Red Grouper Fishing out of Murrells Inlet: Depth and Reefs

Red grouper out of Murrells Inlet

Red grouper are on the menu here, but the fleet names gag and scamp far more often. The fish come from about 110 to 180 ft, roughly a 3-hour head-boat ride out. Red grouper fishing out of Murrells Inlet is a deep-water bottom trip that starts well beyond the nearshore reefs the Grand Strand boats work on short days. The wider picture is in the red grouper fishing in the Atlantic Southeast and the Atlantic Southeast fishing guide.

The one trip that lists red grouper by name is Crazy Sister’s 11-hour Gulf Stream head boat, where it shows up alongside gag and scamp. This page doesn’t tie seasonal behavior to dates. For the general species picture and how the fish move through the year, read our red grouper guide. The inlet and its approaches are covered in our Murrells Inlet port guide.

This guide covers how far boats run, the named reefs, wrecks and ledges by depth, how the fish are caught locally, and where the rules sit. We can’t promise fish, but we can help you decide where to look.

How far boats run

The Gulf Stream head boat trip runs about 11 hours, with about a 3-hour ride to the grounds. Boats fish about 110 to 180 ft.

If you run your own center console, plan the day around reaching that depth band and getting back. The head-boat schedule gives a rough idea of how much of the day the ride takes, but work out your own run time at your own cruising speed before you leave the dock.

Before the run, check wind, wave height and period in the official NWS marine forecast, then decide against your boat and your crew.

The named structure off the port runs from the 20s and 30s of feet out past that band. The next section lays it out in depth order.

Grounds and structure by depth

These are the named artificial reefs, wrecks and ledges off the port, listed shallow to deep by their published depths.

The reefs from 23 to 95 ft sit inshore of the red grouper band. Treat them as known marks on the way out rather than red grouper spots. The nearshore ledges at 140 to 250 ft overlap the 110 to 180 ft band. We do not say red grouper hold on any of these sites.

Marked nearshore reefs

Pawley’s Island Reef has 1 buoy and sits on a bearing of 177 degrees, 5.5 nm from the south jetty. Paradise Reef, with H.P. Springs Jr. and other add-on reefs, and Ten Mile Reef each carry 2 buoys. Bill Perry Reef, in 65 ft, has 1 buoy. All four are buoyed marks well inshore of 110 ft.

Wrecks: BP-25 and Will Goldfinch

BP-25 is a 160 ft ship in 90 to 95 ft. It is unmarked, so you will need the numbers, since there is no buoy to find. Will Goldfinch Reef is the YO-225, a 175 ft ship, at 33 17.005 N / 078 45.372 W.

Ledges

The nearshore ledges, known for wahoo and blackfin, run 140 to 250 ft, which is where structure overlaps the red grouper depth band. The Winyah Scarp area is a ledge about 60 miles out.

You can view depth contours and reef positions in the app’s Chart Contours layer. Chart layers are not for navigation.

How it’s fished and who fishes them

The local method is bottom fishing from a head boat. Red grouper come up alongside gag and scamp on the same trip. Because the fleet names gag and scamp far more often, expect red grouper to be one fish you may see on the trip rather than the headline catch. For the wider bottom-fish mix, see our reef fish guides.

The head-boat fleet runs the long Gulf Stream bottom trip. Private boats can run the same 110 to 180 ft band, and a head-boat trip gives you a working picture of the depth and the ride before you commit your own boat and fuel.

FAQ about red grouper off Murrells Inlet