Coastal River Charters

This week there has been a lot of fog and rain. Air temperature has been between 45 and 65 degrees. The tides all week have been in the 6 foot range. The difference on most days between high and low tide has only been about four and half feet, for coastal Georgia is not very dramatic. Fishing has been good in the north Savannah river system as well as in Wassaw and Ossabaw sound. After the rain and fog the days can only be described as soft. Even wakes from passing boats have had little energy. Gentle currents and vivid fall colors make these last days of fall sweet. The pass few days are like savoring the last of a tasty morsel. The bite for mostly part has not been frenetic but steady. Nonetheless, when fishermen have found good drifts the bite could be hot! Water clarity is excellent. Clean water leans itself to “good fishing”! Seatrout are predators that rely heavily on sight. Clean water is a definite plus. Calm clean water can make approaching redfish pretty tricky. Stripers have pushed into local waters but the bite has not been hot. As temperatures drop striper action will likely heat up. The last week the story has been the seatrout bite. When seatrout are on move during the late fall they are burning calories. They are on the move looking for those last few big feeding opportunities before winter arrives. Hungry seatrout will readily take plastics, shrimp or mud minnows. The key likely isn’t one particularly color. It’s finding the fish. Generally seatrout like highly visible colors such as chartreuse and plastics with flash and glitter. If you’re fishing in gin clear water a low visibility plastic such as red and yellow might work well. Despite large numbers (of seatrout) keep only those you wish to eat and release the rest! Seatrout are relatively fragile if you’re catching and releasing smash the barb on your hook for a less stressful release. When you in a feeding frenzy you could easily catch a seatrout on every cast. My suggestion play with them for a bit then move on. Catch your trout, then look for large reds or stripers. Another fun idea is pick up a fly rod and catch a few on a fly. The seatrout bite will likely remain hot as long conditions remain mild. There are redfish on flats just not as many as in previous years. Redfish are a fun to catch! Likely due to nature but possibly to due to fishing pressure. Redfish numbers appear to be down. Regulations will be slow in catching up to whats’ happening. Now is the time to limit your catch on reds or even practice catch and release all together on redfish. I personally do not take any redfish for myself, always go light on your take on this fish.

Tides for the coming week are building but nothing over 7.7 feet on Thursday and Friday. Should be good tides for fishing! Higher tides will have stronger currents likely producing a good bite.

A nice item for last minuet Christmas gift would be a cajun anchor. This is simply a stainless steel rod that you spike into a mud flat in leu of anchoring. A four or five foot rod is suitable for a bay or flat boat. Usually the best inventions are pretty simple. This is pretty simple. To find one simply google cajun anchor. I believe Buddy Barton of Barton and Burwell in Charlestown, S.C. is originator. A Temple Fork fly rod would be another great Christmas gift.

Hope this of help! Good Fishing!

Capt. Jack McGowan

It’s hard to believe winter officially begins in a couple weeks. Nonetheless as fall winds down reports of good catches redfish and seatrout continue! Some fishermen who were catching limits a couple of weeks ago are nice fish but generally not as many . Fishermen lucky enough to report large catches are fishing in dynamic energy areas: on or near beach fronts. Reporting a large catch is impressive. What’s more impressive is staying within your limit or better yet releasing all or most of your catch. Last week weather and tide conditions were favorable for fishing resulting in good catches. Tides started building over the weekend and will remain over 8 foot range till Thursday. When high tides , wind, muddy water, cold water temperatures combine fishing can be difficult. Surface water temperature is around 56 degrees. That’s pretty cold. A warming trend could trigger fish to bite. Several cloudy cold days could drive water temperature even lower. Fish wont feed much when the water is cold. Sometimes in cold water a seatrout bite can be confused with a yellow tail because the trout is just bumping the bait. Trick is not to set hook too quickly wait for the fish to commit. Small seatrout, those just legal size or little larger(legal size in Ga. is 13 inches) might uncharacteristically bite from tail up instead of hitting the head. What’s happening is that small seatrout doesn’t want to contend with a large frisky shrimp. Chomping from the tail up might be a safe way for a small seatrout to tangle with a larger bait. These fish can be fun to catch are present in most creeks where there is a supply of bait. Capt. “Wild Bill” Jarrell just called from Yellow Bluff. He the sheepshead are biting! He said he caught 11 and left them biting. On days with lots of currents best chances of success for sheepshead is at either the top or bottom of the tide.. Not many bait shops have fiddlers on hand. Bill said he got his from Bandy’s at the foot of the bridge going onto Skidaway Island. Your best bet for finding bait at a bait shop this time of the year is to call ahead.

In the coming weeks as temperatures drop this is an excellent time only to your gear in shape but also to make room on your schedule to attend some fishing seminars! These events can be fun and informative! It doesn’t matter if the fisherman is a skilled old salt or new to fishing , there’s always something to learn! Dates for Miss Judy’s Inshore School are January 13th and 27th. For more information contact Miss Judy at 912-897-2478.

Hope this of help!

Good Fishing!

Capt. Jack McGowan