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Fishing
Latest Fishing Articles
Michael Dollar, of Raysville, said that flathead catfish in the 70-lb. variety in Clarks Hill aren’t necessarily rare, but catching one on a rod and reel isn’t something you hear much about. Taking that one step further, boating one after an hour-long fight using an ultralight crappie fishing setup using just 6-lb. line may have…
Forty teams of Georgia’s top electric-only bass anglers took to Lake Blue Ridge in the north Georgia mountains on Feb. 25 to battle it out amongst the best of the Georgia Total Electric Championship’s 10 participating clubs from across the state. Vying for a record payout in excess of $20,000 in prizes, the tournament payout…
With “Benchmark” minimum weights established two years ago, Georgia Lake & River Records continue to add new listings. Two new benchmark record fish have been certified and established for the Altamaha River, and one of them is for a species not often caught in the lower Altamaha near Jesup. “After a really rough week at…
Rob Allgood and his dad Robbie decided to fish for catfish at Oconee on Saturday, March 11. Robbie has been fishing for Oconee catfish since the lake was impounded, and he and Rob fish the Middle Georgia Catfish Anglers tournament trail. That Saturday, he said they were “just messing around.” The day was slow, they…
Nicholas Leeson has a new good-luck charm he will be keeping in his back pocket—or at least in the back of the boat—when he fishes the remaining seven catfish tournaments with the M&J Catfish War crew. It was in this tournament trail’s latest event, held on Andrews Lake on the Chattahoochee River, when he boated…
Bass Fishing
Sitting in a boat on Lake Nottely, it is easy to get lost in the natural beauty surrounding you. That bass slashing and slamming your topwater lure on a hump or point will make you ignore the pretty scenic mountains. Although many tourists flock to the mountains of north Georgia for the views, the fishing…
Georgia is blessed to have a smorgasbord of state parks littered across the state in just about every possible direction. Little Ocmulgee State Park is such a place, located in south Georgia just outside of McRae-Helena. It has about everything you could expect from a top-notch weekend destination. Originally founded in the 1930s, this property…
Big baits catch big bass. That’s a fairly simple statement, but as true a one as you’ll come across. And we figure our readers would like to know how to catch big bass. After all, who wouldn’t? So we sat down with Mike Bucca, Georgia native, creator of the Bull Shad and longtime big-bait enthusiast…
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
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…
The Georgia Chapter of Safari Club International (SCI) was honored to host 25 Purple Heart recipients during its annual Wounded Veterans Fishing Weekend at Lake Lanier July 9-11. The event, which has been hosted for more than a decade by Georgia SCI, provides a full weekend of fishing and fun on Lake Lanier for wounded…
Catfish Fishing
One evening, Seth Shoults headed out to the Etowah River specifically to set a new waterbody catfish record. He didn’t just break a record. In fact, he established two new records in less than an hour of each other with two different species. The angler from Cartersville regularly fishes the Etowah River in northwestern Georgia.…
Rachel Harrison is a serious angler who has years of fishing under his belt. She laughs when she says she may have trouble getting family and friends to accompany her on future fishing trips. She recently broke the Oostanaula River record for flathead catfish with a fish that was officially weighed by WRD at 40-lbs., 13-ozs.…
A new lake record flathead catfish was caught during a tournament at Lake Seminole last weekend. Tim Trone was fishing with his son Chase when he hooked up with a big flathead that ended up taking big-fish honors weighing 53.70 pounds (53-lbs., 11.2-ozs.). Tim is no stranger to massive, record-breaking catfish. He is the Georgia…
Crappie Fishing
You can catch more than 200 crappie a day at West Point shooting docks in June. That may seem like an unachievable dream, but Payton Caldwell does it almost every trip. In the June 2003 issue, GON published an article on shooting docks at West Point with Payton’s grandfather, Joel Chambers (gon.com/fishing/run-run-and-gun-for-west-points-deep-shade-crappie). During the fishing…
A black crappie that weighed 2 pounds on the dot has set a new record for Lake Chatuge. Howard Stimis, of Hiwassee, was fishing on Chatuge April 6 when the big slab bit a 2-inch Hot Grub made by Crappie County Bait & Tackle that Howard purchased at Hammond’s Fishing Center near Lake Lanier. “I…
You never know if the next bite on the line is going to be a three-finger crappie or a wall-hanging trophy. Just ask James King, of Rome, who recently entered the first black crappie for GON’s Lake & River records from the northwest Georgia river. On March 19, he was fishing the Coosa near Rome when…
Bream Fishing
When Gunner Thrift, of Raybon, made a trip to the Satilla River days before his 18th birthday, he had no idea what early birthday surprise the south Georgia river had in store for him. “On April 7, I was fishing with my dad and his friend on the Satilla down at Flat Woods Bluff. It’s…
Whether your bread-and-butter is wigglers and crickets or Beetle Spins and bugs, May is a prime month to have some fishing fun while slinging baits to bream beds. GON reached out to the WRD Fisheries experts and asked these biologists what their top picks were for their areas. Below is what they had to say.…
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…
Saltwater Fishing
By Tom Lewis The Kids Can Fish Foundation is a nonprofit charity based on Brunswick that was created in 2020 by a youth angler named Caroline. What was intended to be a small family based charity has blossomed into a nationally recognized entity with corporate and local sponsors contributing with the vested interest of getting…
Miles Zachary was not surprised this time. He had already done it once, not even a year before, but now, on Sunday, April 30, 2023, he looked at his rare catch with amusement and awe. The Baxley native had just caught his second flounder around the confluence of the Oconee and Ocmulgee rivers where the…
A new Georgia state record has been set for the heaviest vermilion snapper caught by a woman angler. The record-setting fish was caught by Stacey T. Pope, of Brunswick, on April 7, 2023. The fish weighed 5-lbs., 5.56-ozs., breaking the previous record of 3-lbs., 14.4-ozs. set in 2018 by Alli DeYoung, of Savannah. Pope caught…
Trout Fishing
“Bigger is better!” It’s a common phrase in many circles, and that turn of words might be heard most where fishing takes place… but maybe not in the circles of Georgia fly-fishermen who target trout on Peach State waters. When you join the fold of fly-fishermen who chase trout in Georgia, more often than not,…
If you were looking for a reason to go trout fishing, we have just the ticket. Beginning Nov. 1, trout fishing on Georgia’s delayed harvest trout streams will be in full swing, according to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources’ Wildlife Resources Division (WRD). While trout fishing can be found year-round in Georgia, there are…
Despite losing more than 17,000 trout in a Labor Day Weekend flood at its Summerville Trout Hatchery, WRD is making good on its promise that it will not let the near disaster affect trout stockings in 2023. The hatchery just received 220,000 rainbow trout eggs from Ennis, Montana. It is the first of four egg…
Other Georgia Fishing
On April 1, Brandon Corbitt, of Homerville, along with his son Levi, decided to make a late-morning trip to the Satilla River to try their luck at bass fishing. After making the drive to the Atkinson boat ramp and launching their boat, the pair of anglers headed down river with the midday sun directly overhead.…
It is said most people will have 15 minutes of fame at some point in their lives. For 4-year old Scott James (Jay) Franklin III, the afternoon of March 16, 2023 led directly to the fulfillment of that adage. More importantly, history will remember Jay’s name fondly. Fishing with his father Jake in a cove…
Many families maintain various types of holiday traditions. For the Dees Family of Fruitdale, Ala., Thanksgiving morning means fishing. “For years, we’ve had a tradition of fishing on Thanksgiving morning,” said Keith Dees. “My son and I have been fortunate to have a lot of great experiences in the outdoors with many of them on…