Georgia Saltwater Fishing Report September 2013

Saltwater: Inshore: Capt. David Newlin said, “The trick to catching fish inshore has been finding water that is clear enough to catch fish in. The redfish bite has been really good. Several days we have caught more than 50 redfish in a couple of hours. Fish a live shrimp around the oyster beds from 2 to 4 feet deep under a float. Everywhere that should have a redfish does. A lot of places up the rivers have too much freshwater right now to hold fish. This could change in a month. Redfish catches should be real good in September with a lot of legal slot-limit fish. The trout bite has been real good when you can find clear water. All of my trout have been caught on live shrimp and small mullet. When you start catching a lot of small trout on shrimp, put a 3-inch mullet out, and a few big fish will show up. The mullet also prevents the pinfish and yellowtails from taking your bait. Right now water temperature is around 83 degrees. The trout and redfish will start hitting artificials good when it drops into the 70s, but until then, live shrimp and mullet will be the best way to catch fish. Flounder are hitting good on low tide, around shells and in sandy-bottom areas. Use the same float rigs with a shrimp, mullet or mud minnow. The fall months are always our best inshore fishing, and this year should be a good one. Tarpon are here, and it has been feast or famine with them. One day they are everywhere, and next day they are few and far apart. Late August and September is the peak of the tarpon run. If they are there, usually you can see them rolling. Menhaden and mullet on the top and bottom will work. Big blacktip sharks have been really thick off the beach fronts. The best areas have been from 1 to 4 miles out. If you can find shrimpers working 3 miles or so out, check them out. Some days the shrimp boats have been shark city. They should be here until mid October. There are plenty of small sharks in the sounds. The creeks are full of bait shrimp for the people who catch their own bait.” Capt. Judy Helmey reports, “Here is the secret to the fish bite in September: once you get the bite going, it’s easy to change your bait. For example, if you start using live shrimp and they all happen to die or you run out, your best bet then is to change over to any leftover parts from previous hits and/or start using DOA shrimp patterns. The DOA shrimp patterns work like a charm. When using pre-rigged DOAs, meaning when they are purchased with hook and balance weight, I suggest removing weight and hook. Then I suggest taking a 2/0 to 3/0 kahle hook and hooking the shrimp up like you do the real deal. Since you want the DOA to look as natural as possible, you would need to place the hook in the mid ship of the shrimp. Once it’s balanced on the hook’s bend, it become the prefect waving bait in the current under a popping cork or an adjustable float. The best colors are root beer, clear gold glitter, clear chartreuse tail and golden cherry red. Drop a few artificial DOAs into your livewell. I call this ‘adding juice appeal.’”

Offshore: Capt. Judy reports, “September is snag a gag month. This just means the grouper bite is better, because things are cooling down causing more movement. During this month all grouper, such as gags, scamps and red grouper, are more likely to be up and about. The best places to look for one of these fish are the live-bottom ledges at the Savannah Snapper Banks. The best baits are going to be live cigar minnows or Spanish sardines, which can be caught with sabiki gold-hook rigs schooling over the structure at the artificial reefs. These baits are known for triggering a serious grouper bite. However, a bigger fish sometimes wants bigger bait. Baits caught at the banks are normally those fish that have air bladders, such as sand perch, rock bass, vermilion snapper, pin fish and ruby red lips. Before putting them in the live well, I suggest deflating the air bladder with sharp-pointed knife. These baits will also bring on a big-time grouper bite. As far as the topwater bite, there have been a few kings caught nearshore at the Savannah River channel, artificial reefs and at the Savannah Snapper Banks. The best bait when targeting this fish is the liveliest possible. Blue runners, Spanish sardines, Spanish mackerel and cigar minnows are just some of the good live-bait choices. The Spanish mackerel have arrived in full force and can be caught trolling 0 to 00 Clark spoon in the Savannah River channel, beach fronts and artificial reefs. The best way to locate a school of feeding mackerel is to look to sky for the diving/feeding seabirds. During this time it’s not unusual to catch dolphin, also known as mahi mahi, while bottom fishing. Dolphins are curious fish, and they will swim right to the boat. Just take your weight off your bottom rig, loosen your drag, and float your bait (squid or cut bait) right to the circling mahi mahi. While doing this, throw over the side a few small pieces of bait. If they are hungry, this will really get them going. Once these fish turn on their feeding lights, they will suck this bait in just like most of us do when chocolate is involved! If there is more than on one mahi mahi, leave the last fish caught in the water until the next fish is hooked up. Catch them all!”