Fishing is a reward in itself, is it not? I mean, what a great way to spend your time. But, did you know there are ways to get actually “rewarded” for fishing? Here are some examples:

• Georgia Bass Slam: Almost 30 anglers have completed their Georgia Bass Slam, catching 5 of the 10 species of bass in Georgia. They each receive a small “reward” packet and certificate, and then are eligible for a grand prize at the end of the year. Will you get your Slam in 2019?
• Angler Award: Catch a fish that meets or beats a specific weight or length and get an angler award certificate (and a hat and a shirt). We have an Adult and Youth awards program, and we also have a Trophy Bass and PFA record program. Find out more HERE. Be SURE to review all program requirements (i.e. if asking for a fish to be considered for a particular weight, it must be weighed on a certified scale. Length awards must be verified with a photo of the fish on a read-able ruler). 
• First Fish Certificate: Got a kid or even an adult that caught their first fish? Make a big deal out of it by giving them a certificate! Click HERE for more.

This week, we have fishing reports from North and Southeast Georgia. Grab a family member or friend, measuring tape, camera and Go Fish Georgia!

NORTH GEORGIA

(Fishing report courtesy of John Damer, Fisheries Biologist with Georgia DNR Wildlife Resources Division, with help from Region Staff and Local Experts)

TROUT NEWS

Delayed Harvest Trout Season in full swing: (From Region Supervisor Jim Hakala) — The Delayed Harvest (DH) Program (find out more HERE) kicked off on November 1.  WRD staff in cooperation with the USFWS stocked a total of 10,000 catch-able trout. All five DH stream sections received stockings.  Three of these stockings were coordinated with 40 volunteers from 3 different chapters of Trout Unlimited.  The volunteers and staff from the GA DNR Law Enforcement Division helped disperse trout throughout the entire reach of each DH section.

Primer for Delayed Harvest Trout: (This report courtesy of Cohutta Fishing Company) —Cohutta Fishing Company just posted a great introduction to fishing the delayed harvest areas.  Check it out on their blog HERE.

Hooch Delayed Harvest Stocking: (From Buford Hatchery Manager Pat Markey)–Buford Hatchery Fisheries Technician Kinsey Girrard distributes trout to the Delayed Harvest Section of the Chattahoochee River at Palisades West last week in prep for the November 1st opening day of Delayed Harvest season. Rainy weather postponed some of our stocking efforts to this week in order to make sure the fish become more available to our anglers. Approximately 10,000 rainbow & brown trout (ranging in size from 10 – 14 inches) have been stocked to date.

More DH Reports and Tips from NGTO:

• Hooch DH and other DH rivers
• Smith Creek DH
• Chattooga DH stocked

 

RESERVOIR REPORTS

Detailed Allatoona Lineside Report: Joseph Martinelli from Heron Outdoor Adventures provides an extensive “Heron Report” this week, with some great tips for hooking hybrids and stripers.

Lanier Reports on the GON Forum:

• Yak-fishing success
• Magnum Spot, and some great “ditch fishing” info
• Lanier lineside-fishing info
• Trolling for a spotted bass dinner

Mack’s Hartwell Report: (This report courtesy of Captain Mack Farr )– Captain Mack has a huge amount of detailed info for fishing Hartwell in this latest report.  Check out the report HERE.

Lake Hartwell Info: (This report courtesy of “Academy Jack” Becker) — Jack recently had a good day on the upper part of Lake Hartwell.  He caught stripers, walleye, and jackfish (pickerel).  Caught them on Spinnerbaits & Jerkbaits.  Fish were holding in channel swings and along rock walls.

Rocky Mountain PFA Lakes: (From WRD Biologist John Damer) — WRD Fisheries staff from the Armuchee office have been gillnetting this week on the three lakes at Rocky Mountain PFA.  We found good numbers of walleye and crappie on the Antioch Lakes, especially West Antioch.  One to two pound crappie and two to three pound walleye were very common in the west-side lake.

Northeast Georgia Lakes: (From WRD Biologist Anthony Rabern) — This week’s sampling in the northeast Georgia lakes along the Tallulah River have produced good catches of walleye and a few trophy yellow perch.  During the day, walleye are holding tight to structure in about 30-ft of water but they will take a night crawler or minnow threaded onto a jig head and worked slowly around the structure.  At dusk and early evening, walleye are moving into the shallows to feed on small bream and perch.

LAKE STURGEON NEWS

Final Summerville Sturgeon of 2019: (From Summerville Hatchery Manager Josh Tannehill and Region Supervisor Jim Hakala) — Fisheries staff from Summerville Hatchery recently stocked 1,830 lake sturgeon in the Etowah River, which closes out sturgeon production at Summerville for 2019.  These fish averaged seven inches in length.  The stocking is part of the long-running lake sturgeon reintroduction program designed to reestablish this native species in the greater Coosa River Basin.  Since program initiation in 2002, more than 300,000 sturgeon have been produced and stocked into the system.

Coosa Sturgeon Catches: (From WRD Biologist John Damer) — Now that water temps on the Coosa River and the upper end of Lake Weiss have cooled off, lake sturgeon are becoming more active and are feeding heavily.  This means anglers are more likely to hook one while bottom fishing for catfish.  Several catfishers have called our office recently to report some nice sturgeon.  While we are extremely happy for anglers to be catching lake sturgeon, please remember that all lake sturgeon must be released unharmed.  A quick picture is fine, but make sure you get them safely back in the water to keep them growing to real MONSTER FISH sizes.  If you have caught a lake sturgeon in NW Georgia, please report your catch by calling 706-295-6102.

SOUTHEAST GEORGIA

(Fishing report courtesy of Bert Deener, fisheries biologist with Georgia DNR Wildlife Resources Division, with help from Region Staff and Local Experts)

Full Moon is November 12th. To monitor all the Georgia river levels, visit the USGS website HERE. For the latest marine forecast, click HERE.

ALTAMAHA RIVER

The crappie bite has started on the river. Several anglers reported catching about a dozen nice 3/4-pound specks per trip. Most were caught with minnows, but a few ate jigs. A couple bluegill were also mixed in with each catch. An angler fishing with rod-and-reel on the lower Altamaha over the weekend caught 6 flathead catfish up to 21 pounds and an 18 pound blue catfish on live bait. Other anglers reported good channel and blue catfish catches out of Altamaha Park. Most were using worms, shrimp, and cut bait. The bass fishing has been pretty good, as well. Plastics and crankbaits accounted for most of the bass. The river level was 2.9 feet and rising (64 degrees) at the Baxley gage, and 4.4 feet and rising (66 degrees) at the Doctortown gage on November 5th.

LOCAL PONDS

Chad Lee gave me the best reports from ponds this week. He caught 25 bass on Friday using a white War Eagle spinnerbait. The biggest that day was 4 pounds. On Saturday, he caught 10 up to 6 pounds on senkos, live target spiders, and jigs. A few folks reported catching crappie on minnows in area ponds. With the warmer temperatures mid-week, the bluegills started biting again.

OCMULGEE PUBLIC FISHING AREA (near Hawkinsville) More Info HERE 

The crappie are biting on the lake. Anglers trolling minnows and jigs were successful at catching the white crappie. During cool periods the fish are offshore, but expect them to move to shallow cover on warm afternoons this week.

SALTWATER (GA COAST)

Saltwater fishing was excellent again this week! Steve Hampton fished the Jekyll Island Pier over the weekend and caught 12 and 13-inch keeper flounder along with a pair of nice keeper trout. He also had a bunch of throwbacks. Brentz McGhin and Greg Nelms fished the Brunswick area on Saturday and caught 34 seatrout (19 keepers), 4 redfish (all keepers), and a nice flounder. They caught most of their fish on pink-colored Vu-Du Shrimp fished under Cajun Thunder Floats. They also caught a few smaller fish on Pop-R topwaters. Also on Saturday, a group of anglers fishing the St. Simons area had 24 nice keeper trout to 20 inches on live shrimp. Fishing out of St Marys, Shane and Joshua Barber landed 15 sheepshead (5 keepers), about 20 trout (5 keepers), a black drum, and 2 keeper redfish. They threw electric chicken and chartreuse grubs and also live shrimp for their fish. Check with Mike and Trish Wooten of St. Simons Bait & Tackle (912-634-1888) for the latest on the St. Simons Pier.