Hot weather is now approaching and fish will probably start to move into deeper water. Thank the Lord we received some rain which helped knock the fires down and helped our rivers and lakes.
River gauges as of Thursday, May 14:
• Doctortown on the Altamaha – 6.7 feet and rising
• Lumber City on the Ocmulgee – 3.3 feet and rising
• Clyo on the Savannah – 3.6 feet and falling
• Statenville on the Alapaha – 1.4 feet and rising
• Alapaha on the Alapaha – 3.8 feet and steady
• Waycross on the Satilla – 4.5 feet and falling
• Atkinson on the Satilla – 2.8 feet and rising
• Quitman on the Withlacoochee – 2.0 feet and falling
• Macclenny on the Saint Marys – 2.1 feet and rising
• Fargo on the Suwannee – 0.8 feet and steady Altamaha River – Hunter Lee and Timothy Griffin caught some nice bass on the river with Silverback buzzbaits. They had a few weighing around four pounds.
Satilla River – Justin Harrison caught a 7-lb. monster bass while using a black Zoom Trick Worm.
Two local anglers went on a full day trip and reported catching at least 50 bass. They had five bass weighing around five pounds. Buzzbaits were the ticket.
Withlacoochee River – Jim O’Conner and his wife spent Mother’s Day on the river, which was low and pretty slow. They caught 12 Suwannee bass and a 5.2-lb. largemouth bass. The Suwannee bass ate a small chatterbait fished around structure.
Lakes and Ponds – I fished with Billy Lee at a Tift County area pond for a couple hours and we caught around a dozen bass up to 4 1/2-lbs.
Jimmy Zinker fished at Lake Miccosukee and caught a 6-lb., 15-oz. bass while using a topwater lure. He went back a day later and caught three bass up to 5-1/2-lbs.
Cooper and Jackson Winn fished with their dad at a Bacon County pond. They caught over two dozen fish (crappie, bass, bluegill and warmouth) while using Swamp Spiders.
An angler reported she caught a 9 1/2-lb. bass at Paradise Public Fishing Area. The bream and catfish bite has been good at Paradise.
Captain Bert Deener and Bill Stewart fished the Everglades for two days and caught over 100 bass — the biggest weighing 5 1/2-lbs. Trick Worms, Game Changer flies, buzzbaits, and small Mirage and Specktacular jigs were the best lures of the trip.
Okefenokee Swamp – Bill and Trey Evans went on a guided fishing trip with Capt. Bert on the east side of the Swamp.
They landed 33 fish on the half-day trip. They pitched jigs and Super Sallies for panfish. The crawfish warmouth whacker jig under a float was the ticket. They trolled Dura-Spins to catch the pickerel, bowfin, and a Florida gar.
Their biggest bowfin was caught on the last cast and weighed 5 lbs.
Capt. Bert offers guided fishing trips in the Okefenokee. To book a trip with him, visit his website bertsjigsandthings.com.
Latest Swamp level on the east side was 119.46 feet.
Saltwater (Ga. Coast) – Scott Smith and a friend caught 10 trout, three flounder, and a bull redfish. Scott said they caught tons of throwbacks, too.
Jeremy Robertson fished at the Jekyll Island Pier and managed to catch some nice flounder (biggest measured 19 inches long). They bit mud minnows on a Carolina rig.
Charlie Carter fished with some friends in the St. Simons area. They landed 24 fish (croaker and whiting) while using cut shrimp on bottom. The trippletail bite has been good.
Captain Tim Cutting and Buddy Johnson fished the St. Simons area and landed 15 fish (four redfish, five flounder and six trout) by floating soft plastics rigged on jigheads.
