Capt Judy Helmey, Savannah, Fishing report 12-9

CAPTAIN JUDY HELMEY

“Kicking Fish Tail Since 1956”

POB 30771

SAVANNAH, GEORGIA 31410

912 897 4921 912 897 3460 FAX

www.missjudycharters.com

Captain Judy’s email fishjudy2@aol.com

December 12, 2011

Saltwater Inshore, Offshore, Blue Water fishing reports, Freshies Suggestions, and “Little Miss Judy’s Believe It or Not story! Thanks for Reading!

Table of Contents

Call 888-JOIN-RFA or visit http://www.joinrfa.org/ “JUST DO IT!”

2012 INSHORE and OFFSHORE FISHING CLINICS Dates have been set

Surf Fishing Report

Inshore fishing reports Flounder Pounders!

Captain Alan Collins of Miss Judy Charters catches and tags a lot of red fish!!

The Toothy Wonder strikes again!

Stripers and wipers

It’s time to on board! Jelly fish and their friends

Artificial Reefs what are those that decide the faith of our fisheries doing?

Please meet the Brooks family catchers and releasers of 263 black fish

Trophy Red Fish at the artificial reefs

Savannah Snapper Banks..Grouper season will be closed January until May 1, 2012

Blue Water Report Making this run can certainly be interesting!

Freshies Report Photo from my new fishing friend Corey!

Little Miss Judy’s Believe It or Not! “Holiday Moonie Shine Recipe”

“JUST DO IT!”

If you want to keep catching these ..join the Recreational Fishing Alliance NOW!!

Attachment 209551

Captain Kathy Brown of Miss Judy Charters is holding up a nice size amberjack, which was caught at the Savannah Snapper banks. The amberjack sometimes referred to as the “reef donkeys” are very strong fighters. The fight starts at the first run and it doesn’t stop until the fish is landed. The term “reef donkeys” came about when it was decided that if you found a ledge with amberjack schooling in the upper water column you chances for getting to bottom without hooking up is very slim. In most cases this is a very good thing!!

Recreational Fishing Alliance

POB 98263

Washington, DC 20077-7581

Call 888-JOIN-RFA or visit http://www.joinrfa.org/

I am willing to fight for my right to fish….Here’s what I like about this organization….their stated mission is “To safeguard the rights of Saltwater anglers, protect marine, boat, and tackle industry jobs, and ensure the long-term sustainability of our nation’s saltwater fisheries!”

Please join the RFA today! A one year membership is only $ 35.00!

http://www.joinrfa.org/About_Us.htm

2012 INSHORE and OFFSHORE FISHING CLINICS

Dates have been set

Our newly revised inshore handout material is going to be considered “priceless!” We are going to give you the best times to fish for what, when, and where for the entire year of 2012.

Any inshore fisherman that is considering going offshore they need to attend my offshore class. For more details scroll down …

One Inshore School
Saturday February 4, 2012

One Offshore School

Saturday February 11, 2012

Time: 8:00AM – 2:00 PM

Place: Tubby’s Tank House 2909 River Drive, Thunderbolt, Georgia 31404

Cost: $ 90.00 (included one day class, breakfast, and lunch)

Please call 912 897 4921 now for reservations

Please sign up as soon as possible! There is limited entry!

Capt Judy’s email fishjudy2@aol.com

Capt Judy’s Cell 912 429 7671

For more detailed information go to

www.missjudycharters.com OR GIVE US A CALL 912 897 4921

To sign up just give us a call or email fishjudy2@aol.com and we will put you on the list. After the first of the year we will contact to check the status! Thanks and hope to hear from you soon! Captain Judy

Inshore fishing reports “Flounder Pounders!”

Attachment 209552

Even though the water temperatures have dropped inshore fishermen are still catching some nice flounder. The secret to getting this fish’s attention is to use some sort of live bait such as shrimp, finger mullet, or mud minnows. Put this bait on the bottom and wait until the cows or should I say fish come home!!

Attachment 209553

Captain Alan Collins of Miss Judy Charters catches and tags a lot of red fish!!

When the water gets colder the old red fish moves a little slow. I suggest looking for this fish in areas that the dolphins can’t get too. Places like the flooded marsh areas are great places for a red fish to feed. The secret is to get there before them.

The Toothy Wonder strikes again!

Attachment 209554

Dr. Brad Durham of Savannah, Georgia also known as “The toothy wonder” had a great inshore fishing day. His guest was Captain Alan Collins of Miss Judy Charters. As you can see from the picture they kept two nice flounder and 10 spotted sea trout. Now here’s what you need to know…this is only what they kept not what they caught! Now you know the rest of the fish catching story!!

Stripers and wipers

Attachment 209555

Photo by Captain Matt Williams

For those fishermen that like to fish cold waters your chances for catching stripers and wipers is a good one. The Savannah and Ogeechee Rivers are the best places to do a little scouting. The best baits can be anything from a buck tail jig to a live shrimp. To find a school of feeding fish I suggest that you let the diving birds be you guide!!

It’s time to on board!

Jelly fish and their friends

Attachment 209556

This moon jelly fish is really a floating cover for hundreds of small fish and shrimp. I know this isn’t a great picture, but I think you can see what I am talking about. It truly is amazing how shrimp, fish, and crabs ride with the jelly fish. I guess you could say, “This is how the small fish get where they are going without getting eaten by the bigger ones!”

Artificial Reefs

What are those that decide the faith of our fisheries doing?

Attachment 209557

Captain Kathy Brown of Miss Judy Charters is holding up a nice black sea bass, which was caught while using fiddler crabs as bait. However, if I used a piece of cloth it wouldn’t have made any difference the black sea bass would have still bit my hook. Please know that the black sea bass season is closed and will not open until June 2012. The reason being is according to those that decide the faith of our fisheries have deemed that over fishing is occurring when it comes to black sea bass. It’s is my opinion as well as the opinion of my customers that there are so many black fish that it’s really unbelievable. We run 4 hour offshore trips, which take an hour to get to the fishing drop, which boils down to 2 complete hours of fishing. We normally catch 100 to 150 black sea bass, which are always properly released.

Please meet the Jarvis family catchers and releasers of 263 black fish

Attachment 209558

On November 26, 2012 the Brooks family (party of six) caught and released 263 black sea bass in two hours. So far this is my 2 hour record black fish catch for 2012. Congratulations Jarvis Party!!

Attachment 209559

Trophy Red Fish at the artificial reefs

Timothy Martin and Captain Deidra Jeffcoat are braving the high sea conditions while trying to stand on the deck of the Miss Judy Too! Timothy is holding his nice just caught 36 inch trophy red fish, which was fought, tagged, and released!
Attachment 209560

Savannah Snapper Banks

Grouper season will be closed January until May 1, 2012

I haven’t been in a while, but just so you will know…2011 grouper season will close on January 1, 2012 and will reopen on May 1 2012. It truly is an interesting trip to take especially for those of you that want to see some nice genuine red snapper “up close and personal!” I wish I could say when the red snapper fishery will open. We don’t have a season for this fish. It was closed due to over fishing!!!

Blue Water Report

Attachment 209561

Making this run can certainly be interesting!

How many Mahi Mahi do you see in this picture? All of these dolphins have one thing in common “they are definitely not in a feeding mode.” The reason being is if they were “their lights would be on!” For those that don’t understand what I am talking about…here’s the short version…

When a dolphin also referred to as a Mahi Mahi get interested or start to feed all colors on this fish immediately show. As you can see in this photo these fish was all the standard color. However, as soon as these fish got interested the blue and yellow lights would have come on!

Blue water fishing

It’s cold, but the Gulf Stream is running at around 78 degrees. Yes, it’s a long run, but you really never know what you might catch. The best news about this time of the year especially when it comes to the blue water bite is “fish that are on the move are always hungry!”

Freshies Report

Attachment 209562

Photo from my new fishing friend Corey!

This is a steelhead (rainbow) trout that come into the river /creek during winter that runs behind my house in New York.

Those fishermen that want to “GO FISH LAKE LANIER”

Bill Vanderford is “Lake Lanier’s Legend!”

For more about my long time friend Bill Vanderford as well as his accomplishments, his freshwater charter trips or wildlife tours, books written and his special line up of tackle offered, please visit his site http://www.fishinglanier.com/contact.html for all the details! For more details go http://stores.ebay.com/Fishy-Racer http://www.youtube.com/fishyracer www.cafepress.com/grapefruitshop

Little Miss Judy’s Believe It or Not!

Holiday Moonie Shine Recipe

Attachment 209563

According to my father the longer a moonshine tornado lasts in the jar the higher octane in regards to the contents. Once this mason jar of “who knows what proof moonshine” was spun around a few times this strong tornado appeared. However, if I went by my father tornado spinning equation I can only assume that this moonshine was close to 200 proof! My father’s granddaughter Cindy loves this stuff mixed with pink lemonade!!

Holiday Moonie Shine Recipe

I had a family on board the other day that came from a long line of Moonie shiners. In fact some of them had served short to long sentences in the big house for their unbelievable desires for making the drink. According to the said family none of this drink making was “for sale.” It was only for medicinal purposes. I’m sure you remember the television show, “The Beverly Hillbilly’s.” This show had a member of the family whose name was “Granny’s.” Doctor Granny used this so-called tonic for her special doctoring techniques. In fact while she was concocting her tonic she would be over come by all of the tasting. All of this tasting would often lead her to having to take lots of small afternoon siestas.

Back to the Fishing Charter

This particular family that charted my boat had a grandfather that spent time in the “big house” with “Big Al Capone.” The grandfather was in for bootlegging and we all know from our history books what “Big Al” was in for. The grandfather told his family that “Big Al” was no more than a “Big Sissy” behind bars. As we talked on the boat we all decided that it was only because he didn’t have his “Yes Men” behind bars with him. This group being from a long line of Moonie Shiners shared parts of their secret recipe with me. A part of the recipe was fine with me. I didn’t want to have anything that might get me put in the “big house.” As we talked, other parts of the family would put in their two cents worth. For instance, as soon as he started telling me about the main ingredient of oranges another stood up and said “Over Ripen watermelons” were better and easier to deal with. So therefore we started talking about watermelons. According to them you best bet for ripen watermelons is to go to the farmer market. Watermelon farmers are glad to sell you an over ripen truckload for $ 25.00. Now it also sounds like the farmer is part of this deal too. For the story sakes and the length that it could reach let’s say the needed fruit to start the shine is obtained, which is a truckload of watermelons. You will need to get your machete and shovel out. After splitting the melon with the big knife use you shovel to dig the meat out. The meat of the melon then is put in a 35-gallon can. Once you fill this up with melon, add pounds of sugar, some yeast, and then top off with water. You then need to cover these put together ingredients and store in a well-ventilated place. When the word well-ventilated place was mentioned all looked at me and said, “This is real important part of the process.” Your so-called “Mash” must be able to breathe. I didn’t ask, but I am sure that they meant that it might blow up if it was in a lock-down situation. As you can see this is a very dangerous. So I wouldn’t be trying this at home much less anywhere else.

Another story popped up!

One of my customers said, “That’s exactly how he got caught!” He was letting his ingredients work and then it happened. The room in which he had it in blew right off the trailer that it was attached too! His wife was so mad that she turned him for moon shine making!!

According to the professionals after a certain amount of time, which could be days or weeks only the maker knows for sure the mash is ready for stage two. It is then poured into a stainless steal tub, better known as an “old re-modified beer keg.” Before the invention of stainless steel kegs just plain old copper or steel pots were used.

Other Mash Secrets

All concurred that mash had a visible way of showing you when it was done. It seems that when all ingredients are mixed together in this 35-gallon trash can the ingredients gets to working. By working, as they explained, bubbles start rising to the surface. In fact when the mash really starts working you can hear the bubbles popping on the surface. This process goes from a few bubbles to multiple bubbles. Supposedly when the bubbles stop the mash is consider done and ready to work with. It’s still hard to believe that the hard stuff starts in this fashion!

Straining the Mash

Once they started talking about straining the mash I assumed that they would use a large colander, but I was wrong. They used “panty hose.” The fermented mash was poured into “NEW,” pair of panty hose. (Believe me I had to ask.) As the hose filled the liquid was drained off. This helped eliminated the core part of the watermelon. All they were interested in was the precious liquid.

It’s time to really cook the liquid mash

Once the now liquid mash was poured into the keg the top was sealed with the exception of this little coiled copper tube that came out of the top of the keg. This is supposed to be where the liquid is to escape. Back in the old day they would just make a fire with hot coals. However, in the new times a gas burner did the trick of cooking this stuff. As it cooks the liquid escapes through the copper tubing. A pot or a so-called “liquid catcher” is placed under the opening of the tubing. Here’s comes the technical part. I hope I got this information correct. You don’t want the liquid to come out to fast, because if it does this means that the “proof” of your drink will be not good enough. There is a basic rhythm to the drop of the shine. According to the persons telling the story it takes years to get this pace down. At any rate they luckily had the basic secret information passed down from their long line of moonie shiner maker ancestors.

First Proof

Here’s the fun part for the maker. As the liquid drains off the maker, which now becomes the tester has to be taste it periodically. The reason is a simple one. Once the liquid stop tasting like shine and starts tasting like water this is the sign that the cooking is over. The first cooking will probably yield at least 100 proof of so-called shine. However, to get it up a few notches you must run it throw the cooking process again. This only means more cooking, watching, and tasting. This second and probably third run though could yield up to 200 proof. This is also known a “Pure Rocket Fuel!” Any more processing and you might be putting yourself as well as your family and neighbors in harms way. According to the cooker two times is all you need, because you’re drinking it not using it for demolition!

Checking the Results

The best way to do it is to pour some into a small bowl, light it up, and watch it burn off. The flame tells you all you need to know about your cooking abilities. According to the story, the bluer the flame the higher the proof. Now in my father’s case this would have been a problem, because he was “color blind.”

There were other little things that they shared that I am sure are real important to the proper making process. However, I wanted you to read about it NOT MAKE IT!

All this talk brings back old childhood memories. I probably could have made a killing if I had saved all of the copper tubing that daddy kept in the old black house. I really never thought about it until this story was shared with me. I though that daddy just allegedly helped “Old Al” transport the goods not make it! You know what they say about history repeating itself. I will let you know how it all turns out!

Thanks for reading! Captain Judy

Captain Judy Helmey
missjudycharters.com
912 897 4921

Attached Images

Sport Fishing Forums – North Carolina, South Carolina & Georgia Fishing


——-