Southeast Georgia Fishing Reports With Capt. Bert Deener – May 16, 2025

Capt. Bert (left) and Herb Deener caught a bunch of warmouth in Okefenokee Swamp on Friday by pitching posicle Warmouth Whacker Jigs and white/pink Super Sallies during their two-hour trip.

Instead of talking about what areas of the rivers are still high enough to get around, we’re thinking more along the lines of where is still LOW enough to fish effectively! This past weekend’s extensive rains have changed the fishing in most areas. Some areas are still really good, while others are totally washed out for the next few weeks.

Altamaha River: Jason Baxley and his cousin won a bass tournament on the river this weekend with 30.5 pounds (seven-fish limit). They had some really solid fish but had one 2 1/2-pounder that they could not upgrade.

Satilla River: Riley Hilton fished some small creeks near Alma this week and had fun with bowfin. He flung a firetiger Dura-Spin and caught 19 bowfin on it this weekend. The upper and middle river are blown out. The Burnt Fort area is rising but is still fishable this weekend. Catfishing should be good on the rising water.

Okefenokee Swamp: The warmouth, pickerel and bowfin bites are still strong on the east side. On Friday, Herb Deener fished with me for a couple hours, and we did really well for warmouth. We pitched popsicle (purple/pink/chartreuse) Warmouth Whacker Jigs and white-pink Super Sallies under a float and caught 23 fish in two hours of fishing before the rain ran us off late-morning. Our catch included three pickerel, one bowfin and 19 warmouth. We kept six for my parents’ supper and released the rest.

Curtis Hazel called me wanting a guide trip last weekend while we were staring a NASTY rain forecast right in the face. We agreed to get up Saturday morning and look at the radar. It was pouring when we got up, but it looked like we would get a window, so we agreed to meet mid-morning and give it a try. I watched rain just to my east the entire way down to Folkston, but we had great weather and a window between the big slugs of rain. The fish cooperated, as we caught 23 fish total in two hours of fishing. We had five pickerel to 19 inches, four bowfin to four pounds, and 14 warmouth to 8 inches. We pitched popsicle Warmouth Whacker Jigs both under a float and without the float for the panfish and pickerel. We also trolled and cast Dura-Spins a short time for bowfin and pickerel so that he could see how to do it. Lemon-lime and white-silver blade worked best. He kept a half-dozen warmouth for supper, and we released everything else.

On Saturday, Curtis rented a motorboat from Okefenokee Adventures and took the family in town for the weekend fishing in the Swamp. They trolled up 20 bowfin and three pickerel with Dura-Spins. Lemon-lime and crawfish were their best colors that day.

Jim Spencer and his buddies Tersh Harley and Michael Huber came up from south Florida for the rainy weekend and caught a bunch of fish, both on the fly and traditional gear. Overall, they said that chartreuse spinners and crayfish flies worked best. They caught mostly warmouth, fliers and bowfin, but they also had some pickerel and a gar. Michael had their biggest bowfin, an 11.6-pounder.

Bill Stewart fished with me on the east side Wednesday, and we caught and released a total of 57 fish. Warmouth were chewing popsicle Warmouth Whacker Jigs, both with and without a float, and pink/white Super Sallies under a float. Pickerel and fliers also ate the same offerings, and the biggest bowfin (5-lb., 15-oz.) inhaled the small purple/pink/chartreuse jig, also. We tried trolling for bowfin and pickerel for just a short time and caught one every few minutes. The most recent water level on the Folkston side was 120.76 feet.

Local Ponds: Bass fishing was slow from the couple of reports I received this week. Those two anglers caught a couple of fish and missed a few bites, but they worked hard for those bites.

Saltwater (Georgia Coast): Seth Carter and friends fished the Brunswick area on Wednesday evening around low tide and caught two keeper flounder, two keeper reds and a few oversized reds. They caught them on artificials.

Todd Kennedy fished some docks in the Darien area this week and fooled some really nice sheepshead up to 7 pounds.

A local captain reported some good fishing again this week. They got rained out Monday, but Buddy Johnson and he got on a good bite Tuesday with a mixed bag of species. On Wednesday, he and John had trout, flounder and redfish. They fooled them with live shrimp under Super Striker Floats. Fishing over hard sand channels in 4 to 6 feet of water was the ticket. They had five trout over 20 inches that day. On Thursday, they had to hunt and peck until the last stop, and then it was wide open. With only three trout and three reds in the cooler, they stopped in a shallow spot and had fish on every cast. They released a few reds and then had their feelings hurt by breaking off the next five fish in every way imaginable. He told Debbie that she had one more chance, and she let the cast fly. She was successful and hauled in a 27-incher on her last cast, took a quick photo, then released it. Redfish Wrecker jig heads and shrimp have been killing the redfish for his charters. Most of the reds this month have been oversized. The big trout are biting. He’s already had about 15 trout over 20 inches this month.

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.

River gages on May 15 were:
Clyo on the Savannah River – 11.8 feet and rising
Abbeville on the Ocmulgee – 8.4 feet and rising
Doctortown on the Altamaha – 10.8 feet and rising
Waycross on the Satilla – 9.8 feet and rising
Atkinson on the Satilla – 7.1 feet and rising
Statenville on the Alapaha – 4.4 feet and falling
Macclenny on the St Marys – 4.3 feet and falling
Fargo on the Suwannee – 6.8 feet and rising

Last quarter moon is May 20.

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/.

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].