“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

August 8, 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

Sea World St Catherine’s! Brought to you by those that call this area home!!

A casting you should go!

The good old hot times flounder bite

Whiting inshore bite!

Captain Alan Collins of Miss Judy Charters proves without a doubt that we are now having a 2011 spotted sea trout bite!

Wynn Dennard’s Trophy Red Fish

Puppy Drum growing as you read!

Spanish mackerel bite is still hit and misses! Artificial reefs

Savannah Snapper Banks Just plain bottom fishing is the way to go!

Gulf Stream Report Blue Marlin!! I got to tell you Daniel Carter Sweatte has definitely got the blue water fish dialed in!! Please keep those reports coming!

Freshies Report Captain Ken doing what he does best “Catch Fish!”

Little Miss Judy’s Believe It Our Not! Steer Away!

Sea World St Catherine’s!

Brought to you by those that call this area their home!!

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Photo by Jodi Weed

Shawn Weed along with his better fishing half Jodi got a full wildlife show this past week. While looking for an afternoon cobia bite they saw some strange objects bobbing on the surface. After a good cleaning of the sunglasses they both concurred that it was three manatees making way. While all of this was going on a large cobia launched itself out of the water while trying to feed on a school of menhaden. As they watched, tarpon scooped through the school picking up a few menhaden to snack on. You just never know what you might get to see while just coasting on the coast!!

As a child I though a manatee was either a hippopotamus or the real time loc ness monster!

A casting you should go!

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Photo by Captain Uncle Bob Morrissey

My dear old time friend, Captain Uncle Bob, whom I ran with in the ocean for many years, along with his lovely wife June is now showing us what they are doing in their spare time. And that would be “still in the catching mode!” Now this is one nice size shrimp. I am not going to say that every cast will yield you a hand full of this size shrimp. However, what I will say is this “it’s time to go casting!”

When casting for shrimp it’s best to follow this old time rule of thumb

For those of you that like to throw the old cast net now is the time to do so. Best times are before the water gets into the grass (marsh) and right after it leaves.

My father always said this about shrimp and their ways

My father loved to go casting for shrimp. In some cases he would throw the cast net, but in most cases it was me doing all the work. I didn’t mind as I cast he talked and told me some wonderful stories. Here’s what he always told me about shrimp. According to him shrimp stay in the grass, near sloughs, and in the creeks until they get big enough to make a move to the ocean. My father always told me that during the full moon stage shrimp that were big enough would migrate to the sounds and then into the ocean. How did he know this? When a shrimp was big enough to make a move its legs would turn completely red. So therefore according to my father “red legs on a shrimp meant they were just about to be on the go!”

As a child I though that the shrimp used their red legs to walk with to get to the sound. So therefore I pictured in my mind red legged shrimp lined up heading east making way on the bottom. Heck, my father even pointed out a few shrimp tracks!! You got to love a man with such a great imagination! From mermaids to walrus on the sea buoy to shrimp tracks believe me I saw it all!!

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Captain Kathy Brown is holding what we call “Pound-er Flounder!”

The good old hot times flounder bite

Boy I got to tell you the flounder is one fish that most all not only want to catch but also to eat. During this time the old flounder can be caught feeding around sloughs and near the edge of grass islands. Best live baits are lipped hooked mud minnows or small finger mullet or live shrimp. Another good bait is the ever popular live shrimp, which not many fish can pass up. The bottom line is pick your spot, cast you bait into place, and wait for the old flounder to make the first move first. It’s a waiting game but well worth it! Whatever you do don’t forget your dip net!!

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This is a nice size whiting, which in a fisherman’s world is a two fold deal. The first deal is they make great bait either used live when targeting a large shark bite. The second deal is no matter whether you scaled, gut, and fry or just bake in the oven it’s all good!!

Whiting bite inshore

Even though a solid whiting bite is mostly associated with the cooler weather temperatures it’s happening right now. Our inshore customers are catching some of the largest whiting that I have seen in a while. The bite yesterday was the best during the afternoon low tide stage in the sound in about 10 to 15 feet of water. As far as the bait used it’s as simple as it you can get…small hooks laced with small pieces of peeled shrimp. I call this inshore bottom fishing at its finest!!

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Captain Alan Collins of Miss Judy Charters proves without a doubt that we are now having a 2011 spotted sea trout bite!

Captain Alan Collins of Miss Judy Charters proves without a doubt “we are now having as spotted sea trout bite!” This is one big spotted sea trout, which was caught will using live bait in the Wassaw Sound area on August 4, 2011. Here’s the best news “it’s still swimming, because Captain Alan’s customers took a “catch and release day!”

Spotted Sea Trout Fishing

I have to say that this is one biting season that we fishermen have been waiting for. Well, the truth of the matter is it has arrived. Our inshore boats have been catching quite a few nice size and a few under sized spotted sea trout. The current Georgia state regulations allow a bag limit of 15 per fishermen with a total tail length of 13 inches. However, since regulations do and can change I suggest always checking before pushing off the dock.

As far as best baits live shrimp is most of the time their favorite, because it’s so easy to kill and fast to eat. As far as presentation the old time adjustable floats seem to be once again popular in this department. The reason being is fishermen can easily work all depths of water around the boat. Not only that, but you can let you bait drift for quite a ways from the boat allowing you to find that school of spotted sea trout.

Red Fish

Wynn Dennard’s Trophy Red Fish
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Wynn and his father Ted Dennard holding up his trophy red fish, which he caught while fishing with Captain Ray Crawley of Miss Judy Charters. When Wynn was asked what he wanted to do on his 5th birthday? He replied, “Go Fishing!” Now you know the rest of the story! He went “BIG TIME CATCHING!” Nice fish! No puppy drum here!!

Puppy Drum

(Growing as you are reading!)

My inshore captains have been catching quite a few undersized red fish while trout fishing. Small undersized red fish are sometimes referred to as puppy drum or rats reds. The current Georgia state slot limit for red fish is has to be at least 14 and not over 23 inches long to keep. Most of the red fish caught were about ½ inches to short. Although the keeping isn’t at its best now it should be by fall. So until then it certainly can be a lot of fun practicing catch and release!

Spanish mackerel bite still a big hit and miss!

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Captain Deidar Jeffcoat of Miss Judy Charters and customers are having a good times catching a few Spanish mackerel! I can’t as of yet say, “Spanish Mackerel are here!” Still waiting to see when this bite is going to happen!!

Artificial reefs

Spanish mackerel have been hit and miss! And so have the king mackerel! Even though it is hot making the water hot too…a few bottom black sea bass are being caught while just plain old drifting these areas. The reef located in 55 plus depth water is holding the most bottom fish. The artificial reefs in less than 55 feet are holding a few fish. However, there are more small ones that larger black sea bass. Still lots of fun to catch on light tackle. Sharks are being caught from the beach fronts to the Gulf Stream!!

Just plain bottom fishing is the way to go!

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Captain Kathy is holding a nice solder fish, which was caught while bottom fishing at the Savannah Snapper banks. We don’t catch a lot of the so called “topical fish.” So when we do luck up we take a picture and set them free!

Savannah Snapper Banks

It’s the only place that I know where you can fish and catch a little of everything. I have to report that the currents have been raging in 90 to 110 feet of water. However, there is a fish bite to be had. The secret is to just try your best to keep you baits on the bottom and as soon as you get a hit “re-act!” This means trying setting the hook or raising your rod gently, which should get you hooked up. However, if this doesn’t get the hooking up job done I suggest to immediately open you bailer and let you bait back to bite that just happened. It’s a known fact that when it comes to bottom fishing if the fish can see or smell the bait nine times out of then “it’s going to eat it!”

Gulf Stream Fishing

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Photo by Daniel Carter Sweatte

Blue Marlin!! I got to tell you Daniel Carter Sweatte has definitely got the blue water fish dialed in!! Please keep those reports coming!

Normally I always suggest giving this area a try, because after all just fishing the blue waters of the stream is an amazing thing. And normally during this time it’s a hit and miss type of situation. However, after getting so many good catching reports from fishermen catching black fin tuna to yellow fin tuna to lots of bill fish I guess you could say, “It’s time to go because now we know!”

Freshies Report

Captain Ken doing what he does best “Catch Fish!”

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Captain Ken Kennickell of Miss Judy Charters is doing what he does best, which is “FISHING AND CATCHNG!”

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 Our Not!”
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This is a great picture and it definitely offers up a lot of information.

The red tint in this school is made by what I call angry squid. When a squid or schools of squid are threaten “they turn red!” As you can there is a lot of squid in this school that feel threatened. In this pushed to the surface school there is a two-fold happening. There are lots of angry squid with thousand of glass minnows mixed in. The bird above is flying in to retrieve any surface floating leftovers. Here’s the thing the birds don’t only get the uneaten fresh leftovers they also get the chance to dive in and pick up on the surface swimming baits, too.

“Steer Away”

Back in the late fifties I remember my father telling me about the abundances of Spanish mackerel that we had in our area. In fact during this time they basically covered most of the near shore surface waters around Tybee Roads, better known as the Savannah Shipping Channel. According to my father this unbelievable pheromone took place during the very warm month of August. In fact I do remember going out and fishing for them. I really can’t remember a time that we didn’t load all of the coolers. I also can’t remember what we did with all of the fish. I guess we ate some and gave the others away. I do remember that we had lots of customers that loved to charter his big boat during this time. That’s how it was back in the old days.

My father always told me that the Spanish mackerel really don’t start pushing the small bait fish up to surface until after around August 9. I have seen them schooling on the surface a lot before this time. However, they really do seem to stay longer after the first of August. There was this other information that he shared with me. He told me that the boats that were traveling to the south during this time experienced quite a few problems. My ear perked up with that statement. According to my father there was so many Spanish mackerel schooling on the surface that boats traveling over 15 knots were scare to run through the schools. I know I had to look a little puzzled when he made this statement. The reason wasn’t because of the surface schooling mackerel. It was because of what was feeding in and around the schools that had yachtsmen so very upset. When traveling on the water you would be surprised how fast news travels. A Statement on the VHF radio goes a long way. There were several reports of boats hitting some sort of large objects while powering through the schools. Normally when you hit something with a boat the impact forces the object to the surface. It might not stay there long, but most of the time you at least get a good look at it. However, according to the information received these objects weren’t logs or boards. Daddy said it could have been anything from a large shark, floating turtle, to a dolphin (mammal).

My father told me that there were two possible reasons for the Spanish to start jumping around August 9. And here are the reasons, which could be true for both. They jump to make spawning happen or they are so happy that they have spawn that they are jumping for joy!!

Thanks for reading! Captain Judy

Captain Judy Helmey
missjudycharters.com
912 897 4921