“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

October 17, 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

2012 INSHORE and OFFSHORE FISHING CLINICS Dates have been set

It’s Miller Time Inshore Once Again! September 28, 2011

David Miller doing what he does best, which is catch fish!

"That’s not my HOOK!" By Brian Dixon

Inshore shorts spotted sea trout, red fish, and flounder

Sound Fishing can be a catching blast!

At the artificial reefs and fishing in the sound with the Millers! It’s Miller Time Offshore! October 2, 2011

David Miller is in his “ready to set a hook, ready to catch a fish, and definitely ready to land one mode!”

David Miller’s spinner shark ordeal!

Savannah Snapper Banks “Fishing with the Millers!”

Gulf Stream With fall in the air prompting water temperatures to fall “its time to go blue water fishing!”

Freshies Report Ideal cranks baits for Lake Lanier

Little Miss Judy’s Believe It or Not! A marsh hen hunting we did go!

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

It’s Miller Time Inshore Once Again!

September 28, 2011

Attachment 206638

Christopher Miller while fishing with Captain Jack McGowan had trophy red fish catching kind of a day!

When Christopher Miller and his father David come to town to “go fish” bites happen!! This duo knows fishing and understands how things can go with hook ups or not. However, they never let the windy conditions; rough seas, continuous rain fall, and unpredictable weather patterns ever get them down. This is why I can call them “True fishermen!”
Attachment 206639
David Miller doing what he does best, which is catch fish!

David Miller is holding up a nice red fish, which was caught, fought, and landed “Miller Time Style!” While fishing with Captain Jack McGowan of Miss Judy Charter the Miller’s caught some very nice red fish and spotted sea trout. Fun was had by all!

"That’s not my HOOK!"

By Brian Dixon

Sunday, October 1st, 2011

Fishing Bull River across from Tybee Cut, before you get to Williamson Island with the outgoing tide. It was approximately 4:30pm with low tide forecasted at 7:15ish. I passed you on my way out an hour or two earlier, you were anchored up in the Wilmington River and appeared to have a "fish on"!

I had thrown the cast net right after passing you and landed about 9 or 10 menhaden, which was plenty for my afternoon. I was fishing two lines out, one on bottom and one floating with no weight. The bottom rig was hit quickly; and as you can see by the first photo whatever it was cut through quickly and missed the hook completely.

Attachment 206640

Photo by Brian Dixon

I reeled that line in and was in the process of re-baiting when the top line took off. It took about 10 minutes to reel in the fish which appeared to be a 3 1/2 – 4 foot Atlantic Sharp nose Shark. While not that long it was one of the thicker sharks I have caught recently.

One interesting challenge when fishing alone is the great "NOW WHAT?"; once you have a fish of size next to the boat. I did not want to gaff the shark as I was going to let it go, and there was no way of photographing it while holding the fishing rod. As I had the shark at the back of the boat and contemplating my options the shark did what sharks do and let me know he/she had a plan as well. I was able to see "a hook" in the side of the shark’s mouth and at that point it splashed quickly and was gone. I assumed the line broke but upon closer inspection I saw that the shark had just gotten loose from the hook….then it hit me…..that isn’t my hook!!

First, the hook I had was much smaller; second, I had a brand new, shiny silver hook…this one was large and very rusty. Upon closer inspection I noticed the most amazing of fishing talent…(well I can say that, it was me and I am writing this!) You will notice in the second photo that my new, shiny, silver hook did in fact "hook" something….I hooked a hook that apparently the shark had stuck in his mouth from a previous fishing experience. I am not sure if I only hooked the hook or if I hooked both hook and shark. Either way it was an oddity that can only be one in a million. It takes true talent (or a whole lot of good karma) to hook another hook. I think this takes fishing to a entirely new level of competition….what do you think?

On a separate note, I guess it takes more than a few days/weeks for hooks to rust out. I have the hook and you can definitely see that it is starting to crumble but intact. I have shown a few friends and of course the initial reaction is that I set it up, but a quick look at my not so great poker face and they realized I was serious. Thanks for letting me share with you. Talk soon! See ya on the water, Brian Dixon

Attachment 206641

Photo by Brian Dixon

Now we all have wonder, who’s hook is this? Does anyone recognize it?

Inshore shorts

Spotted sea trout, red fish, and flounder

October 8, 2011 through October 11, 2011

Although the wind has been howling for over 5 days the fish catch still has been better, then bad, and then better!

Its true when the wind is blowing the water can get very muddy offering us fishermen a true problem. However, it seems even when it’s windy if you happen to find a small piece of clear water “fish bites can happen!” So therefore if your fish day picked is windy and rainy I suggest still considering going fishing. The reason being we caught more fish this past week under windy rainy conditions than we did the week before!

Sound Fishing can be a catching blast!

With water temperatures staying in the low seventies while plain old bottom fishing the sound you could find yourself catching a little of everything. Fall/winter season of whiting is just around the corner with fishermen getting the chances to catch dozens of these wonder tasting fish. Whiting prefer to school up in the sound when the temperate get below seventy degrees and stays there!

At the artificial reefs and fishing in the sound with the Millers!!

It’s Miller Time Offshore!!

October 2, 2011 Sunday

The David Miller and his son Christopher chartered my boat for a 10 hour snapper banks trip. However, as luck would have it “weather happened” and we didn’t venture out very far. It was very rough on this Sunday morning with sea conditions at a solid 4 with an occasional 6 foot. However, the ocean was on a down swing motion meaning laying more likely by high noon. So therefore I headed out slowly to the L Buoy, which is an artificial reef that is located about 15 miles off the Wassaw Sea Buoy in about 60 feet of water. I knew that this was going to be my best chance for catching any sort of bottom fish. With our sites set on black sea bass, trigger fish, scup, flounder, and anything else that cared to bite our baited hooks off we went while slowly riding the waves.

After arriving to the L Buoy I started looking around for bottom fish. While doing this I was also looking for any sort of top water action and believe me the surface was “dead!” Not even the wrecks were holding the interest of any sort of baits. Heck, I even threw out couple of Clark’s spoon just in case a Spanish mackerel might be in the area. Captain Ken Kennickell along with Captain Deidra Jeffcoat on the “Obsession” and crew picked up about ½ dozen Spanish mackerel. While talking on the radio Captain Ken said, “I can see the Spanish mackerel, they are feeding on the surface, but I am not catching any.” After a few moments of us both talking about how we wish the fish would bite he hooked up and caught 6 Spanish just like that. After that one flurry of six hook ups it never happened again on that day.

Attachment 206642

This is males black sea bass some times referred to as hump back green heads! The black sea bass is born female and then later turns into a male. According to what my father used to say,

“The hump was caused due to the stress of having to fertilize all the millions of eggs produced by the female.” This fish’s tail at the very bottom is lined in white. According to my father the male takes his tail and makes a bed for the eggs. Quite often the white part of a large male sea bass is completely worn off. This fish hasn’t done much sweeping, because the white is still showing strong.

Back to the artificial reefs and fishing in the sound with the Millers!!

I found a small pod of black sea bass and I pulled away so as to get everything ready. As soon as the hooks were baited I pulled back over the spot, we dropped, and fish bites happened. Some of the bass were mediums while others were what we call hump back green heads.

David Miller is in his “ready to set a hook, ready to catch a fish, and definitely ready to land one mode!”

Attachment 206643

David Miller and me Captain Judy are having a nice conversation. After fishing offshore it was decided to come inshore and do a little fishing trophy red fish and spinner sharks.

Attachment 206644

David Miller’s spinner shark ordeal!

It didn’t take David Miller long to get his spinner shark for the 2011 fall fishing season. After baiting up the lines and setting them “strikes and runs happened!” This is a nice spinner shark that David caught while using a small piece of banded rudder fish as bait. The shark was release unharmed to bite yet another day!

Savannah Snapper Banks “Fishing with the Millers!”

October 4, 2011 Tuesday

When Tuesday rolled around David Miller and his son Christopher, Captain Kathy Brown, and me took a heading of about 128 degrees. We had Savannah Snapper Banks and grouper bites on our minds. The plan was so simple and easy to follow. All we needed was a bit of good weather so that we could put about 40 miles between us and land. As we headed out there was lots of talk and I believe a lot of the bull part came straight from me. I suggested we make a bet for “bragging rights!” Well, of course I thought I was going to win!! Our first stop was in about 100 feet of water where we baited up with ruby red lips, sand perch, scamp, pin fish, vermilion snapper, banded rudder fish, and reef runners. With our live well full of some of the best baits that I have seen in a while I heading to grouper location number one!

Grouper Location Number One

Attachment 206645

It’s that time of the year!

When we arrived at Grouper Hole Number One, David, Christopher, and me were baited up and ready to go. By the time we made our first drift over the ledge the winds had really picked up from the northeast. However, it was still doable it just took longer to approach, situated, and drift over the ledge. On our first drift, we all got hits from smaller fish, which meant all baits were destroyed and usable. On my next approach and having a better idea of how the boat was going to react to all this wind as well as the close together wash board sea conditions I felt better about being able to put the baits where they needed to be. We dropped allowing our live baits to get to the bottom and basically bump along as the boat pulled them across the ledge. Christopher and I didn’t even get a touch. However, out of the corner of my eye I watched as David dropped his rod tip just a bit and then go into his get this fish hooked up on mode. After David played a few minutes of “Cat and Mouse” games with the gag the fish finally sucked the whole fish in. David pulled tight and the rest if fish catching history!

Grouper Spot Number Two

Attachment 206646

Christopher Miller looks down to see what part of his line was shredded on this particular hit.

Once getting into about 120 feet of water I headed over to a ledge that I have been having lots of luck with. I call in the “Three Point Ledge with Escape Window!” The reason I gave it that name is, because the fish finder shows three distinctive ledges. Now here’s the thing, once you hook up a big grouper, it seems you have only a short window of hook up opportunity. It’s like the big fish grabs the live fish and runs through a window and believe me when this happens “it’s no stopping or re-directing this fish.” If you happen to get the fish hooked up and disorientate its direction meaning “make it forget about that window” you will normally catch a nice scamp, gag, or red snapper.

Although Christopher was not doing anything wrong just about every time a big fish took his bait the fish ran right through the window. Here’s the end results when that happens: The 6 foot 100 pound leaders is shredded, but still strong. However, when the fish really pulls hard after going through the window it normally pulls the main line of 60 pound test up and against the coral reef cutting the line.

Attachment 206647

Christopher while doing a little standard bottom dropping with small pieces of squid caught a very interesting as well as dangerous fish. This is what is called “Scorpion fish.” This beautiful colored fish when lying on the ocean floor blends and looks just like a rock. This is the fish that needs to be looked at from a far and not touched at all. This fish’s mucus is even dangerous to touch especially if you have any sort of cut on your hand. If this fish happens to fin you it stings as if 1,000 wasps have stung you at one time. Stay away! Just cut the line!

Gulf Stream

Attachment 206648

I think if you saw this it would be safe to say, “You either have a billfish hooked up or it just got off!”

With fall in the air prompting water temperatures to fall “its time to go blue water fishing!”

When I fished so much in the blue waters I used to love this time of the year. The reason being is you can stop and start trolling just about anywhere you get to 150 feet of water. The reason being is that fish are on the move! When I reached 150 feet of water I started looking for any signs such as tropical birds in the air, birds feeding on the surface, oil sheen on the surface from fish kills, and rips with temperature changes.

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

Freshies report

Ideal cranks baits for Lake Lanier

Attachment 206649

Photo by Bill Vanderford

Ideal crank baits for Lake Lanier! All that is left to do now is to cast, crank, and get ready for a big yank!

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 Story!

A marsh hen hunting we did go!

This is one of the row boats that we would take when we went marsh hen hunting. There is an Evinrude 3 1/2 horse power out board engine that powered this row boat. When we first started hunting marsh hens there wasn’t any rules. Here are some of the rules and regulations I remembered as a child: Once in the marsh grass you had to pull your engine out of the water. Then the next one was you had to take you engine off your boat and put in the boat. Daddy said, “Some of these rules are so crazy!” Then he would say, “Next they will only allow me to shoot when I am holding one foot up.” Well, if you think about it with all the regulations now put upon us sportsman “holding one foot up when shooting” wouldn’t be all that bad.”

Marsh Hens and Ketch up Gravy!

Since it Marsh Hen hunting season is opened I thought I would share with you some of my father’s for Ketchup Gravy

Attachment 206650

Just a note: Ketchup gravy is good with any kind of meat from wild to store brought will work with this recipe! My father and I made Ketchup gravy all of the time, because it was one of our favorites!

I promised to share my father’s not so famous ketchup gravy recipe. However, I need to give you a little background information about dear old dad and his craving for ketchup. He basically loved it. He would pour it over the strangest things. In fact, back in the real old days upon arriving at the local restaurant they would immediately tell him that there would be an extra charge for that bottle of ketchup that he would always consume. All of this information I received directly from daddy in regards to the good days. I wasn’t there to experience the paying of the extra 5 cents for the ketchup. However I was there to see him put it on all that stood still on his plate and his ketchup desires knew no particular meal. So as we all know what you are brought up with usually sticks. I do love ketchup, but not to that extend.

My father and I cooked a lot. He loved to eat and I was the best cook and only cook in the house. So therefore I was the chosen one. We would buy most of our meats, but daddy also hunted. We prepared and ate all that he killed. According to my father if you killed it you have to eat it. So we ended up eating quite a few strange things, but that‘s another story in itself. He taught me a lot about cooking in the pressure cooker. This was definitely hard for a child that couldn’t see the top of the stove, but I managed. All meats, no matter what would be pressured cooked for a certain amount of time. I now believe this was due to the fact all of the meat was extremely tough or he wouldn’t have gone to all this trouble. We then would remove said meat, flour it, and put it in hot grease to fry a bit. After the browning took place we removed it. Then he drained the grease off, but left the browned pieces and parts that had fallen off of the meat. Now we added finely chopped onions. According to Daddy as long as he kept his cigar in his mouth the onions wouldn’t cause his eyes to water. It never stopped my eyes from watering. After the onions were brown we then added light sprinkles of flour and let it brown. After that we added some water and let it simmer for a while. Once the gravy got brown and thick daddy would open the ketchup bottle and basically pour it directly into the gravy. He would stir the gravy and it would cook a bit more. After that he would add the browned meat to the ketchup gravy and let it cook some more. As you can see there is a lot of cooking going on in this recipe. When the simmering ended the gravy was done alone with the meat. Now it was time to get two pieces of white bread lay them on your plate and cover them up. It was a meal fit for a king! I might add that once the meal was done the kitchen was a serious mess. In fact I would have liked to have thrown all the pots, pans, and dishes out in the backyard. It seemed that my jobs never quite ended.

Thanks for reading! Captain Judy

Captain Judy Helmey
missjudycharters.com
912 897 4921