Savannah, Fishing Report - Miss Judy Charters

CAPTAIN JUDY HELMEY

“Kicking Fish Tail Since 1956”

August 23, 2010

Sometimes it’s hot and other times it is not!

With that being said, “It’s August and every body and every thing is hot!”

Please know it’s very fishable, it’s best to have a plan and try sticking to it!”

How to find a good solid inshore bite

The key is finding water that has what the fish want. Usually that means food. When you find an area has an abundant food source the fish will likely be there. Once you find a fishy area I suggest fishing all around covering all sides. One key thing is when the bird stop flying around and start eating …this means something down under is feeding. I suggest staying in this spot as long as you can, because where you have fish you have fish!

Inshore bite lots of rat reds

What do a flounder and a grouper have in common! I call it signature moves!

It’s time to go flounder fishing!

During this time of year our customers get to catch some pretty nice flounder. This is a strange looking flat fish with eyes on top of it head. It burrow itself down in the mud or sand and waits for the prefect feeding opportunity. Most fishermen when first hooked up think they are hung on the bottom. I always tell them to count 1001 1002 1003, which gives the flounder time to make a move and helps stop them from pulling the hook out.

For those fishermen out there that want to give the flounder fishing a try now is a good time. The flounder might look docile, but it’s is not. This is a fish that burrows down camouflaging itself while waiting for the prefect feeding score. If your bait gets even close they will make a move to attack. However, if your bait happens to drifts right by, they open up their large hinged mouth and suck it in. While feeding in this manner the flounder is still in the suction mode on the bottom making it hard to decide whether your hung or hooked up! Your best bet in this scenario is to keep your line tight and wait for the flounder to make a move!

I equate flounder fishing to grouper fishing.

The inshore flounder

The flounder while in waiting to attack suctioned itself on the bottom. So therefore during the initial hit the flounder is still suctioned on the bottom. While it’s turning your bait so as to swallow it, it’s anchored on the bottom. However, if you are an experience flounder fisherman you can feel, even if it’s slight, the movement this fish makes as it eats its kill. This is how the fisherman knows they are not hung on the bottom. Believe me it’s the feel of the fish moving if not for an inch while on the bottom.

This is the front half of a beefy-minded scamp grouper. Take a look at its eye placed in its head so that it can easily hunker down and make for the safety of the ledge. The slope on the top of the fish’s head allows it to swim right into a hole or under a ledge or in a ditch without any problem. I call it the dorsal fin and petrel fin tuck. Once these are laid back close to the fish’s body it becomes “a lean mean clean maneuvering swimming machine!”

The offshore grouper

This fish doesn’t burrow itself on the bottom, but what it does do is to once it attacks it heads back for cover. The cover that I am talking about is a ledge, hole, or ditch. When the grouper does make it back to the structure it’s hard to get them out. The reason being is most of the time the fisherman doesn’t know that they still have a fish on. They presume that their hook is hunk up! However, if you have fish as long as I have I can normally tell if the fish is still on the hook, but in the structure. My customers after landing their fish always say, “I thought I was hung on the bottom!”

Guitar playing can be popular when catching grouper…

When a grouper takes the bait it normally runs hard parallel with the bottom contour. It’s a hard dash to get to the structure. Once in the structure it pulls the leader as well as in some cases part of the main line too. Now what you have is grouper, leader attached to fish, egg sinker, and the main line all the way in the ledge. At this point I grab the main line and apply pressure waiting for the fish to make any sort of move and once it does I know I am hooked up not hung up. Once I have ascertained that I am not hung up I get straight in my mind exactly where the fish is in. Normally I lighten up the drag and I maneuver the boat above and beyond the scene of the hit. Once above the structure that the grouper is lodged in I grab the main line and strum it like a guitar. These vibration sounds run down the main line causing the fish to move a bit. Once it makes a move I pull hard on the main line and drag the fish right out of the structure. Once I get the fish to this point I have the fisherman reel as hard and direct as they can so as to keep the fish’s head up. While all this is going on we get our big saltwater dip net ready!

Fishing naked with live shrimp

This is a picture of live shrimp, which by the way is great bait especially when fishing inshore. All of its legs move, the tail fans up and down, and the eyes glow just like headlights on hit beam. The tip for this week is to just fish naked! I guess I should explain what that means. All you have to do is to tie a #4 Khale hook directly to your main line, hook your live shrimp up right under the horn, adjust drag to medium light, cast right into right into the strike zone, and just let the shrimp swim freely! Believe me the rest is fish catching history! What ever you do don’t forget your dip net or your camera! And whatever you do don’t take your clothes off!

Lots of ocean menhaden

There are lots of menhaden to be found in the sounds and beachfronts. Menhaden are great baits when used live or fresh dead. They are also good when crushed up as fish chum.. The best way to catch these baits are with a cast net. Please be aware when casting into the baits that there could be larger fish such as tarpon and sharks feeding in the school. If you happen to get a large fish tangled in your net always be prepared to ditch it quick!

Drifting for large sharks and tarpon

It a big catching “Deal” that is going on right now! Big fish, big jumps, and lots of action! Come on down!

Real Big Fish!

Captain Jack McGowan and his big fish!

He basically came upon floating in the Savannah River. According to Spud Woodward, Georgia DNR, this goliath grouper better known as a Jew fish or giant sea bass. Please note: Under fishing regulations for South Atlantic federal waters the goliath grouper is closed to possession or harvest! With that being said, “If you catch it please release it unharmed!” Since we don’t know what happen to this particular fish we can say, “It might have died of old age!” That’s my story and I am sticking to it!

Here’s the rest of the story or should I say, “The tail of this big fish!”

Smoker king mackerel

There were quite a few nice smoker king mackerel caught this pasted weekend while fishing the live bottom areas at the Savannah Snapper Banks. This is a fish that sees first what it wants and then eats. So therefore I suggest using light diameter wire rigged with small live bait hooks with stinger style treble hooks in tow. The best way to get hooked up is to slow troll with downriggers or just standard drifting.

Padgett Mixon's "secret" numbers put them on fish!

When this happened it was “Game ON TIME!” The fish made two hard runs and the fight lasted about 10 minutes! Congratulation Cameron! Nice fish!

The king was caught while slow trolling the artificial reef “J Buoy” located in about 65 feet of water. According to the report Padgett Mixon’s secret live bottom numbers put this fishing crew on fish! For bait they were using a live ocean porgy rigged on to a standard king rig. A standard king rig is light pound test wire (20 to 40 pounds single strand) and small live bait lead hooks and a treble hook in tow also know as the stinger. (Live bait hooks #4, #6, to 1/0 size hook. Treble hooks from #10, #8 to #6 sizes are best to use.) I suggest when purchasing any of your hooks that your first decide what size baits that you are going to use. The larger the bait the better chances you have for a bigger fish bite. However, your hooks used need to match the bait used. This boils down to small bait small hooks and so on! No matter what you don’t want your hooks used to detour your bait from acting normal.

A King mackerel’s attitude!

To catch a king you need to know a little about them. Once this fish’s big brown eyes focus on what it going to kill and then eat they go into “attach mode.” The first thing is determined is to disable the baitfish either with one strike or two!” If it’s one strike “the deal is done!” However, if the king decides to make the first pass a disabling one, it takes the bait’s tail off first. After all a fish can’t swim without a tail. Once the baitfish is hit it should start to fall in the water column. This is when the angler needs to do a bit of free spooling so as to let the bait naturally fall. Once it starts to fall the king makes a turn and then eats the part it wanted in the first place, which is the head and the middle part. Now you know the rest of the story!

Near shore and offshore

Trolling for Spanish mackerel

Believe me when I say, “I have seen more and I have seen less of these fish over the years!” The bottom line is this when you can see them try and catch them. If you can’t see the fish pull the lures deeper bringing the bite to you. It has been slow to go in this catching arena…However, there is always next week!

Talk about a fine pitch bait..

A couple of weeks ago Captain Cefus came to visit us over here at Miss Judy Charters.

Since this is was not his first visit time we all knew that he would most likely be bring some interesting tackle. While looking inside his truck I saw has tackle bag with all the interesting “tried, tested, proven, and deemed worthy enough to be tied on the end of his main line!” Believe me in the tackle world he has got quite a few winners.

To meet Captain Cefus…go here.. http://nutsandboltsfishing.com/nutsbolts

How I caught the cobia, which is shown in the next picture. Captain Kathy Brown is  holding a very green cobia. Believe me it’s a “tale worth telling!”

This is not the first cobia that we have caught on this same jig. We have hooked up, fought, caught, and landed quite a few. So here’s how I did it…

First lets get the rig out of the way this is ¼ ounce “Whoop Ass Jig.” These lures come in other size hooks and weights. Please check out (listed below) for more information about different size jigs as well as the colors offered. My favorite for “catching always reasons” is the blue and white jig head. It has worked repeatedly for me. It has always been my opinion that “the lure used is basically an extension of the fisherman’s hand!”

In my case, since I have been fishing for many years and have hundreds of opportunities to know what works in regards to an artificial lure I have “gotten this move fine-steined!”

The meaning of “fine-stein-ed” in my case it is a simple one. It’s the art of moving an artificial lure so as to make it look and act just like the real thing. The bottom line is the fact that “I can fool a fish!”

Cobia’s Attitude

A cobia is known for it’s curious attitude and it’s wiliness to re-visit things that interest them. When it comes to this fish it’s not all about food either. I have seen cobia cruise around my boat swimming under as well as circling as if they are taking it all in. You can throw any or all types of jigs at this fish. My favorite since Captain Cefus came to visit is the “Whoop Ass Jig.” This is not a commercial it’s a fact! On some occasions this is a fish that traveled in pairs or even in larger schools. They are known for schooling under lots of live moving sea creatures. Just to name a few: whale shark, turtles, sharks, rays, and etc. Here’s a list things that just might interest the cobia: buoys, artificial reefs, live bottom areas, your boat as well as other boats

Tag-less or not!

Take another look at the jig, which is lodged in the cobia’s lip. I want you to notice the tag line that was not cut off. Most fishermen cut the tag line (part extending from the knot) so as to make a clean cut, which for most fish is exactly what you need to do.

However, it’s my opinion that the presents of the tag line is very important in regards to this lure. In my case I feel that this tag creates small bubbles as you are working the jig.

The bottom line is this case is the fact that this has worked for me on several hooking up occasions.

To find out about Captain Cefus’s “Whoop-ass tackle” go to this address…. http://www.nutsandboltsfishing.com/nutsbolts/index.php/nuts-a-bolts-store/whoop-asstackle

Savannah Snapper Banks

Bottom fishing with plain old squid and cut fish gets you all sort of biting action.

However, take a live bait drop it to the bottom and big fish bites will happen! We caught some real nice gag grouper already this week…can’t wait to get back out there and give them another try! If you can’t get a bottom bite going I suggest you give just plain old trolling just about anything a try! I like using small to medium swimming rigged ballyhoo!

Gulf Stream

A blue water fishing suggestion

For those of you that haven’t been going or even thinking about it “it’s time!” Although it’s only August at this time fall isn’t that far away. When fall happens fishing changes so therefore be ready!

Freshies Suggestions

For those fishermen that want to “GO FISH LAKE LANIER”

Bill Vanderford is “Lake Lanier’s Legend!”

For those fishermen that want to “beat the day time heat” I suggest fishing at night. The best places to fish are around any sort of lights.

Little Miss Judy Believe It or Not!

A pair of triple tails 1959 style!

Here’s a few things that you might have not known about daddy when it came to the shrimping business..

Firstly, my mother sold the live bait. My father used to say, “The fishermen came for bait and also to talk to my mother!” In the early fifties my mother sold a lot of live shrimp, which was kept alive in the tanks tied to the dock. Here’s the thing, either an animal or another fishermen helped its self to the live shrimp one night. When my mother went down to start dipping the live shrimp most were all gone. My father then came up with a plan, which worked out quite well. He built the floating dock so that the large shrimp tank could be lower down into the middle. Once in the water, daddy then made what he called a trap door, which once closed became part of the dock. Heck, half the time no one could remember which board to pull up to open it.

Our home was about 200 feet from the shrimp tanks on the dock. Those fishermen arriving by water simply pressed the “To ring the bell” button located right at the end of the ramp. Although I don’t have a picture of the bell that rung when the button was pushed I still remember seeing it mounted on the kitchen wall and also the noise that it made!

Thanks for reading! Captain Judy

POB 30771

SAVANNAH, GEORGIA 31410

912 897 4921 912 897 3460 FAX

Captain Judy’s email fishjudy2@aol.com