Fishing report

Largemouth bass fishing has been tough on Thurmond Lake.

How tough?

A few weekends ago, 13 Augusta area anglers plied the lake waters during the Saturday Morning Open Individual Bass Tournament. At day's end, tournament founder Tony Postell had to refund all entry fees because none of the anglers could catch a legal (12-inch-long) largemouth.

Striped bass and hybrid bass fishing has been excellent, however. Check out charter Capt. Mike Patrick's and the Raysville Marina reports below. Live herring is the No. 1 bait, but anglers who prefer artificial lures also can catch a mess. Bonnie and David Annis of Trenton, S.C., caught nearly a dozen hybrids and stripers jigging Berry's Fleck Spoons and fishing live herring in the Chigoe Creek area on Wednesday.

Since George W. Perry's 22-pound, 4-ounce largemouth bass caught on June 2, 1932 remains the world record for the species, why not a tag (benefiting sport fisheries) showing a bass? Contact the DNR at www.georgiawildlife.com.

STROM THURMOND LAKE

Capt. Mike Patrick, Strom Thurmond Lake, U.S. Coast Guard-licensed professional guide specializing in stripers and hybrids, 1-864-333-2513. - Jay Brinson of Sylvania, Ga., and Mark Thurmon of Jesup, Ga., caught 20 stripers and hybrids 8 to 15 pounds last Saturday. It's been going like that for three weeks. It takes a lot to get two seasoned fishermen to get as excited as they were, but when you are fighting two 15-pounders at the same time, fishing just doesn't get any better. David Heath of North Augusta, Tim Colvig of Lawrenceville, Ga., and Luke Hamada of Atlanta, all of Honda Corp., fished with me last Sunday. They put nine 10 to 15-pound stripers in the boat in less than an hour. This pattern cannot last much longer because of the water temperature dropping every day. As long as it stays above 50 degrees, fishing should remain excellent. Eddie Williams, Solomon Green and the Rev. K.B. Martin, all of Augusta, did about as good as you can do on the lake. The reverend must have pulled some strings because they caught 30 stripers and hybrids averaging 10 pounds apiece. Largest fish weighed 15 pounds.

Soap Creek Lodge (Lincolnton Marine), Lincolnton, Ga. (Paul Banks and Jeremy Dawkins, 1-706-359-3124) - Hybrids and striped bass have been schooling off and on in the creek across from our marina this week. Early to mid-morning hours are the best times to check 'em out. Jeremy Dawkins and Roger Cooke watched a big school of hybrids hammering baitfish against the bank across from the marina. Then, fishermen in a pair of bass boats arrived and every cast netted a strike, Cooke said.

Raysville Marina, near Thomson, Ga. (Doug Pentecost, Leon Buffington, 1-706-595-5582) - Gean and Brad Collins from Winfield limited out on hybrids and striped bass using live herring and Lil' Fishies in the Raysville area. Leon Buffington also limited out using herring. Kelly and Dallas Rogers of Augusta caught a 44-pound striper and a pair 5-pounds each on live herring in the mouth of Big Hart Creek. Mack Walker, Mike Arrington and Mike Sexton caught 71 bluegills and shellcrackers on hybrid pink worms in the Raysville area. Scott Stephens caught six stripers - largest 11 1/2 pounds.

Ralph Barbee, professional guide, (706) 860-7373): Tom Glabas and I fished the lake on Thursday and caught three bass. They all came on the GGG and Fire Tiger Little Earl crankbait finishes. Biggest bass weighed 4 pounds and was caught by Glabas.

"Fishing with Ralph Barbee" is being shown on Comcast Channel 4 Tuesdays at 10 p.m., Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., Saturdays at 8 p.m.

Ron Figueroa, professional guide specializing in largemouth bass, hybrid bass, (706) 832-7230 (ronfig@comcast.net or his web site at buckeyelures.com/figs). I caught five hybrids on the Buckeye blade bait on Wednesday. The fish were in the 2-to-3-pound range. I cast a jig-headed fluke on Thursday and caught a 5-pounder and a smaller one, among seven fish. I'm fishing the Chigoe Creek section of the lake.

Figueroa also has a TV show called Fishing Success, which features a one-minute hot tip on fishing Thurmond Lake, along with a fishing report Monday through Friday on Comcast cable channels CNN twice between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m., and ESPN and ESPN2 between 8 p.m., and 9 p.m., and 11 p.m. and midnight, and during the Bill Dance show on TNN Saturdays.

Billy Murphy, professional guide, Little River Marina (706-733-0124) (with twins Brad and Jim). Brad: I took out my son, Johnathan, and caught four bass fishing a No. 4 ShadRap around grass beds. They combined to weigh 10 pounds, 2 ounces. My wife, Angie, went out on Monday. We wound up catching three bass in two hours, fishing the pig-and-jig and the No. 4 ShadRap in eight feet of water around grass.

MERRY LAND BRICKYARD PONDS

Harrison Sears 1 (706) 722-8263 - Herman Kietzman and Rex Alspaugh caught a load of crappies from the King Pond, all caught on minnows. A 1 3/4 -pound crappie bit a red wiggler in the Middle Ditch. Crappies continue to bite.

ATLANTIC OCEAN BEAUFORT, S.C. & VICINITY Includes Paradise Pier

__Joe Mix, Island Outfitters, Ladys Island, 1-(843)-522-9900 - Last weekend produced the best spottail bass fishing of the year. On Sunday, two lucky anglers found a large school hemmed up in a Parris Island creek at low tide and boated an outstanding 84 measuring between 16 and 30 inches. After running out of live bait, they used plastic shrimp, fishing them beneath Cajun Thunder Corks which, when jerked, must create a sound similar to a fleeing shrimp. Even some of their corks exhibited the marks of fish teeth.

The Warsaw Island Flats also are yielding nice spottail catches. Charter captain Doug Gertis's party continue making limit speckled trout catches, using live shrimp and mud minnows. Sheepshead are being caught around bridge pilings and the rock revetments at the Fripp Island inlets.

Offshore trolling for king mackerel is slow, but the Lawrence wreck is producing 20 to 30 pounds spottail bottom fishing with live mullet and fresh shrimp. Eight-to-10-pound black drum also are being caught on shrimp at the wreck.

SAVANNAH AREA

Miss Judy Charters, Capt. Judy Helmey, 912-897-4921 (www.missjudycharters.com.) - Trolling saltwater Assassins and Electric Chicken grubs in tidal creeks is paying off for Savannah area anglers. Some anglers are trolling with 8-pound-test line in five to six feet of water.

Offshore, cold weather halted the king mackerel run in our area, but artificial reefs and the Savannah Snapper Banks continue to produce good catches of bottom-feeders.