Fishing Report

The fall bite is in fullswing in most places. Saltwater tides have been very good and are building again into this week.

River gauges Thursday, October 16 were:

• Clyo on the Savannah River – 4.0 feet and rising

• Abbeville on the Ocmulgee – 1.2 feet and rising

• Doctortown on the Altamaha – 3.9 feet and rising

• Waycross on the Satilla – 4.7 feet and falling

• Atkinson on the Satilla – 3.7 feet and falling

• Statenville on the Alapaha – 2.6 feet and rising

• Macclenny on the St Marys – 2.1 feet and falling

• Fargo on the Suwannee – 2.1 feet and falling

Okefenokee Swamp – Curtis and Jenny Hazel fished the east side of the swamp and caught 17 fish (16 bowfin and a pickerel) by trolling Dura-Spins. Curtis caught his biggest so far – a 6-pounder. Fire tiger-chartreuse blade and crawfish-brass blades were their top colors.

John and Isaiah Bittle visited from West Virginia and fished with me on the west side of the Okefenokee out of SC Foster State Park. We caught and released 106 fish during the six-hour trip.

Most were bowfin, but we did catch a couple of fliers on pink Okefenokee Swamp Sallies. Our biggest bowfin was 4-lb., 12-oz., and we also had 21, 22 and 23-inch pickerel and a 9-inch warmouth on the spinners. The best colors were crawfish-brass blade, lemon-lime, fire tiger-chartreuse blade, and crawfish-orange blade.

For the latest information about open areas, call Okefenokee Adventures or SC Foster State Park.

The most recent water level on the Folkston side was 120.50 feet. The west side water level was 3.98 feet.

– Ken Burke fished the area for almost five hours and had five bites. He caught and released five bass for 16.3 pounds.

His biggest fish was 4.25 pounds, and he had three others over three pounds. A shaky head worm fooled one of his fish, while the others ate a sexy shad-colored flat-sided crankbait that runs about five feet deep. He got bites throughout the morning.

Local Ponds – Tommy Davis fished a and spider-rigged a limit of crappie. He used 1/16-oz. Tennessee Shad Specktacular Jigs tipped with a minnow for most of his fish. He also dragged a chartreusepearl 2-inch Keitech swimbait underneath a float behind his spread and picked up a few extra fish.

My daughter, Elli, fished with me and we long-line trolled up 59 fish total (a largemouth bass, four bluegills and 54 crappie). We kept about 40 of the crappie. Our biggest was 13 inches, and most were 9 to 10 inches. Our best presentation was a pearl-red eye 1/16-oz. Zombie Eye Jighead rigged with a 2-inch Keitech Swing Impact Swimbait (best colors were sexy shad, shad, electric shad, and bluegill flash).

John and Isaiah Bittle fished with me in a Brunswick area pond after redfishing that morning. The bite started off slowly with the bright sun, but as it dropped closer to the trees, the bass started chewing.

We ended up catching 11 bass up to four pounds. We also fooled 32 channel catfish by pitching dead shrimp rigged on 3/16-oz. Redfish Wrecker Jigheads.

Joshua Barber fished a Waycross area pond and caught a half-dozen bass. He fooled them with soft plastics.

Saltwater (Ga. Coast) – Scott Smith and a friend fished the Brunswick area and brought home nnine black drum and a flounder. They fooled them with shrimp.

John and Isaiah Bittle fished with me in the Brunswick area over a two-day period. We fished the small creeks with live shrimp around low tide and caught a bunch of redfish with tail-hooked shrimp on a 1/8-oz. Shrimp Hook and 3/16-oz. – 3/0 hook Redfish Wrecker Jigheads.

We released all of our fish and had 33 redfish, two sheepshead (to 3-lbs.), two black drum (to 3-lbs.), and a trout on the first day.

The next morning we released all 32 fish (three flounder to 14 inches, four black drum to 17 inches, three trout to 14 inches, and 22 redfish to 23 inches). That day we caught them all on live shrimp and 3/16-oz. 3/0 hook and 3/8-oz. 5/0 Redfish Wrecker Jigheads.

We tried artificials, but the fish wanted live and dead shrimp (we had some frozen shrimp that we used both days after we finished a quart of live shrimp).

A New Moon was October 21. 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. com or e-mail him ([email protected]).