Keep our firefighters in your prayers as they battle the outbreak of fires in South Georgia. Hopefully we will get some much needed rain soon.
River gauges as of Thursday, April 23:
• Doctortown on the Altamaha – 4.0 feet and falling
• Lumber City on the Ocmulgee – 1.5 feet and steady
• Clyo on the Savannah – 3.1 feet and rising
• Statenville on the Alapaha – 1.6 feet and falling
• Alapaha on the Alapaha – 1.4 feet and falling
• Waycross on the Satilla – 4.3 feet and steady
• Atkinson on the Satilla – 3.0 feet and falling
• Quitman on the Withlacoochee – 1.6 feet and falling
• Macclenny on the St. Marys – 1.7 feet and steady
• Fargo on the Suwannee – 0.8 feet and falling (it’s low!)
Altamaha River – I heard reports os some big bass being caught.
Kevin Mullis fished and caught nine nice sized bass. His biggest pulled the scales down to 8-1/2 pounds.
Satilla River – Brandon Nix fished the lower river (Burnt Fort) and caught seven fish (six warmouth, redbreast).
An angler fished the river and caught around 20 panfish. Most anglers have been using beetle spins and crickets to fool panfish lately.
Lakes and Ponds – Jimmy Zinker and I fished at Lake Miccosukee. Our top five bass weighed over 25 pounds.
We had two around five pounds and our biggest weighed 7-lbs. 9-oz. The fish were not biting well in the evening, but they turned on when it got dark. We were using buzzbaits and wooden Muskie Jitterbugs.
Jimmy went back and caught six bass on topwater lures a couple of days later. His two biggest bass pulled the scales down to 9-lbs 8-oz. and 5-lbs 12oz. He also had a few in the 3-4 pound range.
Jimmy said that lately on his night fishing trips that the bass have not been biting well in the evening, but they turn on (like they did on Friday night) after dark.
Two anglers caught three bass in the 3-5 pound range this week.
Billy Lee and I fished at a privately owned lake land we managed to catch seven bass (biggest weighed around three pounds).
Jim O’Conner fished at some ponds and caught a few bass while using a 4-inch finesse worm.
The bass bite at Paradise Public Fishing Area (near Tifton) has been strong for the last week or so. Panfish are being caught around structures and sandy areas near the bank.
Okeefenokee Swamp – Arthur and Ellen traveled down from Athens to fish with Captain Bert Deener on the east side.
They caught and released a pile of fish (warmouth, flier, chain pickerel, bowfin, Florida gar, and yellow bullhead). They caught 50 fish the first day and 61 the second.
Most of the fish were caught by casting Dura-Spins, but a few were caught by trolling them. The panfish were caught by using Tenkara poles rigged with crawfish colored Warmouth Whacker jigs suspended under a float. Their biggest bowfin weighed 4-lb. 9-oz.
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 on the east side was 119.43 feet. Be careful driving your boat with the very low water conditions.
