Rookie Needs Help! Keaton Beach Area

[Home Run]

Hello everyone,

A buddy of mine and I are headed to Keaton Beach mid March to do some trout fishing. Being as we are from SE Georgia I suspect the fishing techniques are quite a bit different than what I'm used to. Over here we have dirty chocolate milk looking water as apposed to crystal clear. It's not uncommon for us to have 8' tides. I would guess Keaton Beach would be a couple feet. Fishing grass flats is something I've never done as we usually key in on oyster bars and other structure. Any help to get us started in the right direction would be greatly appreciated. One more thing. The cobia usually start showing up here around that time. Would it be worth fishing any nearshore wrecks, reefs, towers, ect?

Thanks in advance

[Hunt Nasty]

Hello everyone,

A buddy of mine and I are headed to Keaton Beach mid March to do some trout fishing. Being as we are from SE Georgia I suspect the fishing techniques are quite a bit different than what I'm used to. Over here we have dirty chocolate milk looking water as apposed to crystal clear. It's not uncommon for us to have 8' tides. I would guess Keaton Beach would be a couple feet. Fishing grass flats is something I've never done as we usually key in on oyster bars and other structure. Any help to get us started in the right direction would be greatly appreciated. One more thing. The cobia usually start showing up here around that time. Would it be worth fishing any nearshore wrecks, reefs, towers, ect?

Thanks in advance

It is completely different than fishing coastal GA. By that I mean a good thing. You will be primarily drift fishing grass flats... You can go North or South out of Keaton and catch fish. My advice would be for you to start around the bird racks that are near Keaton Beach south or north. You can get a map from any marina and they will steer you in the right direction.

All you really need to look for is good grass mixed in with sand spots here and there. Just be careful to watch the tides as you can get stranded on the flats at low tide if you don't have a shallow drafting boat. You will do most of your fish catching in 3-5 feet of water. Shoot me a PM if you have any more questions

[Georgia Sea Pro]

You will be quite happy with the difference in the gulf! Weather you go north or south i would be sure to fish in front of the mouth of major creeks I hit Dallus, Spring Warior and Yates. If you have a GPS you should be able to see them. The trout should be at the end of staging out of the creeks and hopefully will be congregated out in front. Once you find fish pay attention to what depth they are. It is likely that time of year that you will have different size fish in different areas of depth. I always set a waypoint when I catch a good one just to see if there are more in the area. Red fish are going to be on oyster racks at the mouth of the creeks, hopefully you will be able to see them tailing. Not sure about Cobia, that is something I hope to find out this year. You can load the boat with Sheepies if you head out to the Steinhatchee Reef with some fiddlers or shrimp. Hope this is helpful! Good Luck!!!