The big September tides are here, and the Georgia coast is doing what it does best. Redfish are tailing in the flooded spartina from Tybee down to St. Simons, tarpon are rolling in the sounds and on the beachfront, and the trout are picking up in the creeks as the water starts to cool. September is the best month of the year on this coast, and the first week has set the tone.
What’s Hitting
What’s hitting this week: redfish on the flood-tide flats on the top of the big tides, and on the oyster points and creek mouths on the lower water. Tarpon are in Wassaw, Ossabaw, and St. Catherines sounds and on the beachfront off Tybee and Little Tybee on the mullet and menhaden, with fish from 60 to well over 100 pounds. Speckled trout are on the creek mouths and the deeper bends on the moving water at first light. Flounder are around the inlet edges and the docks, and sheepshead are on the pilings. Nearshore, Spanish and kings are on the artificial reefs, and there are cobia on the same structure.
Where to Find Them
Flood-tide reds on the spartina flats behind Tybee and Little Tybee, in the Wassaw and Ossabaw marshes, and around Skidaway Island. Tarpon at the sound mouths and along the beach in 10 to 25 feet. Trout at the creek mouths of the Wilmington, the Skidaway, and the Ogeechee, and on the Wassaw Sound grass edges. Flounder around the Wilmington River docks and the Lazaretto Creek edges. Kings and Spanish on the artificial reefs off Wassaw.
Tides & Conditions
Water temps are in the mid-80s and the first cooler nights are starting to show. The big tides early this week put the reds up in the grass, and the two hours around the top of the tide are the window. Tarpon are best on the calm mornings when you can see them roll. Watch the tropical outlook — the Georgia coast is in play through September.
Tackle & Tactics
Flood-tide reds take a weedless crab fly, a weedless soft plastic, or a small gold spoon cast ahead of a tailing fish. Tarpon want a live mullet or menhaden on a 7/0 circle hook and 80-pound leader, either drifted on the beachfront or anchored at the sound mouth. Trout take a soft plastic on a jig head or a popping cork with a live shrimp. Flounder take a mud minnow on a jig head, and sheepshead a fiddler crab on the pilings.
Local Intel This Week
Public ramps: the Lazaretto Creek ramp on the way to Tybee, the Skidaway Narrows ramp at Butterbean Beach, the Kings Ferry ramp on the Ogeechee, and the Bell’s Landing ramp on the Wilmington River. Fish are concentrating on the spartina flats on the flood and at the sound mouths for tarpon. Georgia has a slot and a bag limit on red drum and a minimum size on trout and flounder — check current Georgia DNR Coastal Resources regulations before keeping fish.
This Week’s Tip
Tarpon in the Georgia sounds feed on the tide change at the mouth, where the current slackens and the bait bunches up. Anchor on the edge of the channel an hour before the change, put out three live baits at different depths, and be patient — the bite window is short but it is reliable.
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