Fishing with Captain Greg Hildreth on the Georgia
Coast
 Look
for Trout in the Cuts
Editor’s Note: Captain Greg Hildreth of Brunswick,
Georgia, fishes Georgia’s Atlantic Coast for speckled
trout, redfish, flounder and tarpon. That’s right,
tarpon. Most people don’t realize that Georgia
has a saltwater coast. Few people even know that this
is a tarpon hotspot during the heat of the summer. It
also has some tremendous marsh and beach fishing and
one of the most-unusual tripletail fisheries in the
nation. Boaters and sailors up the East Coast sail down
to Sea Island and Jekyll Island for tennis, golf and
high-dollar resort living. Most people never consider
the outstanding saltwater fishing available just off
the fairways. This week, we’ll look at some
of the finest saltwater fishing in the nation that receives
little fishing pressure.
Question: Where are you catching speckled trout at
this time of year?
Hildreth: I’m catching most of my trout in the
cuts, ditches and channels that come into the ocean
from Cumberland Island. We anchor up close to the surf
and cast toward the beach. We’re fishing at the
first sandbar. We depend on the Spike-It Boot Tail Minnow
to catch speckled trout. We fish the Boot-Tail Minnow
under the Cajun Thunder cork and/or we tight-line it
by simply casting it out and retrieving it close to
the bottom. We use a lead head jig with my favorite
colors, chartreuse or opal-and-chartreuse.
Question: What size trout are you catching?
Hildreth: We’re catching some nice-sized trout
now in June, 2006. We’re catching trout from 13-
up to 22-inches long. The weather, the tide, the water
condition and the mood of the fish all dictate how many
trout we’ll catch in a day. We may catch as few
as 10 or 15, or as many as 50 or more trout in one day.
Regardless of where you fish, you’re still subject
to weather, wind, tide and the mood of the fish.
Question: How do you fish the Spike-It Boot-Tail Minnow?
Hildreth: When I’m putting the Cajun Thunder cork
under the Spike-It Boot-Tail Minnow, I cast the bait
and co rk
out, and I keep popping the cork causing it to splash
and make noise to attract trout. When I’m fishing
it on a tight line, we cast it out, let the boot-tail
minnow swim close to the bottom, and keep the bait coming
back to the boat on a steady retrieve. Trout are feeding
on pogeys, mullet and shrimp that are coming into open
water from Cumberland Island. Besides speckled trout,
we often catch many big whiting (also called brown mullet).
These whiting weigh from 1 to 1-1/2-pounds, and they’re
delicious to eat. We also catch redfish, ladyfish, bluefish
and flounder. At this time of year, fishing those run-outs,
we can usually keep rods bent the entire time we’re
out fishing. One of the advantages to the Spike-It Boot-Tail
Minnow is that it will catch about any fish that swims
in saltwater.
You can contact Captain Greg Hildreth at 912-261-1763,
or visit www.georgiacharterfishing.com.
Tomorrow: Use Jerkbaits
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