Happy to continue taking advantage of this stellar weather by getting to the water as fast as I can on the weekends to throw out a line. How about you? 

This week, we have reports from Southwest, North, Central and Southeast Georgia. It’s all about the layers for the weather, so get prepped and let’s Go Fish Georgia!

SOUTHWEST GEORGIA

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

FLINT RIVER

Scenic image showing a fishing pier at a water body.

Beautiful afternoon of fishing on the pier at Big Lazer FFA.

Man wearing a hat holds a caught fish in one hand and a fishing pole in the other hand.

Bass fishing should pick up on the rivers with the cooler weather.

Flows are back to normal after Hurricane Helene. Water temps are cooling off and fishing is picking up. White bass fishing is good below the Lake Blackshear Dam. Fish small topwater lures or small jerk baits.  White bass aren’t large, but the action can be fast and furious, and they pull good on light tackle. Remember that striped bass season is still closed below Albany Dam.  The river temperatures are cooling off and striped bass may be encountered but cannot be harvested. Bass fishing will be picking up with the cooler temperatures. Fish will be more aggressive, so use topwater lures and jerk baits for some fast action.

CHATTAHOOCHEE RIVER

The Lower Chattahoochee River flows have regulated back near normal. Catfish have been caught in deeper bends recently. Crappie fishing is picking up also. Target blowdowns and brush piles in deeper river sections. Striped bass season is still closed south from Columbia Lock and Dam.

BIG LAZER PUBLIC FISHING AREA

Overall, the fishing is just fair right now but should begin to heat up as the water begins to cool. Channel catfish can still be caught regularly in deeper water around the metal pier and along the dam. You can throw live bait like crickets and worms around structure to target bream species. Throw plastic worms in deeper water now for largemouth bass bites. Fish the bait slower than normal as the water temperature begins to decrease.

NORTH GEORGIA

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

RESERVOIR REPORT

Lake Allatoona Bass Report: (This report courtesy of Ken Sturdivant, www.southernfishing.com) — Lake Allatoona is down 3.1 feet, and in the 60s. Bass fishing is good. Fish are deep to 20 feet deep, and any main lake point can be a hot spot. The trick is to fish them all and break out the good ones and work them with several baits. There are a few small fish a little shallower, but they strike baits so lightly. Try the Zoom finesse worm in natural blue or Limeade. With all the deep fish there is little to no schooling, and we can blame almost anything but its turnover. All the deep fish start at the 25-foot range. Find the right hole and it is not clear what makes a hole right other than depth. Drop shot rigs with small hooks and small finesse style baits will work and they seem to be producing a little better than a Texas rig. Sand worms, natural blue and cinnamon green pig and jigs or creepy crawlers are the baits of choice. Be sure to drop a ½ ounce Flex It spoon on the same locations. Hit the shallow brush piles and reef poles early with pig and jigs for the best action. A 20 fish day with be little problem. Also, spinnerbaits in the rocks on windy days will catch few.

Man in hat holds up a caught fish in one hand.

Dontre Sims caught crappie around brush and structure on Lake Allatoona (Photo Credit Dontre Sims via Red Rooster Custom Baits).

Man wearing a yellow beanie holds up a caught fish with both hands.

It’s time for linesides on Lake Allatoona (Photo Credit Joseph Martinelli).

Lake Allatoona Lineside Report: (This report courtesy of Joseph Martinelli, Heron Outdoor Adventures) — Good morning fellow anglers! You guessed it – we’ve got 60°s!  Morning surface temperatures range from 61° Shoal Creek, to 65° in the Delta/Little River area and still holding between 67° to 69° mid-lake and to the south end.  It’s time for some linesides!  A good bit of our upper Etowah fish have made the swim down to where the food is abundant and we are hoping that the reservoir will just be chock-full of stripers soon. While certain days have been best for us downlining live bait, such as beautiful herring and threadfin, other days like yesterday were just chock full of free line action in the short time we presented it.  With the lower temperatures, little trout have caught us several really solid fish the past 2 days.  The channel and channel edges have been pretty key, though a few fish have been picked up off the flats. Concentrate where you see the bait.  Well, that’s the 50,000-foot view. Get you a “can of worms” and get out there!

Lake Allatoona Crappie Report: (This report courtesy of Red Rooster Custom Baits) —

  • Air Temp: High: 82 – Low: 54
  • Wind: Up to 20 Mph
  • Lake Level: Approx. 836′ and Dropping
  • Water Temp: 74-66
  • Water Clarity: Clear to light stain (Allatoona Green)
  • Area Fished: Blockhouse, Galt’s Ferry, Kellogg Creek & Little River
  • Jigs Used: Glow White – Slab Dragon, ‘Lectric Chicken – Small Fry and Chicken Pox – Slab Dragon
  • Technique: Trolling & Casting Jigs

Fall showed up in a big way this past week on Lake Allatoona with temps dropping into the 30s overnight! The water temps are dropping quickly and that will get these Allatoona crappie ready to roam! The first part of the week was windy as a cool front rolled in which made it hard to fish all over the lake. The second part of the week was more conducive to trolling or casting. Our good friend Dontre Sims was able to get out early Tuesday morning before the wind kicked up and was able to catch some nice crappie casting a Red Rooster custom hair jig around brush and structure. The water temperature dropped from 74 on Monday to 69 by Tuesday morning! We were able to get back on the lake Thursday morning and the water temp had dropped even more to around 66 degrees! We were longline trolling 1/16th oz. underspin jig head, 1/16th oz. round ball jig heads and the new pro model 3/32nd oz. roundball jig head in a candy red color. Our most productive trolling speeds were between .7 to .8 mph. We were targeting brush piles in the 10′ – 14′ range and hooked up on active crappie in 10′ – 12′ depths. We managed 18 crappie trolling several colors but the Slab Dragon in the Glow White color was the top color. The Small Fry in the ‘Lectric Chicken color came in second and the Slab Dragon in the Chicken Pox color caught a couple of nice Allatoona slabs. We did have several short strikes that made the rods bounce around a bit but did not commit. We also caught 5 small spotted bass, a catfish and 2 Gar! Trolling is a great way to spend the day because you never know what you are going to catch! The bite slowed around 11 o’clock and we loaded up and headed back to the house. We are a couple of weeks behind schedule in terms of water level due to the hurricane rains, but we are rapidly getting back to the 835’ water level that is critical for the fall troll bite. If the weather stays consistent from now until November, we will be in good shape for late fall/winter trolling. Lord willing Team Red Rooster will bring you another report next week! We now have a year’s worth of fishing reports archived on the site. Be sure to check out the archives for October 2023 and see what we were doing this time last year!

Lake Lanier Bass Report: (This report courtesy of Phil Johnson, 770-366-8845 via www.southernfishing.com) — Lake Lanier is down 1.3 feet, and in the 60s. Bass fishing is good. The lake is currently a little over a foot below full pool and the water temperature is running in the low seventies. Overall, the lake is clear. The fall patterns are setting up and the bass are feeding up for the winter, but it is still somewhat up and down on catching them. Wind and bait have been the key factors over the last week. Finding the shad over the humps flats and long points has been important in finding the bass. The schooling activity has picked up but it is scattered and the fish are only staying up for short periods so it’s important to get the cast into the school before they go down. The Lip Thrasin Riser, an Ima Skimmer, a small Gunfish, a swimbait or a Jerkshad have all produced for the week. The key has been to chase the wind and find where the bait is blown. Either while the bass are schooling or when they dive a three eights Spot Choker with a three-inch Keitech reeled fast thru the area will produce fish also. On the low wind days, the drop shot has been producing fish around the brush and on the ledges. FFS definitely helps with this bite as the fish may be scattered around the area rather than tight on the brush or ledge. The Lanier baits Sweet Rosy and Blue Lily have been the main colors for the drop shot set up. The bite around the docks, brush and blowdowns has picked up the shakey head and jig. The watermelon green trick worm or a brown and chartreuse jig have produced the most fish. With the cooler weather forecast the water temperature should drop which should fire the bass up more so it’s a great time to Go Catch ‘Em!

Smiling man wearing a hat holds up a large fish with both hands.

Cool water and low temps on Lanier (Photo credit: Jack Becker).

Lake Lanier Striper Report: (This report courtesy of Jack Becker, aka Georgia Waterdog) — Cooling water temperature and low winds found me back out on Lake Lanier hoping to find some Stripers moving up from the deeper water down near the dam, to creeks closer to Port Royale Marina. I invited a friend who also shares my passion for Striper fishing. We launched at Balus boat ramp in the dark and headed to the river channel near the Spanish mansion on the point in flat creek. After a lot of looking and dragging medium shiners on flat lines & planer boards, when we marked fish, we finally found active fish further back in the creek in an area with plenty of bait. We got our first bite on a planner board, with 35’ of line out & 2 split shots that helped get the bait a little deeper. The bait and fish we were marking were 45 to 50’ deep. Turning off the electric motor, allowing the bait to sink also helped. We got our first bite within a few seconds of turning off the motor over a nice group of fish. My friend said it felt like a good one but it soon came off after a short fight. Disappointed but not discouraged, because we found active fish, we continued to work about a 500-yard stretch in the same area. In the next two hours we landed three stripers. The biggest being almost 14 lbs.

Lake Lanier Crappie Report: (This report courtesy of Captain Josh Thornton, 770-530-6493 via www.southernfishing.com) — The current water temperatures are in the mid-60s. The weather has changed, and the crappie are getting more active. You can find crappie suspended shallow 5 to 10 feet deep over a 12-to-20-foot bottom. Crappie minnows the worked well on open water brush this week. Set minnows in a rod holder over brush or structure while casting jigs. This week I had luck with black and green color plastic jig (atx d2d). The gear I recommend for crappie fishing is a Acc Crappie Stix 1 piece rod and reel with a 4-to-6-pound test K9 line, along with Garmin Live Scope and Power Pole.

Lake Weiss Bass Report: (This report courtesy of Ken Sturdivant, www.southernfishing.com) — Weiss Lake is down .98 feet, and in the 60s. Bass are starting to move shallow on secondary points and in the backs of the coves following the shad movement. Shallow running crank baits like the Bandit 100 series are working awesome right now. A 3/8-ounce spinner bait in chartreuse and white with double silver willow leaf blades is also a great fall bait. Spotted Bass are being caught on the old river channel ledges in 4 to 8 feet of water. Fish are showing up on secondary points, humps and sand bars mid-day. Rat L Traps and flat sided crank baits and spinner baits are catching fish.

West Point Lake Bass Report: (This report courtesy of Ken Sturdivant, www.southernfishing.com) — West Point Lake is down 9.8 feet, and in the 60s. Bass fishing is good. Shad are headed for the creeks and it’s about time for the bass to follow along in big numbers. The best bite through late week was up the river on the crank baits. Find the fish around the shad. Once the bass get into the creeks in full force it’ll be a good opportunity for crank baits and spinnerbaits. Rat L Traps and Shad Raps should be good patterns. Hit the banks, throwing at any piece of wood. Make accurate casts to maximize the chances for a hookup. Buzz baits in the morning will draw some strikes also. Fish are schooling like crazy in the shallows just before sunset. There are mostly hybrids and white bass along with a few spotted bass chasing shad to the bank once the sun gets low. Nearly any kind of shad imitating lure will do the trick. Before that, the fishing is much tougher, as the fish are suspended and on the move.

Lake Hartwell Bass Report: (This report courtesy of Ken Sturdivant, www.southernfishing.com) — Lake Hartwell is full, and in the 60s. Bass fishing is fair. There is a good top water bite in the shallows, but these are all small fish. Casting to the bank is not where the fish until midday. Better fish are at 15 feet on average. Chug Bugs, Whoppler Ploppers and jerk baits at daylight then Ned rigs and Shakey heads on points and in small cuts close by at 15 feet. This is mostly Spotted Bass so scale down. See fish breaking they are 1-pound White Bass. This lake is covered in Cane plies everywhere so watch the electronics and 15 casts and move on. Be sure and have a place to stay. Folks from North Carolina where all the damage is are looking for shelter. The local stores are slammed with customers too running from the devastated areas.

TROUT REPORT

Caught fish rests gently in a hand.

Had to be stealthy to land this beautiful wild brown trout (Photo Credit John Damer).

Wild Trout Stream Report: (From Georgia DNR Fisheries Biologist John Damer) — I spent a few hours last week on one of my favorite wild trout streams.  The water was low and clear since the area had not had a measurable rain since Helene blasted through several weeks ago.  I managed 8 wild browns and rainbows in 3 hours, all of them on a #16 X-caddis tied with a brown body and tan wing.  The action was slow, but nearly all the fish I hooked or landed I had seen before casting.  Sight fishing like this requires extreme stealth and patience as you work very slowly upstream, but if you’re like me you may find it more enjoyable and rewarding than simply blind casting to likely habitat.  The highlight was watching a rising fish tucked tightly under a “cover log” structure placed in the stream recently by our WRD/TU/USFS coop.  It took several minutes for me to crawl into position downstream as I watched the fish dimple the water surface about every 20 seconds.  One cast was all it took to pull this feisty brown from its spot, and a few seconds later I was snapping a quick pic and releasing it for next time.  You can tell this fish was packing on the calories in preparation for the lean winter ahead by its bulging belly.  Having landed browns and rainbows already, I did try another nearby creek to try to complete the GEORGIA TROUT SLAM BY catching a brookie, but they were not having it!  I did not even get one bite in an hour before I had to book it home to pick up my kids in time for soccer practice.  I’ll hope for a rematch with the brookies soon!

Stocked Trout Streams Report: (This report courtesy of Tad Murdoch from Georgia Wild Trout) — The stocked waters have been slim pickings for the past couple weeks. Low water conditions have left stockers with little room to hide and most have been harvested. Looking for water off of the beaten path in small creeks or focusing more on some of the larger streams such as the Toccoa River, Tallulah River, and Chattooga River will yield better results with stocked trout. Georgia’s Delayed Harvest Season is right around the corner, so begin preparing yourself by checking out our up to date article on Fly Fishing North Georgia’s Delayed Harvest Streams.

Chattahoochee Tailwater Trout Report: (This report courtesy of Tad Murdoch from Georgia Wild Trout) — The water below the lake is still turning over. October tends to be one of the rougher months for the pea soup water. With the extra rains we’ve seen in North Georgia, the small mountain streams are certainly worth the drive.

The Truth About “Turnover”: (From Fisheries Biologist John Damer) — The timely info given above by Georgia Wild Trout about fishing conditions on the Hooch is very important for anglers fishing the tailwaters below our large dams. This includes the Chattahoochee River below Buford Dam, but also the Toccoa River below Blue Ridge Dam, and many other non-trout waters like the Etowah River below Allatoona Dam.  But why is the water off-color and often stinky in these tailwaters during the Fall each year?  We have a whole page on our WRD website dedicated to this topic, which you can find HERE .  Read that article to find out why this period of “turnover” is very poorly named by anglers, and how soon these tailwaters might return to “normal” when destratification happens.

The Dredger’s Weekly Report: (This report courtesy Jeff “Dredger” Durniak at Unicoi Outfitters) — Unicoi Outfitters puts out a full fishing report every Friday.  Although this week’s report was not yet posted as of this writing, you should be able to find it HERE later today.  You can also take a look at last week’s report, which I’m guessing will be very similar to the report for this week, since conditions have not changed much.

Parting Trout Note:  Want to do more to support trout fishing in Georgia?  Consider upgrading to a Trout Unlimited license plate this year. https://georgiawildlife.com/licenseplates Aside from being a great looking tag, each purchase or renewal of a Trout Unlimited license plate directly supports Georgia’s trout conservation and management programs. Hatcheries and wild trout efforts both benefit from the trout tag.

CENTRAL GEORGIA

(Fishing report courtesy of Hunter Roop, Fisheries Biologist and Central Georgia Region Supervisor with the Georgia DNR Wildlife Resources Division, with help from Region Staff and Local Experts) 

The weekend forecast calls for more unseasonably warm and dry weather, which are great fall fishing conditions here in central Georgia. Most of our field crews were getting a jump start on reservoir and PFA sampling this week, and the nutshell intel suggests that the fall pattern is indeed in full swing despite the summer-like air temperatures.

What would WE suggest you do without these cool fall nights? Since the Dawgs are taking a Saturday off this week, I hope you’ll carve out some time to wet a line this weekend. Consider fishing one of our PFAs here in central Georgia, including Flat Creek, Marben, or the recently re-opened McDuffie PFA. Whether you’re casting from a bank or to the bank, fall fishing on our PFAs can be very rewarding to anglers from first timers to old timers.

Okay, let’s get to this week’s report! This week’s Central Georgia fishing report is courtesy of Ken Sturdivant’s Southern Fishing report and other contributions by WRD Fisheries staff, guides, and local anglers.

RESERVOIR REPORT

LAKE RUSSELL IS DOWN 1.7 FEET, 60’S

Bass: Bass fishing is fair. Big cold front this week. With the temperature drop of more than a few degrees it affects fishing whether it’s good or bad. As these cold fronts over the next few weeks roll in fishing is great on the own set. With this front the bait will start piling up in the creeks in search of warmer water. The morning bite has been tough to figure out. Spotted bass are roaming up on the points and flats all during the day and retreating to deep water stump beds. Either way, these bass can be caught all day long. The shallow water fish can be easily caught with Bandits and Shad Raps. Try the deeper water for some of the bigger Bass. The Rapala DT10 and DT6 in shad or hot mustard slowly retrieved over heavy cover caught some bigger fish. Also try the green tiger and use a stop and go retrieve during the slow periods to trigger a strike. Carolina rigs can also be used on the ledges and deeper water structure. Zooms green pumpkin u tail worm will work all day.

Striped Bass: Significant cooling of water temperatures in October will restore quality habitat lakewide and challenge Russell’s striper anglers to locate schools of schooling striper that will tend to spread out and move into shallower waters, typically less than 30 feet. Freelining blueback herring while slowly trolling around points mid-lake can be an effective tactic this time of year. Use your electronics to locate the bait and the stripers will be nearby.

Crappie: Russell’s crappie are moving shallow onto brush and can be targeted with jigs or minnows. Target depths in the 15′ – 10′ range and look for large structure or brushpiles loaded with crappie.

Catfish (courtesy of anglersheadquarters.com): Guide Jerry Kotal reports that fish should move shallower this month where they can be caught on cut herring in less than 15 feet of water.

CLARKS HILL IS FULL, 70’S

Bass: Bass fishing is good. The lake is low so be careful. Down Deep Husky Jerk baits along with Rapala DT10 and DT14 will get deep enough to catch the deeper bass on the ledges lake wide. Use these baits early in the morning and work them slow. Making five, six or more casts to the same area is not uncommon. These bass need to see the baits many times before they react. By using the Lowrance down Scan technology now pinpoint the exact area the bass are holding in. Start off by using the hard baits, and then switch to either a Carolina Rig or drop shot rig to finish the job. Use the slow presentations mid-day and anywhere there is some wind blowing down a bank use the Ito Vision 110 jerk bait and hits any structure.

Striper and Hybrids: The linesides are progressively migrating out of the deeper channels. Bait is moving shallower into the top 10-15 feet of the water column now, leading to more surface activity, and fish are relating to the sides of humps in 25-35 feet of water.

LAKE OCONEE IS FULL, 70’S

Bass: Bass fishing is good. The main lake is clear, lightly stained up the rivers. The water has cooled, and the bait and bass have move in the back of the coves and creeks. Start the day fishing a white old nelly buzz bait from the middle of the creeks and coves working their way to the back. After the sun gets up change over to a small crank bait. A #7 Rapala Shad Rap in a shad pattern or a rattle trap in the same pattern fished around docks or any structure in these creeks or coves. After the sun gets up change over to a small crank bait.

Linesides (courtesy of Doug Nelms with Big Fish Heads): Doug reports that the cold weather has repositioned the linesides back to their familiar locations on Oconee. They have become very active since last weekend and should stay active through winter. On the last two trips, they have boated 29 and 33 fish on half-day outings. The ticket recently has been dropping spoons and trolling mini-macks, with most fish weighing around 3.5 lbs, but some larger fish are present as well.

Crappie GON-tel: GON’s Krappie Krane was proud of his second runner-up finish in the October Peach State Crappie Club tournament on Oconee. He also took big fish honors with a 2 lb slab.

LAKE JACKSON IS DOWN 3.7 FEET, 60’S

Bass: Bass fishing is fair. Spotted bass are after the spinnerbaits on windy points. Schooling activity on high spots near main river and creek channels is improving Use the Zara Spooks, Sammy’s, Sebile swim baits, a double fluke rig, Pencil Poppers and Chug Bugs. Fish them fast. On these the same locations. Tecas rigs and small works and the drop shot rigs on any brush on these points is working well for numbers of bites. All of this type of fishing should continue to improve this month. There just isn’t much in the backs of pockets so concentrate on main lake and creek mouths points.

LAKE SINCLAIR IS DOWN 1.7 FEET, 60’S

Bass: Bass fishing is fair. Big cold front this week. With the temperature drop of more than a few degrees it affects fishing whether it’s good or bad. As these cold fronts over the next few weeks roll in fishing is great on the own set. Most quality bites are coming from near the mouth of coves to halfway back in coves. Blow downs, brush, stumps, and shallow dock posts have been the best targets for the last few days. Spinner baits have also fooled a lot of fish lately from the same cover. If buzz baits and spinner baits don’t produce, try jigs and soft plastics around the same wood cover. A 3/8-ounce jig in black blue with a Zoom Fat Albert Twin Tail works well as a swim bait. The same jig with a Zoom Pro Chunk works well when slowly working the bait through the cover.

Man sitting on boat holds up a caught fish with both hands.

Beautiful largemouth caught during electrofishing surveys this week on Juliette.

Caught fish fill up a cooler.

Dial in the right depth, and you too can fill a cooler on Sinclair (Photo Credit SinclairDawg).

Image of power plant at Lake Juliette in Georgia.

Crappie concentrated on the south end of Lake Juliette with none sampled near the Power Plant.

Crappie GON-tel: GON’s SinclairDawg was sporting a cooler full of slabs from his home lake last week. With the Dawgs off this week, I can take a guess at where he’ll be this weekend. If you’re envious of his haul, try locating brush in 10 – 15 FOW and position yourself within casting distance over that brush pile. Drop a lively minnow or jig under a bobber over the pile and wait for a bite. You may have to adjust your bobber to the right depth to entice them, but once you’ve dialed in the right depth, you can fill the cooler quickly!

LAKE JULIETTE (courtesy of WRD Fisheries Biologist Hunter Roop)

Mixed Bag: The Fort Valley District field staff conducted electrofishing surveys on Lake Juliette near Macon this week. Water temperatures were in the upper 60s, and water clarity was stained on the north end of the lake, but clear on the main lake south of the standing timber. Water levels were a few feet below full pool.  Largemouth catch rates were good-to-excellent on the north end. The big bass were holding tight to larger timber in 5 – 8 feet of water. A lipless crank bait or Texas-rigged worm worked deliberately around the big timber can be effective for catching big largemouth this time of year. Redear were schooling along the grass edges and in the backs of the pockets along with the occasional yellow perch. Crappie were all concentrated on the south end of the reservoir, with no crappie sampled north of the power plant. Note: Only gas motors 25 hp or less can be operated on Lake Juliette. 

PUBLIC FISHING AREA REPORT

McDUFFIE PUBLIC FISHING AREA

McDuffie PFA remains re-opened for anglers! After weeks of cleanup from Helene, we are happy to announce that access (including boat ramps) to McDuffie’s PFA ponds has been restored and anglers are welcome to return and enjoy fishing during this wonderful transition to fall. Some facilities including the bathrooms, campground, and central office remain closed due to storm damage; however, we have temporary bathrooms available on-site for our anglers. We look forward to seeing you back at McDuffie PFA soon!

Reminder: Live fish/minnows are not allowed on our PFA!

MARBEN PUBLIC FISHING AREA (courtesy of WRD Fisheries Technician Jacob Landry)

  • Marben PFA Information
  • Water Level: All the ponds are full or nearly full with the exception of Otter, Lower Raleigh, Little Raleigh, and Upper Raleigh. Margery is under renovation and closed till further notice.
  • Water Clarity: Clarity varies but most water bodies have up to 23-26” visibility.
  •  Surface Temp: mid-60s.
  • Marben PFA Fishing Guide 
Man wearing a hat and standing up on a boat holds a caught fish in one hand.

Bass are moving to shallower water as the temps cool at Marben PFA.

Two men each hold up a caught fish while kneeling on a boat.

Wade and Jacob show some of the crappie recently sampled at Marben PFA.

Multiple caught fish show lying side by side.

Crappie have not yet moved to shallow water at Marben PFA.

Bass: Bass are moving into shallower water as the temperatures decrease this month.  Bass will respond well to spinner baits and crank baits this time of year.

Crappie: The crappie have not moved to shallow water yet. Fishing over suspended brush is your best bet.  Use jigs tipped with minnows or a “search-style” bait such as a curly tail jig.

Bream:  Bluegill and some shellcracker are being caught on or near the bottom. Red wigglers and wax worms are a good choice for bait.

Other: Shad have recently been moving shallow. Shad-style lures would likely be good for both largemouth and hybrids. Using soft plastics, crank baits, jerk baits, and live bait have produced good results for harvest.

FLAT CREEK PUBLIC FISHING AREA (courtesy of Fisheries Technicians Amory Cook and Deven Thompson)

Bass: With the transition to fall, the bass bite has been finicky but successful. If you find the right bait and pattern you will catch fish. Best bets will be shad mimicking lures such as spinner baits, chatter baits and lipless crankbaits. White buzz baits, frogs, and poppers may also produce fish in low light conditions.

Bream: The bream bite has been decent this past week with good eating sized one being caught. Worms and crickets will always produce fish. Bread around fish feeders will also produce keeper sized fish.

Crappie (info courtesy of Angler Larry Brudnicki): The fall crappie bite is getting closer but has not yet kicked off although fish catches are still possible. Overnight anglers are using the dock lights and landing plentiful fish in the 8–11-inch range. Jigs seem to be the most effective in red/chartreuse and black/orange. Fishing around deeper structures during the day can definitely produce fish.

Catfish: Despite cooling temperatures, the catfish have still been around. Fishing chicken livers and cut bait on the bottom will be your best bet. Anglers have been reporting 15–20-pound catfish being caught; however, we have yet to see photos. If you catch one of these memorable fish, please share your photos! 

ATTENTION ANGLERS: Flat Creek PFA staff are conducting an annual angler (creel) survey on the lake this year. If you are approached by a PFA staff member after your fishing trip, please take a moment to answer their questions and share information about your fishing success (or, lack of success, whichever may be the case). These surveys are a valuable management tool that can improve our understanding of the fishery and ultimately improve fishing quality on the reservoir.

SOUTHEAST GEORGIA

(Fishing report courtesy of Capt. Bert Deener, Retired Georgia WRD Fisheries Supervisor, with help from Region Staff and Local Experts)

Saltwater is off the chain on days the wind will allow you to get out. The rivers are getting right again also, and the Okefenokee has been good the whole time around the storms.

River gages on October 24th were:

  • Clyo on the Savannah River – 6.0 feet and steady
  • Abbeville on the Ocmulgee – 1.8 feet and falling
  • Doctortown on the Altamaha – 6.7 feet and falling
  • Waycross on the Satilla – 8.4 feet and falling
  • Atkinson on the Satilla – 8.3 feet and falling
  • Statenville on the Alapaha – 6.4 feet and falling
  • Macclenny on the St Marys – 3.5 feet and falling
  • Fargo on the Suwannee – 5.8 feet and falling

New Moon is November 1st. To monitor all the Georgia river levels, visit the USGS website. For the latest marine forecast, check out weather.gov/jax/.

ST MARYS RIVER

Young woman wearing a hat and sunglasses holds up a caught fish with one hand and a fishing pole in the other hand.

Ellie Deener of Athens caught this 20-inch bass on Friday while casting a live shiner on a Capt. Bert’s weedless Shrimp Hook in the St. Marys River.

I fished the upper river on Friday with my daughter. We were targeting bowfin with shiners and my prototype weedless shiner hook. We caught a few bowfin up to 4 pounds and even a nice 8 to 9-inch warmouth, but the catch of the day was Ellie’s nice bass that ate her shiner. She fought it for a couple minutes before lipping the 20-incher. After a few photos, we released it. The weedless hook has worked great during field-testing for the last year in both fresh and saltwater (great for working shrimp across shell beds!). It will go on the market in the near future.

OKEFENOKEE SWAMP

The fishing effort has been almost zero this week in the swamp. The main report is anglers fishing the boat basin on the east side are catching a few bowfin per trip. The most recent water level (Folkston side) was 121.24 feet.

LOCAL PONDS

Jimmy Zinker was the only angler who reported from ponds this week, and he fished Tuesday and Thursday. On Tuesday he fished a north Florida lake and caught 2 bass on topwaters. The bite was a little better Thursday. He fished a Worth County pond and caught 6 bass on spinnerbaits. The big ones eluded him, but he had fun pulling on fish! The crappie should be biting with the cooler water temperatures, but I didn’t get any reports for them.

SALTWATER (GA COAST)

Young man on a boat holds up a caught fish with both hands.

Cason Chonko put it on the trout and redfish this week while fishing with Capt. Tim Cutting. He caught this oversized redfish and lots of others on both live shrimp and artificials.

Saltwater fishing has been great this week on the days that you could get out. The bite improved as the week went on and the big tides subsided. Lots of trout and redfish were reported. A couple of Brunswick anglers fishing on Wednesday tried to catch some flounder but couldn’t get their lures through the trout and redfish. They didn’t catch any flatties but ended up fooling 20 trout and a few reds on Zombie Eye Jigheads and plastics. Another Brunswick angler fishing in the early morning this week got 5 bites on topwater while targeting trout. He only landed one, but it was a solid 16-incher. Capt. Tim Cutting (fishthegeorgiacoast.com) had great trips on Tuesday through Thursday this week as the tides improved. Each day was about the same with his folks catching lots of trout and redfish from around oyster mounds. Limits of keeper redfish were not hard to come by. He had a limit of trout on Tuesday then only kept about 10 trout the other two days. The quality of trout was good – when they caught trout, they were mostly nice keeper fish. Live shrimp on Redfish Wrecker Jigheads (3/8-oz, 5/0 hook) produced lots of his redfish, while Fourseven plastics on Zombie Eye Jigheads hammered most of the trout. Through the 3 trips, they caught about a dozen oversized redfish and also a few black drum each day. He enjoyed watching young Cason Chonko put on a clinic catching lots of fish on Thursday! Capt. Scott Owens (southeasternangling.com) fished last week before the big tides and wind and did well in the Brunswick area. His charters had some pretty trout and reds on both artificials and live bait. Jay Turner walked the bank in the Savannah area on Thursday morning for about a half hour and cast a Gulp shrimp under a float. He caught and released 7 redfish and a flounder with the rig. I didn’t get any good reports from docks or piers during the big tides and winds this weekend. After your next trip to the Georgia coast, drop off your fish carcasses in the freezer at the Waycross Fisheries Office at 108 Darling Avenue. The Coastal Resources Division collects most inshore saltwater species so that they can determine age and growth for each species. All the supplies and information cards are in the freezer. Filet your fish then drop off the carcasses in the freezer. Wat-a-melon Bait and Tackle in Brunswick is now open every day. On Mon-Thursday their hours are 6:30-10am and 2 to 5pm and Friday through Saturday from 6:30am to 5pm, and Sunday 6am to 5pm. They have plenty of lively shrimp and also have live worms and crickets for freshwater. They’re on Hwy 303 just north of Hwy 82. For the latest information, contact them at 912-223-1379.

Blog Contributer Capt. Bert Deener guides fishing trips in southeast Georgia and makes a variety of both fresh and saltwater fishing lures. Check his lures out at Bert’s Jigs and Things on Facebook. For a copy of his latest catalog, call or text him at 912-288-3022 or e-mail him (bertdeener@yahoo.com).