Well it was a colder than usual winter and in this Coastal Georgia Fishing Report May 2025 we’re going to discuss the past month and what to expect in the months to come.
After having a spring for the first time I can remember in years temperatures have spiked into the mid to upper 80s. Most years it seems like we go from a freeze one week to 90° the next, but this year has been different. We are expecting temperatures in the upper 80 and even 90 later this week. Water temperatures have fluctuated between the mid to upper 70s and into the low 80s over the past month. This has brought in an unbelievable amounts of bait fish like menhaden, mullet, glass minnows and more
With warming temps comes the rains. We were before the past week around 6-7 inches below historical norms. That’s changed some as we have had several inches here on the coast. Inland however has seen flooding rains and we expect all that fresh water to reach the coast sooner than later.
Land locked!
For the past week we have been stuck on land due to this weather. Winds have been light, but the threat of thunderstorms with violent lightning, hail, and gusty wind has persisted every day. Most of this weather has stayed miles to inland and very little has actually made it to the coast.
Before the end of last week.(may 9th) fishing was consistent for this time of year. Shallow water/flats fishing for red drum aka redfish was good. Fish are still schooled up on the flats and we had some really awesome sight fishing all the way up until last week when if really rained and the water on flats turn to mud.
Pre Rain
Prior to that the fish were really swimming shallow and feeding on small minnows and shrimp. Rushing full speed ahead with mouths open as small shrimp jumped out of the water trying to escape. Some of these would land on the mud and seagulls were dive down and pick them off. It’s a vicious circle of life as one of my clients said. “if I had to come back from the dead I wouldn’t want to be a shrimp. Verything eats a shrimp” as he laugh and cast at a fish in 4 inches of water. I said look his eyes are completely out of the water!
Oblivious to our presence the fly landed about 6 inches in front of the fish. he stopped as the ripples of water reached his body and on the first small twitch of the fly, he rushed up so hard to eat the fly, he actually knocked it out out of the way. on the second strip, he spun around and ate it! As my client shouted out “oh my God, did you see that” like I would have not been watching lol. I have to admit I have seen more than my share of cool eats by fish. This however shocked even me as I said “man that’s one aggressive the fish”.
As I reached out to grab the fish I was shocked at how fat it was and couldn’t help but think about the old days.
click the link below to see a couple redfish crawling across the skinny!
Inshore and Family trips
Spring break came and went and while business was good and the bite was awesome it seemed slower than years past. We think the economy had a lot to do with it. Retirement/stock market accounts were down and sky rocketing travel costs didn’t help either. Hotels have become outrageous for most families and renting a house is just as costly. Airfare and gas are not cheap either and we know fishing is a big expense as well.
Quick note
We completely feel the pain. In the last 5 years the cost of boats, motor, electronics, trailer, trolling motors, bait, ice, tackle, fuel, insurance, permits, launch fees, dockage, taxes, and so much more have also sky rocketed. Not one of those mentioned above went up less than 30% and a couple have close to doubled.
We did what we could do to keep costs down and have not raised rates since 2019 but we finally had to go up. As a team we hated to go up but we ended up making the group decision to do so. Southeastern Angling kept it as minimal as possible but due to the daily cost to just run a trip not to mention yearly costs such as boats, insurance and tax’s we had to and we hope everyone understands.
Moving on to Summer
Let’s talk about summer. I for one I’m ready for it to get here. April and May seem to be some of the harder months to inshore fish here in Coastal Georgia. Fish especially Speackled Sea Trout are moving from their winter time spots to their summertime retreats gearing up for their annual spawn. Most of the fish we catch in those two months are in random spots never seeming to stay long enough to develop a pattern. We find most of them in areas with structure and deeper water from the 10 to 20 foot range.
Live bait becomes scarce at the marinas as our shrimp get too large to fish with and some bait stores have to bring in shrimp from Florida at a cost of $50 a quart to guides and recreational fisherman. That same bait was $25 a quart pre 2020. Redfish can play Houdini and a flat filled with them can be completely empty in a tide cycle from my experience. I think the fish moved to deep water and feed on squid and crabs and larger shrimp that moved to these areas as water temperatures are more consistent. This time of year water temperatures can make 10° swings and just a day With cool nights and hot days. These temps can fluctuating as much as 40° sometimes.
Near Shore bottom fishing
Just offshore of Jekyll Island and St. Simons Island, there are numerous artificial reefs: some old concrete rubble from bridges that couldn’t stand the test of time, others from a shrimp boat that sprung a leak and sank in the dead of night. These areas are alive in the winter and spring months. We would much prefer fishing on these near-shore fish havens in late winter through late spring. There you will find Black Seabass, red snapper, triggerfish, weakfish, sheep’s head, and more in the winter months as temperatures rise. Some of the migratory species start to show up, and we catch Cobia, spadefish, Spanish and king mackerel, and more. The only problem with these trips is the weather in the ocean in the spring. The wind generally blows in, and the ocean is not as forgiving as our protected inshore waters.
