The fish bit well last week in most places. Most rivers are still swollen, except the St. Marys and Alapaha.
Winds were terrible much of the week in saltwater, but the fish cooperated when you could get out to them.
The Okefenokee Swamp level is great, and the fish are chewing.
River gauges Thursday, June 5 were:
• Clyo on the Savannah River – 10.2 feet and falling
• Abbeville on the Ocmulgee – 10.0 feet and rising
• Doctortown on the Altamaha – 9.5 feet and rising
• Waycross on the Satilla – 6.0 feet and falling
• Atkinson on the Satilla – 5.6 feet and rising
• Statenville on the Alapaha – 3.0 feet and falling
• Macclenny on the St Marys – 2.5 feet and falling
• Fargo on the Suwannee – 5.5 feet and steady
Satilla River – Jamie Storey and Ward Highsmith fished the middle river and said the water was ripping.
They found some slack areas and were able to catch a good number of bluegills, warmouth, pickerel, and a few bass up to three pounds. They caught a total of about 25 fish and fooled them with bumblebee and bruiser Satilla Spins.
Seth Carter and a friend fished the lower river and caught bass and panfish. They fooled several bass up to about four pounds with topwaters and shaky head worms.
Seth kept getting panfish bites on the worm, so he switched to a Satilla Spin on his BFS outfit and wore out the bluegills, redbreasts and warmouth. Two colors which worked best were catalpa gold and rooster bug.
Alapaha River – Jonathon Pritchard fished the middle river this week and had a good trip. He fooled a bunch of redbreasts and bass on Satilla Spins (black hues worked best for him).
St. Marys River – Curtis and Jenny Hazel fished the middle river fooling a pair of stumpknockers and three redbreasts on Satilla Spins.
Okefenokee Swamp – Jim Spencer fished the west side for four days with mostly a fly rod. He caught some giant warmouth up to 1-lb., 5-oz. on crawfish flies.
He also had some big jackfish up to 20 inches on white spinners. Bowfin also ate his flies, but all were on the small side.
Seth Carter and Van Palmer fished the east side with me. They pitched Warmouth Whacker Jigs early and caught about a dozen warmouth and a few pickerel and bowfin. The best colors were popsicle and a prototype red/black/white.
After a couple hours chasing warmouth, they switched to casting for big fish. The flung Bull Shads ($150 bass baits) and high-dollar Pompadour topwaters.
A half-dozen bowfin is all it took to tear the tail off the Bull Shad, but it fell in the boat, so Seth could reattach it later. They both switched to Dura-Spins and roped the pickerel and bowfin and even a gar.
Jackfish was by far the best color, but Seth caught a few on fire tiger-chartreuse blade. During the trip, they ended up catching 144 fish total Van caught a 10-lb., 4oz. bowfin he got certified as the Okefenokee bowfin record at just shy of 10 pounds on certified scales. They also had an 8-lb., 7oz. and 7-lb., 15-oz. bowfin in the mix. Their biggest pickerel was 20 inches.
Curtis and Jenny Hazel fished the east side canals and caught nine warmouth and four bowfin. It was Jenny’s first time fishing the Okefenokee. They caught their fish on Warmouth Whacker Jigs, topwater bugs, and tuxedo Satilla Spins.
I fished the west side in the extreme winds. Buck Johnson also braved the winds with me in his own boat and caught three big warmouth and a pickerel. His biggest warmouth was just under a pound. All 4 of his fish ate a red/black/white Warmouth Whacker Jig under a float.
I had one big warmouth on the same jig (without the float) and a few bowfin and pickerel before I switched to casting Dura-Spins. I’m glad I did, as the bowfin/pickerel bite was excellent.
I caught and released a total of 52 fish casting jackfish Dura-Spins. I tried other colors and got very few bites.
When I went back to the jackfish color I started catching them again. My biggest bowfin was 5-lb., 2-oz., and I had two pickerel that were 22 inches.
The most recent water level on the Folkston side was 120.56 feet. The water level on the west side at SC Foster State Park was 4.62 feet.
Local Ponds – Joshua Barber fished a local pond catching one bass. He had a big bass break his braided line. He was throwing topwater frogs.
Saltwater (Ga. Coast) – Capt. Greg Hildreth did well for trout inshore. His charters fooled them with live shrimp under Harper Super Striker Floats. The shark bite behind the shrimp boats has really picked up, he said.
Capt. Chris Ruff said it was very windy for him one particular day, but he was able to put his charter on several flounder and a few trout with live shrimp under Harper Super Striker Floats. He found his fish in the big water near the sounds.
Another day was a beautiful and his charter caught several redfish, black drum, sheepshead, and lots of sharks. They fished live shrimp on the bottom and under floats.
Capt. Duane Harris took friends in windy conditions in the Brunswick area. They fought the winds and still managed to catch three redfish, a trout,and a flounder the first day.
They followed it up with seven nice trout and a red. All their fish were on live shrimp.
Scott Smith fished the Brunswick area and brought home a great catch of eight flounder and three big trout. They also had a bunch of sharks and ladyfish. They fished live shrimp until they ran out, then they caught a few more on jigs and plastics.
Flounder fishing has been good on the Jekyll Island Pier. Brenda Hampton had a 15-inch flattie within minutes of casting out. Mudminnows were the bait of choice.
On another recent trip Brenda and her husband, Steve, caught a dozen flounder. Another day they had five flounder before the bite shut down.
Full Moon is today (Wednesday, June 11). To monitor all the Georgia river levels, visit the USGS website (waterdata.usgs.gov/ga/n wis/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).
