Coastal River Charters

Following big tides, lots of rain and strong wind conditions improved dramatically resulting in good catches of redfish, seatrout and flounder. The rivers and creeks are literally full of shrimp. Lots of shrimp are large. Those desiring to put up some shrimp for the winter should head out in the coming days. It’s not improbable to catch a quart of shrimp in one cast! Those going fishing might still want to buy their shrimp. Timing is everything. Once the water has flooded the grass throwing a cast isn’t very productive. Throwing a cast net on an outgoing tide can be very productive.

Lots of bait means lots of fish! The last few days there have been several good catches of seatrout in the sounds as well as in the creeks. Plastics can produce fish nonetheless seatrout are keying on shrimp. When the bite has been on literally it’s possible to catch a fish on every cast! Redfish are still on the small. Most small are measuring 13 ½ inches. A few are legal size (14 inches) but most are a little shy. Water temperature has dropped dramatically (mid 70′s). Lots of trash fish “fetish fish” still in the creeks and rivers: yellow tails, pin fish and tomtates. September can be a good month for flounders. Some fishermen think the flounder bite is winding down. Don’t believe it. There are still plenty of flounders. The good flounder fishing can be found close to sounds and near sandy or muddy bottoms. Black drum are on the move. Black drum have an extremely light bite. It’s not unusual for fishermen to confuse a black drum bite with a fetish fish both are light bites. Black drum bite from the tail up. One trick is to change the way you’re hooking your shrimp; if you think it might be a black drum try tail hooking your shrimp.

Several fishermen have said that sharks have been present all year for the past few years. Cooler water temperatures have not sent sharks out. Cooler temperatures if anything have brought sharks that are infrequent to coastal waters in close. Fishermen need make sure they properly identify their shark and read the regulations carefully ( 2 per boat is max on small sharks composite 30TL) if you plan on keeping any of these fish.

Tides for the coming week look ideal for fishing!

The Georgia Redfish Rally 2006. A coastwide tournament to benefit the American Diabetes Association and provide funding for studying the efficacy of redfish stocking on the Georgia coast is between October 1 – November 15. In short this is a very worthwhile cause that some day could be of major importance to our fishery. All encouraged to participate in this fun event! For more information visit www.ccaga.org

Hope this of interest and help! Keep only a few you wish to eat and release the rest!

Good Fishing! Capt. Jack McGowan

Sharks, redfishsh and flounder continue to make the bulk of the inshore bite this week. Small black tip sharks are plentiful. Redfish can be found along oyster bars. Flounders can be near sandy bottom creeks close to the beach front. The bite has been good but as tides continue to build through the coming week anticipate strong currents and dirty water. Tides by this weekend will peak at 8.7ft.. These are high tides. Best chance of success will likely be at the top or bottom of tide or fishing back in the grass in search of redfish. Either way big tides are a challenge to fish. The bite this week for redfish was not an aggressive bite. Working artificials slower was more productive. Berkley’s lime tiger shrimp, similar to electric chicken, is good bait to work on a slow bite. This time of year with so many small redfish down size your jig to a smaller Gotcha jighead rather than a wider gap jig. The wide gap jig will impale many of these fish in the eye. Fish the wider gap jigs as the season progresses. Some fishermen are keeping the small redfish. More and more fishermen are realizing there is not much meat on these small fish and secondly there is likelihood these small fish will become much larger and even more fun on light tackle! When ever possible practice catch and release! A word of caution about fish grippers we all like to use. Those devices which grip the lip might be damaging the fish. Weight your fish in your landing net. If you use a gripping device use it to steady the fish. When in doubt, err on the side of caution.

Fishing for the remainder of week will be challenging. Try to find clean water and areas without blasting currents or fish back in the grass. Plenty of bait in the creeks and rivers. Next week when tides abate the bite will pick back up. For the remainder of this week when you find good conditions you will likely catch fish.

Hope this of help.

Good Fishing! Capt. Jack