Southeast Georgia Fishing Reports With Capt. Bert Deener – May 3, 2024

Toby and his son Matt, of Gainesville, Ga., caught these nice trout Thursday on live shrimp suspended underneath Harper Super Striker Floats. Photo courtesy of Capt. Greg Hildreth.

There have been some giant fish of several species weighed in from all over the place this week. I wish I could clone myself to fish multiple locations this week! Take your pick where you go. There are no bad places to fish right now, just some are on fire and some are good.

Satilla River: The annual Satilla Riverkeeper fishing tournament will be held May 3-12. Get the details on the Satilla River Facebook page.

Dylan Lee started the Satilla big-fish parade this week with a whopping 1-lb., 7-oz. redbreast that ate his bug pitched on a micro bream-buster in the upper river. The monster was only a few ounces off the world record that was set a couple of years back. He had just gotten the light-weight pole from Satilla Feed and Outdoors. I have one of the micro poles, and I don’t know how he landed the fish on that tiny thing.

Kyle Meyer also caught some giant redbreasts this week on the upper Satilla basin out of his canoe. He caught fish on black poppers and green poppers fished on a fly rod.

Mason Davis caught a DNR Youth Angler Award shellcracker this week at just under 1 1/2 pounds.

A couple of Pierce County anglers hit a small creek in the Satilla basin on Thursday evening after work and whacked the panfish. They pitched pink Okefenokee Swamp Sallies for 28 fliers up to 7 inches, 10 stumpknockers and a bluegill. The upper river is within the banks but is still high. The bite for panfish won’t be peak, but you can catch some. The size of what you catch is what should be very impressive. Catfish and bass will likely be your best bites right now, but give panfish a try.

The middle and lower rivers are still high, and catfish will likely be your best bite in those areas.

Altamaha River: The upper and middle river sections are getting within the banks, and the fish that have fattened up in the floodplain are ready to eat now that it’s warming up.

Ogeechee River: Chris Baumann and a buddy fished the river on Saturday, and said they had to work for them. Still, they ended up catching 30 fish. Their best lure was a sexy-shad Satilla Spin, and they said it caught fish 3:1 over the others they used that day.

Savannah River: Mark Vick and Daniel Rhodes fished the lower Savannah on Friday. They had a great two-hour trip, catching 20 nice warmouth and several big fliers in the backwaters. Some of the fliers were pushing 11 inches! They caught their fish with 1/16-oz. crawfish-colored Warmouth Whacker Jigs.

St. Marys River: Brentz McGhin fished the upper river on Tuesday and had a great trip. He caught a couple dozen panfish on bruised banana and Halloween Satilla Spins and a few on a black/red Beetle Spin. He set the new St. Marys River record redbreast at 10.6-oz. after having it certified at the Waycross Fisheries Office. He ended up keeping 13 nice redbreast and a channel catfish.

Okefenokee Swamp: I fished the east side on Wednesday afternoon and checked some of my flier spots. I fooled 26 fliers up to 8 inches with a catalpa (black and chartreuse) Okefenokee Swamp Sally under a small balsa float and a 3-lb bowfin by casting a firetiger Dura-Spin. I only fished an hour and a half. Folks walking the boat basin on the east side caught some bowfin, but the warmouth reports have been mediocre at best so far. Expect that to change with the warmth and water level falling to a good level. The most recent water level (Folkston side) was 121.24 feet.   

Local Ponds: Hayes fished a pond near Brunswick with his dad on Sunday afternoon and caught a GIANT bluegill pushing 12 inches. It’s a very cute video of him admiring it and then letting it go. Crickets were the ticket for their trip.

Jimmy Zinker was at it again at night this week. He started off catching an 11-lb., 13-oz.  bass on Saturday night and then Monday night caught a 7-lb., 13-oz. fish. He caught both of those monsters on a black Pat Cullen Trophy Bass Buzzbait (the Squeaker Model).

Joshua Barber fished a pond on Saturday afternoon and caught three bass up to 2 pounds apiece on topwater.

Chad Lee fished an Alma area pond on Friday with Daniel Johnson, and they had six bass up to 2 pounds on Christie Craws and white spinnerbaits. Chad had four big bluegill and a few crappie pitching white, pink and chartreuse plastics on a Zombi Eye jig head. He fished on his lunch break this week and caught a total of seven bass up to 3 pounds. Rat-L-Traps and Whopper Ploppers fooled them.

Saltwater (GA Coast): Rickey O’Berry and a friend fished the Brunswick area this week and whacked the sheepshead by dabbling fiddler crabs around pilings and rocks. They caught a couple dozen big ones up to about 5 pounds. I heard about a decent whiting bite in the sounds and off the St. Simons Pier.

Capt. Greg Hildreth had a good trout trip on Thursday morning. They fooled several dozen nice trout up to about 22 inches on live shrimp under Harper Super Striker Floats. A few tripletail have started showing up floating off the Jekyll beaches.

Wat-a-melon Bait and Tackle in Brunswick is open Friday through Sunday from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. each week. They have plenty of lively shrimp and fiddler crabs and also have live worms and crickets for freshwater. They’re on Highway 303 just north of Highway 82. For the latest information, contact them at 912.223-1379.

Keaton Beach/Steinhatchee, Florida: I heard of an 8-lb. trout reportedly caught south of Keaton this week. They fooled it with a pink plastic, took photos and released it.

If you want a guide, contact Capt. Pat McGriff of One More Cast Guide Service out of Keaton Beach for a great trip.

New moon is May 8. To monitor all the Georgia river levels, visit the USGS website. For the latest marine forecast, check out www.weather.gov/jax/.

River gages on May 2 were:
Clyo on the Savannah River – 5.4 feet and falling
Abbeville on the Ocmulgee – 5.0 feet and falling
Doctortown on the Altamaha – 8.6 feet and falling
Waycross on the Satilla – 9.0 feet and falling
Atkinson on the Satilla – 9.0 feet and falling
Statenville on the Alapaha – 6.9 feet and falling
Macclenny on the St Marys – 4.4 feet and falling
Fargo on the Suwannee – 10.7 feet and falling

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, call him at 912.288.3022 or email him at [email protected].