Southeast Georgia Fishing Reports With Capt. Bert Deener – Nov. 15, 2024

BJ Hilton, of Brunswick, caught his personal best trout (this 4.59-pounder) on Monday. He fooled it with a live shrimp tail-hooked on a Capt. Bert’s 1/8-oz. Shrimp Hook.

All the southeast Georgia rivers are flooded or high from last week’s rains, except the St. Marys, Suwannee, and Ocmulgee. It’s still in good shape. Saltwater has produced some good catches, but the tides will get big in time for this weekend. Very few folks have been fishing the Okefenokee Swamp, but the bite has been really good.    

Altamaha River: A couple of Waycross anglers fished the lower river Saturday morning before it came up and said that it was in great shape at that time (and even clear). They fooled 18 bass up to about 3 pounds. A couple hit buzzbaits, but the vast majority were caught by pitching plastic creature baits to cover.

Okefenokee Swamp: Very few folks are fishing the Swamp. The main bite right now is bowfin, but you can catch fliers and pickerel if you know how to target them. Catfishing on the west side is your best bet in the Fargo area. Put a piece of shrimp on the bottom and the yellow bullheads (butter cats) will find it. The most recent water level (Folkston side) was 121.17 feet.

Dodge PFA (near Eastman): Ken Burke fished the area Thursday morning and caught some decent bass. He had five fish for 9 1/4 pounds. His big fish was just below 2 3/4 pounds, and he had another at 2 1/4 pounds. All of his fish ate crankbaits. The bite from the pier has been slow, according to reports.

Local Ponds: Jimmy Zinker said that the bass bite was wide open in south Georgia ponds this week. Spinnerbaits, jerkbaits, and Shad-Raps (shad colors) produced fish best for him in the Worth County area. His biggest fish this week was a 6-lb., 3-oz. bass.

Lakes Iamonia and Miccosukee (north Florida): Joshua Barber fished with a friend over the weekend and had fun during a day trip. They fished Iamonia first and caught 7 bass and then went to Miccosukee and caught 2 more bass. Most of their fish were fooled with swimbaits, but they caught a few on soft plastic worms and one on a hard-bodied frog. Eight of their 9 fish were keepers.

Saltwater (GA Coast): The trout and redfish bites have been very good, and some nice flounder are still around. I fished Monday with BJ Hilton in the Brunswick area, and we caught some giant trout. We landed four trout over 20 inches and lost a couple other big ones that shook off. The key was to slowly work a tail-hooked shrimp along the bottom. We rigged the shrimp on a Capt. Bert’s 1/8-oz Shrimp Hook (built with a Gamakatsu kahle-shaped hook). It’s a neat setup because its shape allows you to work it through shells and cover without hanging up much. We caught a few on Fighter jerkbaits and Keitech swimbaits, but the vast majority of our 29 fish ate the live shrimp on the Shrimp Hook. We had four redfish that were all oversized (24 to 27 1/2 inches), including a tagged redfish, and a pair of 14-inch flounder. BJ’s biggest trout (and his personal best) was 4.59 pounds, and our three biggest trout weighed a total of 11.41 pounds on digital scales.

Sean Tarpley and a buddy fished Monday and caught a bunch of trout and redfish. Their biggest keeper redfish was a 4.33-pounder. Blake Edwards fished the Brunswick area on Monday and had a really nice 22-inch trout that ate a gold flash minnow-colored 4-inch Keitech pinned on a Zombi Eye Jighead. He had eight trout during the trip. One of his other fish was an 18-incher. He and Tim Corey fished the Brunswick area on Thursday in the WIND and caught several nice trout and redfish on artificials. Their best setup was an electric chicken Keitech pegged on a 3/16-oz. Zombi Eye Jighead and suspended under an Equalizer Float. They had a few keeper trout up to 16 inches and a couple of redfish.

Nelle Tomlinson caught this nice redfish this week while fishing the Brunswick area.

Charles and Linda Sweat fished the St. Marys area this weekend and did well for trout and redfish on Friday and Monday. They fished the outgoing tide with live bait in the main rivers, and they also caught a few flounder.

A local captain had some excellent trips this week. On Friday, they had a great mixed bag of sheepshead, reds, trout, black drum, and flounder with live shrimp under a Harper Super Striker Float. On Saturday, they caught all of their fish on artificials (Rapala X-Raps and Fourseven plastics pegged on Zombi Eye Jigheads). They caught well over 40 trout, but many of them were short. On Monday, the shrimp under the Super Striker fooled another great mix of coastal species. His charters Tuesday and Wednesday were with the Tomlinson family, and they put it on a bunch of good fish. On Tuesday, they had a bunch of redfish of all sizes—they left them biting. On Wednesday, the growing tides churned up the water enough to make them work a little harder, but they still found a good redfish bite.

A local captain had great trips late last week before the tides got big. On Sunday, they crushed the big trout and big redfish while fishing in the rain and wind.

Don’t forget about the fish carcass freezer at the Waycross Fisheries Office at 108 Darling Avenue. The Coastal Resources Division collects most inshore saltwater species so that they can determine age and growth for each species. All the supplies and information cards are in the freezer. Filet your fish then drop off the carcasses in the freezer.

Wat-a-melon Bait and Tackle in Brunswick is now open every day. On Monday to Thursday their hours are 6:30 to 10 a.m. and 2 to 5 p.m. and Friday through Saturday from 6:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. They have plenty of lively shrimp 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.

Full Moon is Nov. 15.

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/.

River gages on Nov. 14 were:
Clyo on the Savannah River – 10.5 feet and falling
Abbeville on the Ocmulgee – 2.6 feet and falling
Doctortown on the Altamaha – 11.4 feet and falling (record high for the date)
Waycross on the Satilla – 12.4 feet and rising
Atkinson on the Satilla – 8.9 feet and rising
Statenville on the Alapaha – 11.7 feet and falling
Macclenny on the St Marys – 3.0 feet and falling
Fargo on the Suwannee – 4.9 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, you can download it from his website at bertsjigsandthings.com or email him ([email protected]).