Okefenokee Swamp fishing has been great. Pond fishing has been consistent, but the number of reports has been low as the heat and evening thunderstorms have increased. Get used to it for the next several months.
River gauges Thursday, June 12 were:
• Clyo on the Savannah River – 10.1 feet and rising
• Abbeville on the Ocmulgee – 7.3 feet and falling
• Doctortown on the Altamaha – 9.7 feet and rising
• Waycross on the Satilla – 5.9 feet and rising
• Atkinson on the Satilla – 7.7 feet and rising
• Statenville on the Alapaha – 3.0 feet and rising
• Macclenny on the St Marys – 2.6 feet and rising
• Fargo on the Suwannee – 4.5 feet and falling
Satilla River – A Waycross angler fished the middle river catching a couple fish on Satilla Spins. He said that the river had come up and muddied since he fished earlier in the week.
Unfortunately, it’s rising again just as it was getting right for floating for panfish.
Okefenokee Swamp – Chad and Casey Raulerson fished the east side and caught a bunch of bowfin and pickerel. Their catch of the day, though, was a largemouth bass which ate Casey’s parrot-colored Perch Hounder Spinnerbait – the same one they use for cichlids in the Everglades. It was 1 1/2 pounds.
Joshua Barber fished with me on the east side for a few hours. We caught and released a total of 28 fish. Half of them were on the fly rod and the other half we were casting a Dura-Spin on spinning tackle.
We caught fliers, warmouth, pickerel and bowfin on flies. Most of the fish ate a 3-inch white Game Changer fly, but the fliers chewed a small, green-backed shad fly. Our biggest bowfin was around four pounds.
The only species we added with spinning tackle were a pair of Florida gar. We had at least a dozen of them slash at the in-line spinners.
Kent and his son, John Kent, Jr. (10 years old), stayed at the cabins at SC Foster State Park and fished the west side. They whacked fish on Dura-Spins each day.
The first day they caught 34 fish with the biggest bowfin 5.36 pounds. The bite was better a day later, but they had to dodge storms. They caught a bunch of bowfin, pickerel, several warmout, and even a bluegill on the big spinners.
Wade and Mychaela Eatmon came down from Atlanta to fish with me on the east side. Wade used a fly rod almost all day, and Mychaela cast Dura-Spins. We caught 26 fish with about half on the fly and the other half the in-line spinner.
Wade fooled our biggest bowfin (5-lb., 14-oz.) with the fire tiger-chartreuse blade.
Justin, Jax (10), and Axel (6) from Metter fished with me on the east side. The amount of energy those boys had is a distant memory for me, but it invigorated me to see them having so much fun.
They boot-stomped the bowfin and pickerel, catching 51 fish during a halfday trip. Justin had a few pickerel up to 18 inches early in the trip. Jax had the biggest – a 5-lb., 15-oz. monster. They kept a few bowfin and made fish tacos that evening for supper.
Jeremy Robertson and Robert Pittman fished the swamp and caught 15 pickerel and quit counting the bowfin while casting Dura-Spins. Their first color they killed them with was blood red. They also caught them on fire tiger, chartreuse, and white.
Jim and Clay Spencer fished both the west side and east side . They caught plenty of bowfin and several pickerel on each side using mostly Dura-Spins. Clay had the hot hand on big fish both days (8 1/2 lbs. second day). He also had a big gar.
The most recent water level on the Folkston side was 120.70 feet.
Local Ponds – Joshua Barber had a stellar trip at a local pond. His top four bass weighed just over 22 pounds.
He had two over 7 lbs., with his biggest 7-lb., 15oz. He fooled them with SPRO topwater frogs fished over vegetation. He released the bass after a few photos.
Jimmy Zinker has been night-fishing for bass, but has not caught any big fish lately. They have been hitting musky Jitterbugs and Trophy Bass Buzzbaits.
Ella Kate fished with her dad, Chris, in their Ware County pond and caught some bluegills and bass on bumblebee Satilla Spins.
Ocmulgee Public Fishing Area (near Hawkinsville) – Ken Burke fished the area and had a great day for bass at the catch-and-release only (for bass) lake.
He had nothing for the first 3 hours, but then it turned . He got on a good stretch and within 30 minutes of the rain starting caught and released six bass weighing 18 1/4 pounds. His biggest was just over four pounds.
David Blake caught and released three bass with two over five pounds and the other over 6 pounds.
Saltwater (Ga. Coast) – I got one excellent flounder report from the St. Marys Jetties. They caught 18 keeper flounder up to 20 inches using mudminnows as bait.
Capt. Tim Cutting said that trout bite has slowed a little, but they’re still catching fish. His group released a decent number of trout longer than 18 inches.
They caught oversized and slot reds along with a few under-sized fish starting to show up, which is typical for this time of year. He and his wife (Michelle) had a dozen nice redfish – all released. Michelle was pitching Gulp 4-inch grub and even caught a big flounder on it.
The bigger trout have been eating the stellar blue-colored Fourseven 3.5-inch swimmer pinned to a Zombie Eye Jighead.
His trips had a handful of solid flounder floating live shrimp under Harper Super Striker Floats. The trick was to float the shrimp shallow next to shell beds on the outgoing tide.
Last quarter moon is today (Wednesday, June 18). 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. com or e-mail him (bertdeener@ yahoo.com).
