Naked Fly Fishing Charters - Saint Mary's, Georgia - Captain Eric Norberg

April fishing report for St. Mary’s, Ga

 

With spring weather coming waters will start warming up and bringing a lot of fish into the estuaries.  Let’s start with the black drum. They are beginning to move into deep holes off the intercoastal and deep river mouths. This is where you will find the “big bruisers”.  Best baits to be used are half of a blue crab and cut mullet.  Also, you will find them up on the oyster flats where you can sight fish for them using jigs.  Next on the agenda, we will get into speckled trout.  They are being spotted on the oyster flats chasing spring time bait fish.  Techniques for landing these trout will be early morning top water baits, such as Unfair Lures; the dawg walker & the pauls unfair mullet.   More towards the afternoon go to a sub-suspending twitch bait, such as the pauls rip-n-slash 90 or 70.  If you can not find trout up on the flats, go to deep water rivers bends and docks. I suggest using an ⅛ oz jig in either a mudminnow pattern or an electric chicken.  For you redfish fishermen, numbers of slot size reds are going to push up onto the grass flats during flood tides.  Best technique for chasing these tailing reds are white with a chartreuse tail plastic, rigged weedless.  Or for you fly fishermen, this will be matching the hatch, which is shrimp and fiddler crab patterns.  Now at low tide, redfish will be cruising the oyster beds.  Best baits to use are a mudminnow pattern jig or a gold spoon.  On to the Jetties.  Sheepshead will be tucked tight to the rocks along with black sea bass.  Deeper in the channel you will also find black drum and bull reds.  Spanish mackerel will be coming in closer to the end of the month.  Best ways to catch spanish mackerel are using a silver spoon.  This is April’s fishing report from Capt’n Eric Norberg.