Savannah / Coastal Georgia Fishing Report — Week of September 17, 2026: Tarpon Still in the Sounds, Bull Reds on the Bars, Trout Turning On

Savannah / Coastal Georgia fishing report for the week of September 17, 2026. The Georgia coast is having one of its best weeks of the year. The tarpon have not left the sounds yet and are feeding on the mullet run, the bull reds have moved onto the bars, and the first cool nights have the trout feeding in the creeks. It is the overlap week every Lowcountry guide circles on the calendar.

What’s Hitting

What’s hot this week is tarpon in the sounds. Fish from 60 to 120 pounds are rolling on the mullet and menhaden pods at the mouths of Wassaw, Ossabaw, and St. Catherines sounds and along the Tybee and Wassaw beaches, and they have been eating live bait at first light. Bull redfish from 30 to 45 inches are on the sandbars and the channel edges at the sound mouths on the falling tide, and along the Tybee beachfront. Slot redfish are tailing in the spartina on the higher tides and schooling on the low-tide flats, and speckled trout have turned on in the creeks and along the oyster edges as the water cools. Flounder are on the creek mouths, and tripletail are still on the floats and markers in the sounds, though thinning out.

Where to Find Them

Tarpon are on the bait pods at the sound mouths and along the beaches, so look for rolling fish and birds off Wassaw Island and along the Tybee south end. Bull reds are on the bars at the mouth of Wassaw Sound, off the Tybee beach, and along the Ossabaw Sound channel edges on the falling tide. Slot reds are in the spartina flats behind Skidaway and Ossabaw on the afternoon high tides and on the mud flats at low water. Trout are in the creeks off the Wilmington, Skidaway, and Ogeechee rivers along the oyster edges on the moving tide.

Tides & Conditions

Moderate tides this week between the moons, which on the Georgia coast still means 6 to 7-foot swings and plenty of water in the grass on the higher afternoons. The morning outgoing has been the best window on the bars. Water is in the upper 70s to low 80s and clearing, with light north and east winds most mornings and a comfortable run to the sound mouths.

Tackle & Tactics

For tarpon, a live mullet or menhaden on a 7/0 circle hook under a float or free-lined behind the bait pod, on 80-pound fluorocarbon and a heavy spinning outfit with 50-pound braid. Bull reds on the bars want a cut mullet, menhaden, or a blue crab half on a 7/0 circle hook with a fish-finder rig and 3 to 4 ounces of weight. Flood-tide reds want a weedless gold spoon, a soft plastic, or a crab fly on an 8-weight. Trout want a live shrimp under a popping cork or a soft plastic on a jig head along the oyster edges. Flounder want a live mud minnow on a Carolina rig.

Local Intel This Week

The Lazaretto Creek ramp on Tybee, the Skidaway Narrows ramp, the Isle of Hope marina area, and the Kilkenny and Fort McAllister ramps on the Ogeechee are the main public launches for the sounds and the creeks. Shore anglers are catching bull reds and trout from the Tybee pier and the Lazaretto Creek bridge. Fish are concentrating at the sound mouths on the falling tide and in the creeks on the moving water. Bull reds over the slot must be released; check current Georgia DNR Coastal Resources regulations and seasons before keeping fish.

This Week’s Tip

On the bars at the sound mouths, anchor on the up-current side of the bar and fish the drop into the channel. The bull reds work the edge where the bait washes off the shallow sand into deeper water, and a bait sitting right on that break gets picked up first.

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