Okefenokee Swamp Bream

While fishing with GON writer Craig James on June 14, Josh Forsythe established a new bluegill benchmark record for the Okefenokee Swamp. He took the fish to the WRD Fisheries Office in Waycross where it weighed 1-lb., 0.96-ozs.

There’s something downright special about the Okefenokee Swamp… a certain air about it, if you will. In a world moving faster than it ever has, the Okefenokee seems to stand timeless and silent. The silence is only interrupted by the chirping of the many species of birds and the occasional bellow of an alligator that call the blackwater wetland home. Oh yeah… and maybe the loud crack of a big panfish destroying a topwater bug you just pitched to the base of a giant cypress tree.

That’s where Josh Forsythe comes into the picture. If you’re a regular GON reader, and the name sounds a little familiar, it may be from a GON story I worked on with Josh a few years ago on the east side of the Swamp. We put a pile of fat warmouth in the cooler, and I’ve been itching to line up another trip with Josh ever since.

That day finally came just before GON went to press with this issue, and though we managed to put another whooping on the fish, this time the script changed. A different location, different tactics and a whole different way of doing things led to one of the most enjoyable days I’ve had in the Swamp. Here’s a breakdown of how the trip went and what you need to do to be successful this month.

My son Colt and I met Josh and his son Kaden at the Griffis Fish Camp just before daylight the morning of June 14. The plan was to drop a truck there and then head up to the boat ramp at the Sill to launch our boats and do a short float trip down the Suwannee River to Griffis Fish Camp. Shortly after daylight, we began the float, but Josh didn’t like what he was seeing.

“The river is at 5.5 feet, and I felt like we’d be able to fish it good at that level, but it’s moving a little faster and it’s a little farther out in the woods than I’d like it to be. Time to switch it up. Lucky for us, we’ve got other options,” said Josh.

We quickly turned around, made the short paddle back to the boat ramp and started to fish the opposite side of the Sill. The first 10 minutes or so of fishing the grass-filled canal that lies just on the opposite side of the dam, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little discouraged about the change of plans…after all, how good could the fishing be in what was basically a grass-infested ditch? Boy, was I wrong.

Fifteen minutes or so in, the first “smack” happened. Just after Colt pitched a topwater bug next to a cypress tree and slowly worked it back toward the boat, a warmouth made a strike that would make an eastern diamondback jealous. Minutes later, Josh got bit the same way. This time a big bluegill, then Kaden, then me. That process repeated itself for the next few hours and resulted in us catching 40 or so fish entirely on topwater bugs. What’s more, Josh managed to set a new benchmark bluegill record for the swamp that morning, and we caught several other bluegill that were just an ounce or two shy of record status.

For the readers who would rather watch than read, both Josh and I had cameras rolling, and later in the story I’ll tell you how to watch how the trip went down. The bottom line is that it’s time to hook up the boat or load up the kayak. Do what you have to do to get pointed to the swamp! Here’s a breakdown of how Josh likes to target the west side of the Okefenokee this month.

Suwannee River: As I said earlier, fishing the river was the original plan the day of our trip. Josh says you can fish the river a few different ways and be successful.

“You can launch at the Sill and do a float trip to Griffis like we had planned, or you could launch a small jonboat from either of those locations and easily navigate up and down the river. The fishing is really good throughout this section of the river, and as long as you keep your line in the water, you should be able to catch fish,” said Josh.

Josh said that 4.5 feet would be the ideal level to fish the river, and you can expect to catch a variety of panfish when the river is sitting right.

“You’ll catch bluegill, spotted sunfish, or as we call them ‘stumpknockers,’ and plenty of warmouth. When they’re biting good, 100-fish days are the norm,” said Josh.

Josh has been fishing the river for years and says his go-to lure is none other than the tried-and-true Beetle Spin. He likes a variety of colors but says a white body with a red dot is his day-in-and-day-out favorite on the blackwater river. He went on to say that the color of the body isn’t nearly as important to him as the color of the blade.

“Gold-bladed Beetle Spins will catch you way more fish in the Suwannee than the traditional silver-bladed models. I don’t know what’s special about it, but they just like it better for some reason,” said Josh.

Josh fishes the Beetle Spin on ultralight to light gear and prefers line in the 6- to 10-lb. class to get the job done. He says 8-lb. is a good choice, and it will hold up to fishing around the cypress trees and other wooden structure you encounter in the river.

Josh says when the going gets tough, a cricket fished under a cork is a good bet and will often get you in a wrestling match with a big, hungry warmouth. Another good option, according to Josh, is to pair a cricket with a Beetle Spin.

“If you take the body off the Beetle Spin and replace it with a cricket, you’ve got the best of both worlds. Live bait and a moving target,” said Josh.

If you fish the river this month, Josh says to make sure you bring some shrimp and set aside some time to do some catfishing in the river, as well. No need to bring a big pole, though, as the majority of catfish you’ll encounter are going to measure in the 6- to 12-inch range. What they lack for in size, they make up for in numbers, and Josh says catching 50 to 100 or more is common.

“I think they’re brown bullheads, or something like that. Down here, we call them butter cats. All I know for sure is they are the best-eating catfish out there,” said Josh.

To target the cats, Josh recommends finding a deep bend in the river and setting out a couple of baits on the bottom.

The canal that runs alongside the road just above the Sill is a good place to catch fish in the Swamp this month.

The Sill: Built in 1960, this roughly 5-mile long dam-like structure was constructed to help keep water in the Swamp during times of low water. Not exactly successful, the Sill stands as more of a failed science experiment of the federal government than a normal functioning dam. However, the good news for anglers is that it created some awesome fishing habitat that’s easily accessible.

According to Josh, the canal used to be easily fished from the bank, but due to grass growing out from the edges a good distance, a kayak is a better option to access the area. There is a boat ramp located in the canal, and small jonboats can also maneuver up and down it pretty easily.

If you come to fish the canal, keep in mind that grass is your biggest enemy when it comes to presenting a lure. For this reason, we fished my GA Boy Lures Swamp Spider, and it worked really well at pulling fish from shallow, grass-filled areas. Any good topwater bream bug should work well in this area.

We fished mostly on the side of the canal across from the road, and Josh pointed out that the bigger cypress trees tended to hold most of the fish.

“When you’re fishing in here, pay attention to where you’ve got good wooden structure you can put your bug near. That’s usually where they will be holding,” said Josh.

Billy’s Lake: If you make the ride up the road from the Sill and into Stephen Foster State Park, Josh said this boat ramp is a good location to launch and also a prime area for bank-bound anglers.

“If you don’t have a boat, and you fish hard around the boat basin, you can catch yourself a mess of fish just by walking the banks throwing a Beetle Spin or fishing crickets,” said Josh.

One of Josh’s favorite spots to fish in this area of the Swamp is easily accessible by boat or kayak.

“If you go out of the main boat basin and head out of the canal to where the Swamp gets wide, that area will always hold fish. You can sling a Beetle Spin out there and catch a cooler full when the fish are biting good,” said Josh.

After fishing that area, Josh continues to work his way out into Billy’s Lake, casting to cypress trees and lily pad edges as he goes.

“One other thing you can try if the fishing is tough is dabbling a tiny piece of shrimp on a bream buster on the bottom around cypress roots. A crawfish works better for this, but they can be hard to catch in time for a trip. Bounce the shrimp up and down, and it’s hard for a warmouth to resist,”said Josh.

Josh says that when the water gets a little lower than what he and the author experienced on June 14, the Suwannee River bite will fire off.

How To Get To The Swamp: Head to the tiny town of Fargo, and you’ll see the sign. Sounds simple enough right? Once you make the 11-mile drive, you will come to Griffis Fish Camp. Keep in mind if you launch or take out there, you’ll need to pay a $2 boat fee.

When you continue past Griffis, you will enter the gates to the Okefenokee Wildlife Refuge, and a mile or two past the gate you will see a sign leading to the Sill area on your left.

Hopefully, by now you are making plans to hook up the boat and head to the Swamp. Whether you run the river, fish the canal above the Sill, or venture deep into Billy’s Lake, the fish are bound to be biting, and a fish fry is sure to be in your not so distant future.

God bless, and have fun!

Editors Note: To see more on this trip, check out Fishin with Forsythe on YouTube. The author also filmed the trip, and you can find it on his channel GA BOY OUTDOORS.

Okefenokee Records Falling

What are the odds of catching a record fish while doing a GON story? They are 100% if you’re Josh Forsythe and fishing with GON freelancer Craig James on June 14. While doing the story for these pages, the anglers caught a half-dozen bluegill pushing a pound, with the biggest being caught by Josh and certified at 1-lb., 0.96-ozs. Josh had the fish weighed and certified at the WRD Fisheries Office in Waycross.

Josh isn’t the only angler breaking records in the Swamp in 2024. Three other anglers have broken records this year. All of those are listed below, and the photos appear here.

Josh believes that bigger bluegill are there to be caught. It might be a good idea to make sure the batteries are good in the digital scale before heading to the Swamp this month.

Tim Cutting—Flier

Bert Deener—Warmouth

Silas Kight—Chain Pickerel