Savannah River Fishing Report: Tides, Targets, and Tactics for a Steady Bite

Artificial Lure here with your Savannah River fishing report, coming to you like a buddy at the ramp, not a weatherman on TV.

Up and down the Savannah this morning, the tide cycle is giving us a nice push, with early falling water rolling out of the grass and a strong afternoon flood lining up for that classic creek-mouth ambush bite. Think moving water most of the day, with the best window as the current really starts to rip around the bends and along the shell bars. Sunrise comes late enough that you can launch in the gray light, and you’ll have a decent evening slide of current before dark to work topwater or slow-rolled plastics.

Weather-wise, we’re looking at mild temps for this time of year, light to moderate breeze, and just enough humidity to keep a little haze on the river at daybreak. That’s good news for both inshore and upriver anglers: stable conditions, no brutal fronts to shut things down, and just enough chop to make the fish less spooky. Dress in layers, expect a cool run out, and a comfortable mid-day bite.

Fish activity has been solid the last couple of days. In the brackish stretches near the ocean, redfish and speckled trout have been the main players, with slot reds cruising the grass edges and oyster points, and trout stacking along deeper bends where the current softens. Upriver, folks are picking off striped bass around structure and a mix of crappie and bream in quieter backwaters. Most boats are reporting “steady” rather than “on fire” — enough fish for a good day if you move around and work the tide.

Recent catches have leaned toward:
- Reds in the 16–24 inch range with the occasional upper-slot fish.
- Trout from 14–18 inches, with better numbers on moving water.
- Schoolie stripers around bridges and pilings.
- Panfish in the oxbows when you slow down and finesse them.

Best offerings right now:
For artificials, it’s hard to beat a 3–4 inch paddle tail on a 1/8–1/4 oz jig head in natural baitfish colors, bumped along the bottom on the outgoing tide. Suspending jerkbaits and MirrOlure-style plugs are producing trout over deeper ledges, especially when twitched slow with long pauses. For the redfish, gold spoons and weedless paddletails dragged along shell and grass are money. If you’re a bait angler, live shrimp under a popping cork is still king near the mouth, with mud minnows and cut mullet taking the bigger reds around heavier current.

A couple of local hot spots to focus on:
- The lower Savannah around the junctions of the main river and the side creeks feeding toward Tybee and the sounds — look for oyster-studded points where the tide wraps and forms an eddy.
- Upriver from Port Wentworth toward the industrial docks and bridge pilings, where stripers and mixed species hang tight to current breaks and shadow lines.

Work that falling tide early for reds and trout on the edges, then slide into deeper bends and structure as the water tops out and starts filling back in. Keep your bait in the strike zone, stay patient, and let the tide do the heavy lifting.

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This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI