Southeast Georgia Fishing Reports With Capt. Bert Deener – June 6, 2025

Van Palmer with the new bowfin record for the Okefenokee Swamp. He was fishing with Capt. Bert Deener.

The fish bit well this week in most places. Most rivers are still swollen, except the St. Marys and Alapaha. Winds were terrible much of the week in saltwater, but the fish cooperated when you could get out to them. The Okefenokee Swamp level is great, and the fish are chewing.

Alapaha River:  Jonathon Pritchard fished the middle river this week and had a good trip. He fooled a bunch of redbreast and bass on Satilla Spins (the black hues worked best for him).

Satilla River: Jamie Storey and Ward Highsmith fished the middle river this week, and they said the water was ripping. They found some slack areas and were able to catch a good number of bluegill, warmouth, pickerel and a few bass up to 3 pounds. They caught a total of about 25 fish and fooled them with bumblebee and bruiser Satilla Spins.

Seth Carter and a friend fished the lower river Wednesday and caught bass and panfish. They fooled several bass up to about 4 pounds with topwaters and shaky-head worms. Seth kept getting panfish bites on the worm, so he switched to a Satilla Spin on his BFS outfit and wore out the bluegill, redbreast and warmouth. Two colors that worked best were catalpa gold and rooster bug.

St. Marys River: Curtis and Jenny Hazel fished the middle river Saturday and fooled a pair of stumpknockers and three redbreast on Satilla Spins. The organizers are figuring out details for the next Bream Reapers Bream Tournament. Check the Bream Reapers Bream Tournament Trail out on Facebook for more information.

Okefenokee Swamp: Jim Spencer fished the west side from Thursday through the weekend with mostly a fly rod. He caught some giant warmouth up to 1-lb., 5-ozs. on crawfish flies. He also had some big jackfish up to 20 inches on white spinners. Bowfin also ate his flies, but all were on the small side.

Seth Carter and Van Palmer fished the east side with me on Monday, and they had a stellar day! They pitched Warmouth Whacker Jigs early and caught about a dozen warmouth and a few pickerel and bowfin. The best colors were popsicle and a prototype red/black/white. After a couple hours chasing warmouth, they switched to casting for big fish. The flung Bull Shads ($150 bass baits) and high-dollar Pompadour topwaters. A half-dozen bowfin is all it took to tear the tail off the Bull Shad, but it fell in the boat, so Seth could reattach it later. They both switched to Dura-Spins and roped the pickerel and bowfin and even a gar. Jackfish was by far the best color, but Seth caught a few on fire tiger-chartreuse blade. During the trip, they ended up catching 144 fish total, and Van caught a 9-lbs., 14.35-ozs. bowfin that he later got certified as the Okefenokee bowfin record. They also had an 8-lb., 7-oz. and 7-lb., 15-oz. bowfin in the mix. Their biggest pickerel was 20 inches.

Okefenokee Swamp Official Records

Curtis and Jenny Hazel fished the east side canals Sunday morning and caught nine warmouth and four bowfin. It was Jenny’s first time fishing the Okefenokee, and she had a blast. They caught their fish on Warmouth Whacker Jigs, topwater bugs, and tuxedo Satilla Spins.

I fished the west side on Tuesday in the extreme winds. Buck Johnson also braved the winds with me in his own boat and caught three big warmouth and a pickerel. His biggest warmouth was just under a pound. All four of his fish ate a red/black/white Warmouth Whacker Jig under a float. I had one big warmouth on the same jig (without the float) and a few bowfin and pickerel before I switched to casting Dura-Spins. I’m glad I did, as the bowfin/pickerel bite was excellent. I caught and released a total of 52 fish by myself casting jackfish Dura-Spins. I tried other colors and got very few bites. When I went back to the jackfish color, I started catching them again. My biggest bowfin was 5-lbs., 2-ozs., and I had two pickerel that were 22 inches.

The most recent water level on the Folkston side was 120.56 feet. The water level on the west side at SC Foster State Park on Tuesday was 4.62 feet.

Local Ponds: Joshua Barber fished a local pond on Thursday afternoon. He caught one bass and had a big bass break his braided line. He was throwing topwater frogs. I heard a couple decent bream reports, but nothing spectacular.

Saltwater (Georgia Coast): A local charter captain did well for trout inshore this week. His charters fooled them with live shrimp under Harper Super Striker Floats. The shark bite behind the shrimp boats has really picked up, he said.

Another captain said that it was very windy for him on Saturday, but he was able to put his charter on several flounder and a few trout with live shrimp under Harper Super Striker Floats. He found his fish in the big water near the sounds. Sunday was a beautiful day, and his charter caught several redfish, black drum, sheepshead and lots of sharks. They fished live shrimp on the bottom and under floats.

Another captain took friends Saturday and Sunday in the Brunswick area. They fought the winds Saturday and still managed to catch three redfish, a trout, and a flounder. They followed it up Sunday with seven nice trout and a red. All their fish were on live shrimp.

Brenda Hampton caught this 15-inch flounder off the Jekyll Island Pier while fishing a mud minnow on Saturday.

Scott Smith fished the Brunswick area on Saturday and brought home a great catch of eight flounder and three big trout. They also had a bunch of sharks and ladyfish, and his sister broke off a big redfish. They fished live shrimp until they ran out, then they caught a few more on jigs and plastics. Flounder fishing has been good on the Jekyll Island Pier. Steve and Brenda Hampton went on Saturday. Brenda had a 15-inch flattie within minutes of casting out. Mud minnows were their bait of choice, as they could not get them to eat artificials. On another recent trip, they caught a dozen flounder. Brenda has had the hot hand, catching most of their fish. Another day they had five flounder in 20 minutes and then the bite shut down. They’re fickle fish, but it’s awesome if you’re there when they are biting.

After your next trip to the Georgia coast, drop off your fish carcasses in the 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 open Friday through Tuesday each week (closed Wednesday and Thursday). They have plenty of lively shrimp and also have live worms and crickets for freshwater. For the latest information and their hours, contact them at 912.223.1379.

River gages on June 5, 2025 were:
Clyo on the Savannah River – 10.2 feet and falling
Abbeville on the Ocmulgee – 10.0 feet and rising
Doctortown on the Altamaha – 9.5 feet and rising
Waycross on the Satilla – 6.0 feet and falling
Atkinson on the Satilla – 5.6 feet and rising
Statenville on the Alapaha – 3.0 feet and falling
Macclenny on the St Marys – 2.5 feet and falling
Fargo on the Suwannee – 5.5 feet and steady

Full Moon is June 11.

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 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].