Georgia Saltwater Fishing Report – June 2009

Saltwater: Inshore: Fair because of the weather, but fishing should quickly pick up. From the Richmond Hill area, Capt. David Newlin reports, “The past week has been a lot of northeast wind and rain. Before all this weather came in, trout were turned on pretty good. Big roe trout were being caught all over Ossabaw and St. Catherines sounds. The trick was finding some clear water. Live shrimp and polywogs under corks were the best bet. I caught several big trout on Power Bait Shrimp under a Cajun Thunder cork. Flounder have started hitting in good numbers. Try a polywog on the bottom. The redfish are everywhere. Most of the fish have been 15 to 20 inches, with some big fish up to 36 inches. The best bet is a shrimp under a cork. Artificials have been working well in clear water. As always, my favorite bait is the new-penny Gulp Shrimp rigged weedless on a worm hook with no weight. The water temp is around 74 degrees, and a little increase will help. The sharks are showing up everywhere. There are a lot of sharpnoses and bonnetheads in the sound, and the big blacktips are just off the beaches. A live pogy or mullet under a popping cork will produce a big bite. Find a school of pogys, and fish it hard. Tarpon should be here any time. The water needs to get to 78 degrees.” Capt. Bob Barnette reports, “For the past 10 days I do not believe that a day has gone by without rain. It is in some ways good — this helps with the blue-crab spawn, the speckle-trout spawn and lets the fry from other fish get a lot better start. I have said all this to say that it should be a great summer of fishing along our coast. The tripletail have shown up in large numbers already this year, with as many as 30 seen along the coast here in one day. These fish should be here until August. Speckle trout have started showing up on the beachfront. I have yet to hear or see any large catches, but I blame that on the windy, rainy conditions over the past few weeks. The redfish are still around but have broken up into the smaller groups for the summer. There are live shrimp and mud minnows available at most of the bait locations. My choice for the tripletails is shrimp fished on an adjustable float rig. For speckle trout and redfish, shrimp or mud minnows both work well. You also might want to try your hand with plastics. You can rig them weedless or Texas rig them.” On the south Georgia coast, Capt. Greg Hildreth reports the inshore fishing has been very good with speckled trout being the target. “Most of the fish have been coming from the sound and beach areas as the trout are moving closer to the ocean this time of year. The fish have been coming on live shrimp and mud minnows under popping corks in 4 to 8 feet of water. Sight fishing for the tripletail has been outstanding — when the wind hasn’t been blowing. I had four days on the beach last week when my guys tagged more than 50 tripletail. I have been taking these fish on live shrimp and even on the fly rod. This fishing should last until mid June when the beaches will be open for the shrimp boats to come in. The big blacktip sharks have moved in behind the shrimp boats outside the 3-mile mark, and the action has been on fire. Most of the sharks are big females in the 5- to 8-foot range and are being taken on live pogies and whiting.”

Offshore: “The cobia run is in full swing,” said Capt. Newlin. “We’ve caught some big ones on the wrecks and ledges offshore. A big yellow jig with a piece of fish for a trailer has worked real well. The kings are starting to show up. The towers and live bottom in 90 to 120 feet have held most of the fish. Some fish are in closer. The water still needs to warm up a few degrees for the inshore wrecks. Bottom fishing has been really good on the pretty days — a lot of sea bass, red snapper and red porgys. A piece of fish or squid on the bottom works great.”