The weather has been very nice. Some big bass were caught in the rivers. Rivers and lakes have produced some of the best catches from the reports I received.
River gauges as of April 2:
• Doctortown on the Altamaha – 7.0 feet and falling
• Lumber City on the Ocmulgee – 2.9 feet and falling
• Clyo on the Savannah – 3.8 feet and steady
• Statenville on the Alapaha – 3.1 feet and falling
• Alapaha on the Alapaha – 3.7 feet and falling
• Waycross on the Satilla – 5.3 feet and falling
• Atkinson on the Satilla – 4.1 feet and falling
• Quitman on the Withlacoochee – 2.1 feet and falling
• Macclenny on the Saint Marys – 1.9 feet and steady
• Fargo on the Suwannee – 1.2 feet and falling Altamaha River – Jimmy Hall and Brinson Thornton fished the river in foggy weather. They landed around 20 bass while using chatterbaits. A few of them weighed more than four pounds.
I’ve heard of some nice fish being caught lately on the Altamaha.
Satilla River – Jeffrey Steedley and his brother-inlaw fished the lower river and caught 18 nice bass.
Jeffrey went by himself a day later and caught 11 bass. The fish bit soft plastics and the biggest one of those two trips weighed four pounds.
I caught a seven-pound bass on the river. A local angler reported he caught a six-pound bass while fishing the river.
The free “Rigging it Right with Capt. Bert Workshops” starts Friday, April 10. The workshopts are geared toward giving anglers confidence in rigging different lures and baits for success.
Participants will actually tie their own rigs and knots and rig the lures. It’s a hands-on workshop.
There are 20 slots and only a handful are left, so call Satilla Feed and Outdoors if you want one of the last remaining slots.
Oconee River – Dale Anderson and a friend fished a catfish tournament at Balls Ferry. They had a great finish.
Todd Davis caught a blue cat weighing 25 pounds (big fish of the tourney). Dale said the bite was slow though with the low water.
Lakes and Ponds – Jimmy Zinker fished a Worth County pond and caught three nice bass. The smallest weighed three pounds and the biggest weighed 5-1/2 pounds. He caught them on a black/gold colored Bang-O-Lure. Jimmy went to a different pond a couple of dys later and caught seven bass while using a buzzbait.
Danny Cooley fished at a pond and landed a bass weighing an estimated seven pounds. Thomas and Beppe Rude fished at Rutland Farms and managed to catch 16-20 bass measuring between 11-21 inches long. Beppe caught a big bass in the kids bass tournament that day and won first place.
Thomas and Beppe fished for around two hours at Paradise Public Fishing Area recently. They caught 15 nice crappie while using a Bobby Garland chartreuse colored plastic rigged on a 1/16 oz. jighead. The trick was to pitch to a tree, let it sink, and then reel it slow and they would bite.
Ronald McGahee caught a dozen nice shellcrackers at Dodge PFA while using red wigglers.
Jim Calloway landed a 8 3/4-lb. bass at Ocmulgee PFA. Jim O’Conner fished some ponds around Adel for a couple hours and caught six bass (biggest was little over four pounds). A Berkeley Chop Block glide bait was the ticket.
Rocky Barnard reported local pond fishing has been good lately. He said the bass have been hitting topwater right before dark. He was able to land a nice one.
Cooper and Jackson Winn fished with their Aunt Cathy at a Bacon County Pond and caught over 30 fish (bass, crappie, bluegill, and flier). They used a YUM baits 2-inch chartreuse colored grub to catch their fish.
Okefenokee Swamp – Greer and Josh from Nashville fished with Captain Bert Deener on the east side and caught a total of 71 fish (bowfin, pickerel, flier and Florida gar). Their two biggest bowfin pulled the scales down to 7-lbs. 13-oz. and 6-lbs. 7-oz.
They caught their fish on Dura-Spins. The best colors of Dura-Spins of the day were lemon-lime, crawfishbrass blade, and firetiger.
Captain Bert Deener offers guided fishing trips in the Okefenokee. To book a trip with him, visit his website bertsjigsandthings.com.
The latest Swamp level (before the recent rain) on the east side was 119.86 feet. Be careful driving your boat with the low water conditions.
Saltwater (Ga. Coast) – Captain Greg Hildreth reported the whiting bite has been good off the beach and in the sound. They have been eating shrimp and squid on bottom.
The offshore sheepshead and sea bass bite has been good too. However, the inshore trout bite has been hit or miss lately.
Captain Tim Cutting took some anglers on a guide trip and caught around 17 redfish and a half dozen trout. They caught around 20 trout (half were keepers) and some nice flounders a couple of days later.
Both trips were in the Saint Simons area. They were using Tourney Tackle jigheads pinned down on Fourseven lures 3.5 inch swimmers (best color was purple).
Before your next fishing trip, stop by Winge’s Bait and Tackle located at 440 Memorial Drive in Waycross. They have all the tackle you need for a successful trip. For their hours, call 912-283-9400.
Last Quarter Moon is on April 10th. 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/.
