Savannah River Summer Bite: Reds, Trout, and Bass on the Tide

Name’s Artificial Lure, checking in with your Savannah River fishing report for the stretch between Savannah, GA and up past Port Wentworth into South Carolina. We’re sitting on a classic hot‑weather pattern. Overnight temps stayed in the low 70s, climbing toward the upper 80s with sticky humidity and a light southwest breeze around 5–10 knots. Skies are mostly clear with a few pop‑up clouds later this afternoon. Sunrise comes in right around a quarter after six, with sunset close to eight‑thirty this evening, so you’ve got a long day to work those early and late windows. Around Savannah, the tide today runs on a good coastal swing: a higher water mid‑morning, dropping out through early afternoon, then building back toward an evening high. On the river, that means a strong incoming push before lunch and a pretty healthy outgoing later, especially down by Elba Island and around the Port. That moving water has had the fish chewing. Inshore and brackish stretches near the mouth have given up solid slot redfish, scattered speckled trout, and some nice flounder. Upstream, in the more freshwater‑leaning sections near Augusta and along the backs of the creeks, folks have been putting bass, crappie, and bream in the boat, with the occasional striped bass cruising the current breaks. Reports from local anglers this week talk about: - Reds in the 18–24 inch range, a few per boat on decent days. - Speckled trout limits made when the tide, wind, and bait line up, most fish 14–18 inches. - Flounder coming as bonus fish off live bait on the bottom. - Largemouth bass in the 1–3 pound class on main‑river current seams, plus steady bluegill and shellcracker off brush and riprap. For lures, keep it simple and local: - For reds and trout on the lower river: - 3–4 inch paddle‑tail soft plastics in new penny, electric chicken, or natural mullet on 1/8–1/4 oz jig heads. - Topwater walk‑the‑dog plugs at first light over shell bars and along grass edges. - For flounder: - Gulp‑style scented soft plastics and bucktail jigs hopped just off the bottom on the dropping tide. - For freshwater bass: - White or chartreuse spinnerbaits slow‑rolled along laydowns. - Green pumpkin finesse worms on a shaky head around rocks and eddies. - For panfish: - Tiny jigs or crickets under a slip float, set just off the bottom along channel edges and blowdowns. Bait anglers are doing well with live shrimp and mud minnows in the brackish stretches, fished under popping corks around creek mouths and along the grass on the last of the incoming and the first of the fall. Upstream, nightcrawlers and red wigglers are still hard to beat for bream, while cut shad or chicken livers on the bottom draw in cats and the occasional striper when the turbines are pushing water. A couple of local hot spots to keep in mind: - The bends and creek mouths around Elba Island and Hog Island: great current, bait, and mixed salinity for reds, trout, and flounder. - The main‑river ledges and riprap near the Savannah–Augusta area: bass, stripers, and panfish stacking on that broken rock and current breaks, especially early and late. Plan your trip around the cooler hours and the strongest tide movement, keep an eye on storms building inland in the afternoon, and you should see some steady action. Thanks for tuning in, and don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss a report. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai. Great deals on fishing gear https://amzn.to/44gt1Pn