Georgia Saltwater Fishing Report – November 2021

Georgia November Saltwater Fishing Reports
Inshore: Capt. David Newlin reports, “October fishing has been really good. Redfish have been really good. I have had a lot of days with more than 50 redfish caught in a couple of hours. They have been all over the place, in the sound, on the beach, up the river. Redfish have been everywhere they should be. In November, a lot of them will go way up the rivers into the brackish waters. This can be fun fishing, catching a variety of fish: stripers, redfish, trout and even the occasional largemouth while fishing live shrimp. The trout bite has been good. November is a great time to catch trout on lures, as well as on shrimp. I like a green DOA swimbait on a 1/2-oz. head. Fish it with a slow retrieve just off the bottom. A sinking red-and-white MirrOlure will catch a few big trout. Trout should be moving into deeper water by November, colder weather will move them deeper and up the rivers. Live shrimp fished deep under a slip-cork rig will still almost always catch trout. Stripers up the Ogeechee should turn on as the weather cools down. Live shrimp are hard to beat. I like to throw Rapalas around creekmouths on the outgoing tide. Bright colors seem to work better. A white bucktail jig is a good old reliable saltwater striper catcher. The Ogeechee between Fort McAllister and the Highway 17 bridge is the area I target for stripers. The colder and meaner the weather the more they like it. Everything looks good for November to be a good fish-catching month. On the coast the ruts over, so it’s time to go fishing again.”

Capt. Judy Helmey, of Miss Judy Charters, reports, “I just wish everyone knew how good fishing both offshore and inshore was during this time of the year. All fish like shrimp because it’s easy to kill, easy to eat, and it’s more plentiful. Once you get the bite going, it’s simple enough to change straight to any sort of artificial shrimp pattern. As far as how to present your live shrimp, there are several ways. One, fish popping corks with 3- to 4-foot leaders. It’s best to put a shot weight about 1 foot above the hook because this helps keep the bait deep under the cork. Another thing good about popping corks is the sound they make when they are popped. They sound just like a shrimp flapping its tail up against its body. This is a spotted seatrout, flounder and redfish head turner for sure. Traditional adjustable floats come in all sizes and work great when trying to find the bite at different depths. When anchoring is the plan, I suggest using the larger versions of the traditional adjustable corks because it enables you to make longer drifts. The larger corks can be seen for a farther distances, allowing you to be able to cover a lot more area without changing locations. This is a very good tip, especially when fishing in a cooler water, because sounds seem to travel farther. For those fishermen who want to use artificial only, this is the month for you. The secret when going this route is to use lighter tackle for that better feel. I like using 8-lb. test monofilament tied directly to the artificial bait. Here are a few artificial suggestions:       DOAs rigged or not, Berkeley scented Gulps, Strike King soft bait flukes, paddle and curly tails. My favorite cold-water colors are electric chicken, baby bass and root beer. Last but not least is to just fish naked, meaning all you need is hook, leader and bait.”

Artificial Reefs: Capt. Judy Helmey reports, “The bottom fishing at the artificial reefs located in 50 to 70 feet of water normally are holding a nice build up of black sea bass. Just about all structures on the reefs will hold fish. However, sometimes you have to look before you find the bulk of the bottom fish. Please go to   https://coastalgadnr.org/HERU for all the old, as well as the latest up to date, coordinates. I always suggest keeping on board a paper copy of the artificial coordinates that you frequent. Most new unit supposedly has all of the spots loaded into the GPS. However, I have found that the paper copies have a lot more up-to-date information. The best bait is going to be squid and cutfish. Artificial reefs L, CCA and J buoy normally are holding the winter end run of the Spanish/king mackerel. For the first two weeks of this month the chances are strong for a solid hook-up. The last two weeks can be challenging, especially if water temps drop. However, I have seen this bite until the first week of December. We normally pull 2 1/2- to 3 1/2-inch Drone spoons for the kings and small to medium Clark spoons for the Spanish. Best trolling speed is 5 to 7 knots. For those fishermen who want to drift these areas with light tackle and live baits, this is a good time to go this route. Trophy redfish could also be caught while trolling, bottom fishing or live lining these areas. These fish are on the federally protected program list. You can catch them but you can’t keep them.”

Savannah Snapper Banks: Capt. Judy Helmey reports, “Bottom fishing at the Savannah Snapper Banks for grouper is still open, as well as quite a few others.  Best live baits when targeting grouper are small vermilion, pinfish, sand perch, bluefish and rock bass. If you can’t catch these baits while bottom fishing with squid, give the sabiki rig a try. For those who like the standard old bottom fishing with live bait, such as cigar minnows or Spanish sardines or cut squid, now is the time. Unfortunately, I am still reporting that live baits are not as plentiful as they have been in past years. Normally a fisherman could stop by any of the artificial reefs, drop a sabiki bait rig down and catch a livewell full of choice bait. However, this has not been the case for the past couple of fishing years. So I strongly suggest picking up a box of frozen cigar minnows or Spanish sardines at your local bait shop. You will notice that the cigar minnows will be more expensive than the Spanish sardines. I suggest purchasing the Spanish sardines and keeping them frozen as long as you can. These partially frozen baits whole or cut in half will stay on the hook better. If you can’t find any frozen baits, I suggest putting the cast net in the boat. The ocean menhaden have been strong this year, and this is bait that will work live and used when cut up. When traveling to the sound and you happen to see schools of peanut menhaden flipping, I suggest giving them a catching try. Sometimes all it takes is one cast to fill you livewell. The small menhaden, whether they are dead or alive, work great and you don’t have to cut them up. If you do catch a lot of them, I suggest not overfilling your livewell. When there are leftovers, I suggest putting them in a bucket and covering with saltwater. This type of soaking will keep their shine alive. Cut up expired shiny menhaden work great as bottom bait.”

Blue Water: Capt. Judy Helmey, of Miss Judy Charters, reports, “For those fishermen who don’t mind a longer ocean ride, the blue waters of the Gulf can certainly hold big game fish during the month of November. During this time the Edge between the cooler western waters and the continuously northern pushed warmer waters of the Stream is formed. This is where smaller fish feel safe and where larger fish feed. As far as best baits to drag, you certainly do have lots of options. For those fishermen who want to do a little rigging, I suggest dragging ballyhoo from small dinks to large horse size dressed in different colored skirts or rigged just plain naked with or without chin weights. For those fishermen who just want to drag the artificial stuff, believe me it does work. I like pulling cedar plugs that have been soaked in menhaden oil. This is where you forget the painted cedar plugs and just go plain cedar. Or do a little sanding/scraping on the painted ones so as to expose the wood. This wood can really soak up the oil and when trolled it leaves a nice oily trail. Dolphin Delight made by No Alibi is a plastic squid lure made with feathers, and it works great when pulled about 4 feet behind a bird. Best lures to pull are old school black/silver and blue/silvers Halcos rattlers and black with orange bottom Terminators. (Yo-Zuri Bonita lures). If the trolling doesn’t work, there is always deep-water jigging for big gags and scamp grouper. As far as main line used, I like using 80-lb. braid because it cuts through the water with less friction delivered. Best jigs for deep water are the big boys Williamson or Shimano 7 to 10.5 ounces. The best old-school, no-frills jigs are the Bridgeport diamond jig, which comes in 1- to 16-oz. weights. All jigs normally have an option for attaching main line to top or bottom. In the case of the Bridgeport, it suggests rigging up and leaving the hook at the bottom. However, I suggest attaching the main line to the same end as the hook. This makes for less hook-ups on the bottom. It is a known fact that a larger fish, especially on a triggered bite, normally strikes the head first. All you have to do is to drop these jigs on the bottom, reel up a few feet and vertically work your lure in this area. Work it as close to the bottom as possible. I suggest jigging with a medium drag, and you had better keep a strong grip on that rod because big bites can happen. Always check for current federal regulations at http://safmc.net. For the state regs, pick up a 2021 Georgia Sport Fishing regulations booklet. Most marinas, tackle shops, bait shops, Wal-Marts, etc. have them. This website and booklet will certainly keep you up to speed on the do’s and don’t’s for rest of the 2021 fishing season. When it comes to offshore fishing, it’s very good this time of year. Fishermen get the opportunity to catch a lot of serious size and amounts of bottom fish, such as grouper, white grunt, trigger fish, vermilion snapper, black sea bass, summer trout, trophy redfish and many others.”