“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 1, 2011

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

Here’s the thing about casting the old shrimp net. You don’t have to have a boat to be able to cast a net. In this case Captain Ken Kennickell of Miss Judy Charters saw some menhaden “flipping” at the Westin Hotel dock located on the Savannah River and gave it a try. Heck, we have caught enough shrimp while casting off our dock for bait as well as a few shrimp cocktails. When doing so from a boat your opportunity for moving to different spots quickly increases.

Table of contents

Casting for shrimp

Spotted Sea Trout Fishing

Red Fish Puppy Drum

Flounder Pounders

It’s Jack Crevelle Time!

Artificial reefs Spanish mackerel have been hit and miss!

Savannah Snapper Banks It’s hot, but there is a still a good bite to be had

Gulf Stream Daniel Carter-Sweatte caught this 250 lb pound blue marlin…

Captain Bert Klein called in a great blue water fishing report 60 bill fish

Freshies report Captain Ken Kennickell of Miss Judy Charters goes on vacation and guess what he does…He goes catching!

Little Miss Judy Believe it or not! Seventies era!

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Casting for shrimp

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. Here’s the good news…not only can you use what you catch for bait, but some of the shrimp are big enough to for that prefect shrimp cocktail. All you need do now is to make the sauce.

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Photo by Captain Matt Williams

Hello, nice size spotted sea trout. Heck, this trout was so big it didn’t fit in the picture! Just kidding!

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

Puppy Drum

Our 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!

Flounder Pounders

I don’t have pictures and I don’t have names. However, I saw the fish and I got this report straight from the fishermen that caught them. According to the report, while fishing the grass line in the sound around the Cabbage Island area, “flounder bites happened!” In this case since I saw the fish, this is not a fish story! The flounder caught while using mud minnows and live shrimp under traditional adjustable floats were nice ones. I normally call these size fish doormats, which means not only they are about the size of the doormat they fill the bottom of a 48 quart cooler too!

It’s Jack Crevelle Time!

During this time of the year inshore fishermen once again get a chance for some real serious “big fish pulls!” Jack Crevalle migrate inshore feeding on their list of favorite foods and occasionally will hit a fished live shrimp while on your hook. So here’s what has been happening with this fishery. While fishing in the Wassaw Sound one of Captain Matt Williams inshore customers caught a 30 plus pound Jack while doing the old floating fishing for trout thing! Believe me at this time you really never know what you might catch this time of the year! While anchored in the sound, just fishing on the bottom with small pieces of shrimp we have caught over the years, especially during this time some really nice jacks.

Where do you get your best chance at catching a Jack Crevelle?

Here are a few pointers..

Jacks don’t usually jump. However, they do run pretty fast right on the surface in cadence when chasing bait. So therefore if you see bird’s high speed chasing and darting toward the water take a good luck see. Normally when the jacks are feeding on what they have pushed to the surface the area in question is completely covered with white splashing water.

On some occasions Jacks will stay completely still while keeping their dorsal fins high out of the water. I have seen this several times, but would have passed them right by had I not taken a second look. It’s my take that what they are stalking has pushed into shallower water in that the Jack can’t swim in. So therefore they are staging and waiting for the tide or for the bait to think it’s safe to make a move.

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!!

Savannah Snapper Banks

It’s hot, but there is a still a good bite to be had at the Savannah Snapper Banks!

It’s the only place that I know where you can fish and catch a little of everything and for those fishermen that just want to go catching this is the place!!

While bottom fishing while just plain old drifting to the east we caught a little of everything. My normal mode is to pick isolated areas and go through my process, which I have done for years. I pull just up current of the fishing spot, have customers to drop, and once hitting the bottom “bites happen!” Well, this past weekend proved that I had to make some adjustments of my way of fishing. The first thing was the drift and the winds were strong and going in the same direction. If the customers didn’t get hooked up in the first few seconds it was reel baits back up from 110 feet of water and start the process over again. Believe me that scenario didn’t last long!! So I decided to start at a particular coordinates, drop baits, and if they didn’t get hooked up go into the “just drifting mode.” It paid off, not only did I catch fish but I got to see quite a few ledges at a different angle!

Gulf Stream

The fishing has been hot and cold, which is pretty normal for blue water fishing at this time of the year. However, I still wouldn’t rule out a chance to make that ride. It might turn out to be worth it. I have had reports of large bull dolphin, Wahoo and even a bill or two being caught around the Deli Area. You have lots of option once you get to the blue water areas. If you can’t find a weed line or temperature change you can always troll the live bottom areas. The ledges that you find with holding surface bait will be what I would call a “Target Rich Environment!” In other words there should be a sign with the words on it “DRAG YOUR BAITS HERE!”

Attachment 197965
Daniel Carter-Sweatte caught this 250 lb pound blue marlin……….

Photo taken by Daniel Carter-Sweatte

Daniel Carter-Sweatte caught this 250 lb pound blue marlin while trolling about 65 miles offshore of St Augustine, Florida. The blue hit a red and black Wahoo Wacker, which Daniel set up “his way!” He rounded the head of the lure a bit to make it swim better. Daniel also changed out the leader and replaced it with heavier stuff. According to Daniel the lure might have worked the way it was. However, at this point the picture proves it definitely worked “his way!” More information and more pictures in next week are fishing report!

Captain Bert Klein on Trashman called in a great blue water report!

Captain Bert Klein called in a great blue water fishing report. While fishing Edisto Blue Water Tournament this past week, Captain Klein as well as the others had some great action days. Normally during this time blue fishing can be “up or down!” Well, after reading this report you are going to think it was from the spring and not the hot dog days of July. About 23 boats fished this tournament, which was a three day tournament fishing two out of three days. Here’s some of the totals ….

Over 60 bill fish consisting of white and blue marlin as well as Atlantic sails were caught, fought, and released

Big bull dolphin

Black fin tuna

And there were even a few small yellow fin tunas caught

According to Captain Bert all of fish were caught in 300 to 550 feet of water. The best news is live bottom wasn’t the only thing holding the interest of these fish. There was lots of rips lined with Sargasso as well as some holding good temperatures breaks. The billfish were doing what they do best, which is “rounding up bait!”

Over the years I have seen some of the most amazing “round ups” some time referred to as “bait balls.” Believe me when I say this “those with the bills know this drill!” This is one fish that knows the art of schooling up their soon to be prey! The bottom line is where you have schools of bait you got much bigger fish holding in the outskirts! All you have to do is to troll the perimeter and you will catch fish!!

Freshies report

Captain Ken Kennickell of Miss Judy Charters goes on vacation and guess what he does… He goes catching!
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Captain Ken Kennickell of Miss Judy Charters is doing what he does best, which is “catch fishing!” While fishing in Colorado, Captain Ken took a fly fishing trip and had a blast! He caught on the fly some nice brown and rainbow trout. According to Captain Ken the hooks used in the tied fly were smaller than those that he uses while bait fishing. The bottom line to this report is when doing this kind of fishing the fly has to move in the same direction and at the same speed as the current in the stream fished! And of course, “Only small barb less hooks are needed! Nice fish!!

A Dude Ranch

Captain Ken Kennickell and Libby along with Kate their daughter spent a week at a Dude Ranch in Colorado. It was definitely a fun event with the family having a great time doing all the things that you do at the ranch such as ride horses, shoot guns, pitch hay, taken long afternoon rides in the country, and of course get the opportunity to go fly fishing for lake trout.

As you can see from the picture about Captain Ken had some pretty good luck in the catching department. So I guess you could say, “You can take the captain away from the ocean, but his professional fish abilities still travel with him!” According to this catching report Captain Ken stop counting after catching over 12 nice brown and rainbow trout!

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 Believe it or not!

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Seventies era!

The first wooden boat to the left is the old Miss Judy, which was about 27 foot long and leaked like a sieve. The fish on the dock next to it was a catch from an 8 hour offshore fishing trip. It looks like Bonita, Spanish, and king mackerel. The “Apache” was a walk around head boat owned and operated by Captain Charles Lou Ellen. Now I hope I am not mistaken about that name. Since I am getting older the mind has started playing tricks on me. I will never forget this story told to me that happened one fish day on the “Apache!” After a customer had fought a large tiger shark for hours on end while getting it to the boat only to have it run off the captain’s grandson got so excited that he jumped into the water with knife in hand and stabbed the creature to death. The grandson was definitely the hero for the day and those on board ate shark steaks for quite a while!!

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This is me (Captain Judy) in the cabin of boat shown in first picture. I am making sandwiches. So therefore back in the day I must have been the captain and the cook!

Thanks for reading! Captain Judy

Captain Judy Helmey
missjudycharters.com
912 897 4921