The bites all over the place have been off the chain after the recent cold snap. This extended warm spell has fish chewing everywhere. If you have the ability to fish before the next cold front, you need to try to do it.
River gauges Thursday, November 20 were:
• Clyo on the Savannah River – 3.4 feet and falling
• Abbeville on the Ocmulgee – 1.4 feet and falling
• Doctortown on the Altamaha – 4.3 feet and falling
• Waycross on the Satilla – 5.2 feet and falling
• Atkinson on the Satilla – 3.4 feet and falling
• Statenville on the Alapaha – 1.6 feet and falling
• Macclenny on the St Marys – 2.0 feet and steady
• Fargo on the Suwannee – 1.4 feet and falling
Altamaha/Ocmulgee Rivers – Shane and Joshua Barber fished the lower Altamaha and caught 10 bass, a pickerel, and a big bowfin.
They caught one on a spinnerbait and the rest on Texas-rigged plastics. Their biggest bass was 3lb., 5-oz.
Michael Deen and Chad Griffin fished the middle Ocmulgee and caught (and released) 15 really nice bass up to 5.01 pounds. Their biggest five bass that day weighed 17.13 pounds. Texasrigged plastics were the best presentation that day.
They returned a day later and caught about a dozen bass (their biggest five weighed a little over 13 pounds). Their biggest largemouth was about 4 pounds, and Chad had a 2pound shoal bass in the mix.
Several other Waycross anglers reported catching about a dozen bass per trip on the lower river. Worms, crankbaits, and spinnerbaits were the common thread to the catches.
Satilla River – The river is super-low. Be careful if you try it. Paddle crafts and short float trips are the way to go right now.
Savannah River – Tyler Finch put it on the panfish in the lower Savannah. He and a friend caught 108 over two days and they were mostly bluegills. He was pitching a 3/16-oz. white Perch Hounder spinnerbait tipped with a cricket.
Okefenokee Swamp – Bob Schramm fished with me on the west side of the Swamp in the middle of the day. He caught his first flier ever in the boat basin before we headed out.
It didn’t take long trolling a crawfish-brass blade Dura-Spin before he caught his first bowfin ever – a 2-pounder. He picked up another dozen bowfin and decided to try for a pickerel.
He worked for it, but finally caught an 18-inch chain pickerel (his first ever) on a jackfish-colored Dura-Spin.
The water level on the west side (SC Foster SP boat basin) was 3.65 feet (it’s getting low, but you can still get out the canal to Billy’s Lake no problem).
The water level on the Folkston side was around 120.00 feet. Several of the trails are getting low, so they have closed them to cross-swamp paddling. They’re still allowing paddle in – paddle out trips.
Boating is still possible in most places, but be careful. I’ve found a couple stumps that I have not found before.
Dodge County Public Fishing Area (near Eastman) - Ken Burke fished the area and had a good day for bass catching 10. The total weight of all of them was 21.5 pounds.
He had a couple in the 3 to 3 1/2-pound class and the remaining fish were from just under a pound to 2 3/4 pounds.
The water temperature rose to 63 degrees by noon.
Ocmulgee Public Fishing Area (near Hawkinsville) – The crappie bite has picked up on the area.
James Canion was fishing a hair jig on a bream buster pole and caught an angler award-sized white crappie. The slab pulled the certified scales down to 2-lb., 2-oz. and earned him a custom hat, t-shirt, and certificate.
Bass fishing has been good during this warmup, but I don’t have any details.
Local Ponds – I fished with Tommy Davis and we caught 24 crappie, an 8-pound bowfin, and a small bass.
We caught them spiderrigging a 1/16-oz Tennessee shad Specktacular Jig and 1/16-oz. Mirage Jig both tipped with live minnows. Our biggest was 11 inches.
The crappie bite has been good in talking with other anglers targeting them.
Saltwater (Ga. Coast) – The best trip I heard about was a couple of Brunswick anglers who caught over 50 trout. They released two trout over 25 inches and three over 23 inches and kept a few smaller fish.
Seth Carter and friends slayed the trout and redfish in the Brunswick area. They caught dozens of fish and kept a mess for a meal. Artificials produced their fish.
Scott Smith and a friend fished the Brunswick area and caught a bunch of slot redfish and trout. They limited out on redfish then released the rest. Live shrimp produced most of their fish.
Capt. Chris Ruff said the redfish bite has been great, but trout were hit and miss for him. Live shrimp produced fish on his charters.
Sebastian had the catch of the week – an 18-inch tagged redfish. That catch will earn him a t-shirt from the Coastal Resources Division.
Stan Rhodes and Eddie Wade fished behind Cumberland Island and caught a bunch of short trout and sheepshead on live shrimp and fiddler crabs. They ended up with 15 keepers — nine trout, three sheepshead, two redfish and a whiting. They said that the wind was howling from the northeast all day.
Keaton Beach, Fla.
– Capt. Pat McGriff of One More Cast Guide Service scouted and got on a big slug of fish in 4-6 feet of water.
His charter caught about 60 trout in the 3-5 foot range. They caught them on shrimp under Back Bay Thunder Floats.
I fished with Capt. Pat and we did very well for trout and black sea bass. One creek held a couple “perfect” trout just under 19 inches. We moved deeper to some 4- to 6foot rocks and caught a half-dozen black sea bass up to 11 1/2 inches.
We were getting bites on almost every cast toward the end, and that’s when we caught our biggest trout at 21-inches. We stopped at 61 trout and black sea bass (kept a limit of 10 trout and a few black sea bass).
That awesome trout bite should continue until the next cold spell moves them around, so get with him if you want a great trout trip on the Gulf.
