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Fishing
Latest Fishing Articles
James Buice Jr., of Decatur, and a friend from South Carolina hadn’t caught a fish yet on Oct. 27, 1990 at Lake Oconee, when James got the strike of a lifetime. The two had just come in from deer hunting and were fishing the rip-rap along the Highway 278 bridge up the Oconee River when…
The new Paradise Public Fishing Area will open Sept. 22. The area, once known as Patrick’s Fishing Paradise, was acquired last year though the DNR’s Land Acquisition program. Paradise PFA, located 8 miles east of Tifton on Highway 82, contains more than 75 ponds ranging in size from less than 1 acre to 112 acres.…
For lawman Glynn Christian, it was one of those rare days. There was no worry of working bloody, heart-breaking traffic accidents; no robberies or break-ins; no subconscious fear of some off-the-wall bat brain going bonkers and ruining everybody’s days with a tire tool or a more sophisticated and conventional weapon. It was a full moon,…
On April 9, 1990, Lonnie Bradley, of Statesboro, grabbed his Zebco 404, bought some crickets and headed for Lotts Creek in Bulloch County to catch a mess of bream. He did just that… and more. Lonnie came home with a new state record and a line class world record for a 1-lb., 7.36-oz. redbreast sunfish.…
As soon as the jig ‘n pig hit the water, all three of us in the boat saw the massive swirl as a fish turned and swam toward the bait. A huge wake emerged, cutting a path through the shallow water. We all held our breath as the wake sped toward the spot where the…
Bass Fishing
Suwannee bass are unique. With ranges in only two river systems in south Georgia, they have one of the smallest distributions of all of the black basses. They look sort of like a football with hints of smallmouth and shoal bass. They are their own species, but they do not get very big. Our Georgia…
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Bassmaster Elite Series and the Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic presented by Jockey Outdoors are the pinnacles of competitive bass fishing. B.A.S.S. has created unwavering standards of excellence and expectations for the anglers who fish under these banners. This week the organization announces the creation of equipment standards related to new…
Get offshore on points and humps to catch Clarks Hill largemouth and spotted bass right now. They are feeding and holding in 15 to 20 feet of water waiting on cooling water next month to move up and get more active. Clarks Hill is a big lake, and it can be hard to pattern bass…
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
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…
As the end of March draws near, trout stocking trucks are loading up high-quality trout to head to your favorite north Georgia waterways. Over 200,000 trout are ready for stocking. Thanks to the long-standing partnership between the Georgia Department of Natural Resources’ Wildlife Resource Division (GADNR WRD) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service…
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…