Fish are in their summer patterns and the bites in southeast Georgia have been good.
Rivers that flow into the Piedmont (Ocmulgee, Oconee, Altamaha) have remained high, but the blackwater rivers are mostly fishable for the holiday weekend. Ponds are a good bet with the evening showers because you can quickly get to cover.
River gauges Thursday, July 3 were:
• Clyo on the Savannah River – 6.6 feet and rising
• Abbeville on the Ocmulgee – 8.5 feet and rising
• Doctortown on the Altamaha – 9.2 feet and falling
• Waycross on the Satilla – 7.6 feet and rising
• Atkinson on the Satilla – 8.9 feet and falling
• Statenville on the Alapaha – 4.6 feet and cresting
• Macclenny on the St Marys – 2.9 feet and falling
• Fargo on the Suwannee – 5.3 feet and steady
Alapaha River – Stan Rhodes and David McGlamry fished the middle river and caught 21 fish (catfish, crappie, bluegill and redbreast).
They had to work for their fish and had trouble getting around blowdowns, but still caught some nice-sized fish. They used both artificials (Satilla Spins and bugs) and live bait (crawfish, crickets and catalpa worms).
Altamaha River – Miles Zachary said the river is falling fast and the bite has been tough in the muddy water.
He said the best bet for bass is to target cover right now with cranking and flipping if you go during the holiday weekend.
Satilla River – Clifford Hale had an exciting catch in the river this week thinking he had a record redbreast, but the 2 1/2pound fish was a pacu (an exotic species), not a redbreast.
The river is still ripping, but you can catch some fish. Catfishing would likely be your best bet, but you should be able to get some panfish and bass to bite if you work for them.
St. Marys River – Matt Rouse fished the upper St. Marys and caught some really nice yellow bullhead catfish. His biggest was 14 inches, and some of the others were almost that big.
Okefenokee Swamp – Josh, Sawyer and Finn fished the east side and caught 62 warmouth. They pitched Mr. Crappie Joker plastics on jigheads for their fish.
I fished the east side trying to dial in the bowfin bite on fly gear and caught a bunch. I had a total of 23 fish (21 on the fly) with a chain pickerel, Florida gar and the rest bowfin.
I was using an 8-weight outfit and flinging a new bladed fly that I’m developing ... it’s the ticket. Bowfin can’t resist a blade and this fly is no exception.
I went back two days later to further dial it in, and caught a dozen fish (all bowfin) in an hour and a half before a storm ran me off. All were on the bladed fly, and all were bowfin. The biggest on both trips was just under 4 pounds.
Curtis Hazel pitched bugs on the east side for a couple hours and caught three decent warmouth.
The most recent water level on the Folkston side was 120.63 feet.
Dodge County Public Fishing Area (near Eastman) – Tyler Hollomon caught some nice channel catfish and a big bluegill while fishing from the piers. His biggest channel catfish was just over seven pounds.
Ken Burke bass fished the area and had a slow go of it. He fished about four hours and caught a couple bass in the heat.
Local Ponds – I got a few good bass reports. One angler started catching some big bass in area lakes, but did not want to share details.
Another fished a pond and caught 15 bass up to four pounds.
Joshua Barber fished a pond and caught five bass. None were real big, but he did hook a big fish that pulled off.
Jimmy Zinker fished a pond at night for bass and had a 4-pounder on a Jitterbug and a smaller one on a Squeaker Trophy Bass Buzzbait. That’s all he could muster this week between the storms and rigging his new boat.
Saltwater (Ga. Coast) – Isaac Hunt and a friend fished the coast and had a blast with his BFS rod and reel setup he got at Satilla Feed and Outdoors.
He said its light action made all the fish feel huge. They caught about 15 fish – most 15-18-inch flounder. They had two upper slot reds, as well. Their fish ate a fire tiger curlytail on a 1/4-oz. jighead.
Capt. Chris Ruff of Ruff’s Coastal Adventures said right now it’s flounder, flounder,and more flounder … and a few redfish.
The normal haunts – creek mouths and oyster beds – are producing, but you need to go early or late. The water temps in the Darien area have been 89 each day by noon.
Live shrimp on jigheads is how he has been catching most of them, but white and bright-colored artificials also produced.
Capt. Greg Hildreth said the inshore bite has slowed, but he’s still catching a few trout (mostly shorts). The whiting bite in the sounds and beaches has still been good.
The big jack crevalle are roaming the beaches. He got on them with hard baits and topwaters.
Shrimping picked up from reports. One angler said they had some big shrimp in their net cast from a dock in the Brunswick area.
Full Moon is Thursday, July 10. 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).
