Southeast Georgia Fishing Reports With Capt. Bert Deener – Jan. 31, 2025

Tom Kirkland caught this gator trout Thursday in the Brunswick area.

This is the warm-up we’ve all been waiting for. Remember, the water is going to heat up very slowly, so don’t get in too big of a hurry to fish fast-moving baits, even if you’re wearing shorts. Shallow ponds will heat up quickly and provide the most active fish this weekend.

Savannah River: The cold put the crappie bite off for Mark Vick and his buddy who went this weekend. They caught a few specks but could not find water temps higher than 39 degrees. Their couple fish were deep and hugging the bottom.

St. Marys River:  The Temple Landing is currently closed while the GA Wildlife Resources Division boat ramp crew rebuilds the ramp. It will be a much-improved facility when they finish the project. The projects typically take a few months to complete, but it is always weather and river level dependent.

Okefenokee Swamp: Joshua Barber fished with me on the west side on Saturday. We knew it would be really cold water and were curious just how cold. My depthfinder read 35 degrees in Billy’s Lake. We were expecting cold, but not that cold. We did not get any bowfin to bite, but had six big pickerel eat our 1/16-oz. Mirage Jigs tipped with dead minnows. Joshua fooled one of them with a chartreuse back pearl 3-inch Keitech rigged on a 3/16-oz. Zombi Eye jig head. All of the pickerel were big—over 18 inches—and our biggest was a 3-lb., 6-oz., 23 1/4-inch monster. They were a blast on ultralight gear! We caught four fliers in just a few minutes by pitching yellow sallies and pink sallies on bream buster poles. We snapped a photo of a pickerel by the little bit of snow that was left on the way in then released it. With this warm-up, I imagine it would not be too hard to catch 100 fliers by pitching sallies. This warm-up is what it takes to get them chewing. The most recent water level (Folkston side) was 121.06 feet.

Joshua Barber caught this 19-inch pickerel in the Okefenokee Swamp (west side) on Saturday in 35-degree water temperature. He was throwing a chartreuse back pearl 3-inch Keitech on a 3/16-oz. Zombi Eye jig head.

Dodge County Public Fishing Area (near Eastman): Ken Burke fished the area on Wednesday for about five hours and caught two bass. His biggest was 2 1/4 pounds, and the other was just slightly smaller. Both of them ate a crankbait. Some other anglers that day reported catching a few nice crappie that morning.

Local Ponds: Jimmy Zinker has been catching some solid bass in Worth County farm ponds. Bigger Shad Raps and spinnerbaits have been producing his strikes. Thursday he had five bass with the biggest weighing 5-lbs., 11-ozs.

I fished with a friend in a Baxley area lake on Tuesday, and we had a blast. We didn’t catch many (10 total crappie) with 42-degree water, but had fun doing it. I caught the biggest—right at a pound—by vertical fishing a 1/16-oz. Mirage Jig tipped with a live minnow. My friend caught eight by spider-rigging Tennessee shad 1/16-oz. Specktacular Jigs tipped with minnows. We marked fish all day, but they did not bite well. We’re guessing the front that passed the night before and the cold water gave them lockjaw.

St. John’s River (Astor, Florida) / Crescent Lake: Crescent is where I heard the best reports, and I heard several this week. Mike Harrell and Jim Hickox caught some giant crappie in Crescent Lake on Thursday. They had a limit, including five or six that were right at or over 2 pounds. They pitched plastics for all of their fish.

Saltwater (Georgia Coast): Expectedly, with all the super-cold weather and ice, the number of reports from the brine were down this week. Jay Turner returned to his magical bank fishing spot Friday after catching a ton of fish Thursday. He was able to land some of the larger trout and reds that broke him off the day before. He had five redfish right around the upper slot and a dozen trout. Four of his trout were 24 to 25 inches! He released everything that day. He caught them on the same 1/8-oz. Zombi Eye jig head and 3-inch Keitech that he had been catching them on.

One captain fished in the cold on Monday and had a great day for trout. They ended up catching around 50 trout (most 14 to 17 inches), but they had to slow WAY down to get it done. They threw plastic shrimp and worked them slowly right along the bottom. He said sometimes a cast would take five minutes or more. The fish would thump it as it settled back to the bottom after they lifted it slightly. Most of their fish were in the 10-foot depth range.

Another captain had variable trips this week, but they caught fish on all of them. On Friday they got on a decent trout bite. They went back Saturday and only found a few keepers and a couple short trout. On Sunday, they switched up and looked for redfish. They caught a dozen and released three oversized reds. Monday was a tough bite, but they managed 10 decent slot reds. Tuesday was a little better, and they ended up with a nice mixed bag of sheepshead, redfish and trout. They cleaned 13 fish total. Wednesday was back to redfish, and they had some oversized ones in addition to some slot fish. On Thursday, they had a good trout bite again. All week the water was 42 to 46 degrees, but the 52-degree water Thursday got them biting better. They had 17 keepers and about the same number of shorts on Thursday. He used Fourseven curly tails in Christmas tree and their plastic Bayshrimp in clear-gold flake on Zombi Eye jig heads. They also caught a few on DOA 3-inch shrimp.

Sean Tarpley got on some decent redfish mid-week during the warm-up. They were barely taking it, but they did bite in the 51-degree water. Trout were also starting to bite for him. The fish shut down for him in the 40-degree water that he saw during the heart of the cold snap.

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 a.m. to 10 and 2 p.m. to 5 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.

First quarter moon is Feb. 5.

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 Jan. 30 were:
Clyo on the Savannah River – 5.8 feet and rising
Abbeville on the Ocmulgee – 5.1 feet and falling
Doctortown on the Altamaha – 8.6 feet and falling
Waycross on the Satilla – 11.8 feet and rising
Atkinson on the Satilla – 9.0 feet and rising
Statenville on the Alapaha – 7.5 feet and rising
Macclenny on the St Marys – 7.9 feet and falling
Fargo on the Suwannee – 7.2 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 at [email protected].