Georgia Saltwater Fishing Report – May 2008

Inshore: The trout are biting good, and some quality trout are showing up in the Richmond Hill area, said Capt. David Newlin. “We’ve been catching a fair amount of big trout on live shrimp under popping corks,” David said. “We caught them in Bradley River, and Big McQueens has had a lot of fish lately. There are a bunch of redfish on the high tides. We’ve been sight fishing and catching a bunch of them on gold Johnson spoons.” On the southern Georgia coast, it’s improving for trout and very good for redfish. “The inshore fishing for trout is starting to get good again,” said Capt. Greg Hildreth. “The fish are hitting live bait as well as soft plastic baits. One of my favorites is a D.O.A. shrimp in the glow color under a Cajun Thunder cork. Drift it over the same areas where you would use live shrimp, like drop-offs and oyster bars. The redfishing has been very good around the full- and new-moon tides when the water floods into the marshes. I’m sight casting to tailing reds that are in the marsh eating fiddler crabs and shrimp.”

Nearshore: The sharks have shown up everywhere. “The big blacktips are here. They’re about 2 to 3 miles offshore,” said Capt. David Newlin. “We’re catching them on popping corks with any type of fresh fish under it. We’re also catching sharks in the sounds. And the whiting are biting everywhere. They’re up to 12 to 14 inches, and that’s a big whiting,” David said. He recommends fishing dead shrimp on the bottom on any sandy beach. Some of the best tripletail fishing of the year is about to start, according to Capt. Greg Hildreth. “They started showing up early this year, and it looks like it should stay good until the beaches are open for shrimping. These fish can be seen off the beach areas from 1 to 4 miles out. They look like a big, brown garbage bag floating just under the surface. I like live shrimp under a small float and a foot or so leader of 20-lb. mono,” he said.

Offshore: Bottom fishing is good. “There have been a lot of big sea bass and snapper. A few kings have been caught at J Buoy and L Buoy and a fair number at the Navy towers. They’re not real big, mostly 8 to 10 pounds. The big kings should be here by the first of May. Every spring we have this run of little ones first,” David said.