Ogeechee Warmouth Gives Glenn Settles Six River Records

Glenn Settles with the Ogeechee River warmouth that gives him six fish records on this south Georgia river.

Glenn Settles lives on the Ogeechee River between Statesboro and Sylvania. His riverside home gives him the opportunity to fish several evenings a week. He loves the leisure of fishing for redbreast sunfish.

What he rarely catches on the river is warmouth, but June 21 was different.

“I was fishing for redbreast sunfish with a Beetle Spin, and I caught three warmouth that evening,” the 57-year-old forestry consultant with F &W Forestry said. “That was really unusual because they rarely come out of the creeks into the river. I’m guessing it had something to do with the water being so low.”

Three warmouth in one day might have been an unusual catch for him, but one of those fish was really unusual. At 1-lb., 4-ozs., it was the largest warmouth he had ever caught or seen. The weight was certified and GON announced it as the largest warmouth ever recorded from the Ogeechee River. This gives Glenn six fish records on the Ogeechee River.

“Warmouth like slow-moving, deep water, but I caught these fish in about 2 1/2 feet of water,” he said. “That’s how low the river is.”

Glenn took the fish home and checked online for the Ogeechee River warmouth record. The river didn’t have a record for this particular panfish species, so he knew immediately he had a winner.

“Any warmouth I had caught before was about a half-pound to three-quarters of a pound,” he said.

His next step was to get the fish weighed on certified scales. He found success on his first stop.

“I took it to a seafood place called Northside Seafood,” he said with a laugh. “I didn’t think a meat market or a grocery would appreciate you bringing a fish in to be weighed.”

This time of the year, Glenn said he fishes between 7 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. when the sun is low in the sky. He said that casts shadows from the trees onto the river and it is in those shadows where he catches most of his fish. It was in shadowed water where he caught the record warmouth.

“They just bite better in the evenings,” he said.

Ogeechee River Record Fish

See all of GON’s official Georgia Lake & River Records here.

Requirements For Record Fish

• Fish must be caught legally by rod and reel in a manner consistent with state game and fish regulations.

• Catch must be weighed on accurate Georgia DOA certified scales with at least two witnesses present, who must be willing to provide their names and phone numbers so they can be contacted to verify the weighing of the fish.

• Witnesses to the weighing must be at least 18 years old, and they must not be members of the angler’s immediate family nor have a close personal relationship with the angler.

• Catch must be positively identified by qualified DNR personnel.

GON’s records are compiled and maintained by GON, to be awarded at GON’s discretion. Additional steps may be required for record consideration.