Southeast Georgia Fishing Reports With Capt. Bert Deener – Dec. 6, 2024

Daniel Pritchard jigged up this big trout on Sunday with a Fourseven Agitator swimbait rigged on a Zombi Eye jig head.

It’s been a cold, windy week, but the fish in southeast Georgia are moving into their winter patterns. That usually means feast or famine. The hope of a “feast” day keeps me going back on the water in my coveralls! Saltwater has slowed a little this week, but the rivers are getting decent again.

Altamaha River: Jimmy Hall and Brinson Thornton have had some great days bass fishing the Altamaha this week. They had several nice fish to about 5 pounds on plastic worms. I also had a report of an angler catching a couple dozen nice shellcracker. He must have found the hole they’re wintering in….

Savannah River: Mark Vick fished the Savannah River oxbows for a couple hours on Monday afternoon and caught four crappie and four giant fliers by pitching 1/16-oz. crawfish Warmouth Whacker Jigs and Tennessee shad Specktacular Jigs. The bite was on when he slowed his presentation way down and fished deep (about 15 to 16 feet).   

Okefenokee Swamp: This week, reports were slow with the cold weather. Most folks said they caught a few bowfin or fliers, but not many. The water is finally down below 121 feet for the first time in about a year. That lower level pulls fish off the prairies and into the canals. The bite is going to get silly as it keeps dropping. The most recent water level (Folkston side) was 120.94 feet.

Local Ponds: Joshua Barber fished from his kayak in a Manor area pond on Saturday and had a great evening. He fooled 20 bass up to 2 pounds, a few crappie and bluegill and a 5-lb. bowfin. Minnows, shiners and chartreuse back pearl Keitechs fooled them.

Dodge County Public Fishing Area (near Eastman): Ken Burke fished on Thursday in the cloudy, windy conditions and only managed two bites from bass, but they were really nice ones. One ate a crankbait and the other a shaky-head worm. They weighed 4-lbs., 10-ozs. and 4-lbs., 12-ozs.

Hugh M. Gillis Public Fishing Area (near Dublin): Ken Burke fished the area for about four hours on a trip late last week. He had four bites and caught all four bass. Their total weight was 6 1/4 pounds. He fooled them with a Frittside crankbait.

Paradise Public Fishing Area (near Tifton): – The crappie bite has remained decent at the area. When it gets cold like this, folks usually catch some giant crappie off the pier in Lake Patrick using both minnows and jigs.

Lake Eufaula: – Jason Dixon and a couple of his Waycross buddies road-tripped to Lake Eufaula last week. They flung artificials for crappie and bass. They worked for their fish, but Jason had a blast catching a 2-lb., 8-oz. bass on his ultralight gear. It ate a chartreuse back pearl 2-inch Keitech swimbait on a pearl 1/16-oz. Zombi Eye jig head. They caught some other bass and crappie, also.

Lake Erie: Ed Zmarzly visited family over the holiday weekend and got out three times to fish Lake Erie from the bank. Even in the 30-knot winds, he caught fish. He flung hard minnow plugs in bright colors to land about 15 walleye. Several were really nice 25-plus inch fish. His biggest was a 7-pounder.

Saltwater (GA Coast):  The bite was decent this week, even with the cold, windy conditions. Brandon Young and Judson Holley fished the Brunswick area Saturday afternoon. They caught 10 oversized reds (25 to 30 inches)—half on live shrimp and popping corks and the other half on 1/4-oz. jig heads and paddletail plastics. They said bait was everywhere, and the fish were chewing.

A couple of Brunswick anglers fished Turtle River on Monday and caught 25 trout (five keepers) and a keeper redfish. They also released a 26-inch redfish.

Bill Stewart fished with me in Brunswick on Monday, and we struggled with the wind. We ended up catching 9 trout up to 17 inches (five keepers) and a nice 16-inch flounder. We caught them all on 3 1/2-inch Keitechs (perch, blue/chartreuse, and bluegill flash) rigged on Zombi Eye jig heads and Flashy Jigheads. My first one ate the lure under an Equalizer Float, but the rest were caught by just swimming the paddletails close to bottom.

A local captain had some good trips early this week. On Sunday, he took Daniel Pritchard and jigged up a couple limits of trout and some nice reds on Fourseven Lures Agitator Swimbaits pegged on Zombi Eye jig heads. On Monday, they threw live shrimp under Harper Super Striker Floats all day and had a mixed bag of trout, sheepshead and a limit of reds. Wednesday was a tougher bite but ended up with some nice trout, reds and sheepshead. On Thursday, he flung artificials again in a new area north of his usual area and caught a couple dozen really nice trout and released them.

Tommy Sweeney fished Wednesday afternoon and crushed the trout (caught 14 keepers over 15 inches) and a 25-inch redfish. Sexy shad Keitechs on Zombi Eye jig heads produced his fish.

Jay Turner and a friend fished the Savannah area Wednesday and caught a limit of trout with a couple of 18-inchers mixed in, but they didn’t have any giants like they have been catching. They caught them on DOA shrimp and Keitech swimbaits.

A local captain fished the Brunswick area on Thursday and caught a bunch of trout. Most were undersized. He says he just didn’t pick the right spot that day. Live shrimp fooled his fish.

An angler reported fishing the Crooked River early this week and catching 23 trout with the largest being 21 inches. He also had a redfish just under the 23 inch upper limit.

Rickey O’Berry and a friend fished the Brunswick area this week and caught a bunch of sheepshead by dabbling fiddler crabs. Their biggest was 5 pounds, and they had several over 4 pounds. I heard of an angler fishing from a Brunswick area dock this week and catching some trout and reds.

Don’t forget about the fish carcass freezer at the Waycross Fisheries Office at 108 Darling Avenue. The Coastal Resources Division collects most inshore saltwater species so that they can determine age and growth for each species. All the supplies and information cards are in the freezer. Filet your fish then drop off the carcasses in the freezer.

Wat-a-melon Bait and Tackle in Brunswick is now open every day. On Monday to Thursday their hours are 6:30 a.m. to 10 and 2 p.m. to 5 and Friday through Saturday from 6:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. They have plenty of lively shrimp and also have live worms and crickets for freshwater. They’re on Highway 303 just north of Highway 82. For the latest information, contact them at 912.223.1379.

First quarter moon is Dec. 8.

To monitor all the Georgia river levels, visit the USGS website (waterdata.usgs.gov/ga/nwis/rt). For the latest marine forecast, check out www.weather.gov/jax/.

River gages on Dec. 5 were:
Clyo on the Savannah River – 6.7 feet and rising
Abbeville on the Ocmulgee – 2.3 feet and falling
Doctortown on the Altamaha – 7.1 feet and falling
Waycross on the Satilla – 8.8 feet and falling
Atkinson on the Satilla – 7.6 feet and falling
Statenville on the Alapaha – 5.3 feet and falling
Macclenny on the St Marys – 2.7 feet and falling
Fargo on the Suwannee – 3.5 feet and falling

Capt. Bert Deener guides fishing trips in the Okefenokee Swamp and other southeast Georgia systems and makes a variety of both fresh and saltwater fishing lures. Check his lures out at Bert’s Jigs and Things on Facebook. For a copy of his latest catalog, you can download it from his website at bertsjigsandthings.com or email him ([email protected]).