Fishing Report for St. Simons Island – May 7, 2018

Well things are definitely coming together and it looks as though the fishing will be quite good this year. The bait is everywhere on the beach and in the ICW. Small pogies and glass minnows are all over and the fish are taking full advantage of the buffet.

Inshore Fishing Report for St. Simons to Cumberland Island

In the inshore waters, the Trout bite has been very good and I’d give it a 7 out of 10. I can’t go higher than that because what I saw this week wasn’t a “fish are everywhere” situation. It was more like when you find them, you REALLY find them. Of course if you move around and pay attention to the bait, water clarity, and current, you’ll be able to pick away at them. But if you’re lucky, you’ll land on an awesome bite like we did this week and really work the fish over.

We were able to catch limits of really nice Trout with bonus Drum, Spanish Mackerel, Flounder, and Redfish. Popping corks with live shrimp were hands down the weapons of choice but when you’re on a red hot bite it’s not a bad idea to break out the soft plastics like DOA shrimp or Gulp baits. Early morning topwater plugs are sure fire way to cover some water and locate fish too.

I expect to see the Trout being caught on the beach at Cumberland Island any day now. It seems as though no one wants to make the gamble from St. Simons until they get word that someone caught the fish on the beach. Once that happens there will be an exodus from St. Simons to Cumberland. It’s going to happen any day now and I fully believe that the fish are already there.

Nearshore fishing report from St. Simons to Jekyll Island

The Tripletail fishing has been very good. I should re-phrase that… the Tripletail WATCHING has been very good but getting the bites has been difficult. Naturally with the weather being nice and boats going out every day looking for floaters, the fish have received quite an education. If you have a secret stealthy way of enticing a bite from a wary Tripletail, now would be the time to do it. Smaller corks or even live lines would be my suggestion when you encounter a TT that doesn’t want to play.

Shark fishing is good but the shrimp boats still aren’t out. My suggestion is to find some green water 2 to 3 miles from the beach and hang a chum bag. Then you can put a couple of baits out and wait for the bite or just wait until the shark you want shows up and pitch a bait to him.

Offhsore fishing report for St. Simons out to 35 miles

Spanish Mackerel have been plentiful on the nearshore reefs and Cobia are in the 60 foot plus range. The Cobia will continue to move closer to land and will typically peak the week before Memorial Day. There are plenty of pogies on Jekyll beach so I would strongly suggest taking the time to stop and catch some before you head out offshore. Once you’re out there you’ll be glad you did. I wouldn’t head out until I had my livewell full and I also wouldn’t leave home without some spoons for the spanish and bucktails for the Cobia.

That’s it for this week. Check out our YouTube channel for fishing reports and tips and be sure to subscribe and share. Leave a comment if you want us to cover a specific topic or if there is something more you want from our fishing reports. As always, we appreciate everything you do for us. Liking, commenting on, and sharing posts and telling your friends about us really makes a huge difference and we can’t thank you enough. Good luck out there and tight lines!