Southeast Georgia Fishing Reports With Capt. Bert Deener – March 14, 2025

Rhett caught his first chain pickerel ever on Saturday while fishing the east side of the Okefenokee. It ate a jackfish-colored Dura-Spin.

The bites have been good, especially before this past weekend’s big rains in southeast Georgia. Now the rivers are booming and lakes and the swamp are high. Even so, if you choose carefully, you can get on a good bite.

St. Marys River: Sammy Gaskins went to the river on Friday before the big rains and caught 27 fish. A dozen were crappie, two were bass, and the rest were redbreast and bluegill. He fooled them with Beetle Spins.

The Temple Landing is currently closed while the Georgia Wildlife Resources Division (WRD) boat ramp crew rebuilds the ramp. The new slab is poured, and the crew is working to dress out the ramp and improve the parking area. The project is winding down, and the Temple Landing ramp should reopen in late March if weather and river levels cooperate (which they are currently not doing).

Okefenokee Swamp: Brentz McGhin fished the east side of the Okefenokee on Saturday with his nephew, Rhett. It was Rhett’s first fishing trip to the Swamp, and he caught his first pickerel and first bowfin—both by trolling a jackfish-colored Dura-Spin in-line spinner. They caught a couple jackfish casting 3-inch bluegill flash-colored Keitech Swing Impact swimbaits on chartreuse Zombie Eye jig heads. They also dabbled Mirage Jigs tipped with crickets and plastic crayfish for a few warmouth. They caught a total of five pickerel, seven bowfin, five warmouth and a flier.

I had several trips this week on the west side. David Montgomery’s trip with me on Friday produced the biggest bowfin of the week—a 7-lb., 15-oz. monster that inhaled a 1/16-oz. Mirage Jig tipped with cut flier. On Friday, we caught 25 fish total (24 bowfin and a 20-inch pickerel). The biggest bowfin in addition to the 7-15 weighed 6-1, 6-0 and 5-6. Most of them ate 1/16-oz. Mirage Jigs tipped with dead minnows, worms, or cut flier (cut flier was best that day). A couple of the bowfin ate my new prototype vibrating jig. On Saturday the bite was much better (even though it was drizzling some of the morning), and we caught a total of 55 fish (two fliers, two pickerel and 51 bowfin). David had the biggest pickerel toward the end of the day while flinging a perch-colored Keitech swimbait rigged on a 1/16-oz. Capt. Bert’s Swimbait Head (2/0 hook). It was a 21-inch class fish and jumped off at the boat. The biggest bowfin on Saturday weighed 7-lbs., 8-ozs., 5-8, 5-6, 5-1 and 5-0. During the three-day trip, we caught a total of exactly 100 fish.

Jeremy and Max planned to camp on a platform in the Swamp on Sunday until strong thunderstorms moved in. They changed their plans and fished with me on Monday afternoon once the storms pushed through. Significant rains raised the water level on the west side, and it was swift. Even so, the bowfin still bit, and they caught 11 in a half-day trip. Max had the hot hand and caught an angler award-sized bowfin, yellow bullhead catfish and flier. They had two double hook-ups and caught fish weighing up to 5-lbs., 4-ozs. Mirage Jigs and cut flier produced most of the fish, including a 17-inch pickerel. The two flier that they caught ate pink Okefenokee Swamp Sallies pitched on a bream buster pole.

Frank, Matt and Jack were in town from south Texas on Wednesday and fished with me on the west side out of Stephen C. Foster State Park. The water had risen even higher than Monday, and the flow had gotten even swifter, but they still caught seven fish during a half-day trip. All of the fish were bowfin, and the biggest weighed 6-lbs. even, 4-1, 3-15, and 3-12. Jack earned an angler award for his biggest bowfin—his first one ever. The Mirage Jig and cut flier was again the top presentation. The most recent water level on the Folkston side was 121.46 feet and at SC Foster State Park was 5.64 feet.

Dodge County Public Fishing Area (near Eastman): The big crappie bit this week. There were three slabs over 2 pounds reported. The numbers of bass caught were good, as well.

Ocmulgee Public Fishing Area (near Hawkinsville): The trophy bass lake has been pumping out some nice ones. An angler fishing on Saturday reported catching four bass that weighed a total of 21 1/2 pounds. His largest was 6 1/2 pounds. Remember, the bass fishing on that lake is catch-and-release only.

Paradise Public Fishing Area (near Tifton): An angler who returned a tag from a bass said that the bass bite was good. He caught 25 bass by flinging plastics to shoreline cover on Saturday. The Wildlife Resources Division is conducting a bass study on the area and will be tagging bass over the next month in 10 of the bigger and more popular lakes (Patrick, Paradise, Bobben, Beaver, Russell, Horseshoe 2, 3, 4, and 5, and Tacklebuster). If you catch a tagged bass, clip the tag and return it along with the information requested on a tag return form (available on the porch at the area office). Each person returning a tag will receive a custom-embroidered ball cap and be entered into a drawing for a Yeti cooler. Each angler will only receive one cap, but there is no limit to the number of times you can be entered into the drawing. The Waycross Office has already had 7 tags returned. One of the bass was just under 9 pounds.

Local Ponds: Three south Georgia anglers fished a pond on Saturday for about six hours and absolutely whacked the crappie. They caught 107 slabs. The specks were shallow, and they pitched minnows rigged on Mirage Jigs and plain jigheads under floats to get them to bite. They had some work cleaning their catch! Chip Lafferty kept catching the big female bass this week on his favorite wacky worm. His biggest was a 6-lb., 2-oz. hawg that he caught Tuesday from a Brunswick area pond on a blue flake worm. Jimmy Zinker caught lots of smaller bass this week on spinnerbaits, but the monsters he chases eluded him again this week.

Lake Miccosukee, Florida: Shane and Joshua Barber road-tripped south to the lake on Saturday and caught 10 bass, a few chain pickerel (jackfish) and a big bowfin around 8 pounds. They caught them on Senkos and other plastics rigged on a Capt. Bert’s Swimbait Hook. Several other friends went with them and had mixed results. One group was skunked, another caught 3 bass, and another caught 27 bass.

St. John’s River (Astor, Florida) / Crescent Lake: Daniel Deloach, Zack Murray, Aaron Todd and Dillon Woodard went to Astor on their annual getaway last week. They worked for their crappie, but they had some SLABS. They caught a total of about 100 crappie during their trip. Tuesday morning was the best bite, and then it slowed and they worked for their fish. They started casting to docks and did well Tuesday, but after that they trolled for their fish. They used a bunch of 2-inch Keitech Swing Impacts rigged on Zombi Eye jig heads, and their best color was bluegill flash on a chartreuse or pink head. Their biggest fish were over 15 inches and 2 pounds. 

Saltwater (Georgia Coast): Tommy Sweeney fished the Brunswick area on Saturday and did well for trout. They ended up catching six good trout (15-17 inches) along with 14 throwbacks and four flounder (three keepers). They fooled a few of the trout with a plastic shrimp rigged on a 1/4-oz. Zombie Eye jig head and three on live shrimp. The flounder and balance of the trout ate a blue-chartreuse Keitech on a 1/4-oz. Zombie Eye jig head.

A local captain took Sherri Jones and Lucy Thomas fishing on Saturday in the Brunswick area, and they caught 12 redfish, a flounder and another captain said that the stars aligned for Tom and Mary on Friday, as they got on lots of trout and reds, and a few kicker flounder. Jason and Patrick fished with him on Saturday and caught lots of species—sheepshead, black drum, trout, reds and flounder. On Monday Tom and Mary fished with him again and fooled a bunch of trout and reds again. Tuesday through Thursday he fished with Todd Finnegan. They were hunting (and catching lots!) redfish, although they got on a great trout bite Thursday afternoon on their last stop. They found lots of oversized redfish every day.

After your next trip to the Georgia coast, drop off your fish carcasses in the 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 open Friday through Tuesday each week (closed Wednesday and Thursday) They have plenty of lively shrimp and also have live worms and crickets for freshwater. For the latest information and their hours, contact them at 912.223.1379.

Full moon is March 14.

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 March 13 were:
Clyo on the Savannah River – 6.5 feet and cresting
Abbeville on the Ocmulgee – 7.4 feet and falling
Doctortown on the Altamaha – 9.1 feet and rising
Waycross on the Satilla – 12.7 feet and rising
Atkinson on the Satilla – 10.0 feet and rising
Statenville on the Alapaha – 11.8 feet and rising
Macclenny on the St Marys – 13.7 feet and cresting
Fargo on the Suwannee – 11.3 feet and rising
Satilla River – I got one report from an angler who fished some backwaters before the rains and caught 14 keeper crappie on Saturday.

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 at [email protected].