Fishing has been pretty good! The seatrout have provided the best action. Seatrout can be found in the creeks and rivers. Don Adams, Adams Bait House, has been able to find shrimp south of Savannah. These shrimp are white shrimp that have made it through the winter. Most of these shrimp have been large but subsequent drags have produced smaller shrimp. Super large aren’t a very good bait for trout fishing. Super large shrimp are best for frying up and eating. Anticipate shrimp to become scare in the coming weeks as white shrimp move to the sounds. Brown shrimp will appear around the 1st of June. Seatrout will also take a wide variety of platics. The criteria is often flash. Seatrout are primary sight feeders. Bright colors are usually the best. When in doubt fish a white Berkeky glup bait. Redfish can be found on or around mud flats. A good indicator of when to fish for reds is when bait shows up. High outgoing can be a prime time to target reds as they feed on mullet coming out grass. Another prime time is towards low tide just as the current slows. Hard fast moving water is less fishy for reds. Looks for slower currents, clean water and bait fish.
Last Saturday Capt.”Wild Bill” Jarrell and I fished in the Savannah Redfish Tour (artificial only) Tournament. Lots of fancy go fast boats. Quite a spectacle! I believe there were 41 boats. My understanding is these tournaments are only going to become more popular in the coming years.. I believe about half the boats produced a goose egg. The other half turned in some nice fish. The good news is none of these were killed. We finished 4th with two 23 inch fish weighting 9.37 pounds. Tournaments can and do provide opportunities to reacquaint with old friends and making new friends. As fishing for redfish becomes more popular, practicing catch and release will become important! Encourage your friends to do likewise.
Water is in the mid sixties. Whiting and sharks are in the sounds but a strong southeast wind this week has made fishing around the bars sloppy. When fishermen have ducked out of wind fish can be caught but the bite has only been fair. As conditions continue to improve the whiting/shark bite will heat up!
Good Fishing!
Capt. Jack McGowan