Georgia Saltwater Fishing Reports – January 2021

Saltwater: Inshore: Capt. David Newlin reports, “Water temps are in low 60s and will be in the 50s by January if the weather stays cold. A lot of fish have moved up the rivers and creeks. I have been catching trout, redfish and stripers in the Ogeechee all the way up to the freshwater. Redfish should keep biting right on through January. Fish shrimp under a cork real close to the bottom. Fish a lot slower in the winter. Trout should keep biting as long as the water stays above 55 degrees. Try fishing a jig real slow and deep. Sometimes the smaller jigs will work better. I have caught a lot of winter trout on yellow crappie jigs. My usual jig is a 1/4-oz. red head, 3-inch screw tail in electric chicken or clear green with glitter. Sometimes a jig will work better than live shrimp. If the water gets into the low 50s, the fishing will slow down. January is a real good time to work on tackle boxes and fishing reels. Be careful if you venture out in January. Wear a PFD. The cold water will kill you quick.”

Capt. Judy Helmey reports, “Spotted seatrout during this time are normally wintering in deep holes in the rivers or sounds. The best way to catch spotted sea trout when in the hibernation mode is to use small saltwater or freshwater jigs with curly or paddle tails while using 4- to 6-lb. test main line. As far as main line, I like monofilament because of the extra stretch cushions. Those who prefer braid, make sure the drag set matches the main line used. Spotted seatrout have soft mouths and a hook can easily be pulled free. There are many freshwater and saltwater jigs out there on the tackle shelves. Go with a lure that is smaller but still gets their attention when worked. The secret is that they have to be small and worked very slow. I like to use 1/16- and 1/24-oz. jig heads. My favorite jig color combinations are a white jig head with a white tail and red jig head with chartreuse flake. Another favorite is a white jig head or a plain lead jig head rigged with your favorite yellow/white/chartreuse tail. The best method when fishing a deep hole is to cast into the deepest part, let your lure hit the bottom, wait, reel a few times, wait and repeat. Then I suggest casting the lure to the sides of the hole. Work your lure as slow as you can while still keeping it near or right on the bottom. To go the traditional route, I suggest using live shrimp or mud minnows rigged on a traditional adjustable float. This style of float allows you to easily fish different depths with just a simple slide of the cork. Normally during cold-water times, spotted sea trout are known for staying close to the bottom. This rig will allow you to cover a lot of bottom, zeroing in on the perfect cold-water bite zone. The inshore redfish bite can be very good, but during cold-water times, the redfish can see and hear better. Where you have porpoises staging, you most likely have redfish schooling toward the inshore. The best artificial baits are going to be flukes rigged weedless. Strike King Z-TOO salt impregnated and slow-sinking 5-inch Zoom Flukes. Here are some proven colors:  blue and gray glimmer, ice, Arkansas shiner, pearl and smokey shad. Don’t be afraid to lay a bead of some sort of fish sauce into the grove of this bait. Berkley Gulps Alive baits also offer up that favorite scent for getting a cold-water fish to eat. Fresh frozen pawn shrimp pieces and mullet steaks will also work. Adding, dipping and soaking your bait, whether it is real or not, is going to only entice the bite. And whatever you do, when you do get a bite, give them time to eat.”

Nearshore: Capt. Judy Helmey, of Miss Judy Charters, reports, “The artificial reefs located in less than 50 feet of water are holding the winter migration of sheepshead. These fish are going to be staging on the wrecks that offer the most vertical feeding opportunity. The best baits for this fish is going to be anything wrapped in a shell, such as a purple back fiddlers, black back fiddlers, barnacles, green mussels, oysters, sand fleas and shrimp. I have started using sand fleas as alternative bait for sheepshead. These baits can be purchased frozen and already packaged. I have been purchasing the packages that come with about 24 fleas per bag. You can purchase blanched or not sand fleas. The blanched fleas are pink in color and those that are not are still sporting the original light gray live-like colors. Fleas that are blanched seem to stay on the hook longer. However, I kind of like to take both types just in case I am dealing with fish that are not color blind. The secret to using this bait is to keep it frozen as long as you can. So if you can’t purchase or catch your own fiddlers, this would be your go-to bait. It’s not the best bait, but when dealing with a fish that mainly wants to crush its meal up before eating it, sand fleas will definitely work as a stand-by bait. Your best plan is to anchor over a wreck, drop using Carolina-style rigs to the bottom, and then reel up about 1 foot off bottom. Once you have either had a bite or caught a sheepshead, I suggest staying where you are. Sheepshead bites can come in flurries and then stop completely. I suggest when the bite stops not to relocate, but to re-situate your bait. Then I suggest waiting until the school makes its way back around to the wreck area that you are fishing over. For those fishermen who don’t want to have an offshore artificial reef fishing experience, I suggest giving any rocks, down trees hanging in the water or nearshore hangs/wrecks a try. These areas are definitely feeding places of interest for sheepshead, black drum, summer trout and flounder. Any surfaces that provide areas for marine growth are potential feeding spots for these fish. Sheepshead loves to eat anything that comes wrapped in a shell. Trophy redfish migrate to the offshore water during the cold-water times. They can be found schooling near the beachfronts, around offshore sandbars and on the artificial reefs. I have caught them on 4-oz. single tube diamond jigs and  https://nuts-and-bolts-of-fishing-boating.myshopify.com/pages/on-line-store jigs. While ordering jigs, I suggest ordering some of the Cobia Candy white eels. These eels work when threaded on the jigs as well as other tackle combinations also. Best colors diamond jig tubes have been red, yellow and green. The best color jig hair combinations have been blue/white and chartreuse/white. For those fishermen who prefer using real bait, I suggest squid and shrimp laced on to 4/0 J or circle hooks fished directly on the bottom or suspended in the mid-water column. Make sure your drag is set light to medium and not locked down. For those offshore fishermen who want troll for redfish, I suggest pulling a 3 1/2-inch Drone spoon (silver or black with chartreuse flash) 20 feet behind a No. 3 planer or an 8-oz. trolling sinkers. When trolling around diving/sitting birds, I suggest taking the boat in/out of gear, allowing the lure used to fall to different depths of the water column. Or if you don’t like using planers, here’s a suggestion: Tie on 100-lb. snap swivel to your main line, attach a 3 1/2 Drone spoon and let it out about 75 to 100 feet from the boat. Pull the spoon over where you think you have fish, pull boat out of gear and simply let the spoon sink. After half a minute or so, bump the engine in gear, speed up a bit, and then take out of gear. If the reds are there, you will know it. The best way to find an offshore redfish is to keep an eye to the sky. If the reds are feeding, the seabirds are diving. The best news is that any and all-sized seabirds will follow and feed on the surfaced leftovers. So if you see cormorants, loons and any sized seabirds diving or sitting on the water, there is a good chance that trophy redfish have been feeding. This boils down to they will most likely do so again and shortly. Don’t stray, stay in this area. Any sized redfish that are caught in federal waters are protected and have to be released. During this time, some of these trophy redfish being caught have been up to 48 inches long. Please handle with care. However, plenty of pictures can be taken.”

Savannah Snapper Banks: Capt. Judy Helmey reports, “The bottom fishing in this area is always very good, especially when you bait your hooks with cut squid. If using live bait, I suggest lip-hooking sand perch, rock bass, juvenile vermilion and tomtates, also known as ruby red lips. Please remember grouper season is closed and will not open until May 1, 2021. Red snapper is closed with no season opening dates posted yet. Please go to http://safmc.net to get all of the up to date regulations and always check before heading out. The naval towers located at the Savannah Snapper banks are R7 3149.000/8016.500, which I call the North Banks, M2R6 3132.000/8014.000, which I call the Middle Banks and R2 3122.500/8034.000, which I call South Banks. These towers sometimes hold the interest of African pompano, especially during these cold-water times. Although this is not a fish that we normally catch in this area, this is the time we see them. The best bait is going to be the live ones, such as a tomtates, menhaden, horny belly or lookdowns.  The best presentation is either going to be rigging bait under some sort of traditional adjustable depth cork or basic freelining, letting it just swim naturally. We normally try both methods. Targeting African pompano can be a little challenging because sometimes you can see them swimming on the surface right in the center of the tower.  Once you see them, you most likely can get them to eat, but it’s best to try to get them to the outside of the tower legs. Hooking them up and losing them due to getting broke off on the tower’s legs is only going to spook them. I suggest placing baits under floats or freelines on the out skirts and down current of tower legs. In some cases, also dropping a bottom rig, hooking up, and reeling in a live fish will sometimes spark their interest. Once outside of the legs, this fish is most likely going to feed. So be ready! Don’t forget your gaff or your camera.”

Blue Water: Capt. Judy Helmey reports, “This is the time of the year to make blue-water run. Trolling for wahoo, king mackerel and black fin tuna can offer one heck of a catching affair. Mahi mahi are few and far between during this time, but hook-ups are still possible. I can officially report that recently there have been a few yellow fin tuna caught off our coast.  Their sizes have ranged from 20 to 40 to 80 pounds. This is very good for Georgia and South Carolina blue water fishermen. Finding a well-defined edge at the Stream during this time of the year can be done, but there is not that many large fish or schools of bait lining it. Your best bet is to know the coordinates of all ledges, holes and live-bottoms areas where you intend on fishing. When departing Savannah, I suggest always heading to the South Ledge area. (3106.416 /7955.300). This ledge has always held the interest of topwater fish, as well as bait during this time of the year. Best rigged baits are going to be chin-weighted dink ballyhoo pulled naked and medium/large ballyhoo on black or black/red Ilanders. I suggest rigging small dinks baits with 60-lb. test fluorocarbon and medium/large ballyhoo with 80- to 100-lb. test wire leader. When it comes to pulling the artificial stuff, I always suggest not forgetting soaked in menhaden cedar plugs. Old school bluewater fishermen are still using chum bags. And for those who are making their own homemade chum, I always suggest adding some gold/silver glitter and lots of menhaden oil. The addition of glitter, especially when sunshine is added, makes for an interesting 3-D fish attractant. Every time you throw a top or bottom fish in your cooler, I suggest checking for glitter in the box. If glitter is in your fish box, that is your sign that it is working.Back in the old days, I used glitter all of the time. Believe me it is worth the time/money spent using it. The pay off comes in serious fish caught. I always suggest pulling a couple of birds in your trolling spread. I pull No Alibi Dolphin Delights about 5 feet behind by birds. My preferred combination colors are pink/white and blue/white. If your trolling spread doesn’t produce, then I suggest dropping to the bottom.  Best bait is going to be cut ballyhoo, squid and cut fish. Or I suggest giving deep-water jigging a try. The best news for you is that I have tried all of these suggestions. They have worked, and they are already proven by fish bites received. This all boils down to just about any fish that you wish.”

Editor’s Note: Miss Judy Charters will be offering their 2021 Captain Judy’s Inshore/Offshore Fishing Clinics Feb. 19-21, 2021 on inshore/offshore boats in the water. The cost is $150 per person for inshore or $150 per person for offshore. Morning classes and departures are 8 a.m. until 12 p.m. Afternoon classes and departures are 1-5 p.m. Snacks and drinks provided by Capt. Judy. Inshore fishing focuses on proven inshore light-tackle techniques revealed for redfish, spotted seatrout and flounder. Offshore fishing focuses on proven offshore techniques that took years to modify at the artificial reefs, Savannah Snapper Banks and the Gulf Stream. Call 912.897.4921 for more details.