One Crazy Year
Summer time fishing means early mornings, happy fish, light tackle and fly rods. It’s my favorite time of the year and I dream all fall, winter, and spring about it.
2020 has been absolutely nuts to say the least and honestly we can not wait for it to be over. Covid, elections, no toilet paper, shortages on food, stay at home orders, travels restrictions, check points………..I mean you guys and gals know what I’m talking about. So….what did you all do? I really would love to know so drop us an email.
Boating in some states was shut completely down but, here in Georgia we were very lucky to still be permitted to boat, fish, and enjoy Mother Nature and all the vitamin D we wanted.
So picture this, for those of you who don’t spend time on the water everyone was off work, bored, and somehow they all found boats, kayaks, canoes, paddle boards, and whatever they needed to get on the water. Rob and I were blessed, and have some amazing clients as I shared with you all in the last fishing report I posted. We got through and have been very lucky to be as busy as we could ever want to be.
The Good
There was some good that came out of all this. Fathers got to be dads and mothers got to be moms and kids well they got to have the longest summer ever! Families were able to spend time together and I know some of you were driving others in your house crazy but in all there has been a silver lining in all this. I saw families spending time together and if kids need anything in this crazy world its more support from home and less tiktok, Youtube, Facebook, Instagram, hell just less phones and technology. It’s a different world these days. woods are empty, streets are quiet, parks are closed, and time outdoors has been replaces with group chats, video games, and computers. It’s sad times for sure.
Fishing
Summer time fishing has been great! It all started in late spring when the big triple tail showed up. There were some serious trash can lids out there early on in the season and I had my best day ever with some great local clients The Corbitt’s. We landed many fish in the 12-15lb range and saw groups of 5 to 20 fish floating on the surface. This was something I have only seen a few times in my 24 years of guiding. My best fish this season was 18lbs which is a good bit smaller than last seasons 32lb fish that came off of a marker in one of our channels.. I did not fish the markers this season as we got busy beach and reef fishing early and that took my concentration off triple tail and put it on cobia, kingfish, and more.
Near shore and Reef fishing
Cobia stole the show early in May. Big fish moved through early and we had several days where we caught 8-12 fish. Obviously this was a fly and light tackle anglers dream! Kingfish, Spanish, and Bonita were also plentiful and hearing the drag scream with any of these rocket ships brings a smile to anyones face. As Summer time arrived, Cobia remained plentiful but the size declined. We caught lots of short fish with a few making the legal cut. Kingfish swarmed the nearshore wrecks in early June and are still thick on the nearshore wrecks and reefs to this day. Jacks of various sizes also invaded these structures from May to present and added some welcome explosions on topwater lures as well as flies. We are also catching some bull redfish, solid black sea bass, and even some grouper on some of the less pressured areas.
Inshore Fishing
The Summer time fishing Inshore bite has been pretty steady. Fish are still biting even with water temps in the upper 80’s, which is typical for summertime in south Georgia. There are lots of smaller trout around with some windows of solid fish in the mix. Redfish of all sizes continue to cooperate as do flounder when you get to right tide. Early morning topwater fishing continues to produce the best quality fish (when conditions are right) but as we slip into fall the fishing and quality of fish will improve rapidly. As far as the kids trip action goes, whiting have been large and plentiful until recently, but sharks and ladyfish have kept the rods bent since.
Tarpon
I’ll apologize in advance for the lack of social media content over the past few months. Most of you know that the Tarpon game is essentially all that Rob and I play from June through August. I promise you will get your photo and video fix in the next few weeks as we have had a stellar season overall. We have been booked the entire season for several months prior, and the more info that we post on the web means more boaters following and unknowingly running over fish, etc. We make long runs to fish quiet less pressured areas to provide the best experience for our paying clients. Please keep this in mind when you see us and decide to “check out thew area” or just be plane ignorant and act like you don’t know you are doing wrong by following us around. When people see us or follow us they run their outboards and run around which in turn messes up fishing for everyone. Unfortunately this is becoming more and more of a problem every year, not only from weekend warriors, but from out of town anglers and other guides as well and it’s not acceptable.
2021 tarpon season is booking up fast.
If you want to get in on the fly and light tackle sight fishing for tarpon game here in Coastal Georgia, get your calendar for 2021 in line and give us a ring or email here as we are already booking next years trips and days are going fast. Plan on at least 2 days with us for the best experience and make sure you practice your accuracy with a spinning rod and that you can handle an 11 or 12 weight fly rod because we will put you on the fish but its your job to connect to them.
As far as the fishing has gone, It has been a bit different with some weather changes periodically that are unusual for summer time here in South Georgia. We get the fish pretty dialed in, then everything changes and we have to piece the puzzle back together. It seems to be epic for a few days, then it’s a little tougher for a few but man have we been part of some great fishing and memories this year with some fantastic friends/clients. This type of fishing with all the challenges and the rewards that you get for putting in the effort is without a doubt why Rob and I do what we do. It is absolutely why I am here and why I play this game for a living. I can’t wait to make some more memories tomorrow. We do occasionally bait fish when necessary but most of our success this year has been on fly tackle or light tackle spinning gear paired up with the unbeatable DOA Lures!
