Golden Isles Fishing Podcast

This week I just have to apologize. I didn’t really get on the phone and gather up the report like I would like to due to being sick. I had to get my dad to cover my trips for me, and I’ve been down for the count. So this podcast might be a little rough.

The good news is that the Whiting are here and the average size has improved dramatically. Yesterday (Thursday) we were able to catch close to 100 on 2 Kids Fishing trips and they were mostly nice fish.

The Trout fishing continues to be tough. The water has been pretty ugly for the most part and that isn’t helping anything. Hopefully a week of good tides will clean things up.

Sea Bass are still a main target and are still best found by going 20 miles or more offshore. The small ones are plentiful close to shore but the big ones are further out just like they have been for the last several weeks.

Hopefully, somehow, miraculously, the weather changes this weekend and we don’t get stormed on, but right now that’s the way it’s looking.

I’ll catch you next week. Please send in any questions that you would like me, or another guide, to answer in next weeks podcast.

The post GIFP: Ep. 9 | Whiting Time! | Good Pier Fishing | Prepping for Tripletail appeared first on The Georgia Fishing Company.

Sushi fastballs? Really? Yeah… it’s just a way that I have described this phenomenon to my customers in the past and it seemed to resonate with them and help improve their angling skills so I figured I would share it in this podcast. But yeah, it’s kind of weird.

Here is a quick summary of the podcast, just give it a listen for all the details.

In this report I talk about the warming weather and how it is effecting the fishing, what we will see in the next few weeks, and some tips on to help you in your fishing endeavors on the Georgia coast. Right now I have one thing on my brain more than any other and that is Tripletail. There are so close but not quite here. I can’t wait for those little suckers to get up here where they belong.

Capt. Judy of Miss Judy Charters was kind enough to lend some advice via her weekly fishing report. I have to admit that I was a bit nervous to call and ask her to provide some information for my podcast. Many captains would have seen me as an intruder and quickly ran me off of their porch with a broom, but Judy was a class act and nice as can be. No wonder she’s been kicking fish tail since 1956!

Here is a snippet from her report;

The CCA, L Buoy, and J Buoy artificial reefs are holding the interest of some nice black fish and lots of

As far as top water fish there are lots of little tunny pushing water on the surface. If you like a fight on

and I would be glad to share…let me know..

If you ask Miss Judy for her Little Tunny recipe and you try it, let me know too. I have got to hear about that!

Miss Judy also talked about some interesting dead bait tactics for catching Redfish. This was a new idea for me, and I’m interested to try it out. She said that they are using it in their area with great success so it is definitely worth a shot. Here is a picture of her free line peeled prawn rig;

Photo Credit – Capt. Judy Helmey

I also stopped in at the Bait Shop at the St. Simons Pier to talk to Trish and get the scoop on what is going on at the pier. Trish was kind enough to spend a few minutes talking with me and she reported that the Whiting fishing is improving off of the pier, and that she has seen a couple of Trout come across the rail via cast net.

Here is a picture of a decent Whiting I caught while waiting to pick up my customers at Gascoigne Bluff;

South Georgia Surf Fishing will also start to contribute some information to the podcast. These guys take their surf fishing seriously! It’s going to be great to get their input so that we aren’t leaving all the folks that are interested in catching monster Sharks, Bull Reds, Whiting, and other surf dwellers on the outside looking in. Right now the Whiting fishing from the beach is pretty decent although not much else is going on. There should be some Bull Red action once the bait arrives though. You can check out South Georgia Surf Fishing on Instagram @southgasurffishing. Here is one of their instagram pictures… like I said, these guys get serious!

Photo Credit – @southgasurffishing via Instagram

Basically, I want to make the podcast less about “fishing in Georgia according to TJ” and more of a multi-dimensional and thorough resource for all anglers that love to fish the salt in Georgia.

That is why I started about a week ago on a new project to serve you better. I am going to be launching a new website that is just for this information. I am incorporating a new podcast, a forum, some weather information (which has been a real pain in the #&! to figure out and might get scratched all together), an Amazon store that will have all the gear you need to fish our waters, and eventually some video tutorials.

You’ll be able to get a lot more of the information that you need and want from the new site, which I will announce the address to once it is ready. Chances are that if you are checking out this podcast it’s because you want the goods and you aren’t really interested in my fishing charters. I’ll be continuing this podcast but it will be more about the information that my customers want and less detailed. Your podcast will be on the new site with all the stuff you want. Everyone wins.

As always, please comment with your suggestions, thoughts, and questions. I appreciate everyone that takes time to check this podcast out every week and I hope that over time I am able to do even more for you and for our sport.

Full time fishing guide serving St. Simons Island, Jekyll Island, and Brunswick, GA

The post GIFP: Ep. 8 | Sea Bass | Sight Fishing | Redfish Tips | Inshore Chumming appeared first on The Georgia Fishing Company.

The hardest thing about doing these podcasts so far is finding new things to talk about when there just isn’t much changing. Maybe the water temperature ticks up a degree or two, or the tides are a bit better, or the fishing was just a little better than the week before. Sometimes I think I just end up repeating myself.

This week, it’s even tougher. The fishing and weather were not cooperative and that just makes this a tough fishing report to deliver, but I guess you have to take the good with the bad.

Last weekend we moved around inshore and found some Trout holding in… you guessed it… 8 to 12 feet around structure. We also got on some stud Sheepshead even though some guys in a Carolina Skiff pulled up 20 yards away and tossed no… Payton Manning to Reggie Wayne BOMBED 2, yep, 2 anchors out. One of them might have been a cinder block…

Starting with Sunday we had bad winds and on Monday it was accompanied by some pretty awful rain as I’m sure you remember. Wednesday continued the wind and I opted to reschedule for Thursday to avoid dealing with that. So 4 days in a row with no fishing. Bummer. The worst part about that is it breaks rhythm. After fishing several days in a row you get a much better idea of what is happening. You have your finger on the pulse. 4 days off and you have to come back to new conditions with no information to go off of. That also means I can’t pass as much information on to you.

Thursday’s fishing charter turned out to be a success for the most part. We didn’t set any records, but we ran offshore and caught a lot of fish ranging from Sea Bass, to Snapper, Sheepshead, and Flounder. Not too shabby for the conditions we’ve had lately. There was a slow rolling swell and other than that we had our run of the place.

We also played with some big schools of bonito that were crashing bait on the surface. Between that and some birds we saw on some bait, we can take that as a positive that at least some bait is showing up, even if it’s small.

The fish were smaller, as usual, closer to land and the further we went out the better they got. We stopped at 20 miles and were catching fish as fast as we could get to the bottom and the average size was definitely worth the ride.

So going into this weekend, I recommend 3 options.

Believe me, if I thought you could go beat down some banks with a popping cork and get anything done, you would see me doing it. I just don’t think it is going to be productive right now.

Start looking for the water temp to break 60 degrees. That should mark the turn around in the fishing. Tripletail are just to our south, and once we have some warmer water to offer they should be here.

St. Simons Island Fishing Guide

The post Golden Isles Fishing Podcast – Episode 7 – Gonna Have to Work for It appeared first on The Georgia Fishing Company.

In spite of the winds that we have had late this week, the fishing has been quite good. Early in the week we had some awesome days to get offshore with some flat calm seas.

The Trout bite is still good, but not widespread. The water clarity seems to be best around St. Simons Sound, while most areas to the north and south seem to have a lot of freshwater run off.

We are catching most of our Trout in 8 to 15 feet of water around low tide on live shrimp.

Sheepshead are being caught in the same areas inshore, as well as offshore on the reefs.

One new development this week is that we started catching a lot more big Redfish on the reefs while fishing for Sea Bass and Sheepshead.

The weather looks best for fishing on Saturday, while Sunday is predicted to be a washout.

The winner of the reel from last weeks podcast is Ben Rousch. Ben, just give me a shout with your address and I’ll get this reel mailed off to you.

Please remember to leave your comments, questions, and suggestions

The post Golden Isles Fishing Podcast: Episode 6 – Trout, Sheepshead, Bull Redfish appeared first on The Georgia Fishing Company.

Not a lot has changed overall since last week’s episode in terms of what is biting and the best techniques to catch fish right now around St. Simons Island and Jekyll Island.

What is much different this weekend is that the tides are MUCH better compared to last weekend. During the 9 foot tides we dealt with this past weekend my customers were able to fight through and get on a great bite. The Trout, Redfish, Sheepshead, Black Drum, and Flounder were all cooperative in spite of the tough conditions.

We did exactly what I recommended in last week’s podcast. We waited for the low tide.

Once the tide got down the water started to slow down and clean up. As soon as it did we started really getting into the fish using both adjustable popping corks and carolina rigs.

In this week’s episode you have a chance to win a fishing reel! Not an el cheapo Wal Mart special… an Avet MXL!

Just give it a listen for details.

As always, feel free to comment, leave a question, or sign up for the email list.

St. Simons Island Fishing Guide

The post Golden Isles Fishing Podcast: Episode 5 – Good Tides at St. Simons Island appeared first on The Georgia Fishing Company.

Thanks for checking out episode 4 of the Golden Isles Fishing Podcast. Lately the fishing has been a bit tough around St. Simons Island and Jekyll Island but we have seen some improvements since last week’s podcast.

The Trout fishing has been picking up slowly and the sheepshead fishing on the reefs has been improving as well.

In this episode I talk about a few ways to make the most out of the big tides that we will deal with this weekend as well as a rig that I have been using successfully quite a bit lately.

I break down the fishing report for inshore, nearshore, and offshore and I respond to a awkward question from a listener.

Please continue to share the podcast with your friends and fishing buddies and as always, drop me a line or leave a comment with any questions or suggestions that you have.

St. Simons Island Fishing Guide

The post Capt. Fishing Podcast – Episode 4 – February 28th, 2014 appeared first on The Georgia Fishing Company.

Welcome to another episode of the Golden Isles Fishing Podcast. In this episode Capt. TJ talks about the fishing around St. Simons Island, warming water temperatures, transitioning Trout, Sheepshead on the reefs, and Wahoo and Tuna at the ledge.

I want to start by thanking everyone that has listened to the first two episodes. I really expected to have a couple of dozen listeners for these first shows but I was pleasantly surprised to have several hundred downloads! I honestly can’t thank you enough. Please continue to share this podcast with your friends, leave comments, and send in your questions and suggestions.

To re-cap the show, I talk about everything from the warm weather that we are seeing this week, to the huge tides that we will have towards the end of next week.

The Trout showed signs of coming out of their winter pattern and are showing up over a wider area than they have been lately. I am still seeing most of them in depth of 8 feet or more and mostly around heavy structure. I am looking forward to the fish getting back in the shallows so we can break out the popping corks and have some fun.

The Redfish are still shallow, happy, and hungry. A good friend of mine made a very good point this week about Redfish. He said that he often notices people in flats boats pushing schools of fish up and down a flat even though they are obviously not going to bite. All this does is make the fish spooky and weary of anything that might be considered un-natural that happens around them. If you remember the days when you would see tailing, happy Redfish on a regular basis and you wonder why you just don’t see it much anymore, this has a lot to do with it.

Please help spread the word that just because you find a school of fish doesn’t mean you should go back day after day. The fish notice and adapt, and then no one gets to enjoy them,

Out on the reefs the Sheepshead bite is picking up although they are not what I would consider “hot”. I am catching a lot more Sheepshead inshore than I am on the reefs. There are plenty of Black Sea Bass to help pass the time while you are locating your reef bandits.

Out on the ledge there is some pretty awesome Wahoo fishing and I have heard of some very nice Black Fin Tuna out there as well. Hopefully you find a nice weather day to get out there and have some fun before it’s all over.

Speaking of weather… this week seems fairly nice although there will be some rain and breeze to contend with. Later in the week the tides will begin to swell until we ultimately hit a 9 foot tide swing by next weekend. You might have to get creative to find the fish during a tide like that. Timing will be important if you don’t want to fish swift current. I tend to prefer to fish the lower tide stages during big tides as the muddy water will often be flushed out during low tide, and you can take advantage of the slower current around the ebb.

Please feel free to leave comments and suggestions for the coming episodes. I want this podcast to be a resource for you, and it will only get better with your input.

Until next time,

Tight lines!

Capt. TJ Cheek

St. Simons Island Fishing Guide

The post Golden Isles Fishing Podcast – Episode 3 – Feb. 21, 2013 – Inshore Trout, Reef Sheepshead, Wahoo and Tuna appeared first on The Georgia Fishing Company.

In this episode I recap a week that started out with gorgeous weather and degraded into some awful, windy, and dreary weather. The fishing is hot in certain areas, but it takes a good bit of work right now. You really have to do some moving around until you locate the fish.

The forecast for the weekend doesn’t look too bad. Saturday might be a bit windy but Sunday looks like it is going to be gorgeous and probably the best day to venture offshore to do some Sea Bass and Sheepshead fishing. Monday looks great too if you happen to catch a cold and need to lay out of work!

Next week will present some great tides and decent temperatures if you are able to make it out. I certainly hope that I will be out there with you.

The resources that I use for weather information in this episode are:

Weather Underground: www.wunderground.com/MAR/AM/450.html (My favorite for the sea conditions and wind forecast)

The Weather Channel: www.weather.com (Usually way off on wind, but great for temperature and rainfall)

www.saltwatertides.com (easy to use for tides. I usually go off of St. Simons Light or Cumberland Wharf, depending on where I intend to fish.)

The post Golden Isles Fishing Podcast: Episode 2 – February 14, 2014 appeared first on The Georgia Fishing Company.

I’m excited to announce the launch of my new podcast!

Here is what you can expect out of each episode after this one;

Some bonus material that may or may not be in each episode:

I hope you enjoy this new way of sharing what is happening in coastal Georgia and that you will share it with your friends and fishing buddies. Listen on your computer, mp3 player, or your smart phone. I hope this will be what you listen to every Friday on your way to or from work. If you aren’t sure how to subscribe to the podcast, feel free to contact me for help.

Tight lines!

Capt. TJ Cheek

The post Golden Isles Fishing Podcast: Episode 1 appeared first on The Georgia Fishing Company.