Captain Judy fishing report ,Savannah, 9-15
Kicking Fish Tail Since 1956
POB 30771
SAVANNAH, GEORGIA 31410
912 897 4921 912 897 3460 FAX
Captain Judys email fishjudy2@aol.com
September 19, 2011 fishing report and story
Saltwater Inshore, Offshore, Blue Water fishing reports, Freshies Suggestions, and Little Miss Judys Believe It or Not story! Thanks for Reading!
Table of contents
Inshore Shorts Your boat or Mine!
Red fish growing mania has happened
Inshore fishing with the Dembkowskis
Crabbing report
Artificial Reefs Report Artificial reefs located in less than 50 feet 50 to 60 feet of water
Savannah Snapper Banks Mixed bag affair offshore this past week
Blue Water Report Team X-TA-SEA Sword Fish Bite Is On! Saturday September 10, 2011 and Sunday September 11, 2011
Freshies Report The Old Fly Rod Works
Little Miss Judy Believe It or Not! 1930s Era General Oglethorpe Hotel, Wilmington Island, Savannah, Georgia
Inshore Shorts
Your boat or mine!
For those fishermen that have been waiting to do a little inshore fishing now is the time to go. The spring nor was the summer was a bonus much less a regular catching time. However, since the days are shorter meaning less daylight the fish are going into what I call panic feeding mode! So therefore its time to decide your boat or mine!
Red fish growing mania has happened
In one of last months reports I said Give it about a month and the red fish clan will put on one heck of a growth spurt! Well, it has happened inshore fishermen have been catching more red fish in the legal slot limit of 14 to 23 inches tail length than not! The red fish offers up one heck of a fight on light tackle heres this deal..you can fight them and keep them or not! Whatever you do dont forget your dip net or your camera!!
Inshore fishing with the Dembkowskis
Captain Ray Crawley of Miss Judy Charters and Robin Dembkowski holding a nice fat trophy red fish!
Incoming Tide Fishing
September 13, 2011 Monday 7:30 departure
Captain Ray Crawley of Miss Judy Charter
Robin and Paul Dembkowski Dacula, Georgia
It was beautiful morning as Robin and Paul stepped on to Captain Ray Crawleys flats boat No Problem! This wasnt the first time that this fishing duo had stepped onboard! They have fished with Captain Ray, if not mistaken; about five times! Well, this day to prove to be one of those keepers for more reasons than one.
While using live shrimp and occasional Captain Ray secret artificial bait Robin and Paul caught trophy as well as keeper red fish and also some nice spotted sea trout. For the last couple of trips Robin beat Paul by catching the biggest red fish. Well, if you check out the two pictures in this report you will find not much has changed Robin is still winning! They are scheduled to go later this week with Paul still hoping to get a little revenge! However, unfortunately lady luck just might be on Robins side and then there is that way she works her fish, which is just right!!
Captain Ray Crawley and Paul Dembkowski holding a nice trophy red fish
Crabbing report
Captain Deidra Jeffcoat is holding up a nice Blue Crab! By the way Miss Judy Charters offers crabbing trips too!! Its fun for all ages!!
I have fishermen call me all of the time and ask about blue crabs. So I thought I would share with you what I tell them. The sloughs in creeks and rivers are great places to target the old blue crab. The best bait is going to be fish heads or chick necks or backs. My most old time favorite crabbing rig is a hand line, sinker, and bait tied on. Drop it down to the bottom, wait until you feel the crab feeding on the bait, and then slowly inch the line in. Crabbing is fun for all ages! Whatever you dont forget you dip net!!
Artificial Reefs Report
The month of September can be a real fun catching month especially when fishing the artificial reefs areas. In my world I have what I call two sets of artificial reefs to choose from. I have the artificial reefs located in 50 feet or less and those that are in 50 to 60 feet of water.
Artificial reefs located in less than 50 feet of water
Approximately 5 miles off Wassaw Sea Buoy
Fishing in these areas at this time can be a little tricky. Take for instance last week: We bottom fished with small pieces of squid and fish catching a lot of small fish black sea bass. Even when trying larger pieces of cut fish we still only catch the small fish. Since we have had hardly any king or Spanish mackerel movement into our area there werent any options to change to. I normally during this time change from bottom fishing to trolling and vice vise when the bite slows for one or the other. However, since we have not had much of a top water bite no options here!
I have been saying this all year its not over until it over. The mackerel could still make a last minute showing. All I can do is hope for this to happen!!
Artificial reefs located in 50 to 60 feet of water
Approximately 15 miles off Wassaw Sea Buoy
During this time the bottom fishing is more active, because you are fishing a little deeper water. However, here again no mackerel in this area either. The best that I can tell you is this.. just this extra little depth as well as the distance from shore puts a little different twist in regards to the bottom bite. Bottom fish such as black sea bass, banded rudder fish, blue fish, tomtate, and trigger fish have tendency to school up together, because all have found a food source. So there fore it might take a while to locate where this is happening on the reef, because the bait is not every where. So I suggest moving from spot to spot until you find where the bait and the fish are schooling. Then I suggest to do what I call the stop, drop, wait for a hit, and if not move to the next fishing spot!
Savannah Snapper Banks
Mixed bag affair offshore this past week
The bottom fishing at the Savannah Snapper Banks proved to be very interesting this past week. With small pieces of squid and live cigar minnows we caught a little of everything from vermilion snapper to trigger fish to blue fish. Heres a bait combination that really worked we put a small piece of squid and one live cigar minnow on each hook and serious hook ups happened! This became known as the vermilion snapper cocktail…
Gulf Stream Fishing!
Its time to go sword fishing! The bite is right! Meet the X-TA-SEA sword fish catching team!
Team X-TA-SEA
Sword Fish Bite Is On!
Saturday September 10, 2011 and
Sunday September 11, 2011
Captain Chris of Team X-TRA-SEA emailed me this fabulous sword fish report!
We headed out Saturday morning with Brendin Page, Zack Page, Johnny Gondol, Thomas Bishop, Kent Philips and myself on board to have another go around with sword fishing.
We skipped our usual trolling at the ledge and headed straight to deep water for some daytime dropping in roughly 1,700 feet of water. At these depths we can only fish one line at a time. To get the bait to the bottom we have to use about a 15 pound weight. On the second drop, Brendin hooked up with something big. We strapped him in to the gimbal belt/harness and it was game on. For the first two hours it was a lot of give and take and then Brendin started to make some headway. As the battle ensued Brendins hands started cramping up and the next thing we know he started with the dry heaves, which went to just straight throwing up. Keep in mind he was still strapped to the rod and reel with a harness as well as fighting the fish while all of this is going on. Im glad we have raw water wash down in the boat.
After about 4 hours, not only were his hands cramping but his legs were shaking uncontrollably. Once again he started with the dry heaves. He lost his concentration and let the line slack just for a second and thats all the fish needed to shake the hook. We all sat in disbelief that the fish was gone just like that. Brendin crumpled to the floor and asked for more water. The fight had taken us 14 miles from where we started and the sun was starting to set. We headed back to the same area to set up for some night fishing.
Things were pretty uneventful so we broke out the grill and cooked up some burgers. Brendin was the first to fall asleep and one by one everyone started to doze off until it was just Johnny and I working the lines. Around midnight I saw one of the rod tips shaking a little bit so I picked it up to check it out. It felt like something was just shaking the line until I felt a steady pull. I set the hook and it was fish on! It didnt put up a big fight, but Johnny had the gaff at the ready when the fish finally broke the water about 15 feet away. It was thrashing its head around with the bill sticking out of the water. I could see that it was a small swordfish, but Johnny couldnt quite make out what it was. As I reeled it closer to the boat I told him to get rid of the gaff and just grab his bill. In one motion he pulled the swordfish over the side into the boat. We high fived each other and started to hoot and hollering waking everyone else on the boat back up. We took a few pictures, measured it to confirm it was too small to keep, and then revived it before sending it back down into the darkness.
Now everyone was wide awake and ready to go. We had three lines out when Brendin had something grab one of his baits and head straight for the bottom, peeling off probably close to 400 yards before slowing down. Unfortunately it pulled loose soon after. Not even ten minutes after resetting his line Brendin had another fish on. He fought it for about 15 minutes before he got it to the boat. In short order we gaffed the sword, pictures were taken, it was packed it in ice, and we got the lines back out.
About an hour later Brendin shouted out that there was a swordfish jumping near the front of the boat with a glow stick attached to the line. This was a sign for everyone to start reeling so to find out who was hooked up. Thomas came tight with the fish and set the hook. Fish on. After another 15 minute fight we had our second keeper swordfish in the boat. We set up for one last drift before it started getting light. We had one more fish on, but lost him after just a few minutes. Fuel was now becoming an issue so we headed back into the ledge for a little bit of trolling before the long run in. We caught two bonita and lost a decent size Mahi Mahi at boat side. Everyone was exhausted so we cleaned up the boat a little and broke out the bean bags. We had two swordfish on ice and released another. Not a bad trip. The ocean was calm so I throttled us up, cranked up the tunes and headed for the hill. No state record again, but we didnt really care because we had such a great time! And not only that it makes for such a good excuse to go back again!
PS: Captain Chriss sword fish catching tip for the day: As far as best baits to rig up Captain Chris says, I think its more important getting the bait in front of the fish than what the bait is. The teams main bait used is whole squid. However, they have used Boston mackerel, Bonita belly, grunts and, etc.
Thanks so much Captain Chris for sending me this sword fish report and the pictures, too! Please keep them coming! Captain Judy
Freshies Report
The Old Fly Rod Works
Attachment 204832
Photo by Bill Vanderford
For those of you that use the old fly rod you already know that you can catch just about any kind of fish with this set up! However, there are a few secrets: Its best to know how to pick out the best flies, present them so that they look, and acts like the real thing. And of course cast into and work areas where there are fish! Which is the most important thing!
Those fishermen that want to GO FISH LAKE LANIER
Bill Vanderford is Lake Laniers 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 Believe It or Not!
1930s Era
General Oglethorpe Hotel, Wilmington Island, Savannah, Georgia
This is picture of me (Captain Judy) doing a great balancing act on the stern of my fathers old wooden boat named after my mother Miss Jerry! In the background is the General Oglethorpe Hotel better known by the young-ers as the Savannah Sheraton Hotel. I went to this site to see some close up old time pictures of this magnificent hotel. http://www.sip.armstrong.edu/Ogletho…le_Img115.html
This hotel has so much history that if I started writing about what I think I know we would be here for a while. Here is what I would like to share with you. My father used to say, In Las Vega the mafia buried their dead in the desert. On Wilmington Island they buried their dead on the Oglethorpe Hotel golf course in the sand pits! According to my father digging in the sand was easier and better than disturbing the greens. And my father also said, Parts of Jimmy Hoffa was buried under the helicopter pad at the hotel. According to my father this wasnt considered a burial it was a statement!!
As you know my father may or may not have worked with the well known Al Capone gangster association in the 1930s. Since I wasnt born until 1951 I really dont know for a fact. However, heres what I do know my father certainly did know a lot about all of these goings on. When he talked about it his eyes would light up and that big cigar that he was smoking produced some of the thickest smoke rings around his head that I have ever seen. And this was his sign that big conversations were going on!! My standard line to those that read this stuff is this: This information has to be true because Im certainly not smart enough to make it up!
Thanks for reading! Captain Judy
Captain Judy Helmey
missjudycharters.com
912 897 4921
Sport Fishing Forums – North Carolina, South Carolina & Georgia
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