Panfish and bass have been biting well this week. The forecast is showing that there is a decent chance of rain every day next week (time to pull out the ponchos)!
River gauges as of Thursday, May 21:
• Doctortown on the Altamaha – 4.1 feet and falling
• Lumber City on the Ocmulgee – 1.3 feet and steady
• Clyo on the Savannah – 3.0 feet and steady
• Statenville on the Alapaha – 2.2 feet and falling
• Alapaha on the Alapaha – 2.8 feet and falling
• Waycross on the Satilla – 5.8 feet and rising
• Atkinson on the Satilla – 2.8 feet and steady
• Quitman on the Withlacoochee – 4.3 feet and steady
• Macclenny on the Saint Marys – 1.7 feet and steady
• Fargo on the Suwannee – 0.9 feet and steady Altamaha River – I received a report the shellcrackers have been munching. Anglers have been using worms and crickets to fool them. The bass bite has been good too.
Satilla River – The redbreast bite has been great with some nice bass having been caught. One angler caught a few bass using buzzbaits and spinnerbaits.
St. Marys River – Dale Anderson and a friend finished second in a catfish tournament. Dale reported anglers have been surprisingly catching redfish and stingrays around Temple Landing (its salty up there).
Lakes and Ponds – Jimmy Zinker fished at Lake Miccosukee and managed to catch four nice bass. The biggest weighed about 5-1/2 pounds and the others weighed around 2-3 pounds.
He also night fished at a private pond and landed 10 bass up to 5-lbs. A wooden Muskie Jitterbug has been working well on both of his trips.
I received a few recent bass reports from Dodge County Public Fishing Area. Micheal Carter caught a bass weighing a little over 5-1/2 pounds.
A fisherman landed five bass in a couple hours. Johnny Nowland caught four bass up to 3-lbs., while using shiners.
Jim Jurney fished at Banks Lake and had some nice bass hit on topwater lures. He hooked two on a plastic finesse worm that were around 3-4 lbs, but they came off before he could get them in his kayak.
A few anglers caught some giant bass on soft plastics. Jackson Winn and his dad fished at a Hahira area pond and caught a few bass and bluegill on Swamp Spiders and beetle spins.
I fished a pond and caught some bass. One was a nice-sized catch. I was mainly using an FA Lures Fuzzy Ball. You can find FA lures great products in your local tackle shops. They have a variety of baits that you are bound to catch a big one on.
Okefenokee Swamp – The McClendons fished with Captain Bert Deener. Tom and David fished with him first and they caught some nice bowfin and a yellow bullhead.
Then, Daniel got in the boat with David in search for big fish. They caught a pile of nice bowfin, several pickerel, and a Florida gar. Jackfish and black/chartreuse colored Dura-Spins worked best on the trip.
They ended up catching 37 fish total (three of them were fliers caught in the boat basin). The biggest bowfin weighed 4-lbs. 15-oz.
The latest swamp level on the east side was 119.48 feet.
Saltwater (Ga. Coast) – Captain Greg Hildreth took some anglers on a guided trip and they caught 10 trout and a few tripletail while floating live shrimp under a Harper’s Super Striker float.
The saltwater bite should start to improve this week with the better tides.
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.
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/.
If you have any fishing reports or fish pictures that you would like to be included in this report, email them to me [email protected] or send them through Messenger on Southern Waters Fishing Report’s Facebook Page.
