Wow, the cool mornings reminded us of the fall to come!
Fish are still in their summer patterns, but they are starting to break down a little. Expect the fish to start roaming more and getting a little more active as the water cools.
With the coastal winds, the pond and smaller water bite has been best. Rivers are swollen, except the St. Marys, but levels are improving with the drier conditions this week.
The Ocmulgee River should be in good shape this week.
River gauges on September 4th were:
• Clyo on the Savannah River – 8.9 feet and falling
• Abbeville on the Ocmulgee – 3.8 feet and falling
• Doctortown on the Altamaha
– 9.3 feet and
falling
• Waycross on the Satilla – 8.6 feet and falling
• Atkinson on the Satilla – 9.0 feet and rising
• Statenville on the Alapaha – 6.0 feet and rising
• Macclenny on the St. Marys – 3.9 feet and falling
• Fargo on the Suwannee – 7.9 feet and falling
St. Marys River – Isaiah and Jace fished the lower St. Marys River and caught a mixed bag of redbreasts, bluegill, and crappie.
Jace had the catch of the day with his 12-inch slab crappie weighing over a pound. They fooled all of their fish with artificial lures.
Matt Rouse said the upper St. Marys level is about perfect for both getting around and catching fish, but it’s falling.
Okefenokee Swamp – Curtis, Jenny, Jackson and Amber fished the east side canals. It was Amber’s first time fishing. She caught the biggest bowfin of the day on a fire tiger Dura-Spin.
The most recent water level on the Folkston side was 121.20 feet.
Hugh M. Gillis Public Fishing Area (near Dublin) – Ken Burke had a great day catching 27 bass weighing 38 pounds total over four hours. His biggest was 2 1/2 pounds Ken weighs each fish during the trip and typically releases everything. He caught all but one of the fish on a crankbait. He said the water temperature had dropped into the upper 70s with the cooler nights we’ve had lately.
Local Ponds – Jimmy Zinker sent me a photo of a beautiful six-pound bass with the words “walking the dog still works.”
He fooled the big girl with a Zara Spook. He caught five on the cool, drizzly morning on the Spook. He tried buzzbaits and Jitterbugs, but they didn’t produce that morning.
Jimmy went to another pond during the week and heard a bunch of fish busting the surface, but could not get them to eat Jitterbugs or buzzbaits.
Chad Lee has been fishing Alma area ponds again now that it’s cooled off. He caught 12 bass, all in the two-pound range. He and Daniel Johnson caught a pair of two-pound bass on Whopper Plopper topwaters, also.
Saltwater (Ga. Coast) – Scott Smith and a buddy fished the Brunswick area and caught four really nice keeper trout with two over 20 inches.
They got soaked in the surprise morning downpour, but fooled them with live shrimp.
Another boat fishing that day caught six nice flounder. Then the winds started, and it howled for several days.
A skilled trout angler fished out of Brunswick and went south that morning catching and releasing a dozen nice trout. He had a fivepounder – his first that big in a couple years in that area. He caught his fish on topwaters.
I fished the Brunswick area and fooled trout, redfish, flounder, sheepshead, and black drum (along with the usual bevy of yellowtails, pigfish, etc.). The first fish of the day (a trout) came on a Keitech swimbait under an Equalizer Float, but everything else was on live shrimp.
I cast lures then fished the live shrimp through the same spot and caught redfish for a half-hour on every cast (some casts they got the bait or pulled off). I ended up catching 23 redfish up to 22 inches (tagged the ones I didn’t keep) and had several sheepshead and black drum mixed in with them.
The flounder was a 16incher. A lot of the redfish are just hitting the legal 14-inch size. It’s another good crop of youngof- the-year fish.
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 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.c om or e-mail him (bertdeener@yahoo. com).
