Georgia Saltwater Fishing Report – April 2007

Saltwater:

Inshore: The fishing for sea trout is fair right now, and it will quickly move up to the excellent rating in the next week or so as the water temperatures continue to climb. Some good catches of trout have come on live shrimp on slip-float rigs. There have already been some nice catches of whiting. In the sounds try dead shrimp on a traditional two-hook bottom rig for whiting. The sight fishing for the inshore reds has also been good using the Spike-It soft jerkbaits.

Nearshore: Good for the big redfish on the sandbars just off the beaches. Also look for the tripletail to start showing up later this month. Spanish mackerel should be getting started near the beaches and over the artificial reefs. Pull No. 3 planers with Clark Spoons. If you see schooling activity, cast spoons to them. Sharks are already starting to show up in the sounds and can be caught on squid, cut fish or cigar minnows fished on the bottom.

Offshore: Capt. David Newlin said they’ve been catching lots of sea bass from 70 feet deep on out. The snapper bite has been fair and will get much better this month. “Everything’s about right on schedule,” Capt. Newlin said. “The water is in mid 60s, it’ll be 70 degrees on the Snapper Banks very shortly. The bottom fishing will continue to pick up, big blue fish on the offshore wrecks will show up shortly and sharks will start to show up off the beach later this month.”