Capt. King collects pogies for bait with his cast net in the inshore waters surrounding Cumberland Island. Photo by Polly Dean.

Our state's coastal waters provide anglers with a tremendous variety of game fish, and the challenges of harvesting this wide array of species are many and exciting. Each of the areas where the great rivers of the Peach State empty into the Atlantic offers a unique sanctuary for popular species such as red drum, speckled trout and flounder.

Where these rivers meet the sea, marshes, inlets and feeder creeks edged with grassy banks harbor trout, along with oyster flats whose red drum are found "tailing" as they feed on shrimp and other crustaceans. Eddies formed by the rivers' flows meeting the incoming tides create ideal conditions for reds and trout to prey on baitfish disoriented by the clashing waters.

The inshore waters of the pair of great river mouths described below should, when fished with tactics designed for taking advantage of the conditions they offer, provide you springtime angling action as rich as the history of the seaports that sprang up along these rivers' edges.

Forming the border with Florida in the extreme southeast corner of Georgia is the St. Marys River, near the mouth of which lies the quaint seaport of St. Marys. At the midway point of our Atlantic coastline is the mouth of the largest of our state's flows, the Altamaha River, on whose banks Scottish settlers established the fishing village of Darien in the 1700s. Today both of those towns are jumping-off points for great fishing adventures.

ST. MARYS RIVER
The St. Marys River originates deep within the Okefenokee Swamp and then twists and turns along a 130-mile path to empty into Cumberland Sound. That point is just a few miles downstream of the historic town of St. Marys, is only 40 miles away from the river's origin as the crow flies.

Along its flow, this blackwater river forms the border between Georgia and Florida. During its race to the sea, the river changes character. From a narrow stream winding between banks of cypress trees backing snow-white sandbars, it widens in its middle section, bordered by bottomland swamps and sandy bluffs. Finally the St. Marys broadens to a full-fledged river at its mouth on Cumberland Sound.

Twice daily the tide flows inward and then rushes back out to where the river meets the Atlantic Ocean. This tidal influence on the surrounding basin of marshes flushes out plenty of forage for red drum and speckled trout.

In these waters, Captain John King expertly guides clients to a variety of saltwater species. But year 'round, it's the action with reds and trout that sustains the fishery. Capt. King, who grew up fishing the waters surrounding St. Marys, turned his love for and knowledge of the area's angling into a profession.