Where to start - St. Simons Area

Hey all,

We have been going to St. Simons and Jekyl for our anniversary trip in May for years now and have finally decided to just move there. (closing mid Sept.) We have always hauled the small boat down and fished the salt marshes and creeks for redfish and specs, with a few close in charters for shark. But in anticipation of moving there, we have purchased a nice Hydra Sport 25 WA with twin 150 Hondas. I also supplemented my arsenal of inshore and surf rods with a pair of Connley 7' Kinfish rods and Penn Fathom FTH40LWs spooled with 40lb mono.

My question is, what would be a good way to start in mid Sept. off the GA coast? I know how to find Blacktips and Spinners behind the shrimp boats in spring and early summer, and have some idea about how to find some bull reds in the inlets in early fall. But we would like to try our hand at something a little offshore - maybe some trolling for Spanish or Kings or some bottom fishing. But I know very very little (might as well say nothing) about what is out there, what to look for, or what techniques to use. Some reports are great , but assume one already knows how to fish the area and most of the videos on You Tube are just "Watch us catch fish" with very little in the way of explaining techniques, why the fish are there, or even time of year so that one might begin to get an understanding of how to figure things out.

So, any advice on what might be a good starting point for the GA coast in fall- species and technique wise - would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks and tight lines!

Charter will cut the learning curve quickly

Since you are internet savvy I would suggest researching past threads for what you would like to learn, search features are user friendly for this purpose. The advice above about a charter is dead on and may be why not many others chimed in. Going off shore to some of the artificial reefs and catching seas bass was pretty easy for us on a charter trip.

I can tell you from experience it doesn't do you any good to post something on any GON thread with a belittling tone. Someone would've responded but maybe they were busy fishing. Of the 100 people who checked this thread maybe 3 had a boat like yours for private use...my tin can has never left the mouth of the river.

Cheers, welcomes to the golden isles. It is a wonderful place and you are well setup to enjoy what it has with that sweet boat. Since you know the island through vacation what is your favorite restaurant? Post some of your success on here once you get it.

mattuga said:

Since you are internet savvy I would suggest researching past threads for what you would like to learn, search features are user friendly for this purpose. The advice above about a charter is dead on and may be why not many others chimed in. Going off shore to some of the artificial reefs and catching seas bass was pretty easy for us on a charter trip.

I can tell you from experience it doesn't do you any good to post something on any GON thread with a belittling tone. Someone would've responded but maybe they were busy fishing. Of the 100 people who checked this thread maybe 3 had a boat like yours for private use...my tin can has never left the mouth of the river.

Cheers, welcomes to the golden isles. It is a wonderful place and you are well setup to enjoy what it has with that sweet boat. Since you know the island through vacation what is your favorite restaurant? Post some of your success on here once you get it.

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Thank you. We have taken many charters, but usually in May when we are there for our anniversary vacation, and mostly inshore. I have been going back some in the threads, though only a year or two so far. I'll keep looking.

Crab Daddy's!! The broiled Grouper with Cajun Crawfish Cream Sauce is to die for.

Scallen said:

Thank you. We have taken many charters, but usually in May when we are there for our anniversary vacation, and mostly inshore. I have been going back some in the threads, though only a year or two so far. I'll keep looking.

Crab Daddy's!! The broiled Grouper with Cajun Crawfish Cream Sauce is to die for.

Click to expand...

Don't forget the Grit Fritters and for dessert the Bread Pudding

I have a hydra sports vector! I can give you some tips on bottom fishing and trolling for macks!

I would say, first of all, it will take some time to learn where to find the fish, how to fish for them, etc. Be ready to put in the time and expense of offshore fishing to be successful at it. For me, it was a lot of trial and error, and I am still learning.

OK, so for kingfish, most I know troll live bait and they want pogies, the bigger the better. They can usually be found just off the St. Simons beach. I can send you exact coordinates of where I found them a few weeks ago. Once you find them, which can be an art, you need to learn to cast a net over them. Look for diving pelicans, and small squirts of water on the surface. Even multiple seagulls can give them away. I have a 5/8" 10ft net with 1.5 pounds lead/foot. Put several dozen in the live well and head to the nearest artificial reef. put them on a kingfish rig and troll very slowly. I tie my own kingfish rigs, but just learning, just buy them at a tackle shop.

Bottom fishing is the easiest to learn, just get some large egg sinkers, like 8oz and some 6/0 hooks. tie a carolina rig and drop it over some structure with some cut squid. look for the georgia artificial reefs booklet on the Coastal DNR site. put them into your chartplotter. The hardest thing here is anchoring exactly over the structure.

When I bottom fish, I prefer to slow drift over live bottom areas, like 40 mile Brunswick banks, your boat can get you there easily. I also prefer this area because of the wider variety of fish you can catch. It seems to me, that inside 20 miles, is mostly just small Black sea bass (BSB). It is deeper at 40 mile, like 100-120 ft.

That's all I have for now. Any additional questions, just ask or PM me. good luck.

Thanks guys!

I appreciate the info. We are actually getting to come down this Thursday and Friday and may fish some Thursday if we get there in time - though probably just in the inlet for bull reds. Maybe go out a little ways and look for bait schools where we might get into some bluefish or spanish mackrel. We caught some of both off the Tybee pier a couple weeks ago. Do y'all think they will still be around?

I have already looked up the artificial reefs, though I have not had the chance to put them in the Garmin yet. I'll probably take it slow going out that far - I've been way out in both the Atlantic and the Pacific, but never as the pilot. I've been a ways out on Lake Superior, but you know, on the Great Lakes you don't get eaten if you end up floating for a while. So I am going to take it slow and get comfortable with the boat and the ocean before running out that far with just me and the wife.

I'm going to semi-retire, so I will certainly be putting in the time Of course a knowledgeable fishing buddy wouldn't hurt any thing. The boat should fish three or four fairly comfortably, which will be a nice change - usually it's either go with a buddy or go with the wife. It will be nice to be able to do both at the same time.

Dont forget to save some budget for safety gear like EPIRB and/or PLBs. also VHF with DSC distress calling with MMSI programmed in.