It’s evident that the dogdays of summer are here and kids are about to start back to school.
The number of reports dropped last week, but the catching has still been good for those who went. The rains have blown out most rivers for this week, so concentrate on ponds, the Okefenokee Swamp, and saltwater for the best bites.
River gauges Thursday, August 1 were:
• Clyo on the Savannah River – 8.7 feet and rising
• Abbeville on the Ocmulgee – 6.5 feet and rising
• Doctortown on the Altamaha – 8.3 feet and falling
• Waycross on the Satilla – 12.6 feet and falling
• Atkinson on the Satilla – 12.1 feet and rising
• Statenville on the Alapaha – 12.3 feet and rising
• Macclenny on the St Marys – 7.7 feet and falling
• Fargo on the Suwannee – 9.3 feet and rising
Altamaha/Ocmulgee River – I went over the Ocmulgee and it is swollen and very muddy.
If you can find a backwater that isn’t flowing, that’s probably going to be the ticket for catching panfish.
Satilla River – The river has been high with the nightly rains. It’s out in the floodplain, so you’ll do better other places.
St. Marys River – Matt Rouse fished the extreme upper St. Marys and got on seven really big bluegills and a few redbreasts. A gold-colored topwater cricket crankbait was the ticket for him.
The catfish didn’t play when he put shrimp on the bottom, and he caught a couple bowfin and a small bass when he trolled crawfish-brass blade Dura-Spins. His biggest bluegill weighed 14 ounces.
Okefenokee Swamp – The warmouth bite trickled off as nightly rains pushed the swamp level higher and higher.
Chuck Coomer and his Elijah, fished with me. We caught a total of 46 fish.
We flung pink/white Super Sallies and whitetreuse Warmouth Whacker Jigs on breambuster poles, using the exact same presentation in fooling 36 panfish just two days before, for about an hour and they did not catch a single panfish.
We switched to trolling Dura-Spins for most of our trip and had a blast catching bowfin every few minutes, including a couple “doubles.” Most were around 2-3 pounds.
Our biggest was Elijah’s four-pounder earning him a youth angler award from the Georgia Wildlife Resources Division. We had a couple 14 to 16-inch pickerel mixed in, as well.
The most unique catch, though, was a giant softshell turtle which ate Elijah’s crawfish-orange blade Dura-Spin. He fought it a long time.
We were able to remove the mangled hook boatside. The best colors of Dura-Spins were crawfish- orange blade, black/chartreuse-silver blade, and lemon-lime.
The most recent water level (Folkston side) was 120.80 feet.
Local Ponds – Joshua Barber fished a pond and caught three warmouth, about 10 fliers, and a catfish. Some of his warmouth were big, colored-up fish.
I heard from a friend who night-fished a lake. They fooled a bluegill and one bass on a topwater.
I had some business to do north of Waycross, so I towed my boat and fished a couple ponds early in the week. At the first one, I flung black/chartreuse Satilla Spins and caught a couple nice bluegill and two small bass.
They ate a catalpa Super-Sally on a fly rod best. They were not very active. A couple bowfin up to four pounds ate a lemon-lime Dura-Spin.
The second pond was a little better for bluegills. I only fooled one big bluegill with a crawfish Satilla Spin, but they were eating a catalpa Super-Sally on a fly rod much better. I ended up with 12 bluegills to 10 inches and a 5-pound channel catfish which ate the same catalpa Super-Sally on a fly rod. That was a blast!
Lake Rousseau, Fla.
– Jay Murray fished with Cliff Williamson and Kellen (his grandson) on the central Florida lake using shiners with James Snipes of Donkey Nation.
The trio landed 15 bass between two and 11-lb., 10-oz. Each of them had a bass pushing 10 pounds, and Jay’s was the big girl.
Saltwater (Ga. Coast) – Seth Carter and Quinton McMichael fished the Brunswick area and reported big redfish are still in the creeks.
They fooled the biggest one (30 inches) with a 9inch mullet, but several others chewed jigs rigged with Gulp shrimp and paddle-tails.
Blake Edwards fished the Brunswick area mostly while breaking in a motor. He fooled two redfish and three trout with artificials.
Several anglers reported seeing lots of tarpon inside. One group couldn’t get any of them to bite, but another group jumped three and landed one (about an 80pounder). They fooled them with a Keitech swimbait and a big bellyweighted hook.
Capt. Greg Hildreth said the tarpon bite has been good. I didn’t get how many he jumped and landed, but it was quite a few.
Sean Tarpley had a couple good flounder days regrandson,
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cently – it’s been a great summer for flounder already. Last week he was chasing tarpon.
He could not find them beachside, but they were on lots of fish inside. The problem with those fish is it is hard to get them to eat.
Don’t forget about the fish carcass 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.
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).
Kellen caught this 9-lb., 7-oz. largemouth bass while fishing shiners with family on Lake Rousseau, Fla. All three of them had fish pushing 10 pounds, with their biggest an 11-lb., 10-oz. monster. SPECIAL PHOTO
