Instead of talking about what areas of the rivers are still high enough to get around, we’re thinking more along the lines of where is still LOW enough to fish effectively!
This past weekend’s extensive rains have changed the fishing in most areas. Some areas are still really good, while others are totally washed out for the next few weeks.
River gauges Thursday, May 15 were:
• Clyo on the Savannah River – 11.8 feet and rising
• Abbeville on the Ocmulgee
– 8.4 feet and rising
• Doctortown on the Altamaha – 10.8 feet and rising
• Waycross on the Satilla – 9.8 feet and rising
• Atkinson on the Satilla – 7.1 feet and rising
• Statenville on the Alapaha
– 4.4 feet and falling
• Macclenny on the St Marys – 4.3 feet and falling
• Fargo on the Suwannee – 6.8 feet and rising
Satilla River – Riley Hilton fished some small creeks near Alma and had fun with bowfin. He flung a fire tiger Dura-Spin and caught 19 bowfin on it this weekend.
The upper and middle river are blown out. The Burnt Fort area is rising but is still fishable this weekend. Catfishing should be good on the rising water.
Okefenokee Swamp – The warmouth, pickerel, and bowfin bites are still strong on the east side.
Herb Deener fished with me for a couple hours, and we did really well for warmouth. We pitched popsicle (purple/pink/chartreuse) Warmouth Whacker Jigs and white-pink Super Sallies under a float and caught 23 fish in two hours before the rain ran us off late-morning.
Our catch included three pickerel, a bowfin, and 19 warmouth. We kept six for my parents’ supper and released the rest.
Curtis Hazel called me wanting a guide trip last weekend while we were staring a nasty rain forecast right in the face. We agreed. We had great weather and a window between the big slugs of rain.
The fish cooperated, as we caught 23 fish total in two hours. We had five pickerel to 19 inches, four bowfin to four pounds, and 14 warmouth to eight inches.
Curtis rented a motorboat the next day from Okefenokee Adventures and took family in town for the weekend fishing in the swamp. They trolled up 20 bowfin and three pickerel with Dura-Spins.
Jim Spencer and his buddies, Tersh Harley and Michael Huber, came up from south Florida for the rainy weekend and caught a bunch of fish both on the fly and traditional gear. Overall, they said that chartreuse spinners and crayfish flies worked best.
They caught mostly warmouth, fliers, and bowfin, but they also had some pickerel and a gar. Michael had their biggest bowfin, an 11.6-pounder.
Bill Stewart fished with me on the east side. We caught and released a total of 57 fish. Warmouth were chewing popsicle Warmouth Whacker Jigs both with and without a float and pink/white Super Sallies under a float.
Pickerel and fliers also ate the same offerings, and the biggest bowfin (5lb., 15-oz.) inhaled the small purple/pink/chartreuse jig also.
The most recent water level on the Folkston side was 120.76 feet.
Saltwater (Ga. Coast) – Seth Carter and friends fished the Brunswick area around low tide and caught two keeper flounder, two keeper reds and a few oversized reds. They caught them on artificials.
Todd Kennedy fished some docks in the Darien area and fooled some really nice sheepshead up to seven pounds.
Capt. Tim Cutting reported some good fishing. Buddy Johnson and Capt. Tim got on a good bite with a mixed bag of species. The next day Capt. Tim and John had trout, flounder and redfish. They fooled them with live shrimp under Super Striker Floats. They had five trout over 20 inches that day.
They following day they had to hunt and peck until the last stop, and then it was wide open. With only three trout and three reds in the cooler, they stopped in a shallow spot and had fish on every cast.
They released a few reds and then had their feelings hurt by breaking off the next five fish in every way imaginable.
Most of the reds this month have been oversized. The big trout are biting. Capt. Tim already has had about 15 trout over 20 inches this month.
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/.
Capt. Bert Deener guides fishing trips in the Okefenokee Swamp and other southeast Georgia systems and makes a variety of both fresh and saltwater fishing lures. Check his lures out at Bert’s Jigs and Things on Facebook. For a copy of his latest catalog, you can download it from his website at bertsjigsandthings.co m or e-mail him (bertdeener@ yahoo.com).
