Deep sea fishing in Myrtle Beach: how far out you actually go

Choosing

Half day, full day or Gulf Stream?

A half day offshore is mostly a compromise. Two hours of the four are spent running, which leaves you little fishing time for the money. If your budget only stretches to half a day, spend it inshore at $300–525 instead. You will catch more.

The full day at $600–1,200 is the trip most people should book. Eight to ten hours gets you to live bottom with real time to fish it, and you are back at the dock in time for dinner. May and June are the best weeks for it: the fish are close, the water is calm, and the afternoon storms have not started yet.

The Gulf Stream run at $2,000–2,600 is a different sport. Leave before dawn, three hours out, three hours back. Book it if blue-water fish are the point of the trip and everyone aboard has been offshore before. Skip it in August, when afternoon storms out there end days early and you cannot outrun them from 60 miles.

The part of the day nobody puts in the listing

You leave in the dark. The inlet is black and the only things you can see are channel markers and the wake of whoever left ahead of you. Nobody talks much for the first half hour because it is too early and too loud.

Then the sky goes grey, then pink, and you are far enough out that there is nothing on the horizon to interrupt it. Flying fish come off the bow. Gannets and shearwaters work bait balls in the distance. On a good morning you will see dolphins running the boat, sea turtles on the surface, and, if the season is right, cobia sitting under a ray like they are waiting for something. Most people who book these trips for the fish end up talking about that first hour instead.

Will I get seasick?

Some of your group will, and the ones who insist they won't are usually the ones who do. Offshore swell is long and slow rather than choppy, which is easier on most people than the inlet chop, but a ten-hour day gives it plenty of time to work on you.

• Take the medication the night before and the morning of. Taking it at the dock is too late.
• Eat something plain beforehand. An empty stomach makes it worse, not better.
• Stay on deck and watch the horizon. Below deck is where it turns.
• If anyone in the group is a genuine unknown, book nearshore first and go offshore next trip.

There are no refunds for a short day because someone is ill, and a private boat will not usually turn back for one person. That risk is the real argument for starting closer in.

What's included on a deep sea charter?

• Included: rods, reels, bait, tackle, ice, and the boat's saltwater licence covering everyone aboard
• Usually included: cleaning and bagging your catch at the dock
• Not included: food, drinks, and the mate's tip (customarily 15–20%, cash, at the dock)
• Sometimes extra: fuel surcharges on Gulf Stream runs, and filleting on some boats

Bring more water than you think you need, sun cover you can keep on for ten hours, and a soft cooler. Hard coolers take deck space captains would rather use.

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