Southeast Georgia Fishing Reports With Capt. Bert Deener – Oct. 18, 2024

Ed Zmarzly (left) took his nephews fishing on the St Simons Pier this week and they caught some bull redfish almost as big as they are.

I didn’t get many reports from freshwater, but the saltwater reports were fantastic this week. The Okefenokee, St Marys River, ponds, and saltwater are the places to fish right now.

Satilla River: I fished the extreme lower Satilla on Sunday evening for striped bass. I got a nice one to eat a 3-inch chartreuse pearl Keitech swimbait on an 1/8-oz. Zombi Eye jig head, but it shook its head, stripped off drag and made a run around the cover before breaking me off. Another angler putting shrimp on the bottom caught some nice white catfish. He said that he caught an 8-lb. keeper striped bass the previous Friday evening, so there are some nice stripers around in the lower rivers right now.

Okefenokee Swamp: The Okefenokee entrances are all back open after being closed around Hurricanes Helene and Milton. There are very few trees down, and I was able to check the east side (Folkston entrance) on Friday with my wife, Teresa. It basically looked exactly the same as before Hurricane Helene—we were shocked! We mostly just rode around, but we fished for about an hour. We trolled the canal and fooled five bowfin up to 4 pounds with fire tiger-chartreuse blade and lemon-lime Dura-Spins. We then anchored up and cast cut flier on one of my new prototype weedless hooks and caught the biggest of the day—a 5-pounder. The flowers are getting spectacular, as usual in October. The most recent water level (Folkston side) was 121.36 feet.

Local Ponds: I didn’t receive any reports this week from pond anglers. These cooler temperatures should get the crappie chewing!

Saltwater (GA Coast): Saltwater fishing has been great this week on the days folks could get out, but the wind forecast and the big tides are pretty nasty for this weekend!

Blake Edwards and I fished out of our own boats but near each other on Monday. We did pretty well for trout first thing, catching about 20 specks on perch-colored 3.5-inch Keitechs rigged on 3/16-oz. Zombi Eye jig heads and suspended underneath Equalizer Floats. Our biggest was 18 inches, and we caught about two throwbacks for each keeper. We switched to targeting redfish once the tide got off the shells, and we slammed them pretty good. We had about 2 dozen mostly by pitching live shrimp on Redfish Wrecker Jigheads (both 3/16-oz., 3/0 and 3/8-oz., 5/0 models). Blake had a couple of bait-stealers peck the live shrimp and get it, so he threaded a tougher Gulp shrimp on the hook and got a couple redfish to take it. After I ran out of shrimp, I bounced rootbeer 4-inch Keitech swimbaits on a 1/4-oz. Zombi Eye jig head on the bottom and caught a half-dozen oversized fish. Along the way, Blake fooled a big, 20-inch class flounder that jumped out of the net and got away. We also had three big black drum that were invited to a fish fry in Waycross. It was an awesome trip, and Blake caught, tagged and released his personal best redfish—a 26-incher!

Blake Edwards caught his personal best redfish on Monday in the Brunswick area. He was bouncing a live shrimp on a 3/8-oz., 5/0 Redfish Wrecker Jighead when the red inhaled it.

Seth Carter fished the Brunswick area on Saturday and caught at least 40 trout (mostly shorts). Brandon and Richard Young fished the Brunswick area this weekend. Despite the wind, they hammered the trout and redfish—catching over 100 fish (released most of them) in a three-hour span. Their biggest redfish was a 29-inch bull, and they also had a 30-inch class black drum come off right at the boat. They caught their fish on live shrimp under a popping cork and rootbeer-chartreuse paddle tails on 1/4-oz. jig heads (after they ran out of shrimp).

A local charter captain said the bite was off the chain on Saturday. They used Rapala X-Raps and Four-Seven Lures plastics (agitator color) to fool more than 100 fish total that day. The bite slowed on Sunday, but they still had one limit of trout and 20 slot reds, along with a couple bull reds. The bite remained good Monday and dropped off a little Tuesday with trout, reds and a few flounder and black drum mixed in. Wednesday he teamed up with another guide and between them caught 30 bull redfish.

Another local charter captain said that he’s been crushing the bull redfish this week. He fished for trout Wednesday and caught 35 (16 keepers) on live shrimp under Harper Super Striker Floats. Shrimp have been moving a bunch toward the sounds with this cooler weather. Flounder have been lower in numbers but huge in size. One angler targeting flatties reported catching three over 23 inches this week on live bait.

The bite on the St. Simons Pier has been hit-and-miss. Ed Zmarzly caught a doormat 7.3-lb. flounder from the pier before the hurricanes. Monday there wasn’t much going on, but an angler did catch a big, 25-inch seatrout on a live pinfish. Ed took his young nephews fishing on the pier this week, and they caught big bull redfish just about as big as they are. Lots of redfish have been caught from other piers, and a few sheepshead and black drum have been lurking, as well.

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 to 10 a.m. and 2 to 5 p.m. 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.

Last quarter moon is Oct. 24.

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 Oct. 17th were:
Clyo on the Savannah River – 6.5 feet and falling
Abbeville on the Ocmulgee – 4.0 feet and steady
Doctortown on the Altamaha – 10.0 feet and falling
Waycross on the Satilla – 10.7 feet and falling
Atkinson on the Satilla – 11.7 feet and falling
Statenville on the Alapaha – 12.9 feet and falling
Macclenny on the St Marys – 4.2 feet and falling
Fargo on the Suwannee – 7.3 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 e-mail him ([email protected]).