Early Fall Inshore Fishing Report Savannah, GA/Hilton Head, SC
The long awaited fall has arrived! With the arrival of fall we’re seeing a drop in air and water temperatures. A cool down is good as long conditions don’t cool down isn’t too quickly. In a few days water dropped from around 90 to 70 degrees. Thats a big jump. That said temperatures are warming back to the mid 70’s.
The redfish bite around Savannah has been good with the exception of a few days with strong wind. The reds are widely distributed upriver, in the sounds and in the creeks. Most of the reds we’re catching are on shrimp or on a cut bait like strips of mullet. With the big change in water temperature sharks have existed the sounds for deeper more seasonable water. With mullet starting to run on the coast anglers are catching some large reds (stag bass) along the surf. Currently no reports of large numbers of big reds just a couple here and there. Whiting can also be found in the surf, outer sands and sounds. Lots of these whiting are small and make a excellent bait for big reds. Overall, the redfish bite in Savannah looks good. Some flats that typical holds good schools of fish might hold few whereas other areas can produce a good bite. Its all about conditions when fish are pushed by dolphin, fisherman, lack of bait or poor water quality fish will move. When fishing a flat for some reds don’t hesitate to cast in open water, you might a good sea trout bite. Mostly fishermen are using live and dead shrimp for bait. As temperature cool down shrimp will batch up and move into local creeks and rivers. When bait batches up the fish, redfish and sea trout, will follow. The best tides to fish are when the moon is first and third quarters. These tides are often referred to as neap tides. No two tides are identical. I’m often asked when is the best time to fish. The short answer is when you have the time. If you wait for everything to line up you’ll likely won’t fish much.
As conditions cool down the sea trout will be picking up. Lots of fishermen are reporting lots of small trout. We finding some schools of sea trout with a mixture of sizes. Normally fishermen find fish in one size like small, medium or large batching together. When fishing for sea trout fishermen try to fish a live bait. Sea trout are sight feeding predator fish. Sea trout prefer clean water with current. Redfish on other hand can be caught at times in murky water. Right now the redfish bite looks stronger but again as conditions continue to cool sea trout action will pick up.
Late season tarpon in Savannah can be some of largest to migrate through. The late summer tarpon action while not intense was respectable. Carrying a heavy rod during rod while fishing for reds and trout a fisherman could get rewarded with a shot at big tarpon. Sometimes during fall tarpon and black tip sharks can seen be crushing sea trout along a creek mouth.
Early fall fishing in Savannah is looking good! Storms are always an issue during the fall. So far we’ve only experienced a few blown out days. All the best to all who have hit hard this year.
Hope this is of interest and help!
Fish On!
Jack
Capt. Jack McGowan
Coastal River Charters
