One of the greatest overlooked opportunities for the outdoors in this state is river fishing. Ask most Georgians about river fishing, and we talk about the mountains and trout. That misses the mark these days, especially in our corner.
We have the Ocmulgee, the Oconee, the Apalachee, the South River, the Chattahoochee, Savannah River, all within an hour or two, at most. These rivers are filled with awesome fish. In October as the weather cools, river fishing becomes a lot of fun, mainly because you get rid of all the tubers and such.
The difference between river fishing and lake fishing boils down to the fish. These fish will be in specific locations and current breaks. Ambush points in the river are things such as big rocks, a gravel bar that drops off sharply at the tip, a big hole rimmed with rocks, or a tree in the river. Things like that provide a current break so a fish can wait and not spend as much energy to feed. For those of you who have trout fished think, about where you look for brown trout and you will find bass.
Next is the how. Not many of these places are going to hold your 21-foot Ranger bass boat or the bay boats so many of us run these days. Nope. This is a place for a canoe, kayak, drift boat, raft, or even to wade. A boat has got to be able to be dragged over bars, pushed under trees and float in inches. You don’t need 200 tackle boxes or a 100-quart Yeti to do this. You need three or four Plano boxes and a selection of plastics to mimic crawfish, baitfish and worms, of course. Grab two or three rods that you can throw multiple styles of bait on. I recommend a spinning rod for the lighter baits. You need water to drink, snacks, and on long floats, your lunch. Pack lightly and carefully because at some point in the day you will be dragging that weight!
In the Chattahoochee and its tributaries, you will find our state fish, the shoal bass. Probably the most famous part of its territory is the Flint River. Yeah, the one that, “country music” singer talks about. It’s got lots more than catfish. It’s got good shoal bass fishing. Your traditional baits will work just fine for shoalies. However, the cool thing about river fishing is the fish are aggressive. These fish struggle to survive. They must chase down their prey in current and don’t have a lot of time to think about it. They just react. This makes topwater an incredible bait. Spooks, High Rollers, frogs, toads and poppers are all good choices and will catch big fish.
Did you know there was a smallmouth fishery within an hour and a half of where we now sit? The Savannah River above Augusta has a fishable population of smallies. If you want to drive two hours, you can get to a river in South Carolina where you have a legitimate chance of catching a 5-pound smallmouth. Topwaters work for these fish as well for most of the year, but I have caught far more on lipless cranks, flukes and shakey head-style jigs rigged with 4-inch worms and Senkos than anything else.
Here in the Lake Country, we have the Apalachee River and the Oconee River right on top of us. The App has some very good red eye bass fishing if you get around or above the Highway 441 bridge. These are small fish, though, so fly fishing is a great option or running tiny cranks and things like Ned Rigs. The Oconee has great striper fishing, too, during the summer. You will need to be above the Highway 15 bridge, though, at the Iron Horse to start to get into those.
The Ocmulgee is an old favorite of mine, though. One of my dearest friends, Bill Prince, (who has this year gone on to glory) took me over there for the first time probably 15 years ago. We would often put in at the Lake Jackson dam and float down all day to the takeout below Smith Shoals. The river leading up to Smith Shoals was a great spot to catch largemouth, spotted bass and shoal bass. Bill was always hunting for one big bass. He was the only person I ever saw throw 8-inch topwater baits all the time. He loved the High Roller baits. Shoot, if you were floating in front of him and not paying attention you would think someone was lobbing artillery at you when that bait landed nearby. He once caught a 4-pound spotted bass from right under me with one of those. The bass hit the bait, and I got wet. We had so many great floats; Bill, his son William, grandson Hunter, Randy Vining, and many others. I learned a lot back then from them. These floats are a ton of fun and a great way to spend a day or afternoon.
River fishing baits to look for:
Zoom flukes. We never fooled much with super or tiny flukes. Just the fluke rigged weedless on a rubber worm hook.
Shakey head jigs. My favorite is the Spot Remover head. I make sure to always have one-eighth and one-fourth-ounce sizes. Colors don’t matter.
Senko worms. Standard senkos in pumpkin, black, anything works. Pick your favorite and run with it.
Yum Dingers. I loved these. All colors. It’s a small 4-inch or so straight worm.
Rat-L-Traps. Listen folks — you will learn with me that I always have one of these around.
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Wintertime the jig bite will get good. I usually fish the Hack Attack jigs and anything else by Stanley.
Line. I typically fished braid around 6- to 8-pound test diameter with a 10-pound fluorocarbon leader.
Rods. 6-feet-8 inch medium spinning rods 6-feet-6 inch to 7 feet casting rods medium heavy to heavy.
Reels: You want good drag! These fish will fight you to the very end. This ain’t a lake bass. A 2-pound shoal bass will drag a 10-pound lake largemouth backwards through the water.
Boats. The Old Town canoes are great affordable options. Native and Wilderness Systems make wonderful kayaks.
Outdoors columnist James Press can be reached at pressleyoutdoors@gmail.com.
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