Georgia Saltwater Fishing Report – April 2010

Saltwater: Inshore: Capt. David Newlin reports, “The water temperature is right around 60 degrees. Usually everything starts biting when the water gets in the low 60s. The big redfish have been biting in the sound and on the beach front. Sight fishing in the shallow marsh flats and on the mud bars has been producing some big fish. Best baits have been live shrimp, and the Berkley Power Bait Shrimp in new penny has worked good for me. The trout bite should pick up in the next week or two when the water warms up a few degrees. On the Ogeechee, the striper bite has been real consistent. The plugs that always produce are Rapalas and Bombers in black and silver fished on the outgoing tide. I have caught a few on a flyrod with a large white-and-red streamer. This action should continue through April.” Capt. Greg Hildreth said the inshore fishing in the Golden Isles area is beginning to pick up. “I’ve been finding a handful of trout, with most fish coming on Berkley Gulp baits. Most of the fish are still in the creeks but should be moving toward the sound areas with the warming water temps. The redfish are doing good. I’ve been finding plenty of fish on the shallow flats and have been getting them on the Gulp shrimp with a 1/4-oz. jig head.”

Nearshore: Good. Capt. Newlin reports, “On the nearshore reefs we’re catching a lot of sheepshead, sea bass, weakfish and black drum. Fiddlers are the best bait on sheepshead. Squid and shrimp will catch almost everything that swims out there. Some sharks are showing up. The big blacktips should be here any day.” Down the coast, Capt. Hildreth said, “The nearshore sheepshead fishing is on fire, and the tripletail shouldn’t be far from showing. I saw some 60-degree water (Mar. 27) and as it gets 65 to 68, the tripletail should be here.”