Out of theblue: Offshore season heats up – Charleston Post Courier

While the doldrums of winter terrorizes the offshore angler, March bookmarks the beginning of the prized offshore fishing season in the Palmetto State. From the springtime, well into the height of the summer sizzler, an entire gamete of pelagic and bottom dwellers arrive with a hearty appetite within reach of Charlestons offshore armada. For anglers looking for a quick cure for cabin fever, an offshore adventure into the crystal blue waters of the Atlantic is the perfect medicine.

If Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto had been fortunate enough to have rigged ballyhoo, a couple Penn Internationals and a set of outriggers, he may never have discovered Charlestons inland treasures because his April 1540 sailing coincided right when the offshore grounds fill with a true cache of culinary riches.

Captain Gasper Marino of WadmacallitFishing Charters is a modern day conquistador who operates out of a 57-foot custom Carolina boat rigged to the hilts with all the bells and whistles needed to load up a giant fish box with tasty treasures. From tuna, wahoo, sailfish and dolphin to grouper, snapper and trigger fish, Marino is dialed in on Charlestons offshore medley as soon as they arrive.

Beginning in the early spring, wahoo become very active and we get a big push of adult black-fin tuna that can be as big as 20 to 30 pounds, according to Marino, who operates out of Mount Pleasant. Blackfin tuna arrive from Florida migrating through our waters on their way to North Carolina.

Mid-March is the beginning of the northern migration within reach of South Carolina offshore anglers. For Marino, a temperature break is not his primary indicator the fish have arrived.

I catch tuna in a wide range of temperatures ranging from the 60s to well into the upper 70s. The bait is the key. I look for heavy concentrations of bait I typically find several miles nearshore of the Stream itself, he said.

Tuna are voracious opportunistic feeders similar to other top level predatory game fish. Tuna use the Gulf Stream as a travel guide along their northern journey. Typically, tuna move inland into shallower waters trailing warm water plumes or spinoffs from the Gulf Stream that creates ideal conditions for forage for bait fishes, especially during March and April season. Plankton is attracted to the cooler coastal water lower in salinity and more nutrient rich.

A freshly rigged bait is ready for trolling.

We will often cover a lot of ground when tuna fishing to find them day after day. But if you find the bait, you will find the tuna, Marino said.

During the active migration, tuna will be anywhere from 45 to 65 miles from shore and can move great distances day to day. Marino hedges his bets by adjusting his target area by five to 10 miles north of where he caught them the day before.

While tuna may be the target, wahoo will find these bait-filled waters as well to make a living. Marino uses a tactic to catch both wahoo and tuna that incorporates a heavy spread of options from his 10 to 14 rods rigged with various skirted and naked ballyhoo on heavy monofilament and at a variety of depths and distances from the boat.

Every day is different and there is no equation to it at all; its trial and error. Sometimes skipping bait is what they want and other days, you need to keep the baits below the surface, he said.

He mixes up weight sizes from 1/16th to one-ounce heads and he makes adjustments based on his success throughout the day.

Beyond tackle, bait quality is Marinos most important success factor.

We procure bait from a company that handles the bait better than all of the competition. The fresher and better-handled bait gives us an advantage, he said.

As the spring progresses toward summer, another pelagic favorite shows up off Charlestons coastlines. Dolphin arrive offshore that quickly brings an entire new squadron of anglers into the big blue waters. Dolphin migrate into South Carolina waters in the late spring in a big way where double-digit catches are reached in a very short amount of time. Marino relies on his network of anglers across Florida and Georgia to pinpoint when the dolphin will arrive off the Charleston coast.

I keep an eye out on what is happening in South Florida and once they start catching them in Savannah, it will be a matter of days when they will be in our waters, he said.

Differing from wahoo and tuna, dolphin are temperature-dependent fishes that prefer 74- to 77-degree waters. But, they can be anywhere from 40 to 70 miles offshore this time of year and knowing what to look for is critical for blitzing these ferocious schooling fishes.

An angler prepares to gaff a dolphinfish.

On a normal dolphin trip, we expect to run 70 to 80 miles. We look for currents, color changes, weed lines, floating objects or just anything different. We will not start fishing until we see something different and if the fish dont bite right away, we pick up and move to another spot, he said.

Dolphin will eat anything that moves or resembles food and their metabolisms require it to fuel their astronomical growth rates. Dolphin are among the fastest growing fish in the ocean, which requires a high-calorie diet, and being choosy isn't part of their character. Therefore, Marinos typical bait buffet he uses for wahoo and tuna can quickly double for nailing a school of dolphin with a couple exceptions.

I pull the baits a little closer to the boat and I start using teasers to attract the fish to the boat, he said.

The dolphin run usually gets hot and heavy during the middle of May and will continue for three to four weeks well into the month of June at the start of the summer season. After the major migration of dolphin and blackfin tuna travel northward into North Carolina and Virginia, Charlestons offshore trolling bite quickly gets reduced to sporty anglers with an arousal for an entirely different target, the legendary assortment of billfish.

From July through August, we still catch a few tuna, wahoo and dolphin trolling our ballyhoo spread, but its the marlin and sailfish that keeps our trolling charters in action, he said.

Marino will switch his tactics to dredge fishing using different types of teasers that run deep. Billfishing isnt always action-packed like the spring rush, but a good day pulling lures and fighting a 500-pound marlin can make a lifelong dream a reality.

We can have great days trolling in summer for marlin. One of my best days was in the middle of July when we caught three blue marlin, he said.

For many offshore aficionados, trolling a 13-rod set for pelagic species is what makes their engines purr. But, there is an entire underworld filled with dozens of different bottom-dwelling species one can catch any time of the year and its the best way to guarantee a cooler-full of fillets to take back to the dock.

For Marino, his bottom-fishing charter requests take off during the height of the summer when most of the ocean fishes have migrated north. Yet, the summertime fishing isnt the only time these fish are available.

We have good bottom fishing off Charleston 12 months out of the year. Whatever is in season is what we will target and the spring and summer bite is always good, he said.

From grouper and snapper to triggerfish and sea bass, the fishing can be epic at a wide range of depths.

We have good bottom fishing between 30 and 250 feet deep along the continental shelf. As you go deeper, the species mix changes, he said.

For the best success bottomfishing any time of year, Marino has learned to target small sections of structure that few other anglers would choose to make a drop.

Anglers toll for tuna aboard the JABEZ.

The small reefs and rock piles are usually the best because they are unknown to most offshore boats, he said.

Large reefs, rock piles, ledges and other live bottom areas easily detected on GPS charts are well known and likely fished out. The best bottom fishing places are less noticeable.

Bottom fish species make a living scavenging the reefs for food. They will eat just about anything from live fish and crustaceans to chunks of cut squid. Marino will use a wide variety of baits and lures throughout the day to see what brings the most bites.

I use bucktails and butterfly jigs, as well as cut fish and live fish, but the best all around bait is cut squid, he said. Everything down there will eat cut squid.

The spring and summer months offer pure passion in the waters off the coast of Charleston where offshore anglers earn their keep out of the blue. Charlestons offshore playground kicks off strong early in the spring and shifts into high gear as the peak of the summer arrives where few days pass without high hopes on the way out and big smiles on the return.

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Out of theblue: Offshore season heats up - Charleston Post Courier