Georgia Saltwater Fishing Report – October 2019

Saltwater: Inshore: Capt. Judy Helmey reports, “With water temperatures on the fall, the redfish, spotted seatrout, and flounder bites gets more predictable. The best fall bait is going to be live shrimp fished anyway you care to deliver. Small live baits normally trigger a bigger fish bite. Artificial flukes rigged on red/black/white colored lead heads work great around any sort of structure. If the fish don’t hit it on the fall, once it’s on the bottom, let it sit for a few seconds. When retrieving, reel it a few times, twitch and repeat. Best flukes colors are baby bass, pearl white and golden bream. The big bull redfish migration starts this month. These monsters start their migration pattern from where they have been holding in the creeks, rivers and upper-sound areas. Once making their way to the sounds (closer to the ocean), they find a suitable place to bulk up before making their way to the beachfronts and then to the ocean. Schooling baits such as mullet and menhaden provide much feeding opportunity for these fish. Where you see any surface action, stop, wait and look for any turbulence underwater. Also look for any sea birds in a heavy feeding or holding pattern. Another place to look for these fish are areas where currents come together forming some sort of a rip. Not all rips will hold fish. Always looks for any surface oils, sometimes referred to as cat paws. If there is any bird feeding action, always check out the size and type of the sea birds. If it’s pelicans only, what you most likely have down under is schools of menhaden. However, if you have pelicans as well as other small sea birds, then you have a possible big feeding frenzy going on down under. Best baits to use for big bulls reds when anchored in areas around live oyster beds are small, adjustable floats with about 12 inches of 30- to 40-lb. test fluorocarbon leader with either semi circle or a standard 2/0 to 3/0 kahle-style hook.  Best baits for this rig are going to be lip-hooked live mullet or peanut menhaden or live shrimp hooked up under the horn. If live bait isn’t an option, use mullet cut in steaks like a loaf of bread or air dried shrimp with heads on or off threaded onto the hook. Another way to get bit when fishing a rip or around surface schooling baits is to take a beefed-up popping cork or traditional float rig rigged with some sort of bait. Large sharks of all types, rays and also any left-behind tarpon would most likely find these baits alluring.” Capt. David Newlin reports, “September has been a wild weather month so far, and the fish catching has been real good. The star of fall is always the redfish. All month we have been catching redfish from 14 to 40 inches. So far all my fishing has been in the shallower waters mainly fishing for slot-limit fish. We have been catching a lot of keepers and a lot of 23- to 40-inch fish. This morning (Sept. 18), I found a school of big fish, and we released 10 fish longer than 30 inches in about an hour. The redfish will hit a shrimp under a cork real good through October. We will do a lot of fishing for the big redfish in October. The rig is a 4-oz. slip sinker with a short, 12-inch leader and a 10/0 Lazer Sharp circle hook. The bait should be a chunk of fresh mullet, whiting or ladyfish. If you don’t have any fresh fish, buy some squid. Try fishing tide rips on the beach front, sandbars and some of the channels in the sounds. A chum bag full of fresh fish heads will help attract the big reds. Some really big redfish will be caught in October. The trout bite has been real good and should start getting better. Right now, we are catching most of our trout on live shrimp. As the water cools down into the mid 70s, the trout should start hitting artificials good. Fish an artificial shrimp or a Gulp! Swimming Mullet 3 feet under a noisy rattling cork, like a Harper’s Striker or Cajun Thunder. I like 20-lb. flourocarbon for this rig. Black drum have been hitting real good, too. Fishing a shrimp on the bottom has been working good for the drum. The flounder bite has slowed down a little, but they will be here until well into November. As the water starts cooling, look for the fish to start moving up the rivers. The Ogeechee already has a lot of redfish and drum well up the river. I have caught some nice stripers up the river recently. When the water hits 75 degrees, it should be really good up the rivers. It will be worth your time to stay out of the woods a few days and go enjoy our great fall fishing.”

Offshore: Capt. Judy Helmey reports, “The best place to stop to load up on bait is wrecks located at the artificial reefs in 55-plus feet of water.  However, our bait populations in these areas have not been too good so far this year, which has been the norm for a while. I still suggest stopping and giving it a try, because it is on your way. Spanish sardines and cigar minnows usually school up over any sort of high-relief structure. Best live baits are cigar minnows, Spanish mackerel, Boston mackerel, horse mackerel and any others that are hanging with the school. In case you can’t catch any, take some frozen bait. Bait shops normally stock both frozen cigar minnows and Spanish sardines, which both will work just fine. Purchase frozen Spanish sardines over cigar minnows. Sardines are cheaper and will bring on the absolute same bite. I suggest keeping it frozen as long as you can and only taking a few minnows out your cooler at a time. They will stay on your hook much better on the drop to the bottom.  These baits work used whole and cut in half. When bottom fishing in 100 feet (Savannah Snapper Banks) to 200 feet (edge of Gulf Stream) over any broken live bottom with ledges, I always suggest using large live baits. Drop your lipped- or dorsal-hooked bait to the bottom and hang on for a grouper biting affair. Best baits for this type of rig are vermilion snapper, tomtates, rock bass, sand perch, pinfish, scup, blue fish, etc. The best rig to use is going to be a beefed-up Carolina rig. I like using 10 to 20 feet of 80- to 100-lb. monofilament leader between the hook (10/0 to 14/0 circle hook) and the egg (6- to 8-oz.) sinker.  You may also catch cubera snapper, amberjack, genuine red snapper, king mackerel, tuna, etc. Please always check current regulations and fish closures before heading out. When this report was posted, genuine red snapper was the only species closed. However, please always check http://www.safmc.net.”