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

Bill Stewart caught this chunky bass while fishing a blue-flake plastic worm on the Altamaha River. The river bite has been really good as the water drops out.

The bites have mostly been good this week. The Altamaha system bass bite has been great. Saltwater has provided a good bite when you could get out. Several days this week it was howling! At least two river records were set this week. Check out the write-ups in the Altamaha and Withlacoochee sections.

Altamaha/Ocmulgee River: The Altamaha system was the place to be this week. The water is dropping and concentrating the fish, but it’s getting tricky to get around. Bill Stewart fished with me in the upper Altamaha on Friday, and we caught 32 fish total. We had 19 bass up to 2 pounds and a channel catfish that was 3 pounds. The bass in the main river ate a Texas-rigged blue-flake worm, while the bass in the lakes wanted small plastic crayfish and one of the bigger ones even inhaled a blue shad Dura-Spin. Several nice pickerel ate the crayfish and firetiger Dura-Spins, as well.

I heard of a tournament this weekend won with 11 pounds and change by a couple of anglers from Waycross. They caught them by pitching plastics.

A couple of Waycross anglers fished the lower Ocmulgee River Monday for bass. They ended up with 19 fish up to 3.90 pounds. All of their fish ate Texas-rigged plastics.

Shane and Joshua Barber fished the lower river mid-week and caught 25 bass up to 3-lbs., 1-ozs. and had a half-dozen over 2 pounds. The fish were missing a lot in the morning but were crushing it in the afternoon. They caught one on a buzzbait, one on a Satilla Spin and the rest on curly tail worms, lizards and Trick Worms rigged on a Capt. Bert’s 4/0 Swimbait Hook.

Paul Williamson fished with me mid-week on the upper Altamaha, and we caught 26 fish. We had three bass up to 2 pounds on black/red flake 2.8-inch Keitech Crazy Flappers and crawfish-colored Dura-Spins. A gar and 22 bowfin ate live shiners rigged on a 1/8-oz. Shrimp Hook bounced along the bottom. We had seven bowfin over 5 pounds, and I set the river record bowfin for the Altamaha at 8-lbs., 1-oz. Our biggest five bowfin weighed exactly 30 pounds on digital scales.

A couple of Blackshear anglers fished the river on Wednesday and Thursday and caught about 20 bass each trip, and they even caught a striper on Thursday. They said that the fish were eating about anything they threw at them.

Two-Way Sportfishing Club is hosting a catfish tournament on Sept. 21-22. It will be a rod-and-reel-only tournament. For details, contact tournament directors Jamie Hodge (912.271.8589) or Tiff Thompson (229.938.4789).

Withlacoochee River: Tim Bonvechio set the new Suwannee bass river record this weekend. He fooled a total of five largemouth up to 2 pounds and three Suwannee bass. He left right after catching the record, which measured 14 3/4 inches and weighed 2-lbs., 3.52-ozs. on certified scales. Dark-colored plastic crayfish fooled all of his fish, including the record.

Okefenokee Swamp: The water is still high, but I fished with my daughter Ellie and her friend Joanna on Saturday on the east side. We talked with three different boats while we were heading out. They were heading in, and none had even gotten a bite, so our confidence was low. We pitched a half-hour for warmouth and didn’t get a bite, then we switched to trolling for big fish. We ended up trolling up eight bowfin and a gar with Dura-Spins. The best color was blood red, but we caught a few on jackfish late in the trip. Ellie caught a 6.01-lb. bowfin for our biggest, and Joanna caught her first bowfin and gar during the trip. The most recent water level (Folkston side) was 121.60 feet.

Ellie Deener caught this 6.01-lb. bowfin by trolling a blood red Dura-Spin in the Okefenokee Swamp on Saturday.

Hugh M. Gillis Public Fishing Area (near Dublin): Ken Burke fished the area a half day on Wednesday and had seven bass that weighed a total of 10 1/2 pounds. His biggest was 2 pounds. Five ate a crankbait and two bit a shaky head rigged with a plastic. All of his fish were caught shallower than 8 feet, and the water temperature was up to 86 degrees when he left at around 11 a.m.

Local Ponds: The pond bite was good this week, and I heard of several hot bass and bream bites in various ponds.

Chad Lee and Daniel Johnson caught seven bass up to 3 pounds in an Alma area pond on Tuesday. Christie Craws, Senkos and spinnerbaits fooled them. A couple of friends fishing ponds in the Savannah area caught some giant bluegill fishing worms under floats. Night fishing for bass was very slow this week from the reports I received.

Saltwater (Ga. Coast): A few friends fished a Brunswick area dock on Monday with hopes of catching a few fish for a fish fry. They very much exceeded expectations, catching lots of redfish and black drum, along with a few trout and flounder. Their biggest redfish was a 29-incher they caught, photographed and released. They had some nice black drum up to about 20 inches. They caught them on live shrimp, fiddlers and artificials.

Brandon Young and Jordain Holley had an awesome day fishing around the St. Andrews Sound (both around Jekyll and Cumberland) on Labor Day. They had around 50 trout, reds and flounder, with most of them being undersized. They ended up with a great box of 16 keepers of all three species. Jordain caught the biggest trout (19 inches) and flounder (18 inches). Most of their throwbacks were on live shrimp under popping corks, while their keepers were more apt to eat artificials (rootbeer/chartreuse Z-man paddle-tails on 1/4-oz. Trout Eye Jigheads). The good news is that they caught around 30 undersized redfish—good news because another great year-class of redfish is on the way!

A local captain had some good bull redfishing trips early in the week before the winds got up. Bottom fishing on the bars near the sounds was the ticket for redfish as big as your leg! Another captain flung some new plastics from Four-Seven Lures and caught a few nice trout and redfish. His charters got blown out this week with the strong winds.

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.

First quarter moon is Sept. 11. 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 Sept. 5 were:
Clyo on the Savannah River – 4.0 feet and falling
Abbeville on the Ocmulgee – 0.3 feet and rising
Doctortown on the Altamaha – 3.7 feet and rising
Waycross on the Satilla – 6.4 feet and falling
Atkinson on the Satilla – 6.5 feet and falling
Statenville on the Alapaha – 3.0 feet and falling
Macclenny on the St Marys – 5.6 feet and steady
Fargo on the Suwannee – 10.1 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, call him at 912.288.3022 or email him at [email protected].