I’m writing this as Hurricane Helene is bearing down on Keaton Beach, Fla. Fishing conditions will be changing this weekend as rains will be variable around the area.
River gages Thursday, September 26 were:
• Clyo on the Savannah River – 3.6 feet and rising
• Abbeville on the Ocmulgee – 2.8 feet and rising
• Doctortown on the Altamaha – 4.0 feet and falling
• Waycross on the Satilla – 9.3 feet and falling
• Atkinson on the Satilla – 10.5 feet and falling
• Statenville on the Alapaha – 6.1 feet and rising
• Macclenny on the St Marys – 4.9 feet and falling
• Fargo on the Suwannee – 9.6 feet and falling Altamaha/Ocmulgee River – The bass bite has remained great on the Altamaha system!
Seth Carter and his buddies, Michael Jeffers and Luke Steedley, fished the river over the last week and spanked them. They had fish up to about five pounds. Buzzbaits, spinnerbaits, and jigs produced most of their bites.
St. Marys River – Matt Rouse fished the upper river and had a fun morning. He caught four bullhead catfish on the bottom, and four redbreasts and bluegills throwing a topwater cricket lure.
Okefenokee Swamp – The bite has been slow, but folks reported a few bowfin were caught in the east side boat basin this week.
The most recent water level (Folkston side) was 121.44 feet.
Dodge County Public Fishing Area (near Eastman) – Kevin Cooley fished the area fooling two bass and four channel catfish. The catfish were a perfect eating size.
Local Ponds – I did not receive a single report from area ponds, but I am sure that folks caught some bass and bluegills.
The bass are generally staying with the bait schools this time of year and moving around a bunch. A crankbait is a good lure to locate them.
For bream, the same old cricket under a float is hard to beat around shoreline cover or vegetation. First thing in the morning it’s hard to beat casting a bug with a fly rod, though.
Saltwater (Ga. Coast) – Inshore fishing is about to bust wide open as the water cools, so get your trout and redfish tackle in order.
Jay Turner fished the Savannah area and did really well for trout, redfish and flounder with nuclear chicken Keitech swimbaits, even with some less than ideal conditions. They even got in a school of stripers crashing through mullet. They caught two before the school moved on.
Randy Dorris and his fishing buddy caught a bunch of trout and a few redfish. They ended up with five keepers up to 18 inches. Fourseven swimbaits in the stellar blue color produced most of their fish, and they fished it on a 3/16-oz. jighead.
Randy caught a few trout on a DOA shrimp (clear-red flake) under an Equalizer Float. His buddy went back a day later and had 10 keeper trout on pearl Gulp Shrimp under a popping cork. He fooled three keeper reds and a keeper flounder on a pearl/chartreuse tail swimbait.
Capt. Tim Cutting crushed the inshore fish. He said there are tons of short trout with some keepers mixed in. He fooled them with fourseven plastics, DOA shrimp, and live shrimp.
He had around 20 keepers each day, and they were a mixed bag of trout, redfish, flounder, sheepshead, and black drum.
Capt. Greg Hildreth did well for bull redfish and had a few tarpon mixed in. The Kros family caught a “triple” of bull reds with him.
I talked with several folks who caught trout, reds and flounder from docks in the Brunswick area. Most fooled them with shrimp, but several ate swimbaits bounced along the bottom.
After your next trip to the Georgia coast, drop off your fish carcasses in the freezer at the Waycross Fisheries Office at 108 Darling Avenue.
The Coastal Resources Division collects most inshore saltwater species so that they can determine age and growth for each species. All the supplies and information cards are in the freezer.
Filet your fish then drop off the carcasses in the freezer. New Moon is today (Wednesday, October 2). To monitor all the Georgia river levels, visit the USGS website (waterdata. usgs.gov/ga/nwis/rt). For the latest marine forecast, check out www.weather.gov/jax/.
Capt. Bert Deener guides fishing trips in the Okefenokee Swamp and other southeast Georgia systems and makes a variety of both fresh and saltwater fishing lures. Check his lures out at Bert’s Jigs and Things on Facebook. For a copy of his latest catalog, you can download it from his website at bertsjigsandthings.com or e-mail him (bertdeener@ yahoo.com).
