Category Archives: Where To Fish

How Can I Catch Fall Georgia Largemouth?

October tactics for catching Georgia fall largemouths

October is an outstanding month to fish for bass in Georgia. The air has a crisp coolness not felt since early last spring, the leaves are turning beautiful colors, the water is nice and clear and it is a joy to be outdoors. But best of all Georgia largemouth are on a feeding rampage and you can catch them in lots of different ways.

Cooling water in Georgia lakes in October makes bass become more active for several reasons. It stimulates both male and female bass to feed up and store fat reserves for the coming cold months. Female bass have the added need to feed because of developing eggs that must be mature as soon as the water warms next spring. And the food bass eat is more active in cooler water.

As the water cools on big lakes the shad begin to migrate into the creeks and more shallow arms of the lake, drawing bass with them. Bream become more active, feeding up for winter and the bass take advantage of this activity. And one of their most favorite foods, crayfish, are at the peak of their numbers and are also feeding and getting ready for winter.

Any bait you like to throw will catch bass in the fall. Since bass are so active, a fast moving bait that covers a lot of water will help you find them and catch them. Once you locate schools of bass you can change baits and keep catching them in different ways. And the bass will fight hard in the cooler water no matter what they hit.

Crankbaits are an excellent bait in October. Since the shad and other baitfish are active you can fish them fast and use them as a search bait. A variety of colors work well in different situations this time of year.

Shad colored crankbaits are excellent around open water structure like points, humps and drops. Crawfish colors are good on clay banks and around rocks. And bream colored crankbaits work well around brush, blowdowns and weeds where bream hide.

Spinnerbaits are a good choice to cover water and catch quality fish, and bass hooked on spinnerbaits tend to stay buttoned up better then they do on crankbaits. Use white spinnerbaits with silver blades in clear water or white and chartreuse skirted baits with gold and silver combinations blades if the water has some stain to it.

Fish spinnerbaits around shallow cover like blowdowns, brush and grass in the water, but don’t hesitate to throw them on rocky or clay banks, too. Start by running them just under the surface for the most active bass but also slow roll them down deeper if the bass are not coming to the top to hit.

Topwater baits are the most fun baits to fish and bass eat them readily this time of year. Buzzbaits are great and bass will often explode on one run across shallow cover. White buzzbaits with silver blades in 3/8ths to 1/2 ounce sizes are excellent since bass are feeding on bigger baitfish and like a big meal.

Poppers can be fished slowly and will draw bass from many feet away, and bass will often come completely out of the water when they hit them. But be ready for a gentle bite when the bait just disappears without a ripple. That might be the biggest bass of the day. Try silver bottom baits and remember that bass see the bait from the bottom when choosing one.

Fish all topwater over any cover you can find, but don’t hesitate to throw them over open water, too. Bass will often come up from several feet down to hit topwater on points and off drops. Bass often suspend this time of year in open water and will come up for a topwater bait, so throw them anywhere you see baitfish activity in open water, too.

If you want to concentrate on big bass, a jig and pig is hard to beat. Bass love crayfish and this bait imitates that slow moving feast. Brown colors in clear water and black with blue or chartreuse in stained water are the usual choices, and they should be fished slowly around all kinds of cover.

Crayfish like to burrow into clay banks to survive the winter, so concentrate on those areas with a jig and pig. They also like rocks, so riprap and rocky banks are another good place to fish them. Crawl your jig and pig along the bottom then make it hop, imitating a crayfish feeding along then jumping away when frightened.

Structure and cover to concentrate on this time of year includes rocky and clay points, rock and clay banks, wood cover like brushpiles, stumps and blowdowns and any kind of grass from hydrilla to water willow. Fish them all until you find what the bass are holding on that day and you can usually duplicate it on other areas of the lake.

The following lakes all offer great bass fishing in October. Pick one near you and give it a try.

High Falls

Located just off I-75 between Macon and Atlanta north of Forsyth, High Falls is a 660 acre lake in a state park. There are two boat ramps, one at the dam and another in Buck Creek, but motors are limited to 10 horsepower or less. You can put in a bass boat with a bigger motor as long as you don’t crank it, using only your trolling motor.

State creel limits of 10 bass per day a minimum of 12 inches long apply at High Falls. You are not allowed to fish at night, you can fish from 30 minutes before sunrise to 30 minutes after sunset.

High Falls is known locally for its big bass, and it has a good population of bass in different year classes. Drop by Berry’s Sporting Goods in Griffin on your way to the lake and admire the 11 pound, 4 ounce bass hanging on the wall for an example of why it has that reputation. Jim caught it at High Falls a few years ago and you can probably pick up some current tips for bass fishing there.

Since High Falls is one of the oldest lakes in Georgia, most of the channels have been silted in over the years. It is ringed by docks and many of them have brush piles. Backs of creeks like Buck Creek, Watkins Bottom and Brushy Creek are filled with stumps, many with bushes growing on them. There are also numerous blowdowns along the bank.

You can fish points at the mouths of the major creeks and wood cover on most areas of the lake. Rocks are hard to find but there are a few, especially in the river above the area where Buck Creek enters. Plan on fishing slowly and working all cover carefully since the motor limit will probably keep you from running all over the lake, anyway.

Juliette

Juliette is about 15 miles east of I-75 and Forsyth, Georgia. This Georgia Power lake was built for cooling the steam plant there and its 3600 acres are surrounded by a wildlife management area, so the only development is the power plant and two parks with boat ramps.

Motors are limited to 25 horsepower and you can use a bass boat with a bigger motor if you don’t crank it, but you will be very limited on a lake this size. You can keep 10 bass a day at Juliette and there is no minimum size. There are no restrictions on times you can fish Juliette and a campground allows you to stay and fish at night if you like.

Juliette produces excellent numbers of big bass but can be difficult to fish. A monthly tournament there usually has several six pound plus bass weighed in, and it often takes five weighing over 15 pounds to win. The lake is not very fertile and that is why there are no size limits on bass.

The water at Juliette is extremely clear and water weeds grow from the shallows to 20 feet deep or more in some areas of the lake. Water for Juliette is pumped in from the Ocmulgee River and there is very little inflow from runoff, hence the clear water and low fertility. Standing trees were left all over the lake when it was filled. The lower lake is covered with trees under the water and the upper lake is almost solid trees above the water.

The grass and trees are the key to Juliette. Locate some of the numerous humps and channels with trees or grass on them and you can catch bass on crankbaits. Use big baits and make long casts in the clear water. Spinnerbaits also work well when fished over the tops of the grass from shallow to deep. Topwater baits are also excellent over and around the grass.

Tobesofkee

Tobesofkee is one of our most urban lakes. Located just west of Macon, it’s 1750 acres of water get very crowded on nice days. There are two parks with ramps run by Bibb County and it is expensive to launch in them, with a cost of about $9 per trip. There are no motor restrictions and you will encounter many ski boats and skidoos.

State creel limits of 10 bass at least 12 inches long apply at Tobesofkee. Night fishing is often good since most of the pleasure boats are off the water after dark. The many lighted boat docks offer bass attractions after dark as well as during the day.

There are good numbers of keeper bass in Tobesofkee and four pound bass are fairly common. A night tournament during the summer, switching to a morning weekend tournament after the weather cools, often produces five bass weighing 15 to 20 pounds for the winner.

In addition to the docks, the lower lake has several bridges with riprap to fish. Long points have rocks on some and brush on others. The upper lake is less developed and you can fish points and drops on it, as well as a few docks and some grassbeds.

Goat Rock

Goat Rock is a river with dams at both ends. Located just north of Columbus, this old lake on the Chattahoochee River has 940 acres of water to fish. There is one small ramp near the dam on the Georgia side of the lake and another public ramp on the upper end on the Alabama side but access is not good. You can launch a bass boat there and there are no motor restrictions.

State creel limits and length limits of 10 bass a minimum of 12 inches long each day apply, and you can use either a Georgia or Alabama fishing license. You can fish at night but this lake can be dangerous with unmarked shallows, so be very careful. Since it is not developed, there will be no lights on docks to help you see.

The population of largemouth is good at Goat Rock and some big fish are caught there each year. You can fish the rocky shoreline of the old river channel and the humps and stump fields in it. There are a good many blowdowns along the steep banks to fish. A couple of small creeks enter and the mouths of them can be good in the fall.

Current plays a big part in the activity of bass at Goat Rock. Bartlett’s Ferry dam is located on the upstream end of the lake, and any time power is being generated there is a good current all through the lake. This makes the largemouth move to cover that breaks the current and they feed there, so use a crankbait or spinnerbait moving with the current past ambush points to catch them.

Banks Lake

Banks Lake is part of a National Wildlife Refuge located just west of Lakeland, about 20 miles north of Valdosta. This lake is actually a Carolina Bay, a natural depression found in south Georgia, with a dam to make it bigger and deeper. There are about 1000 acres of open water to fish but it is surrounded by 1500 acres of marsh and another 1500 acres of cypress swamp.

State creel and size limits apply and there is a free public boat ramp. Although no motor restrictions apply on Banks Lake, its average depth of 5 feet and numerous stumps and logs means you must be very careful in a big boat. The Refuge folks recommend idle speed only.

During the summer Banks Lake is hard to fish because of all the weeds in the water, but by October they are starting to die back and you can find open water to fish. The whole lake looks “fishy” and its waters are full of big largemouth. This is a good place to catch a personal record largemouth.

Fish spinnerbaits over the grass and drop a jig and pig into holes in it. You can find some deeper holes in the open water, up to 15 feet deep, and the bass often hold in the grass around them. Also try pitching a jig and pig to the base of cypress trees. A good tactic is to let it hit the tree trunk and drop straight down into the root ball. You will need heavy tackle for fishing Banks Lake.

Ponds on Fort Stewart

Fort Stewart Army Base near Richmond Hill just west of I-95 has about 20 ponds on it that are open to public fishing. They total about 500 acres although not all are open all the time. You can use a boat in all of them but not all ponds have boat ramps.

The creel and length limits vary for different ponds and can change. Generally there is a 15 inch limit on largemouth but some ponds, like #26, Big Metz, is managed for trophy largemouth and has a 24 inch minimum length. A bass that size will weigh between 8 and 10 pounds! You must check in and get a daily permit to fish, so check current regulations when you go.

Fort Stewart is known for its big largemouth. Since 1992, six of the top 30 largemouth taken in Georgia came from Fort Stewart. All ponds have them and your chance of catching a wall hanger are good. Some ponds are managed for trophy largemouth so concentrate on them if that is your goal.

The ponds at Fort Stewart vary a lot but all of them are full of grass. Fish spinnerbaits and topwater plugs over and around this grass. Pitch a jig and pig into holes in the grass, especially near the deeper water in the pond, for big bass. Use heavy tackle, when a lunker goes into the grass you need heavy rods and strong line to get them out.

All of these waters offer great October fishing in Georgia. All you have to do is decide where to head this month to take advantage of the good fishing.

Fishing Demopolis Lake In Alabama

Sambo caught these two nice bass at Demopolis Lake

Sambo caught these two nice bass at Demopolis Lake

Wednesday I drove to Birmingham and met a young professional fisherman, Sambo Fish, to get information for an Alabama Outdoor News article. We pulled his boat to Demopolis Lake about 70 miles east of Birmingham. I am constantly amazed at the excellent fishing on so many Alabama lakes, even those not well known.

We started fishing shallow grassbeds and caught a few small fish and missed a lot more that hit a jig and pig flipped into the thickest part of the grass. That is fun fishing and you can catch some big fish.

We then went to a river ledge near the mouth of a creek and caught bass after bass on crankbaits, Carolina rigs and other baits. They were all about 14 inches long and fun to catch, but not the big bass we were looking for.

After checking out several more spots we stopped on another river ledge and the bass bit there, too, and were bigger. We caught several in the two to three pound range and he landed a four pound plus bass. Since it was getting later in the day and I had a five hour drive home, we left the fish feeding.

I wanted a picture of a spotted bass for the article and there are some big ones in the lake. We had caught a half dozen in the 13 inch range but they were not nearly as big as the largemouth. So he said he would take me to his “spot” hole where he always caught spots and caught some big ones.

As luck would have it we did catch a few small spots, but he caught seven or eight nice largemouth close to three pounds each. They hit a crankbait out from the rocks where he usually caught spotted bass. I told him he would have to change the name of this hole!

Demopolis is where the Tombigbee and Warrior Rivers come together. Like most river lakes in Alabama, it is narrow with coves and creeks filled with grass beds and wood cover. The river itself has ledges, the tops of the old river channel banks, that are now under water. Bass love both kinds of places.

Current on these lakes moves almost all day and that makes the bass feed better. When the lock at the dam was opened to let in a barge the current increased and the bass bit even better. It is an incredible kind of fishing.

Demopolis has some very nice campgrounds. There are many similar lakes, like Lay and Logan Martin. If you want to experience some great summer fishing, plan a trip to one of them.

Fishing In Florida’s Dry Tortugas

Take this ferry to teh Dry Tortugas

Take this ferry to teh Dry Tortugas

Fishing adventures await in Florida’s Dry Tortugas
from The Fishing Wire

The Dry Tortugas Ferry out of Key West makes it easy to access Dry Tortugas National Park, and you can bring your kayak with you.

A few weeks ago, I had an opportunity to spend four days and three nights on Garden Key in Dry Tortugas National Park; the experience was one that I will never forget. Sneaking up on a tailing 15-pound permit in 12 inches of water, presenting a live crab to it, and having the fish scream off a hundred yards of 20-pound braid on the first run will make your heart pump like just about nothing else!

The Dry Tortugas, a series of very small islands and submerged coral reefs about 70 miles west of Key West, has a rich history and offers some of the most exceptional and exciting fishing opportunities in Florida. While you are there enjoying saltwater fishing, you will also see an array of marine and terrestrial wildlife and have an opportunity to tour historic Fort Jefferson.

Warning! This is not a posh resort. With the exception of the visitor’s center and museum, which are accessible only during the day, Garden Key has no fresh water and no electricity. So if you require air conditioning, hot tubs, cable television, fine restaurants and all the luxuries of home, you might want to consider a day trip instead.

Getting out there

Catch permit like this one in the Dry Tortuga

Catch permit like this one in the Dry Tortuga

Permit and bonefish are abundant on the clear, shallow flats. Live crabs are top bait for the permit.

If you happen to own a sweet, 36-foot offshore boat with triple motors or something comparable, just load up all your fishing and camping gear, fuel up and bust out there. More than likely, your options include a high-speed catamaran, called the Yankee Freedom, that makes one trip per day, a commercial float plane that makes multiple trips per day, depending on demand, or a chartered vessel.

My old, 17-foot Whaler with a 12-gallon tank seemed a little inadequate for the trip, so I opted to take the Yankee Freedom, which arrives at Garden Key at 10:30 a.m. each day and departs for the return trip to Key West at by 2:45 p.m. The ferry holds approximately 150 passengers and makes the trip out there in a little over two hours. The boat is very comfortable, and breakfast and lunch are provided at no additional cost.

If you simply want to do some snorkeling, view the wildlife and tour the fort, a 4.5-hour stay is all you need to have a great day of sightseeing. The ferry has room for only four hard-sided kayaks per trip, so if you intend to camp and fish, reserve space for yourself and your kayak well in advance.

Camping

If you can handle a few days without all the comforts of home and want to enjoy some truly amazing fishing, try camping. At $3 per day per person, camping is very inexpensive, but spaces are limited and on a first-come, first-served basis. Each camping space includes a grill and a picnic table, and your normal camp ground rules apply in terms of quiet hours and keeping things clean. Very nice, waterless restroom facilities are available right next to the camp sites.

Fishing

Visit the fort between fishingtrips

Visit the fort between fishingtrips

The old fort is worth a visit in itself, but the fishing and diving are the true stars for outdoors families.

For starters, the park boundaries encompass around 100 square miles of open water, but only half of the area is open to fishing and anchoring. The rest of the waters of the park make up the Research Natural Area (RNA), designed to provide protection for important shallow-water habitats. Garden Key and Fort Jefferson are within the RNA; however, a 2-mile-diameter fishing area is established around Garden Key. Within that circle, fishing is allowed except in the swimming/snorkeling area adjacent to the fort and within a couple of small coral and nurse shark protection areas. Park rangers will provide information and maps to help you stay within the boundaries.

If you are fishing by kayak (and I would suggest using one), you will be limited to the 2-mile-diameter circle around the fort, as the larger portions of the park (outside the RNA) are too far to reach by kayak. But don’t be alarmed. Within that relatively small fishing area you can catch a huge variety of species.

In the morning or late afternoon, especially during a low tide, scan the flats and you will likely see schools of bonefish cruising in 6 to 10 inches of water in search of crabs. With a little luck you will also see a solitary permit tailing as it digs crabs out of the coral rubble. To catch the bonefish and permit, you need to get pretty close and present your bait quietly to avoid spooking the fish. This can be done from the kayak or by wading, but the key is to keep quiet, cast beyond the fish and drag your bait back to the fish and then let it sink.

The water is clear and fish abundant

The water is clear and fish abundant

The clear water here makes sight fishing easy during the day, and tarpon come cruising the channels after dark.

During the day, the shallow coral reefs in 6 to 25 feet of water are covered with yellowtail snapper, mutton snapper, red grouper, scamp, graysby and various wrasses. You can also move out into the deeper reef areas and catch larger snapper and grouper, but on medium/heavy spinning tackle, the 6- to 9-pound muttons were about all I could handle from a kayak. A variety of pelagics, including yellow jacks, rainbow runners, blackfin tuna and cero mackerel, also move through the area in search of baitfish and squid.

At night, bigger game are afoot. Tarpon in the 80- to 200-pound range are just about everywhere you look and relatively easy to hook up with live bait, dead bait or by trolling diving lures. Huge sharks also cruise around in the boat basin at night and can be hooked directly from the ferry dock. You may also see one of the resident goliath grouper hanging around the dock’s fish-cleaning areas, looking for scraps. I don’t know where else you can do all that in a kayak!

If wildlife viewing is more your thing there is also an 8-foot saltwater crocodile that sometimes visits the moat during the day and several species of shorebirds that nest each summer on Bush Key.

Fishing regulations

The 2-mile-wide fishing bubble around the fort is within state waters of the Gulf of Mexico, so the fishing regulations are pretty simple. Just follow the regulations that apply to state waters of the Gulf and stay within the boundary line.

If you access the Tortugas by private or charter vessel and have the opportunity to fish outside the RNA, things become more tricky, because you have to know the Gulf-Atlantic boundary line as well as the state and federal boundary lines for the Gulf and Atlantic. You will also need to remember that grouper regulations in all state waters off Monroe County follow the regulations for state waters of the Atlantic in terms of seasons, size limits, bag limits and gear requirements.

If you need maps showing the Atlantic-Gulf boundary line, the Dry Tortugas National Park boundary line, or the state waters boundary line around the Dry Tortugas, please send me an email and I will be happy to help you access the maps.

So make your plans for a fishing adventure of a lifetime at the Dry Tortugas, and don’t forget to record all of your catches on the iAngler phone app or at snookfoundation.org. Share your photos, video and fishing tales with us as well by emailing them to Alan.Peirce@MyFWC.com.

Gone Coastal is one of many ways that the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) Division of Marine Fisheries Management is helping recreational anglers understand complex saltwater regulations and learn more about saltwater fishing opportunities and issues in Florida. We are also available to answer questions by phone or email anytime, and we would love the opportunity to share information through in-person presentations with recreational or commercial fishing organizations. To contact the FWC’s Regulatory Outreach subsection call 850-487-0554 or email Alan.Peirce@MyFWC.com.

Fishing Lake Tobesofkee

Have you ever been to Lake Tobesofkee? Less than an hour from Griffin, Georgia, Tobesofkee is a 1750 acre lake owned by Bibb County. It is just west of Macon, about five miles from the I-475 and Georgia Highway 74 interchange, and there is good access although it is expensive to launch a boat.

I was there last week late one afternoon to get information for a Georgia Outdoor News article. I am always amazed at the number and size of bass this small lake can produce. In less than four hours Davey Montford and I landed six bass ranging from one to four pounds. And to make it more exciting, three of them hit topwater baits.

We started fishing at about 5:30 PM and stayed until dark. The fishing often gets even better after dark but we needed to head home. The lake is ringed with very nice houses and many of the docks along its banks have lights that attract baitfish and bass.

The lake is big enough to run a bass boat with no problems. The biggest problem there is the pleasure boat traffic. It is small enough that it is hard to fish during the day on nice weekends. But it shines early in the morning, late in the afternoon and at night.

Davey caught an 8.5 pound bass there last January in a club tournament and has weighed in five bass limits breaking the 20 pound mark several times. He marked ten spots to fish that will be on a map in the magazine in July. Some of them are deeper daytime holes but several are grass beds where we caught the bass on top.

Plan a trip to Tobesofkee one week day afternoon for some fun fishing. And there is an excellent restaurant right on the water if you want to eat dinner. Davey says they have good seafood and I agree!