Everyone knows fishermen love to tell stories, and I've heard some good ones -- and by that I mean ones that end with fish -- coming from area anglers lately.

Spottail bass are showing well and have started to move on the flats more regularly. Live baits are producing best, but topwater lures are taking fair shares. All-white Zara Spooks, Striper Swipers and Smithwicks are best.

Flounder have been hitting mud minnows from the creek mouths and are showing good numbers. Sheepshead are at the rocks, docks and bridges. They're hitting fiddlers and strips of clam, and some very nice catches have been viewed.

Croaker and whiting are hitting fresh-cut or live shrimp from the lagoons and slow-water edges of feeder creeks. Trout continue to evade the majority of anglers, but warmer waters are beginning to make a change.

Major rivers with deep drops along feeder creeks are the answer. Locating grass croppings away from the main bank has also been very productive. Low tide is better if trout is your primary target. Baits working are shrimp and minnows, as well as artificials in the morning and the first hour of both tides.

Cobia remain a prime species, and some truly magnificent battles stories and fish have emerged from their pursuit. Port Royal Sound has shown to be among the best spots, as large cobia are cruising the markers and structures. Checks have shown the majority to be large males. Baits are as varied as the boats and anglers in pursuit. Among the best choices are squid, eels, fresh-cut baits and a few standby artificials. Among my lure choices when I was a die-hard cobia fisherman were large Cisco Kids, Deep Diving Rebels and Heddon Plugs. Today these lures are hard to find, but color combinations remain the same -- try silver/black, green/brown and red/white. And once thought daring but now more commonplace are solid chartreuse or bright pink.

Fly fishermen who favor sight casting will find silver fleck deceivers a bonus.

Further out, winds and rough waters dominated, but for those making the trip there were a few nice returns. Dolphin and wahoo top the list, but large shark and Spanish mackerel have also joined the group.

Very little information is being reported on bottom fishing at this time. I did get two calls about a large boat hooking up with yellowfin, but this has not been verified.

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