Summer 2023
By Ron Brooks
A wide, dredged channel runs east into the ocean at the mouth of the St Marys River on the Florida-Georgia border. It is a deep channel that allows part of our nuclear submarine fleet access to their port at Kings Bay. On the north and south of the channel, jetties built of huge rocks and boulders jut almost a mile into the Atlantic. The jetties protect the channel to keep wave and tidal action from filling it in with sand. These jetties play an essential role for the Navy and shipping interests.
For Peach State anglers, these jetties play a more important role. That role has nothing to do with national defense, but everything to do with catching fish.
The jetties are a man-made habitat for almost every species of saltwater fish that thrives along the Georgia coast. At some point in the year, you can find every variety of inshore and coastal fish in or around the jetties. Water from Cumberland sound enters and leaves with the tides past the jetties, and fish move with those tidal changes.
Right now, the red drum are active along the rocks, and they can be caught in a variety of ways. Anglers can use live shrimp under a deep float or soak a blue crab bait on the bottom and catch some reds. Cut bait also works on the bottom from time to time. But the bait of choice for some of us at this time of year is artificial bait – a crankbait to be exact.
The rip rap on a dam protects the shoreline from erosion, while it also provides a habitat for reds. The river jetties work the same way, protecting the channel while providing an excellent habitat for fish. The jetties provide a year-round home to many fish.
I have caught some big reds in the spring and summer on the jetties in past years, so I thought they should be there again as spring and summer approach. I was right!
A red that took a crankbait along the jetties. Photo by Ron Brooks.
On the way out, I first chose the north jetty on my left and began fishing about 500 yards from the end. The wind was light out of the southwest, so both the north and south jetties were equally calm. Sometimes wind direction will dictate whether I fish the north or south rocks.
My partner and I began chunking Bandit 300 crankbaits, one in an all red color, and one in a chartreuse/yellow color. These baits are designed to run about 8 feet deep, and we were cranking them down from the rocks back to the boat.
The jetties are simply a pile of rocks, albeit huge rocks, that come up from the bottom in an almost pyramid shape. In other words, when you see the edge of the rocks on the water, you need to realize that they continue down at an angle. Right up against the rocks, the water may be three feet deep. Out a way from the rocks, the depth will gradually increase to, in our case, about 30 feet. These depth differences are where lure selection plays a critical part – but more on that later.
We worked our way out toward the end of the jetties, casting and retrieving the Bandits.
At what appears to be the end of the north jetties, the rock pile actually continues east – under the surface – for another several hundred yards. If you plan to go around the jetty, make sure you run east well past the visible end of the rocks.
We fished the “invisible” rip rap for another hundred yards and then crossed to the north side of the jetty. As we made our way back toward the rocks, this time on the opposite side, the tide was running out. On an outgoing tide, water runs east out the mouth of the inlet and then turns north. So, as we fished, the water was coming across that invisible rip rap, headed right at us. We used our trolling motor to keep the boat positioned, but anchoring could have worked just as well.
At this point, we need to understand the habits of these red drum. They like the current, but they hate to fight the current. They will often gather or school in a location that protects them from the current, yet allows them to use it to ambush food. They will find undercuts and eddies where the water runs over or around them. They will position, much like a brook trout in a steam, right behind a big rock as the water moves around the rock and past them. You need to keep that picture in mind as you fish.
We continued to throw the Bandit baits, but could not raise a strike. Because we wanted to get a little deeper, we switched to a Norman’s Deep Little N bait. I had the Smokey Joe color; my partner, Jim, had a Tennessee Shad. These baits run down to 12 feet, and gave us a better shot at provoking a strike from a red hidden behind a bottom rock.
The author with a big St. Marys red drum. Photo courtesy of Ron Brooks.
It only took about three casts as we came back around with the trolling motor and worked those north “invisible” rocks again. The deeper running bait did the trick. I hooked up with a really big red. As he came to the surface and boiled an area about 5 feet in diameter, he quickly showed me the two mistakes I had made
The mistakes? First of all, I had too much drag. The second mistake was with the baits. As I lifted the crankbait from the water, I saw that both front and back trebles were straightened. These hooks weren’t designed for fish like this!
The next two casts produced a double hook-up. Mine ended up being smaller and I was able to get him to the boat. Jim picked up the net with one hand, held his doubled-over rod in the other, and tried to net my fish. (Reminder to me – get a bigger net!) The fish was too big for the net, so I got out my Boga Grip and lipped him into the boat.
We estimated that Jim’s fish was something over 20 pounds. After reviving both fish for a few minutes, they swam away unharmed by the experience. These fish fight to absolute exhaustion – so make sure you revive them before releasing them
We headed to the jetty edge on the way in, pitched a couple of fiddler crabs on jig heads up against the rocks and in short order caught some sheepshead to take home for dinner – but that is another story for another day.
Things to keep in mind as you head for the jetties:
- Watch the weather. Seas can kick up quickly and heavy swells will push you into the rocks if you lose power.
- Keep that mental picture of the bottom. We fished the last half of the outgoing tide and had steady action for almost three hours because we cranked the baits past holding fish.
- Take a variety of crankbaits that will run a variety of depths. Colors don’t seem to matter as much as depth and glitter. The Norman baits had a glitter finish.
Crankbaits with glitter finishes work best. Photo by Ron Brooks.
- Crank slow – stop and go. We got more hits on a stopped bait than a moving bait.
- Watch the water depth. The area we fished ran from about twelve feet deep on top of the “invisible” rocks down to about 20 feet along the edge. We positioned the boat in the deep water and cranked down that slope.
- If you hang on a rock, move the boat over and behind the bait, and it will easily come free. Hanging a rock is not a bad thing – it means your bait is getting down to the fish.
- Be ready to change baits according to the water depth. You want that bait a few feet off the bottom. In this situation, red drum are not surface feeding!
- Change the hooks on your crankbaits! Get some good heavy gauge trebles and replace the wire hooks.
- Stay safe. If you plan to anchor, use a jetty anchor – one made with a pipe and rebar. The rebar bends as you pull a hung anchor free. Standard anchors will usually be lost when hung in the rocks.
- Last – watch and look for submerged rocks. Close to the jetty, some rocks are just under the surface. You can sink a boat in a heartbeat when wave action pounds the boat bottom down on one.
Most days are perfect for fishing the jetties at St Marys from April through June. The March winds have died, and the hot summer days have yet to arrive. The fish are there. The red drum are more than cooperative. And crank-baiting the rip rap for them on light tackle is more fun than anyone should have!
Ron Brooks was a long-time resident of metro Atlanta and now living in Jacksonville, Florida. He is a member of the Georgia Outdoor Writers Association. Contact him at jbrooks@bellsouth.net.