With a new month comes a fresh start, and plenty of opportunities to get outside, spend some time on the water and wet a line. Whether you’re heading out for an early morning trip or spending the day on your favorite river, September has plenty of fishing opportunities to enjoy. What are your fishing plans this month?
NEWS TO KNOW
- Fishing Info-Other Parts of the State: Looking for fishing tips for other areas of the state? Visit our past 2 weeks of reports to see Central Georgia and North Georgia. If you need more, check out the fishing forecasts for 31 lakes and 18 rivers at GeorgiaWildlife.com/fishing-forecasts.
- Try Trout Fishing: Georgia has some great trout fishing opportunities and offers a weekly stocking report so you can see recently stocked locations. Visit GeorgiaWildlife.com/Fishing/Trout for more information!
- Find Fishing Information: Visit GeorgiaWildlife.com/fishing/angler-resources to find tons of fishing information for you to use: fishing forecasts, fish ID, links to angler reward programs and so much more!
Make the most of the new month and plan a trip to Go Fish Georgia!
SOUTHEAST GEORGIA
(Fishing report courtesy of Don Harrison and Joel Fleming, Region Supervisors for SE Georgia fisheries, with help from Region Staff and Local Experts)
Captain Bert Deener with a Spanish Mackerel
Thanks to Joshua Barber for a lot of the information gathered below.
Despite the hot weather the fishing continues to be pretty good in August, especially for bass and catfish in the river and PFAs.
River Gages as of September 3rd:
- Doctortown on the Altamaha – 4.2 feet and stable
- Lumber City on the Ocmulgee – 1.5 feet and falling
- Clyo on the Savannah – 2.9 feet and rising
- Statenville on the Alapaha – 3.2 feet and rising
- Alapaha on the Alapaha – 3.0 feet and steady
- Waycross on the Satilla – 8.5 feet and rising
- Atkinson on the Satilla – 5.8 feet and rising
- Quitman on the Withlacoochee – 4.1 feet and falling
- Macclenny on the Saint Marys – 3.1 feet and falling
- Fargo on the Suwannee – 5.4 feet and rising
- Eden on the Ogeechee – 6 feet and falling
ALTAMAHA RIVER
The bass fishing has been good and steady the last couple weeks. A bass tournament
Pictured: Eli & Kevin Carey
was held in the middle of the month, and the winner had a 19 lbs bag. Last week two anglers boated 15 bass. Justin Harrison recently caught a couple nice fish that weighed 5 lbs 3oz & 4 lbs 2 oz. Bill Stewart and Capt. Bert Deener fished the upper river this last week and caught and released a mixed bag of 39 fish (bass, bowfin, crappie, bluegill, & Florida gar). They used worms, Dura-Spins, Wobble Blades, and a Bladed Fly.
SATILLA RIVER
Bass fishing has also been consistently good on the Satilla River in the last couple weeks with a few quality sized fish being caught. Justin Harrison and his dad fished the river today (August 13th) and they caught 7 bass (biggest weighed around 3.5-lbs), 6 bluegill, 2 crappie, and a redbreast. The catfish bite on the Satilla has also been very good. On August 22, the Catfish Legends held a tournament out of Burnt Fort Landing, and it took 79.1 lbs of catfish to win the tournament. The biggest fish weighed in was a 45.6 lbs flathead catfish and a new river record blue catfish that weighed in at 35 lbs even was caught during the tournament.
WITHLACOOCHEE RIVER
Jim O’Conner catching bass on the Withlacoochee River.
Jim O’Conner had several very good trips for bass on the Withlacoochee. In the last couple weeks Jim has landed 29 largemouth bass and 15 Suwannee bass. A couple of the largemouth tipped the scales at 5 lbs. His best baits have been a 4-inch finesse worm on a free rig and a finesse chatterbait with a finesse craw trailer. Black and blue were his best colors.
OGEECHEE RIVER
Fishing has been tough this week in the Ogeechee. The river is pretty low right now, making navigation from many boat ramps difficult. Anglers that are able to get out in the deeper sections of the river are reporting decent catches of redbreast.
SMALL IMPOUNDMENTS
Again bass has been the king in August. Ken Burke has made several trips to Dodge and Ocmulgee PFAs and he has been consistently catching decent numbers of fish with several 3-4 lbs class fish. Ken reported that the fish have been scattered and he has caught them in water depths of 4’- 24’ of water. The fish in the deeper water were busting shad on the surface, so they were not below the thermocline. Similar reports have come in from a couple other anglers on Ocmulgee PFA. These anglers reported catching up to 12 bass per trip with the biggest fish in the 5 lbs class. One of these anglers also landed 15 bluegill with the biggest weighing in at 1.5 lbs. Anglers at Paradise PFA have reported some good bluegill action while fishing worms on the bottom in lake Patrick. Fishing for catfish at Evans County PFA has produced
Captain Bert Deener with Bowfin catch.
some fairly consistent results over the last couple weeks, with most success in the early morning and late evening. Private ponds have also produced several nice catches of largemouth bass. Jimmy Zinker fished at a Turner County area pond and caught 13 nice bass. The biggest one of the trip weighed around 4 pounds. An angler fished at a Valdosta area lake last week and landed two big bass (around 6 pounds). Justin Harrison fished at a private lake last Wednesday and caught two giant bass (7-lbs. 1-oz. and 8-lbs. 7-oz.). The 8-lbs. 7-oz. is his personal best bass.
OKEFENOKEE SWAMP
The boat ramp on the west side at the state park is now open. Stephen Fsoter State Park was officially renamed Okefenokee State Park this last week, so look for the name change on DNR’s website if looking to book any reservations. The bowfin bite using inline spinner baits, such as the Dura-spin, is always a good bet this time of year in the swamp. Captain Bert Deener offers guided fishing trips in the Okefenokee. To book a trip with him, visit his website bertsjigsandthings.com
SALTWATER
Don Harrison’s flounder catch
Several reports of good numbers of trout, redfish, and flounder have come in the last couple weeks. Have also heard of some triple tail and sheepshead being boated recently. Of course, the silver kings are still around if you would like to chase some tarpon. Joshua and Shane Barber fished the Brunswick area recently and caught around 15 trout and a redfish. All the fish were caught on plastic grubs and swimbaits. Kim Arnsdorf fished with Captain Tim Cutting (fishthegeorgiacoast.com) earlier this week and caught 21 flounder. Kim caught one that pulled the scales down to 6 pounds. Rolando Sanchez and Captain Tim fished August 27th in the Saint Simons area, and they managed to land 16 redfish (some were overslots), 2 flounder, and 10 trout. The fish ate plastic grubs and Fourseven Provoker 3.5-inch paddle tail swimbaits.
FISH A SOUTHEAST GEORGIA PUBLIC FISHING AREA!
OCMULGEE PUBLIC FISHING AREA
DODGE PUBLIC FISHING AREA
Bluegill caught at Ocmulgee PFA
Nice catch at Ocmulgee PFA
HUGH GILLIS PUBLIC FISHING AREA
PARADISE PUBLIC FISHING AREA