.

The perks of a little boat, a little shove and splash, I’m in the water.

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Neat boat you got there. What are you powering it with?

A 55#lb trolling motor this day but other times a 9.9 2 stroke and runs a little under 20mph wot. The guy I got it from said he had a 25 2 stroke on it at one point and said it was scary fast and nimble but a little too much engine for it. I wanted a 15hp 2 stroke but it was to hard to find a good cheap used one and I got a really good deal on a super low hr mint condition little Johnson. It’s the most stable small boat there is and can handle chop and doesn’t pound if you need to cross bigger water to get from spot to spot and can run in about 6 to 8 inches of water. I don’t have to worry about weight shifts like in a little Jon boat. I can run it a ground and unground it by shifting my weight 90% of the time and the other 10% I can pull it off by stepping out. It is a one man fishing machine and is the funnest little boat I have ever had. The small size and low cost make it a lot more enjoyable, I beat the hell out of it and don’t have a care about putting a mark on it. I’ll slide right up on the oyster bank and go oystering, run it in the marsh at high tide, mud flats at low, drag it up the beach to not worry about the tide or anchoring. The boat grounds before the engine in most cases. It has all the same perks and flaws of a bigger cat performance wise and definitely will buy a larger cat at some point because you get a lot more out of them then a mono hull.

I prefer venturing in other spots than the same week after week. I’m finding fish in the same region of waters but in different areas. Hopefully things would change in your area.


"Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education"

220 SeaFox Viper

Definitely a cool little boat! :+1:

Don’t know what to tell you about the guides, you would think they know better…:roll_eyes:


Fishing Nerd

“No bar, no pinball machines, no bowling alleys, just pool… nothing else.”

…well, some fishing too!

Maybe someday more guides will follow the lead of SaltFisher aka Mike Waller. He tags thousands of fish in his area and his clients recapture these tagged fish often as he revisits fishing holes. They get a message about conservation and a free T shirt, and his fish aren’t depleted. Win, Win Win.


________________________ 1966 13' Boston Whaler "Flatty" 2018 Sportsman Masters 207 www.eyestrikefishing.com #predatorsstriketheeye

I mostly fish this spot when it’s windy or I just want to go on a easy trip because it’s so close to my house. But I’ve fished here over 20 years and it never was bad until these guides started fishing it in like the last 3 years. It’s a solid run to get back there from where they come from and there is plenty of other spots along the way but they saw a few of us fishing there and poached the spot. There is a lot of spot poaching and fishing the same spots as other guides do and fishing the hell out those spots. It’s easy money for them that way and the charter guess don’t know anything because most are out of towners. For the record I’ve fished here less then 5 times this year, I think 3 times but I pass the area all the time and that guides been there like 100 plus days this year. I don’t even like fishing there anymore knowing what they’ve done to the place it’s disgusting. I’m just glad it’s not my dock these guys sit on all the time.

A buddy won a guided trip and was to busy to use it in the time frame and donated it to me with the condition of taking a youngster that fishes the pier with us. We were supposed to go to the jetties but it was blown out and we fished the Stono instead.
The youngster was wanting to keep some fish and it was a tough day fishing and most the fish we caught were to small but a few reds we caught were tagged and the guide had no problem keeping them at all. His only comment was someone’s been fishing my spot. I don’t keep tagged fish but my dad has kept two, one that was fatally gut hooked and the other by accident because he didn’t see the tag. Both tags I reported to the DNR and never got a response back from them. One through the web and one over the phone. I can only assume they were bitter about the fish being kept, which is petty to say the least. I lost a lot of respect for there selective service. My dad caught a tagged fish in the 90s and was very proud of that hat. He was very disappoin

I recently caught a tagged red in the harbor back in early October. DNR tag. Reported it on DNR website and had a report and T-shirt within a week. That was only the 4th fish I’ve reported over quite a number of years but can’t ever remember not getting recognition/report back. The fish had grown from 17” based on July catch report to 20” in October when I caught it. I released it.

It’s not that guides don’t know better, they just choose to keep more than what most would deem “necessary”. But I agree with Optiker, I have a catch & release policy on my trips(especially for reds), and I do participate in the tag and release program through DNR. I thoroughly enjoy seeing the updates on growth, location etc on these fish.


Capt. Jeremiah McCarthy Southern Slam Fishing Charters www.southernslamfishing.com 2018 Sea Hunt BX22BR