Coastal River Charters

Several fishermen have reported catching black drum this week in Warsaw Sound. Sea trout have biting but most have been small with fishermen catching 30 or more small fish to have half a dozen keepers. Bait steeler (pin fish and yellow tails) are still thick. Fishing finger mullet is great idea provided you find them. Fishing in the Savannah River has been off. Most fishermen are saying “too much fresh water”. Salinity level can change but at present the Savannah and adjoining rivers haven’t been very fishy. The best bite has been in the sounds. Redfish action has been good. Fishermen are encouraged to release redfish when possible. We’ve caught several nice flounder this week. Flounder are a fish that appears more numerous in the last few years. Seldom do we release flounder. This is a good to keep as well as few sea trout.

Fishing the Sound
When fishing the sound look for clean water. Water that is muddy will make more difficult. A usual method for most fishermen is to anchor on a favorite drop and wait out the fish. Often this method of fishing will produce as many fish as popping from drop to drop. Slack water is usually the most difficult time to catch fish. Try to fish moving water. Look for spots where there is a flow of water along the grass or oyster shells. Often you’ll find one tide (incoming or outgoing) will work better than the other. The flow of water is often is equated to the “food chain”. In other words when water the flowing a food chain can take place. Flowing water is the medium of the food chain. Birds, bait in the water and subtle currents are indicators. My preference of fishing is a little faster than most fishermen. Usually we’ll give a likely area several minuets to produce. If nothing happens we’ll work the water close at hand. Waiting on the fish will work provided you have the time and confidence the spot will likely get fishier. Some drops I’ll wait on most I wont. Usually the problem isn’t there aren’t fish where you are it’s likely the fish just aren’t biting. You, another boater, porpoises or something might have unsettled the fish. Provided the fish aren’t likely spooked, the conditions are good and trash fish aren’t over running the area then I’ll likely try several things to get the fish to bite: plastics, plastics under a float, cut bait, finger mullet, jigs, small floats with bait. Sometimes pitching a different variety of baits and plastics will produce fish when just shrimp wont. In other words, don’t be afraid to try something different particularly when your live shrimp are on the size. Big fish like big baits even if it’s an artificial.

Surf Fishing
Don’t forget October is month for surf fishing! Changing weather and even northeasters can be turn on large stag bass. Large redfish will run the outer sandbars in search of easy meals. Finger mullet and cut mullet are the favorite bait but redfish are pretty in that will most anything as long as it’s fresh. The other day we striped out a couple of pin fish can caught redfish. Crabs are a excellent bait. The key again is the bait has to be fresh. One fisherman had difficulty catching redfish on dead shrimp. The problem was he kept reusing same dead shrimp. What he had was a good cat fish bait. Something simply like fresh can make a big difference. I always try to fish big baits and fresh baits. A typical surf outfit is an 8 to 10 foot rod 20 to 30 pound line through a fish finder rig with 3 ounce pyramid sinker, barrel swivel, 50 to 80 monofilament leader tied to an 8 or 9/0 hook. Most surf fishermen prefer spinning tackle. Redfish in the surf can get large and are accessible to fishermen that don’t have access to a boat.

Chuck King – Manager of Cransman Sporting World
Chuck asked how the fishing was. I told him we had a little northeastern. Chuck said he had a for me chuckle. One of his customers came in great excitement with what they identified as a piranha. Apparently the fish was caught at Lake Myer. When asked what’s biting the piranha bite is a little slow!

Forecast
Seatrout bite will continue to improve fall progresses. Savannah River fishing will improve as fresh water abates. Until then better will be found in saltier water. This time of the year shrimp are moving in and good seatrout action can be found in tidal creeks as well in the sounds. Redfish will likely continue be strong. Stripers bite will pick up as temperature drop and days shorten.

Good fishing! Capt. Jack McGowan

The bite is on! Unfortunately fish are the only thing biting aren’t fish. When fishermen loose a breeze small gnats or “no see ‘ums” are terrible. When asked how do you get use to them, you don’t. A good bug spray is helpful. Rhino juice or Gator Special that comes in small white bottles is about as effective a spray can get and the smell is not offense. Most of the first year redfish are legal size (14″). Seatrout are on the move but as of yet large schooling hasn’t happened. The best is yet to come! When temperatures drop small fish (yellow tail and pinfish) will seek warmer water leaving larger fish. At present fishermen still should take plenty of bait (shrimp) because small trash fish are so abundant. When you’re quickly going through your shrimp supply try a plastic under your float before leaving. Even a piece of cut might produce fish in pinch!

Fishing been pretty good during the past week. Lots of small redfish caught as well as more seatrout. Don’t overlook fishing around pilings. You’ll likely find large and small redfish. Surprising redfish will hold well off a bank when there’s structure like pilings. Bottom and jigs can be effective. Keep a couple for supper if desired but go light on your catch.

Georgia has the highest redfish limit on the East Coast. Yes we have a third of the marsh grass but it’s likely our higher limits will end up hurting our fishery. South Carolina per Spud Woodward is 15 years ahead of Georgia in their restocking program. The Carolina limit is two redfish per person.. When possible limit your catch to two redfish per fisherman and we’ll likely be better off. Spud (at the October 5th) acknowledged there might a seatrout problem. Spud said the DNR would look at any ideas presented to them in regards to reducing the take of spring/summer roe trout. This is an idea all should be behind. Large takes on roe trout will adversely impact our fishery. Fisherman who were reporting nice catches of roe trout a few years ago are saying the fishery has declined. As more fisherman are learning the habits of this fish more needs to be done to protect it. Lastly the turnout for the October 5th was fair. Considering the importance of the issues to local fisherman a larger turn out would be helpful. We have hundreds if not thousands of fishermen that use our coast weekly. Issues involving our fishery are important to the quality of our fishery. You can help by your participation.

Fishing has been good for the most part. Sunday 10-02-04 was our slowest day of fishing. Winds have abated leaving several days of high humidity. Don’t dispair cooler air is right around the corner. As temperatures drop and days shorten the bite will steadily improve. Bait shops have plenty of bait but sell out quickly during the fall. Throwing a cast net might save your day of fishing as well as pitching plastics. Jimmy Adams, from Adams bait shop reported good catches of seatrout, black drum and sheepshead around the Tybee Pier. Jimmy said most of these fish are hanging close to the pilings.

Seatrout, Redfish and Surf Fishing
The last several days tides were higher than normal. Small trout as well some larger seatrout were caught well back in the grass. Normally redfish are associated with being “back in the grass”. Higher tides will push redfish further back and seatrout into water though of as redfish water. As water temperature drops and the water in creeks and rivers becomes saltier seatrout will push in. Small seatrout are plentiful and should provide good action in the coming months. Small redfish are mostly keeper size with some still around 13 inches (14″ through 23″ is the slot for Ga. redfish). There have plenty of fish caught in the 22 to 23 inch range. Looks like a good year for redfish! Merridith Davis says seeing butterflies this time of the year means redfish are in the surf. October is usually the best month for surf fishing! Best tides are usually low incoming as water starts to cover outer sand bars. Fish cut mullet or finger mullet close to breaks in the bars or any irregularity. Be careful when positioning your boat. Breaking waves can become large very quickly.

Tides for the coming week look good and should provide plenty of opportunities for some good fishing! Don’t forget about the CCA Meeting Tuesday October 5th, 2004 at St. Peters Church on Skidaway Island at 7:00pm. Spud Woodward and Gabe Gaddis of Georgia DNR will speak on fishery issues. Gabe will give update on the Warsaw fish study currently under way. This is something vitally significant to the coast in maintaining a healthy fishery. All fishermen are encourage to attain.

Good Fishing! Capt. Jack McGowan