It’s been scorching hot and will be for the foreseeable future. Fishing has been fairly tough due to the heat. The tarpon bite has been firing up.
River gauges as of Thursday, July 29:
• Doctortown on the Altamaha – 4.9 feet and falling
• Lumber City on the Ocmulgee – 2.0 feet and falling
• Clyo on the Savannah – 2.9 feet and falling
• Statenville on the Alapaha – 3.0 feet and rising
• Alapaha on the Alapaha – 3.3 feet and steady
• Waycross on the Satilla – 9.6 feet and falling
• Atkinson on the Satilla – 4.9 feet and rising
• Quitman on the Withlacoochee – 1.7 feet and steady
• Macclenny on the St. Marys – 1.6 feet and steady
• Fargo on the Suwannee – 1.3 feet and falling Altamaha River – I’ve heard of some bass reports from the lower river. A few anglers reported catching nice messes of bass on soft plastics. Most of the fish were small though.
An angler caught a 7.90 pound bass in an open tournament at Altamaha Park.
Withlacoochee River – Jim O’Conner tried out some new jigs from pro staffer Shawn Tullis at Bass Catching Classics. He caught 16 nice Suwannee bass on the jigs. The biggest weighed 1.73-lbs.
Lakes and Ponds – Brad Spires fished at a private lake and managed to catch 20 nice bluegill. He fooled them on Lloyd spiders.
Jimmy Zinker caught a few bass at Lake Iamonia. The biggest one weighed around 3 ½-lbs.
I caught a few big bass while using topwater lures. Logan Carter caught some big bluegill and some bass on Satilla Spins.
Three young anglers fished with their grandparents at Lake Bobben and smoked the bluegill landing 40 total.
Okefenokee Swamp – Captain Bert Deener fished the east side of the swamp for a few hours and caught 37 fish (bowfin, catfish, and pickerel).
He caught some of the fish on Micro and Bladed Flies on a fly rod. The rest ate crawfish colored Dura-Spins.
Captain Bert Deener 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 119.98 feet.
Saltwater – The tarpon bite has been good. Some anglers have been able to catch some giants.
Captain Pat McGriff and Captain Bert Deener fished out of Keaton Beach. They started out the trip bouncing Assassin Sea Shads in 8-10 feet of water and picked up a bunch of black sea bass, a few lizard fish, a trout and a keeper redfish.
Then, they fished a few flats and caught a bunch of redfish and trout while using live pinfish under a float. They ended the day with a total of 52 fish.
The trout bite has been slow on the Georgia coast. 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 today (Wednesday, August 5). 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/.
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