Coastal River Charters

Last week fishing was hampered by tropical storm Fay. On the water Monday, Saturday and Sunday. Despite lots of rain Don Adams of Adam’s Baithouse reported that shrimp are plentiful and the water is clear despite the rain and wind. Strong weather events usually result in muddy water and higher than normal tides. For some reason still plenty of clean water. Prior to the storm we had plenty of bites. Catching fish was difficult due to the wind. Nonetheless we caught some nice seatrout. As the main brunt of the storm passed wind was still big factor. We found lots of black drum and redfish in the heads of some creeks. In a four hour trip we likely had two dozen or more black drum (2 to 4 pounds) with half a dozen redfish from 20 inches on up. This is a good day for any conditions much less marginal conditions. Most of the shark action in Warsaw has been confined to small sharks about 18 inches. Some whiting being caught. Reports of good catches of whiting and redfish in Tybee Creek. Fishermen who were able to get out of the wind and find clean water had a good chance of catching fish. As Fay pushed away fisherman were able to return to the water. Lots of small redfish still being caught. Most of these fish are around 13 ½ inches. We landed some nice redfish up to 10 pound, a few flounders and some seatrout. Anticipate the best action to be deep until top layer of fresh water mixes with the salt. Lots of small redfish and seatrout. Nicer fish can be caught on the flats but the best recent action for seatrout has been by those fishing deep. Lots of small fish so bring plenty of bait! Bait shops should have good supplies of bait but you never know. Throwing can be fun and effective way to catch your own bait. My thought is that if takes more than about 30 minuets to get a quart you’re better off buying the bait. Sometimes you’ll find the bait shops are closed or out of bait so throwing your cast net can work. A couple of days ago after 30 minuets of throwing with not much to show for it I decided to throw for a few more minuets. It might be an exaggeration but I think I had about three quarts in six casts. Pretty amazing! The bait, shrimp, are about prefect fishing size. Lots of bait means it wont be long till seatrout and redfish are in the creeks and rivers. Of course there are fish in the back waters now but in the coming weeks these fish will gain size and there will be more of them!

Capt. Wild Bill Jarrell of Yellow Bluff reported spotting lots tarpon! Finding bait for tarpon fishing can be problematic. Plenty of pogies one day and gone the next. I always recommend getting some bait the day before fishing. Lots of rain can drive pogies out of the sound. Dead baits can work well for tarpon just make sure the bait is fresh! A typical summer wind is a south, southwest wind. Sounds pretty easy to fish. The fronts of barrier island can get pretty bumpy. Most tarpon are caught early or on overcast and cloudy days. This is true seatrout and redfish as well.

When asked does it look a good season for fishing? My answer is absolutely, YES! So far plenty of bait. We have had good rain. The marshes look lush and green. Most folks are in agreement the limits we have on seatrout and redfish are working. It wasn’t many years ago that Georgia had no limits. Limits means lots of fish are being released that otherwise would not. In the last few weeks I’ve released several redfish that been caught more than once. Even when a fish is legal size you don’t have to kept it. Kept what you want to eat and release the rest.

Tides this week are a little funky with evening tides over 8.2 and 8.3 feet on Friday and Saturday respectively. Tides aren’t the best. Fishing could be good to poor going into the Labor Day weekend. The safe bet is to anticipate fair fishing, Thunderstorms are always a summertime possibility. Fishing could be problematic but you never know unless you go! Hope you have fun on the water! Beat a fast retreat if storms pop up!

Before closing a few words about attending a recent CCA (Coastal Conservation Association) meeting. The theme of meeting of the meeting was resource first! What a great theme! In short a great a resource can mean great fishing! This is what the CCA is advocating! This something all who enjoy the coast can be proud to get behind. Support your local CCA chapter!

Hope this of interest and help!!

Good Fishing! Capt. Jack McGowan

Last week there were several reports of large seatrout. The biggest fish were found around beach front; although large fish were caught in rivers near the sounds as well! Ample amount of rain meant most of the large were in deeper water (8 to 12 feet). An adjustable float rig with live shrimp or finger mullet was the prescribed method. Fish are deep during periods of heavy rain. Shrimp in a bait bucket hanging off a dock will often die if there is a lot rain in a short period of time. Freshwater is literally floating on the saltwater. The most favorable place for a large seatrout after a period of heavy rain is deep. Smaller male seatrout can be found be the shallows. Fishing deep is trickier. A rip or current line might be visible but it is just as likely there wont be any visible indications. Fishing deep you’re still looking for structure. The structure could be submerged trees, a man made object, a ledge, or a hole to name a few. A favorite tide is low incoming. Although you’ll find various drops work at various tides. Large seatrout are an exciting fish. Exciting to catch, fun to look at and good eat! With that said my strong encouragement is for most large seatrout to be released. These large fish are holding next year’s crop. Wendell Harper reputed as likely the best seatrout fisherman on the Georgia coast has said that these large fish should be released. This is from a man who makes a good portion of his living catching seatrout. If Wendell believes releasing large seatrout can have a positive impact on the resource then it is likely so. A statement from fishing guides is that whatever the limit is then as long they are within the limit everything is fine. A few years the Georgia DNR had a program that would meant a slot limit in other words releasing large fish (over 20 inches). The program never materialized due to a lack of funding. Staying with in the limits is like meeting the minimum requirement. What do you do when large seatrout are biting and your folks want to keep everyone. You try to encourage going light on the resource. When possible whether a recreational fisherman or charter fish for a variety of fish. Say you keep a couple of large seatrout, a redfish, some whiting, a couple of sharks and you have a mess of fish. Maybe in few years my outlook will be different but as of now it looks like we have plenty of sharks perhaps even too many. Keeping a shark one or two means you be saving a bunch of seatrout. from either being caught by you or chopped by a shark.

Speaking of sharks. Sharks can be found along the sandbars off Warsaw. Fresh water has a tendency to drive fish out and deep. When the water in the sound is salty that usually when the shark is on. Big bait, large menhaden are in some weeks and out on others. Reports of large bait has been consistent off the sandbars off the north jetty. Bait will mean tarpon, kingfish, jack and large sharks. When bait is not present it’s possible to catch predator fish just not as likely as when large schools of bait are present. August is usually the peak month for tarpon! If storms do not kick up the tarpon bite should be good! If you’re struggling finding menhaden try catching some bait fish like pinfish with rod and reel. It’s pretty fun and should be easy to do. Just down size your hook to number 6 or so and fish dead bait on the bottom near a dock or grass line. You might first try chumming them up with some little bits of shrimps.

Tides for this week are definitely on the increase although the highest is only 7.8 feet on Sunday. Tides should be good for seatrout! Here is a report on the BurnsideBopper that was a long time in coming. The float is an excellent float! Made well with several qualities that competitors do not have. It is locally made and definitely a superior product. I have no hesitation in recommending these two floats. The larger is made for conventional (8 to 9foot) casting tackle. This is tackle that now days I don’t fish much. This probably the reason for the delay in writing about this float. I was used the larger float on a heavier 7 foot spinning tackle for large sharks, tarpon and jacks. The float did ok. When I fished the float as it was intented it did a fine job! The idea is a popping float for a casting rod that could you fish along the beach front for seatrout. This float does the job. Strengths of both the smaller and larger version: a unique design apt for casting, good sound, no additional weight needed and a more substantial main wire that is most resistant of any float on the market to bending. Sandfly Tackle Shop is a supplier or you can find the float on line at www.burnsidebopper.com. Good float! If you fish casting rods youll ‘want this float. The smaller is a winner as well. The larger one is a must!

Hope this report is of interest and help. Remember to practice catch and release when possible!

Good Fishing! Capt. Jack McGowan

Coming off Spring tides fishing is improving! Big tides in the evenings slowed fishing due to strong currents, muddy water and strong wind. Strong wind exacerbated high evening high tides. Fishermen could catch fish in lee shores and in areas with slower currents. In these areas the bite was mostly small redfish, seatrout as some well flounder. Action was fair. The shark/tarpon bite slowed as well. Sharks generally are believed to have fair to poor eye sight. Muddy water can make finding a bait nearly impossible for most any fish. Typically ladyfish rise to the challenge of strong currents and muddy water. Ladyfish have large eyes with likely excellent sight. A drop that might typically produce seatrout in clean water is producing ladyfish in dirty water. Ladyfish can be hoot to catch! Handling this fish is another story. Put a wet towel over the fish. Ladyfish are extremely slimy. A ladyfish if it does not throw the hook your hook can fight itself to its death. Reel fast just keep up with a lady! Use a rubber mesh landing net in lieu of nylon net. This will help keep the slime coat on the fish. After netting when you grab the fish (with the wet towel) turn it up side down. The fish should momentarily stop its crazy antics. Quickly remove the hook and chunk it back to fight another day.

It looks like a great year for redfish! Salutations to the Georgia DNR and to the CCA of Georgia (if need more information on either check my website for a link or goggle). In short we are seeing lots of small first year redfish in the creeks and rivers. A lot of these fish are likely a result of a program conducted by DNR and the CCA to study the efficacy of stocking redfish in Warsaw sound. In short this is something every coastal fisherman needs to get behind! A tangible way is to communicate to both organizations that we are seeing benefits and that the program is of great value to our fishery. The Redfish Rally is a tournament which is designed like all tournaments to have fun but more specifically it generates needed funds for this program. My encouragement is for all interested in redfish on our coast participate in the tournament or at least sign for the tournament or even better make a contribution greater than the entry fee or consider turning your prize back in to be used again for this program and last but not least ask the DNR about participating in the fin clipping program or carcass recovery program. A healthy redfish population is vital to our fishery. Do all you can to get behind the Peach State Redfish Initiative!

The bite this summer has been good! During a recent CCA tarpon tournament several boats landed and released several tarpon. We are having a good tarpon season! Several boats have landed four or five in an outing. This is great fishing! Landing one tarpon takes some doing. Landing several means you’re around fish and you’re doing a lot things right! This year we’ve had a lot big ocean pogies come into the sounds. As a result the tarpon bite has been better than the last several years. The bite can still be mercurial. Meaning fish are here one day and gone the next. When the bait is in (the sounds), the fish (tarpon) will close by. When tarpon have vanished there are likely some around you. Look for tarpon on rips, passes and cuts around the sand bars, bait (large ocean menhaden) and big birds (pelicans) crashing the bait. When schools of menhaden are being crashed from above it’s likely there is an intense food chain below with tarpon, sharks and jacks present. Sharks can thick and bites instantaneous and intense! Anticipate the shark/tarpon action to be strong throughout August!

Tides for the second week in August looks good! If weather permits there should plenty of opportunity to fish during the week. Bite should be good for small redfishs, seatrout, flounder, shark/tarpon and jacks. Larger redfish can be caught but as the flats heat up look for larger reds in deeper water. Lots of trash fish around so have plenty on hand. On the other there is lots of shrimp in the rivers and creeks. Small trash fish that you would normally discard could be a great bait for shark/tarpon. Keeping some trash fish can mean the difference in landing a big fish. Recently we kept some bait stealers and later converted those small ones for some large ones. So you never know. You can spend a lot of time and gas searching for bait with a cast net or just a few minuets fun fishing. By the way those who have been concerned about the croakers can sleep easy. Eight and nine inch croakers are seemingly ever where. In short the cycle for croakers is definitely up! This is a good thing!

Hope this report is of help and of interest! Remember to practice catch and release!

Good fishing! Capt. Jack McGowan