Fall Flounder on the Georgia Coast: Tybee to St. Simons

Ryley Monaghan · October 29, 2026 · 5 min read · Georgia coast, GA

Fall is flounder time on the Georgia coast. All summer they're scattered through the marsh, the creeks and the sounds. When the water starts to cool, they start moving toward the inlets and the beaches on their way offshore for the winter. That puts a lot of fish in a small number of places for a few weeks.

If you've had trouble finding flounder in July, late October and November is your shot.

Why fall is the window

Flounder follow two things in the fall: the bait and the water temperature.

• Cooling water. As the marsh drops out of the 80s and into the 70s, flounder feed hard and start working their way toward the sounds and inlets.
• Bait on the move. Finger mullet, mud minnows and shrimp flush out of the creeks on every falling tide. Flounder lie on the bottom at the edges and wait for it to come to them.
• The run out. Flounder head to deeper water offshore as winter sets in. On the way they stack up at creek mouths, around the inlets and along structure near the beach.

The trick is being where they're passing through, at the right point on the tide.

Where to look

Flounder are ambush feeders. They want a spot where moving water carries bait past them, and a soft or sandy bottom next to some kind of edge.

Savannah and Tybee

• Creek mouths off the Wilmington, Bull and Lazaretto creek systems. Fish the downtide side of the mouth on the falling tide.
• Wassaw Sound and the back side of Tybee. Sandy drop-offs where a shallow bar falls into a channel are prime.
• The Tybee pier and the north end rocks. Good spots for a shore angler, especially later in the fall as fish push toward the beach.

Brunswick, St. Simons and Jekyll

• St. Simons Sound and Jekyll Sound. Work the edges where the flats drop into deeper water.
• The St. Simons and Jekyll Island piers. Both give you access to moving water without a boat. Fish close to the pilings and along the bottom.
• Bridge and dock pilings around Brunswick and the causeways. Flounder sit tight to the structure and eat what the current brings by.
• Creek mouths around the Altamaha and Darien. Same rule as up north: the mouth of a creek on a falling tide.

Reading a good spot

Look for three things together: moving water, a change in depth and some kind of hard edge. An oyster bar next to a sandy hole. A creek mouth where it drops into the river. A piling with a sand bottom around it. If you find all three, slow down and fish it carefully.

Timing on the tide

The tide is everything for flounder.

• Falling tide. Usually the best. Bait gets pulled out of the marsh and flounder set up at the mouths and along the edges to eat it.
• The last two hours of the fall and the first hour of the rise. Water is concentrated, fish are concentrated, and you can cover the key edges fast.
• Slack tide. Often slow. Use it to move to the next spot.
• Wind against tide. Makes it hard to keep a bait on the bottom. Look for a protected creek or the lee side of an island.

Early morning and late afternoon are good, but the tide matters more than the clock.

What to throw

Keep it simple. Flounder eat on the bottom, so whatever you use has to stay there.

• Live mud minnows. The classic Georgia flounder bait. Tough, easy to keep alive and flounder love them.
• Finger mullet. Great in the fall when the mullet are running. Hook them through the lips.
• Live shrimp. Works, but everything else in the water eats shrimp too.
• Soft plastics. A small paddle-tail or a curly-tail grub on a light jighead. Add a little scent. Hop it slowly along the bottom.
• Scented soft baits. A scented swimming mullet or shrimp on a jighead catches a lot of flounder.

The rig

A Carolina rig is the go-to. Slide an egg sinker on your main line, add a swivel, then a short fluorocarbon leader and a small circle or kahle hook. Use just enough weight to touch bottom. Drag it slowly and let it sit at the edges.

A jighead with a minnow or soft plastic also works well. Bump it along the bottom and keep in contact with it.

Setting the hook

This is where most people lose fish. When a flounder grabs a bait, it often just holds it for a few seconds before it turns it to swallow.

• When you feel the thump, don't jerk right away.
• Drop your rod tip, give it a slow count and let the fish turn the bait.
• Then reel down until you feel weight and lift steady.
• With a circle hook, don't swing. Just reel and let the hook do the work.
• Use a net. Flounder come off at the boat or the pier more than any other fish. Don't try to lift them out on the line.

Simple tackle

A 7-foot medium-light to medium spinning rod, a 2500 size reel, 10 to 15 lb braid and a fluorocarbon leader covers almost everything inshore. Flounder have sharp teeth, so check your leader often and retie when it gets rough.

Before you go

Flounder have size and creel limits in Georgia, and the rules can change. Check the current Georgia DNR Coastal Resources Division rules before you keep a fish. Bring a measuring board and handle the ones you release gently.

Get today's plan

The tide, the wind and the water temperature decide where the flounder are on any given day. Pull up the Savannah and Tybee Island fishing report or the St. Simons Island report for today's tides and conditions. Fishing near the line? Check Hilton Head or Fernandina Beach too. For the spots, the rig and the best window on today's tide, get the full report in NGN — free on iPhone and the web.