With the improving tides, the saltwater bite was very good and the Okefenokee Swamp produced some great catches for my guide trips this week.
The rivers were on fire, but the mid-week significant rains will have all the rivers rising once the water makes its way downstream.
River gages Thursday, November 7 were:
• Clyo on the Savannah River – 7.4 feet and rising
• Abbeville on the Ocmulgee – 2.0 feet and rising
• Doctortown on the Altamaha – 5.7 feet and rising
• Waycross on the Satilla – 10.3 feet and rising
• Atkinson on the Satilla – 5.4 feet and falling
• Statenville on the Alapaha – 6.6 feet and rising
• Macclenny on the St Marys – 3.0 feet and falling
• Fargo on the Suwannee – 4.0 feet and falling
Altamaha River – Shane and Joshua Barber fished the middle Altamaha and did well for bass. They fooled 18 (14 keepers) bass up to about three pounds on plastics and one on a Satilla Spin Magnum spinnerbait.
Joshua was rigging his worms on a Capt. Bert’s Swimbait Hook (1/8oz) built on a 4/0 Mustad EWG hook. They also caught a nice redbreast and Joshua lost a giant bowfin at the boat.
Seth Carter of Satilla Feed and Outdoors in Blackshear reported lots of anglers smashed the bass on the Altamaha – pretty much everywhere on the river.
A couple of his customers each caught 30 bass (they fished in different boats). The biggest reported this week was an 8.7-pound TOAD. Plastics, spinnerbaits, and buzzbaits fooled them this week.
Expect the river to jump a bunch with the upriver rains working their way downstream over the next few days.
Suwannee River – I fished with Bill Stewart on the upper river. We got on some really nice pickerel and bowfin.
The river will be coming up after the mid-week deluge, but it was perfect for getting around late last week. We fooled a total of 37 fish during a few hours in the afternoon.
A giant bluegill inhaled a crawfish Dura-Spin to start the trip. We fooled about four pickerel up to 18 inches with the spinners. The rest were bowfin up to 8-lb., 1-oz.
Four of the bowfin were over five pounds (on digital scales). The best color early in the trip was fire tiger-chartreuse blade, but late in the trip crawfishbrass blade and jackfish fooled the most fish.
Okefenokee Swamp – Almost nobody is fishing the swamp (we did not see another boat fishing either day).
I had two great days of fishing while guiding Bill Meyer from Illinois. As a middle school science teacher, Bill has wanted to visit and fish the Okefenokee Swamp all of his life.
We fished the east side (Folkston entrance) and caught 33 fish. We had several gar, a nice warmouth, and the rest were bowfin. The gar were up to 28 inches, and the biggest bowfin were in the 5 to 6pound range.
The best bite was trolling Dura-Spins, but we also caught some casting the spinners. The best colors were lemon-lime with a chartreuse blade and black-brass blade, but we caught a couple each on crawfish-orange blade and blood red-silver blade.
Blake Yarbrough (right photo) of Fitzgerald fished Rodman Reservoir this weekend and caught this chunky 5-pound bass on a Ribbit Frog. SPECIAL PHOTOS
A day later we fished the west side (SC Foster State Park) and put it on the Billy’s Lake fish. In the cloudy conditions, we caught most of our 51 fish by casting to the edge of the lily pads.
The most productive lures were black/chartreuse-chartreuse blade and black-brass blade Dura-Spins, but Bill caught a few casting a white Ultravibe Speed Worm rigged on a Capt. Bert’s 1/16-oz. swimbait hook. We had several chain pickerel (jackfish) up to 24 inches, and our biggest bowfin was a 5-lb., 15-oz. brute.
The most recent water level (Folkston side) was 121.12 feet (that was before the mid-week rains).
Local Ponds – Jimmy Zinker had a great week catching more than 50 bass. They were chewing spinnerbaits. Also, Shad Rap crankbaits produced a few bass for him.
He didn’t have any of the giants he likes chasing, but he had some solid fish up to five pounds.
Saltwater (Ga. Coast) – The trout are thick, but you still have to find them because they have not schooled up tight yet – it’s still a little too warm. You should catch at least a few trout pretty much every stop.
I fished with a couple friends in Brunswick. We started off catching a 28inch redfish on a blue/chartreuse 4-inch Keitech under an Equalizer Float, but it took us a stop or two to find trout.
Our first trout was a nice 21-incher which ate a pink DOA shrimp then pulled off at the boat. We worked for them several hours in the howling (small craft advisory) wind, catching a dozen fish.
Paddle-tail plastics on 1/8-oz. Zombie Eye Jigheads fooled most of our fish. My best Keitech colors were chartreuse back pearl and electric shad, and the best size was the 3-inch. Fishing over shell mounds worked best for us.
Capt. Tim Cutting had a great week fishing inshore and bull redfishing in the sounds. He combined the two during a trip saying the bulls were thick again. He caught several each time he went for them.
He caught lots of throwback trout each day, but his folks brought home around a dozen (15 was the best day of keepers). They fooled a few nice sheepshead and black drum and quite a few slot reds this week, as well.
His best bite was in the middle of the week. He caught fish all week on live shrimp under Harper Super Striker Floats, as well as Fourseven Lures plastic paddle-tails.
I had a report of some good trout catches (at night) and even a few crabs being caught from the St. Simons Pier.
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 ([email protected]).
