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Fishing
Latest Fishing Articles
Harrison Nix holds the current largemouth bass record for Rabun with a 12-lb., 6-oz. fish he caught on June 8, 1993.
A huge mountain largemouth bass caught in 1993 set the lake record for Lake Burton. Carl Lovell Jr., of Clarkesville, caught the bass on May 28, 1993 while fishing a plastic worm. Carl’s big largemouth weighed 14 pounds even.
It’s kind of hard to hold this one up! Sam Porter, of Six Mile, S.C., caught this 55-lb., 12-oz. striped bass May 27, 1993 in the trailrace below Russell Dam in the headwaters of Clarks Hill Lake. The monster striper set a new lake record for Clarks Hill and also set a new state record…
It’s a shame the GON Fishin’ Contest hadn’t begun yet. Be safe to say that an 18-lb. brown trout, at 99% of the state record, would have done pretty well. Stan Crigger, a Marietta angler who fishes several times a week year-round, caught the huge brown two weeks ago on Feb. 15. Where Stan was…
The DNR Fisheries Section has stocked more than 54,000 fingerling rainbow trout below Morgan Falls Dam on the Chattahoochee River. The stocking marks the first time that rainbows have been stocked in this area of the river. Traditionally, brown trout have been the only species stocked in the Morgan Falls section of the river (and…
Bass Fishing
If you’ve ever come out of the canal in Mexico Beach, Fla. and run 3 miles south into the Gulf of Mexico along the buoy line and experienced fish busting on top as far as you could see, that’s what it reminded me of—even if I was hundreds of miles from the salt. The scene…
Shorter days and cooler water will drive West Point Lake spotted bass and largemouth to move shallow and ramp up their feeding activity. Take advantage of this fast fall fishing by hitting the right kinds of places with the right baits. Located on the Chattahoochee River at LaGrange, West Point has long been a good bass…
GON has kept the Georgia’s Biggest Bass Of All-Time list for decades, and we sure like it when a 13-lb. or heavier bass from the past shows up that we can add. The kicker is these older bass would have had to been weighed on certified scales. Well, we got one! A 13-lb. bass was…
Hybrid Fishing
With a hint of excitement in his voice, Lake Juliette fishing guide Jeff Mooney said, “Watch that pole, it’s going down!” He pointed at the rod next to Bob Turner and, as Jeff predicted, a slight bend in the rod became a deep arc toward the water as the striper pulled out line and the…
Live-bait fishing for hybrids and stripers can be crazy good this time of year on Clarks Hill, with limits in minutes when the fish are bunched on points and humps feeding on herring—if you’re there at the right time. If you’d like to see proof, take a look at fishing guide Eddie Mason’s Facebook page…
Josh McDonald, of Americus, caught a hybrid bass on April 4 that weighed 7-lbs., 11.84-ozs. that sets a benchmark for a brand-new river record on GON’s Georgia Lake and River Records list. He was spending the day with his older brother Jason and his twin brother Justin. “We are all baseball coaches, so we never…
Striper Fishing
The day of striper fishing on West Point for Mike Steele, of Dallas, was pretty-danged boring until it wasn’t. It ended with him landing a 40-lb. striper that’s a new lake record. He has his buddy Mike Bartlett to thank, and Bartlett wasn’t even the net man. “My buddy and I had fished from daylight…
The Georgia Chapter of Safari Club International (SCI) hosted 31 Purple Heart recipients during its annual Wounded Veterans Fishing Weekend at Lake Lanier July 7-9. Georgia SCI has hosted the event for more than a decade, providing a full weekend of fishing and fun on Lake Lanier for wounded veterans and their guests. The three-day event,…
With a hint of excitement in his voice, Lake Juliette fishing guide Jeff Mooney said, “Watch that pole, it’s going down!” He pointed at the rod next to Bob Turner and, as Jeff predicted, a slight bend in the rod became a deep arc toward the water as the striper pulled out line and the…
Catfish Fishing
For Buford’s Tyler Kesselring, it was a fishing tournament outcome that he wasn’t necessarily expecting. Fishing in the Lake Lanier Catfish Challenge, he went to the scales at 2 a.m. with a winning weight of 40 pounds. In his catch was a new Lake Lanier record blue catfish that tipped the scales at 19-lbs., 5.5-ozs.…
Terry Denman caught his first catfish 61 years ago on a cane pole while fishing with his grandfather. A lot of things have changed over the years for the Vietnam veteran, but nothing ever could erase the excitement of feeling a catfish tugging on his line. The biggest tug he ever felt came recently when…
It would probably go down as one of the worst days of Eli Carey’s life if not for one thing. That one thing made it all worthwhile. “I had a rough day,” the Lyons resident said. “I had the day off and decided to go fishing on Oconee River, which is about an hour and…
Crappie Fishing
Ever thought about why crappie gravitate to the shallows in the springtime? To spawn, you say? Well, yeah… but why do they do that? Let that swim around for a bit… Let’s get you in those shallows— specifically on Lake Oconee—and looking for crappie in April as they do their thing around brush and rocks…
Aaron Jenkins calls Canton, N.C. home now, but his heart will forever be in east Georgia. He makes the three-hour trip home to crappie fish with his dad, Keith, whenever he can. As far as Aaron is concerned, there’s only one Georgia lake in which to fish for crappie. The 31-year-old grew up fishing on…
Just days after releasing the annual edition of the Georgia Lake and River Records, another river record has already fallen. On Feb. 6, Steven Todd, of Saint George, managed to reel in a 2-lb., 1-oz. black crappie that raised the river-record bar for the species for the second time in the past 13 months. “I…
Bream Fishing
On Aug. 24, Jacob Crews decided to make a trip to the Alapaha River after finishing his morning shift at the CSX Rice Yard in Waycross. “I had made a trip over there a week or so before, and that was actually my first time fishing the river. I fished out of my kayak and…
On June 22, 15-year-old Kaden Forsythe, of Homerville, reeled in the spotted sunfish of a lifetime while fishing the Suwannee River near the tiny town of Fargo. The day started out like any other fishing trip, and the 10th grader admits that setting a record was the last thing on his mind. “I was fishing…
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…
Saltwater Fishing
You never know what you’re going to catch when you head out into the magical waters of the Georgia coast… and apparently you never know how you’re going to catch it either. You’ve heard of fish jumping in the boat, right? Now a big, tasty red snapper would be welcomed, but there are some fish…
A St. Simons Island man is the new state record holder for almaco jack (Seriola rivoliana). James W. Thompson, 21, landed a remarkable 27-lb., 8-oz. almaco jack while fishing offshore near Navy Tower R4 on Sunday, July 28. This impressive catch surpasses the previous record of 23-lbs., 15.04-ozs, established in May 2024 by Jason H.…
The Georgia Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is proud to announce a new women’s state saltwater fish record for jack crevalle (Caranx hippos). Lauren E. Harden, 21, of St. Marys, broke the previous record by landing a 33-lb., 10.72-oz, jack crevalle on May 24, 2024, while fishing on Cumberland Island. The previous record of 30-lbs.,…
Trout Fishing
Starting Nov. 1, five Georgia trout streams begin delayed-harvest regulations that provide chances for anglers to catch some impressive trout. “Trout fishing is available year-round in Georgia, but there are five special streams that follow Delayed Harvest (DH) regulations to enhance angler success,” said John Lee Thompson, WRD Trout Stocking Coordinator. “From Nov. 1 to…
Wading downstream to see how Austin Carpenter and Zac Chapman were faring on their home waters of the Chattooga River, camera in hand, I rounded a bend to see Austin fly casting to the far bank of the river with the expertise of someone far beyond his 20-something age would typically command. Just downriver of…
It was hours—three or more—and the trout fishing was slow from the git-go. Early March can be that way on the upper Toccoa River, where and when the water temperature is still in the mid-40s under continued-cold nighttime skies that leave frost behind at daylight. It can be downright cold—oftentimes, in the low 20s—in the…
Other Georgia Fishing
One of the keys to being a good fisherman is being observant. North Hall High School senior Charlie White was fishing for bass off his grandparent’s dock on Lake Lanier when he noticed a change. “My grandparents have one of those green lights in the water off their pier, and I noticed that the bass…
Emerson Mulhall, of Cumming, caught a yellow perch that has tied the state record. He was fishing Lake Burton on Feb. 18 when caught the 2-lb., 9-oz. fish. “I was not pursuing perch when I caught her,” said Emerson. “I am mainly a spotted bass and largemouth fisherman, and my friend Jake Maddux and I…
Now that April Waldrop has been bitten by the record fish bug, the Hogansville woman has set her sights on something even bigger. April was fishing for gar with her husband, Larry, and her two sons on West Point Lake recently when she landed a lake-record longnose gar that weighed 23 pounds. The 52 1/2-inch…