The bite is picking up and rivers are dropping into the good range at different rates. Most stretches are fishable.
Not many folks reported going considering the good conditions this week.
River gauges Thursday, September 11 were:
• Clyo on the Savannah River – 7.7 feet and rising
• Abbeville on the Ocmulgee – 3.0 feet and falling
• Doctortown on the Altamaha – 6.6 feet and falling
• Waycross on the Satilla – 6.8 feet and falling
• Atkinson on the Satilla – 7.5 feet and falling
• Statenville on the Alapaha – 6.4 feet and falling
• Macclenny on the St Marys – 3.4 feet and falling
• Fargo on the Suwannee – 5.6 feet and falling
Satilla River – With the water up (but not too high), bass fishing has been effective.
Seth Carter had fun last week with crankbaits and wakebaits. He went a couple times and caught a nice bass on the Throwback WakeWalker LT.
The river should be down enough soon to chase panfish effectively.
Okefenokee Swamp – Josh and Ellie came down from the Athens area and we fished the east side.
We only fished a short time, but they caught 10 fish total by casting and trolling Dura-Spins. The biggest they landed was a 4-pounder, but Josh had a double-digit fish on for a half-minute before it pulled off last thing during the trip.
Curtis Hazel and a friend fished the east side and caught 20 bowfin by trolling Dura-Spins down the canal. Fire-tiger was their best color, but they caught a fish on other colors also.
Bill Stewart and I fished and we had a total of 19 fish. Bill had two giant fliers on bruised banana gold Perch Hounder Spinnerbaits (the larger version of the Satilla Spin).
I caught a big bluegill on a prototype inline spinner. About a halfdozen of the fish were pickerel to 18 inches (the biggest ate the small prototype spinner) and the rest were bowfin.
Bill had the biggest bowfin (a 4pounder) on the Perch Hounder. I had a pickerel and eight bowfin up to three pounds on a fly rod and bladed fly.
The most recent water level on the Folkston side was 121.06 feet.
Local Ponds – George caught a 7-lb. bass from a Brunswick area pond and followed it up a few minutes later with a 5-pounder, as well. He fooled them with a Whopper Plopper topwater.
Chad Lee caught 16 bass from Alma-area ponds, but he took damage for doing so. Some yellow jackets jumped on him and stung him 8 times. All of his bass ate spinnerbaits, and each weighed between two and four pounds.
Jimmy Zinker has had trouble getting the fish to eat his usual buzzbaits and Jitterbugs, but they have been willing to suck down a Zara Spook. He caught several nice fish on the walking bait.
He caught five bass up to four pounds walking the topwater. He also fooled two bass in the 4-pound range with a hard glide bait.
