Southeast Georgia Fishing Reports With Capt. Bert Deener – March 22, 2024

Meet Laurel. Her and her brother have been whacking the bluegill this week in their family pond. On warm afternoons, you can get them to chase artificials, but crickets under a float are sure-fire bream-getters!

Even with the cold mornings early in the week, there have been some really good catches. The southeast Georgia rivers are still blown out for now. Okefenokee, ponds, and saltwater have been very good.

Okefenokee Swamp: I had a couple good trips on the east side this week. Shelton Hunter from Florida fished with me on Tuesday, and we caught 24 fish. The two most impressive were a 9-lb., 1-oz. bowfin that hammered a firetiger-chartreuse blade Dura-Spin trolled in the canal and a 3-lb., 10-oz. pickerel that ate the same lure. The best Dura-Spin colors of the trip were firetiger-chartreuse blade and crawfish-brass blade. We also caught eight fliers up to 8 1/2 inches by pitching chartreuse and pink Okefenokee Swamp Sallies under a small balsa float.

On Thursday, Bill Stewart, of Folkston, fished with me, and we caught a total of 31 fish—all by casting to them. They did not hit Dura-Spins as well, as we only caught a few on them. The lures of the day were crawfish and black/yellow 1/8-oz. Satilla Spins. We caught the usual swamp assemblage – fliers, pickerel, and even some bluegill on the small spinnerbait. Amazingly, we hooked the biggest bowfin I’ve had on with the lure, and it came to the surface and laughed at us before pulling off the small hook.

Seth Carter and his fishing buddy Luke went to the west side early in the week, and it was not as friendly as the east side has been. They caught some fliers, stumpknockers and bowfin, but they had to work for them. The cold mornings slowed the bite some, but it’s about to be wide open when we have stable, warm weather for a week. The most recent water level (Folkston side) was 121.18 feet.

Dodge County PFA (near Eastman): Timothy Musgrove caught a big bass from the area this week while fishing from his kayak. The monster measured 25 inches.

Local Ponds: Jimmy Zinker, the pond guru, caught the biggest bass I heard of this week. He fooled an 11-lb. giant with a topwater. Congratulations, Jimmy!

Chad Lee fished an Alma area pond with his uncle, Lester Rowland, on Monday. They caught a 3-lb. bass on a red shad plastic worm and a bunch of crappie. They had 20 specks that they kept, and they caught them with live minnows and Gulp! Minnows rigged on Zombi Eye jig heads. Copper and Jackson fished with their friend Easton in a Hahira pond on Saturday and fooled more than 30 bluegill with green worms and one with Lucky Charm cereal.

A couple friends fished a Brunswick area pond on Friday afternoon for a few hours and caught 12 fish. They had 7 bass up to 3 pounds on shad-colored crankbaits, junebug wacky-rigged worms and gold Rat-L-Traps. Five of their fish were catfish that ate the same bass lures.

Laurel and her brother have been whacking the bluegill this week in their family pond. On warm afternoons, you can get them to chase artificials, but crickets under a float are sure-fire bream-getters!

Saltwater (GA Coast): Joshua Barber fished the Brunswick area on his birthday over the weekend and had a great trip in his kayak. He caught a dozen trout and a flounder on live shrimp and grubs fished around oyster bars. Happy Birthday, Joshua!

BJ Hilton fished the Brunswick area this weekend and caught 11 trout and two reds. One of the trout was a 22-incher, and he released her to spawn. Cason Kinstle made some great catches with friends this week in the Savannah area. On Thursday and Friday, they dropped fiddlers down and caught 20 to 25 sheepshead per trip on nearshore wrecks. Their biggest was 5 pounds, but most were between 3 and 4 pounds, and best depth was around 45 feet. On Tuesday and Saturday, they trout fished and caught between 15 and 20 fish per trip. They kept seven nice ones for supper on Saturday. Most of their trout came on 1/8-oz. Zombi Eye jig heads with natural-colored paddle-tail plastics, but some were on live shrimp. Jeremy Robertson fished out of his kayak in the Brunswick area on Monday and caught 26 redfish (kept five) and a nice keeper flounder. He caught them on live shrimp freelined and also under a popping cork.

Wat-a-melon Bait and Tackle in Brunswick is open Friday through Sunday from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. each week. They have plenty of lively shrimp and fiddler crabs and also have live worms and crickets for freshwater. They’re on Highway 303 just north of Highway 82. For the latest information, contact them at 912.223-1379.

Keaton Beach, Florida: Capt. Pat McGriff of One More Cast Guide Service said that his guide trip Saturday went really well. They caught 14 of their 15 fish in the fog before 11:30 in 5 to 6 feet of water and then went out to over 8 feet of water for their last keeper. Live shrimp under Back Bay Thunder Floats was the ticket for them.

Bobby Thompson, of Vidalia, fished out of Keaton Beach on Friday and caught his limit of trout, including one over 19 inches. He caught dozens of throwbacks throughout the day as he worked up to his limit. His top lure was a gold MirrOlure plug. Capt. Pat said that the water temps dropped from 76 on Sunday to 62 degrees after the front. It knocked the trout in the head, but they were starting to rebound by late this week.

Full moon is March 25. To monitor all the Georgia river levels, visit the USGS website (waterdata.usgs.gov/ga/nwis/rt). For the latest marine forecast, check out www.weather.gov/jax/.

River gages on March 21 were:
Clyo on the Savannah River – 14.6 feet and rising
Abbeville on the Ocmulgee – 10.3 feet and falling
Doctortown on the Altamaha – 13.0 feet and falling
Waycross on the Satilla – 12.5  feet and falling
Atkinson on the Satilla – 13.0 feet and falling
Statenville on the Alapaha – 17.7 feet and rising
Macclenny on the St Marys – 6.2 feet and falling
Fargo on the Suwannee – 9.5 feet and falling

Capt. Bert Deener guides fishing trips in the Okefenokee Swamp and other southeast Georgia systems and makes a variety of both fresh and saltwater fishing lures. Check his lures out at Bert’s Jigs and Things on Facebook. For a copy of his latest catalog, call him at 912.288.3022 or email him at [email protected].