Georgia Saltwater Fishing Report – August 2022

Saltwater: Inshore: Capt. David Newlin reports, “July has been typical hot summer fishing. Water temps are around 85 degrees. The biggest news is the huge number of small redfish that seem to be everywhere. August is usually a good month to catch fish of all sizes. This is usually the best month of the year to chase the big migrating sharks and tarpon. Shark fishing has been as good as it gets, with a lot of big sharks, everything from blacktips to tiger sharks. Fishing around schools of pogies off the beaches has been a great way to hook up on sharks. Put a live pogy under a large popping cork and let it drift through the schools. A lot of sharks follow these bait schools. This is heavy-tackle fishing. I usually use 60-lb. line and 10-0 Eagle Claw circle hooks. Bring a lot of hooks and some long-handle wire cutters. Get them up close and cut them off. Be careful, you can get hurt. Tarpon should be here in good numbers in August. Look for them off the beaches, in deep holes and any place that can make a big tide rip. Look for fish on the surface chasing bait and making big splashes. A pogy, mullet, croaker or about any live fish can work. When the water is muddy, dead pogies on the bottom will sometimes get a bite. Keep moving until you see fish. On the inshore scene, we have a huge crop of small redfish. By the middle of August catching a limit of legal fish should be simple. I have had a lot of recent days when we have released around 100 redfish. They seem to be in the creeks and all over the sounds. As usual, a live shrimp works great. The trout bite has been good and should get better in August. An early topwater bite should be good in August. Early is the key to topwater trout. The bite is usually over by 8. MirrOlures and Spooks are my go-to lures. The usual baitfishing bite has been good. There’s a lot of small fish with a good number of big fish mixed in with them. In August, the bite will be better in the mornings and late afternoons on the hot days. Shallow early, deeper in the middle of the days. Bring plenty of bait. The small fish can steal a lot of it. The flounder bite has been good and should continue on into the fall. Float a live shrimp just off the bottom over shallow oyster shells around 1 to 3 feet deep. When you catch one, fish the area thoroughly.”

Capt. Judy Helmey, of Miss Judy Charters, reports, “It is a good time to watch the sinking of the cork. Redfish, seatrout, flounder, whiting and sharks can be caught just about anywhere while fishing the sounds and beachfronts. The best baits are going to be the lively ones such as shrimp, mud minnows, finger mullet, menhaden and small yellowtail. All you have to do is cast into the strike zone and possibly re-adjust the float’s depth, but only if no hits occur after ‘the float by’ takes place. The best news about these baits is most of them can be caught by you. As the shrimp first come out of the grass on the falling tide and when they start heading back to the safety of the marsh on the rising tide is when to catch them. Make sure the grassline you are working has a mud bottom and not oyster rakes. Last month live shrimp were hard to purchase, as well as hard to catch. The shrimp just are not being found in the creeks where we normally catch them. Our captains have been depending on live mud minnows and finger mullet as their go-to baits. Peanut menhaden is also a good go-to live bait that works great at this time of the year. However, menhaden is not as hardy as the finger mullet and mud minnow. Since July was a bad shrimp-catching month, we are hoping that August will be better. It seems that the shrimp you catch in your cast net are much hardier and will live longer in your livewell, especially during these hot-water times. Live shrimp that are caught while using a dragging net don’t live as long. Most of these shrimp do not make it back to their full moving potential, especially after the shock of being caught this way. These hot-water conditions are also a big killing factor. I have always said the hardier the bait, the better the fish bite. While casting for shrimp, you will also catch some great juvenile baitfish. Your by-catch can be anything from a mullet to a pinfish to a menhaden to many other small baitfish. The absolute best way to rig up your by-catch is to lip hook it. You can present it under a popping cork or a traditional adjusted float. All baits from live shrimp to small fish work great when placed on the bottom with a Carolina-style rig. If you don’t want to hold your rod, use a small circle hook, which will almost ensure a more solid hook-up. When using a Caroling rig, cast your bait into place, let it sit at least two to three minutes, then raise your rod, reel about five turns, let it sit, wait and repeat. For those who prefer artificials, use DOA shrimp patterns during this time. You can use them as rigged straight out of the package, but the best method here is to tie a 3- to 4-foot leader of 12- to 20-lb. test to a popping cork and cast into place. Let the tide take the float and come up with your own popping sequence. It’s best to fish this rig in 5 to 6 feet of water.”

Georgia Saltwater Fishing Page: Archived Articles and Fishing Reports

Nearshore: Capt. Judy Helmey, of Miss Judy Charters, reports, “Ocean menhaden have arrived and can be caught while casting your net around beachfronts and as far out as 3 miles into the ocean. The secret to finding pogies is to keep an eye to the sky for diving pelicans.  This is the one bait that works when used live or dead. It also works when used as chum. When using live menhaden, I suggest light-tackle rigs made with stinger hooks fished around the beachfronts and shipping channels. Big kings are known for migrating into these areas during the month of August. Steep drops such as those located in shipping channels (Savannah River Channel) hold  kings and Spanish mackerel. Slow trolling in these areas usually yields big king mackerel bites. If you see Spanish mackerel on the surface, it’s very likely that large kings are holding in the outskirts. Another good baiting option is to catch a Spanish mackerel, rig it up quick and let it free swim. Best trolling lures for Spanish mackerel are going to be 0 and 00 Clark spoons or any sort of pitching lure that looks and acts like a glass minnow or juvenile squid.  Best trolling spoons for king mackerel are 1 1/2- to 3 1/2-inch Drone spoons. As far as best color, I have always preferred silver. If you want to pull a colored Drone, use black, chartreuse, red or royal blue (with or without flash bling). When it comes to getting that perfect barracuda bite, it can happen while trolling for Spanish and king mackerel. However, this toothy monster will also attack trolled surgical tubes. We like using Sea Striker Cuda Tube CT-12 (12-inch) surgical tube with a 2/0 heavy-duty saltwater treble and CT-14 (14-inch) rigged with two hooks. Once you see how these tube lures are put together, you then build your own. The tubes come in green, red, pink and yellow colors. You could catch just about any kind of mid column to surface swimming fish with this crazy-acting tube lure.”

Savannah Snapper Banks: Capt. Judy Helmey, of Miss Judy Charters, reports, “The bottom bite at the Savannah Snapper Banks is good during this time. However, to catch big fish you have to use the right big bait. Larger fish such as grouper, cubera snapper, amberjack and cobia want live bait. Best live baits are menhaden, sand perch, rock bass, scup, pinfish and ruby red lips. It’s best to make sure that your livewell circulation pump is working properly and that the filter is clean. You want your bait lively and not shocked. When a fish is shocked, it looks stressed and has a white, milky appearance. I suggest lip hooking any of these baits with a 13/0 circle hook rigged up on a Carolina-style rig. As far as weight, I always use a 3- to 8-oz. egg weight and an 8 to 30 foot 80- to 100-lb. test monofilament leader. I suggest sending this rig to the bottom, which anchors the line on the bottom. This type of rig allows the bait to seemly swim free.”