Georgia Saltwater Fishing Report – September 2006

Inshore: Real good for trout and reds. Capt. Greg Hildreth said they’re catching a lot of trout. “They’re small, but there’s been a bunch of action,” he said. Traditional float rigs are producing on the trout, while artificials haven’t been as effective lately. An exception is a DOA Shrimp fished under a float rig instead of a real shrimp. “Last week we went through a quart of shrimp at our first stop. I put on a DOA and caught seven trout on seven casts, Capt. Hildreth said. Also, the sight fishing for reds on the low tides with Spike-It soft jerkbaits is still good. “That’s a given. That happens every day,” he said. Another option for reds is on the full and new moon flood tides that are over seven feet. “You can see those reds up in the grass,” Capt. Hildreth said. “They get up in there and eat fiddler crabs, and you can see them with their tails out of the water.” He recommends Spike-It jerkbaits rigged weedless, or weedless spoon flies if you want to try a fly rod.

Nearshore: On the southern Georgia coast, Capt. Hildreth said there are still some tarpon around. “It’s been an OK season. Not like last year, but last year was phenomenal,” he said. “It’s not those big, big number days, but you can go and at least get a shot about every trip.” Capt. Hildreth said some bull reds are showing up on the sandbars. That’s fixing to be wide open shortly,” he said. Capt. David Newlin said some tarpon have moved into the St. Catherines Sound area. “I haven’t been seeing a fish for a while, and they just moved in. I couldn’t buy a bite this morning (August 26), but yesterday we jumped nine,” Capt. Newlin said. He also said there are lots of big sharks this year. “The tarpon and sharks should last until the first of October this year. If a hurricane doesn’t come in, we usually have real good tarpon fishing in September.”

Offshore: Excellent for big king mackerel, according to Capt. Newlin. “I’ve caught some of the biggest kings I’ve ever seen. We had a 60-lb. king last week. There are a bunch of little bitty ones, and some big ones mixed in.” Capt. Newlin said they’re also wearing out the amberjack and barracuda. “It looks like we’re in for a kingfish run like we haven’t had in a while. Best one I’ve seen in 10 years.” The bottom fishing has been fair, he said, with good numbers of sea bass and just a few keeper snapper.