I was not been around a lot last week due to fishing in the Everglades, but the reports I did receive were good.
The rivers are getting back down and those bites are heating up at different rates. Guess right and you could be in for a great day!
River gauges Thursday, April 10 were:
• Clyo on the Savannah River – 8.7 feet and rising
• Abbeville on the Ocmulgee – 8.5 feet and rising
• Doctortown on the Altamaha – 9.0 feet and falling
• Waycross on the Satilla – 11.2 feet and rising
• Atkinson on the Satilla – 8.4 feet and falling
• Statenville on the Alapaha – 7.2 feet and falling
• Macclenny on the St Marys – 4.3 feet and falling
• Fargo on the Suwannee – 9.3 feet and falling
Altamaha River – Seth Carter fished the backwaters of the river and had 15 keeper-sized bass and a handful of shorts. He fooled them with buzzbaits, spinner-baits, shaky head worms, and crankbaits.
His biggest was a monster (he said it looked like a 7-lb. class fish) that pulled off on the boat-flip when he decided that he couldn’t wait for the net.
SPECIAL PHOTO Bill Stewart (top left) of Folkston fished in the Everglades this week and caught lots of different new species for him. Shane Barber (top right) caught this fat bluegill on the S.t Marys River by flinging a crawfish Satilla Spin. Capt. Spud Woodward (bottom) caught this slot redfish fishing in the Brunswick area.
Robert Smith took his kids fishing on the river and they ran some bush hooks and caught a nice channel catfish. The kids loved the experience (their first time running hooks).
Ocmulgee River – Miles Zachary fished the Ocmulgee and caught some nice bass on a Capt. Bert’s buzzbait. The river has been up and down over the last couple of months, but is rising fast at the time of writing this.
St Marys River – Matt Rouse fished the upper river fighting the wind. He caught a dozen nice redbreasts along with several bluegills, bowfin, and pickerel. White with red dot beetlespins produced his fish.
Sammy Gaskins fished the river and had a total of 35 fish which included a crappie and a bass. The rest were redbreasts and bluegill.
Shane and Joshua Barber fished the middle river and did really well. They fooled most of their fish with bumblebee and crawfish Satilla Spins, but caught a few on a bug. They ended up catching around 35 fish, including a crappie, 2 bass, and the rest redbreasts, bluegills, and stumpknockers.
A couple of friends walked a tributary to the main river and caught a bunch of panfish. They fooled warmouth, bluegills, spotted sunfish (stumpknockers) and bass mostly with chartreuse back pearl 2inch Keitech swimbaits.
The Temple Landing is now reopened. The new facilities will serve boaters and anglers well for decades to come.
Okefenokee Swamp – Buck Johnson fished the east side and caught 30 warmouth. He pitched chartreuse pearl artificials on Zombie Eye Jigheads to shoreline cover for his fish.
Bowfin and warmouth have been the best bites on the east side according to Okefenokee Adventures staff.
The most recent water level on the Folkston side was 121.14 feet.
Local Ponds – Chip Lafferty fished a Brunswick pond for an hour just before the storms rolled in and the bass were chewing! He landed 25 of them up to 5.1 pounds.
Jimmy Zinker did not have any big bass, but he said that the buzzbait bite is on fire for numbers of mid-sized fish.
Robert Smith and his children fished their pond for the first time this year and caught a bunch of nice bluegills.
Everglades, Fla. – I headed south with friends Bill Stewart, Teddy Elrod and Chuck Dean for a few days. We fished the canals around Fort Lauderdale and had a blast.
Cichlids of several species and lots of native bluegills, spotted sunfish (stumpknockers), and largemouth bass ate our flies and spinners. The most special day for Bill and me was when we figured out the peacock bass.
They were locked down on beds and would not take the usual offerings. I decided to drop a jig in their bed to see if I could get them to react. I didn’t want them to see it very well so I chose one of my 1/16-oz. Mirage Jig made with pearl tinsel. Sometimes it took several pitches to get them to eat it, but they reacted to it every time.
We caught (and released) all six fish with the Mirage Jig. The next day, in that same canal, we ended up catching 91 peacock bass. Again, every one that was locked on a bed would eat the tiny little jig.
Teddy and Chuck used fly rods the entire time and caught several peacock bass along with tons of cichlids and natives. They ended up catching and releasing 783 fish. All total, we caught a total of 1,531 fish during the 2 1/2 days of fishing.
Saltwater (Ga. Coast) – It’s been windy in the brine! I had a buddy who tried some big water and got blown out. You have to get into some protected areas when the afternoon breeze kicks up.
Capt. Tim Cutting said it was a little slow for everything but redfish and sheepshead. They got into a couple of limits of redfish and six nice trout.
The next day, 8-year-old Banks caught about the same and added a beautiful flounder to get his slam. They caught fish on live shrimp rigged on a Capt. Bert’s Shrimp Hook suspended underneath a Harper Super Striker Float.
Anna Maria Island, Fla. – Charles Sweat and his family fished the Anna Maria Island area with Bass and Bay Charters and got on some nice snook and seatrout during the day. Their biggest was a 25-inch snook.
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]).
