Georgia Saltwater Fishing Reports – March 2021

Saltwater: Inshore: Capt. David Newlin reports, “On Feb. 21, the water temp was around 53 degrees and really clear in some places. I have caught a lot of redfish, stripers and trout this week. Redfish have been shallow and deep. Most of mine have been caught on shrimp on the bottom and under a cork. This should be good and getting better on into March. On sunny days, fish shallow after about 10 as the water will warm a degree or two and get the fish biting. Most of my trout have been from 10 to 20 feet deep. A live shrimp fished just off the bottom has been working. I have caught some on a jig fishing it deep and slow just off the bottom. The trout bite should be good in a couple of weeks if the water warms a few degrees. The striper (rockfish) bite up the Ogeechee has been really good, the best I have seen in a few years. A live shrimp or mullet fished under a cork or on the bottom has been working for me. I have caught a few stripers on Rapalas. A white jig has been good on some days. All the rain water will move these fish a lot farther down river toward the ocean. March should be a good fishing month, especially if things will start to warm up a little.”

Capt. Judy Helmey reports, “We have had quite a few over 70 and closer to 80-degree days in February. March is when water temperatures will start to rise. There is an old saying that my father used all the time, especially when talking about the water temperatures in March. He always said, ‘When it’s 65, everything is alive!’ However, don’t wait until it reaches 65 degrees. I suggest to start practicing at the 60-degree mark! I guess you could call March the beginning of the end of hibernation month. Inshore bottom fishing in the sound just got more interesting. Bull whiting should start showing up near sandbars in the sound. The best bait for this great sized panfish is going to be small pieces of peeled shrimp laced on small hooks fished directly on the bottom. The best hook size is a No. 4 to No. 6 kahle hook or a No. 4 to No. 6 classic j-hook. No matter the hook used it is best to make sure it is the thin-tinned style. As far as the best bottom rig, I suggest a Carolina-style rig. This rig keeps your bait near the bottom, allowing for a better hook-up opportunity. You could find yourself catching spotted seatrout, summer trout, flounder, trophy redfish, flounder and shark. It is best to use a light tackle rod/reel setup with 10- to 15-lb. test main line when targeting whiting. I like using monofilament, but braid will also work. For sharks or big trophy redfish, I suggest going with a little heavier tackle. I use 20- to 50-lb. test main line and a Carolina-style leader with 30- to 60-lb. test leader material. As far as the best hook size, I suggest 4/0, 5/0 or 6/0 classic j-hook. For those who prefer circle hooks instead, go with 9/0 to 12/0. If using live bait, make sure the hook size and style matches the bait used. You don’t want to use a hook that is going to hinder the natural movement of the bait used. However, sometimes it is better to use a fish steak as opposed to a live fish.  My best used and most hit bait during this time is a whiting steak. To get the best whiting steak, cut the slice like a loaf of bread. The secret is to not use too thick of a piece and also to cut off any pieces hanging. If you don’t, smaller fish are going to assault your bait leaving you with a leftover piece that no larger fish is going to be attracted to. A fresh cut whiting steak is going to only last so long, so for more bigger bites, change it frequently. Once cut, let the steaks sit on your fish cleaning table, which will allow them to dry. Once introduced back into the water the true fishy scent will be repaginated. Every time I use the word repaginated I get called on it because it’s not in the dictionary. However, my father and I have used this term for many years in regards to a piece of bait that has been left out to dry. The scent/smell of a piece or part of fish is actually brought back to life when introduced back into water. In our book it is call repaginated. You can use it or not, but I wanted you to know why I was using it. Boy, my father was truly something! For those fishermen who prefer inshore trout and reds, fishing March is a great time to look for potential fishing spots. The water is clear and it is the best time to see exactly what’s down under. And of course while you are slowly making your way, I suggest dragging some sort of lure behind you. Best artificial proven baits are DOAs in shrimp patterns and Berkeley Gulp! Alive! Swimming Mullet and any kind of soft bait that imitates a mud minnow or croaker. When you find any sort of action, I suggest stopping and giving it a try. As far as best live baits when fishing floats or not, shrimp is the deal but can be hard to come by and also very expensive. So far this year dropping your cast net in the deeper holes has provided fishermen with some shrimp. Not every deep hole is holding shrimp, and they might be hard to find. However, throwing your cast net a few times might yield some shrimp. The best tide is the bottom of the low tide. The creeks in our area have some really nice deep holes. Get on the web and find the best type of cast net for shrimp. These nets are a little expensive, but if you master this type of shrimping, you could save enough to justify purchasing one. Your best live bait, and it travels well, is going to be the mud minnow. All you need is a minnow trap and a shallow tidal slough to set it.  I suggest using raw chicken parts, tube of saltines, bacon, cracked crabs or oyster or clams and even last year’s smelly shrimp with the heads still intact. The mud minnow can be fished lip hooked under a traditional or popping float rig. This bait also works great when fished directly on the bottom with a Carolina-style rig or hooked up just plain naked. In some cases two minnows on a hook are better than one. This hardy bait is not anywhere as delicate as a shrimp and can be used a number of times even after it has been bit and hit. I had a fisherman tell me the other day that he always lets the minnow go after it catches a fish.  He called it giving back, but I called it chumming!” 

Nearshore: Capt. Judy Helmey reports, “Fishing artificial reefs areas equals to short boat rides to the fish! These areas are holding some pretty interesting catching options. Normally the black sea bass are holding on low relief bottom. There are pallet balls, tires, concrete piles and culvert pipes, which offer these fish a lot of feeding opportunity. As far best bait, I suggest using cut squid or filet of fish. Heck, jigs tipped with or without any sort of bait, artificial or not, jigged or placed directly on the bottom will also work. I have found that artificial reefs such as J, L, CCA or any others located in 55 plus feet of water hold the most concentration of large black fish. The secret is to stop, drop, and move until you find the fish. Since we have had several close encounters over the last few years with hurricanes, some artificial bottom has been moved or is covered with locking bottom sand. So, if you mark a few fish up off the bottom, there is most likely a lot more locked down in the sand in a facing the current mode. This is where stopping, dropping and checking could turn into some serious catching. Please know when drifting bottom spots at this depth that too many drifts will scatter the fish. I suggest making a couple of drifts, moving off and looking for more active bottom. After waiting 30 minutes or so, circle back and fish this same spot. If the fish have moved, I suggest looking up or down current around the next structure. The offshore sheepshead bite should still be strong for the first two weeks of March. I suggest keeping your search of these fish to those artificial reefs or wrecks located in less than 50 feet of water. Any structure that offers lots of vertical feeding opportunity will hold the most sheepshead. Normally this is the time that these fish bulk up for their journey back to the inshore waters. The best bait when targeting this fish is the purple back or black back fiddler. Did you know that a sheepshead can hit your fiddler so hard that it can suck the insides out of the crab while leaving only its empty shell left balanced on your hook? With this shared knowledge, I suggest always giving your fiddler crab a good once over before sending it back to the bottom. After all, no respectable sheepshead would be interested in an old empty fiddler shell. You know what I mean. When you have eaten all of the deviled crab stuffing, the feeding interests is gone!”

Savannah Snapper Banks: Capt. Judy Helmey reports, “This live bottom area is located about 29 miles off our coast. It takes a longer boat ride but certainly does offer a lot of different catching opportunity. The bottom fishing is great and no matter the amount of baited hooks used, hook-ups should happen. The best bottom rig is going to be a two-hook rig made with 3/0 to 4/0 circle hooks. Please know that when targeting fish in the snapper grouper complex, regulations require you use some type of circle hook. I like making my rigs out of 80-lb. test monofilament. In the charter boat world, 16-oz. bank sinkers are the best. However, you can get away with 8- to 10-oz., especially when there isn’t as many fishing at one time. You can catch large green head black fish, 5-gallon-bucket sized trigger fish, nice hog nose snapper, knobbed head porgy, amberjack, masked almaco jacks, banded rudder fish, football-sized vermilion, solider fish, and I could keep on listing, but I think you get the gist of it all! We tell our customers that the snapper banks trip offers the biggest opportunity to catch the most different color fish. Don’t forget your offshore fish color identification booklet. This is one areas that it will definitely come in handy! This is a great time of the year to bottom fish around the naval towers, as well as the live bottom areas located at the Savannah Snapper Banks. Believe me, I have fished these areas for years, and they are still holding fish! I have broken it down into three areas. At the north snapper banks, fish the following: R7 3149.000/8016.500; Naval tower, live bottom areas, 3144.970/8013.890. This is a good area to start a bottom fishing drift. Try 3144.192/8013.021. This is the coordinates to a ledge. Running 160 degrees and 330 degrees will keep you on the ledge. At the middle snapper banks, fish the following: R6 (M2R6) 3132.000/8014.000 naval tower; live bottom areas 3135.350/8021.660 (ledge) and 3134.990/8022.900, which is scattered live bottom. At the south snapper banks, fish R2 3122.530/8034.010 naval tower, live bottom areas 3124.768/8036.795 (tight/small area but very productive) and 3124.658/8035.262. Once locating this coordinate, work your way back 290 to 310 degrees to find more live bottom areas. Prior to heading out, it is best to always check the coordinates/areas in which you are planning to fish. I suggest purchasing a Top Spot Georgia offshore Brunswick to Savannah waterproof chart map number N229. I provided coordinates to this company many years ago. These coordinates are proven to hold the attention of fish. As with most passed around coordinates, the numbers used sometime aren’t exactly on the fishing spot. The reason being is, especially in my case, these coordinates were derived from the use of loran.  When transferring and re-computing coordinates, it seems that they never seem to be spot on the fish. To combat this problem, I always suggest slowing down before reaching suggested coordinates. While making you way slowly, I suggest keeping a sharp eye on your fish finder.” 

Blue Water Fishing: Capt. Judy Helmey reports, “It’s about a 60 mile run and is considered a more serious boat ride for sure. Please know that the secret to success when it comes to this type of fishing is that you must always factor in the weather. The most popular areas to fish are going to be South and Triple Ledges, which are located in about 160 to 200 feet of water. The Deli Ledge is another good ledge to fish at this time, which is located a little to the north of these areas. When your fish day takes you this far offshore, wind and waves can dictate your compass heading for the most comfortable ride to the fishing grounds. When departing the Savannah area, it is always good having onboard coordinates for the northern and southern blue water areas. These areas certainly do hold the interests of some colorful fish. It’s a great time to catch wahoo and blackfin tuna. Now you might not see them, but they are there.  During this time, old school trolling techniques is the rule. We pull standard Ilanders lures in black/black and red/black rigged with medium/large ballyhoo, naked cedar plugs soaked in menhaden oil and Trackers Ilanders rigged with dink/pewee ballyhoo. To some fishermen this means the basics, but for us elders, it just works. If you are a planer user, this method works especially during this time of the year because in some cases big fish are holding much deeper. I like using No. 4 high-speed planers with at least 30 feet of monofilament leader between planer and lure used. The oldest type of spoon that we use is a 3 1/2-inch Drone spoon at www.dronespoons.com. Drone spoons have two rings, which is what causes it to make erratic moves when trolled at 4 to 6 knots. This movement definitely gets a fish’s attention. If you have spoons in your tackle box that only have one ring, I suggest highly to add a second ring. I always like to have extra and assorted size split rings just in case the Drone spoons are missing that extra ring. Double rings on a spoon changes everything in regards to the movements made. Best ledges to work during this time of the year are going to be South Ledge 3106.416/7955.300, Deli Ledge 3132.961/7943.493 and Triple Ledge 3116.769/7952.069. These ledges hold the interest of blackfin tuna, wahoo and numerous kinds of bottom fish. You can troll the area, give vertical jigging a try or just go plain old bottom fishing with a two-hook rig. Believe me one way or the other you will catch fish. For those who want to do a little deep-water wreck fishing in the blue water fishing, try the Dump Scow at 3121.525/ 7950.403. For free online sea surface temperature charts, go to http://sstcharts.com. This site also offers for sale different types of blue water chart sets. They are very good fish finding aids because coordinates are correct and are well proven. I always suggest before heading out to check for any fish closures. For state regulations, go to www.eregulations.com/georgia/fishing. For federal regulations, go to http://safmc.net for the latest information.  If you have trouble finding information, please contact Kim Iverson, public information officer, at 843.571.4366, 843.302.8440 or [email protected].”