Captain Judy fishing report ,Savannah, 11-7

[Fishing Report]

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



November 8, 2010



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



2011 Schools dates are


INSHORE FISHING CLINIC

Two Inshore School

Saturday February 19, 2011
Saturday March 12, 2011



One Offshore School

Saturday March 5, 2011



Time: 8:00AM – 2:00 PM

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

Cost: $100.00 (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 details on the school please go to…

http://missjudycharters.com/fishingclinic.shtml



Table of Contents

Right Whales “All Boaters Please Read This!”

For those fishermen that don’t know, November and December offer some of the best inshore as well as offshore fishing off the Georgia Coast.

Reasons Why FISHING IS SO GOOD!
Special Live Bait Rigging Techniques Straight from Captain Matt William’s live well and tackle box

Fall Fishing is the time to find New Drops! By Capt. Rick Reynolds of Miss Judy

David Miller and Captain Matt Williams are all about red fish smiles!

Rylan Herring’s 9th Birthday fishing trip

Tami Kessler, while visiting from Kenner, LA, is holding a nice spot tail bass.

Going Stag with a GAG!

Offshore Fishing Report Artificial Reefs and Snapper Banks

Live Bait Attracts A Serious Fish Bite!

Blue Waters of the Gulf Stream

Freshies Suggestion “To cob web or not!”

Little Miss Judy’s Believe It or Not! Monster Lobster



Right Whales

“All Boaters Please Read This!”



Photo by Captain Judy Helmey

This is a right whale making way. It’s that time of the year where all boaters need to keep an eye out for these wonderful creatures. If you ever do come upon one, please slow down and steer away! For more information go to…



Did you know that back in the whaling days these whales were the most hunted? They got their name for being the “right whale to kill?”



Please read this…the right whales are making way through this area..



http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories...hipstrike.html

November and December 2010



NOAA has announced seasonal vessel speed restrictions along the U.S. East Coast where the endangered right whale travels to protect them from being injured or killed by colliding with ships.

The restrictions—the same as imposed last year— require vessels 65 feet or longer to travel at 10 knots or less in key right whale areas, reducing the chances ships will collide with whales.



















For those fishermen that don’t know, November and December offer some of the best inshore as well as offshore fishing off the Georgia Coast.



Photo by David Miller

Christopher Miller is showing off his just caught soon to be released red fish, which he caught while inshore fishing with Captain Matt Williams of Miss Judy Charters. Hooking up and catching the old red fish is one of Christopher’s favorites. Believe me he does it well!



Reasons Why FISHING IS SO GOOD!
It doesn’t matter whether you are an inshore or offshore fisherman, because all fish are doing about the same thing. That same thing is “MIGRATING!” It’s a known fact that right before a fish starts to go in the “MIGARTING MODE” it starts bulking up. This means that fish eat more to sustain there pending moves. Not only that, but they aren’t as guarded as they are during other times of the year. This means, “they are not that picky” in regards to what they will eat. Now with this proven theory in mind I suggest trying to go inshore or offshore fishing during the months of November and/or December. The next and only thing that I need to add is “Your boat or mind!”

















Special Live Bait Rigging Techniques Straight from Captain Matt William’s live well and tackle box



Photo by Captain Matt Williams

Although I have said along with many other fishermen, “This is a big bait!” And all of us are right and the point is well taken. And it would seem that a peanut menhaden would be too big of a bait to use while inshore fishing targeting reds, trout, and flounder. Now you know I wouldn’t even be bringing this up unless I was trying to make a point….This bait works…and yes a large trout will strike, kill, and then eat this bait without any problem.. The others will do the exact same thing! The bottom line is this…don’t use this bait unless you are attracting a larger fish bite!



Finger mullet and peanut menhaden



Ruling out finger mullet and peanut menhaden as bait is a definite mistake. As a fisherman if you just think like a fish for a moment you will know that larger bait fill the stomach quicker. Not only that, but “one kill is the deal!’ After all it doesn’t take as much energy killing larger bait as it would several others. Another thing to remember is a large fish thinks, watches, and follows first before striking. My father use to always say, “They didn’t get that big being stupid! You most likely have heard all this before, but I always like refreshing the old fish catching memory base.



There is another reason why these baits are so good. You can lip hook or dorsal hook them, cast into place, and let it sit. This frees you up to fish another line that needs you complete attention.





Photo by Captain Matt Williams

Here’s one way to hook up a finger mullet. This is called “lipped hooked!” Another way, which also works, is to place the hook behind the dorsal fin in the meaty part of the mullet’s back. This hook up work especially well when you have to cast your bait further distances.



Photo by Captain Matt Williams

This is one of Captain Matt’s favorite light tackle adjustable float rigs. He uses this rig for peanut menhaden, finger mullet, and live shrimp.





Captain Rick Reynolds



Fall Fishing is the time to find New Drops!

By Capt. Rick Reynolds of Miss Judy Charters





During the fall, inshore fishing is considered by some people to be the best time to catch Speckled Sea trout and Redfish. I have to agree that during the fall months, fishing for trout and reds is often more productive than the hotter summer months.



I attribute this to several factors.

Falling water temperatures triggers speckled sea trout and redfish to start schooling and moving towards the rivers and creeks.

These schooling fish will often start gorging themselves on any kind of bait available. Recently some of the trout I have cleaned were full of glass minnows. Redfish have been full of shrimp and stone crabs

As water-cools down, the water clarity seems to be better, and since trout are sight feeders and apex predator’s water clarity is important.



Since the bite seems to be better, now is a great time to explore areas that you haven’t fished and give them a try. I suggest taking some live bait and 2 setups, one with a popping cork and one with an adjustable.



The best time to do this is during low tide. Since we know that trout and redfish can be found anywhere from Wassaw Sound to up past the floodgates on the Savannah / Back River pick a place close to where you launch your boat. Cruise the shoreline looking for where small creeks dump out into the main rivers. Also look for oyster mounds that get covered with water at a higher stage of the tide. Also if you have a drop that you only fish when the water is covering the oysters or flooding into the marsh fish it on the low tide. Of course your bait is going to be away from the structure, but you might get a huge surprise.



I recently had a charter that started at dead low and the wind was very strong from the west. We spent a little while trying to get to my favorite low water spots, but it was just too windy and the water was dirty. So we changed course and went to one of my middle of the tide drops during this low tide condition.



By looking at the structure that we normally fish, I was able to determine where the fish should be if they were staging now. Guess what, it produced big time. And to add to the excitement, the fish were in less than 2 feet of water and couldn’t sink the cork, but just took off with the bait. We could have sat there the rest of the day, but we took a few from there and moved on. But we did release 3 redfish over 23 inches. So trying something different worked out great for us.



To recap, since the bite is very good this time of the year, try a new spot, that’s the only way to grow your list of fishing drops. Also start looking for spots closer to home. You might find that you don’t have to run more than a few hundred yards to catch quality fish. Below is a 22-inch redfish that we kept!





Below is a couple baits spit up and chewed up by speckled sea trout. The first is a glass minnow. The 11-inch trout was so full of these he spit a couple out when caught. Next is a headless shrimp that was returned by a hungry speck. Tom Carfrey reported catching a 15-inch speckled trout with a 4-inch yellowtail inside. Bottom line is the fish are in feeding mode right now.



If you do get the chance to go exploring, take a child with you and try his or her spot. You would be surprised how lucky children can be!















Photo by Christopher Miller

David Miller and Captain Matt Williams are all about red fish smiles! It was good day to be out on the water!




Rylan Herring’s 9th Birthday fishing trip





Please meet Rylan, holding a flounder and his brother Tucker holding a snook.

While fishing with their parents Jennifer and John Herring, Rylan and Tucker had quite an interesting fish catching day. To top it off, it was Rylan’s 9th birthday and also his special request to go fishing. According to Captain Alan Collins of Miss Judy Charters Rylan caught the flounder by waiting just long enough for the fish to suck in the bait. Once this deal was sealed Rylan set the hook and reeled the fish to the boat. Tucker age 7 is holding a nice snook, which he caught fought and landed all by his self. Just a note for those that don’t know….We don’t catch a lot of snook in this area! So therefore Tucker is holding up the only snook that Miss Judy Charters caught in 2010! A big Happy birthday goes out to Rylan and a big congratulation goes out to his younger brother Tucker!





Tami Kessler, while visiting from Kenner, LA, is holding a nice spot tail bass. Tami caught this fish while inshore fishing in Savannah Georgia with Captain Greg Davis of Miss Judy Charters. The bottom line to this report is they caught, fought, and released a whole lot more!

























Going Stag with a GAG!



Please meet Captain Kathy Brown and her big friend “GAG” grouper! During this time the gags can be caught that’s is if you can get them away from the ledge before they pull your line back down under!



Offshore Fishing Report

Artificial Reefs and Snapper Banks

During this time all offshore fishermen get a chance at catching some real nice fish. This is the time when you can catch a blue water fish in green water and a big bottom fish in shallow water. The bottom line is “it’s time to go!”



All isolated areas from the artificial reefs to the snapper banks are holding the attentions of fish. The reason being is that there is “a big need to feed!” All fish are bulking up so that they can make a move. It’s a funny thing all places that held fish at this time last year are holding them once again and it’s going on right now. I have been fishing many years as well as keeping records and this all boils down to patterns revealed.



Live Bait Attracts A Serious Fish Bite!

Live bait is certainly the way to go when going after the larger fish and those that aren't feeding too readily. The fact of the matter is "live bait triggers a fish bite even when the fish aren't hungry!" In the saltwater world we have fish that are territorial and kill for sport. Then there are those fish that only kill what they are going eat. However, most of the time it really doesn’t matter especially if a feeding opportunity arises.







Photo by Captain Judy Helmey

From this picture you can see that there are lots of live bait Sabiki rigs on tackle shelves. The bottom line is the fact that most of them do work in the “catching fish arena.” These work great while using them around any sort of structure or worked around the buoy chain. Small fish, which are in most cases are great used as live bait, find the old buoy chain a safe haven. They swim around and hid in the links. The best news is that most of the time you can see the bait as well as their moves, which shows you exactly where you should just slowly jig your string of hooks.



Catching the bait on the Sabiki rigs is normally a lot of fun for the customers. Especially those have never seen so many hooks on one line. The fact that they can catch 6 to 8 baitfish at a time, which is amazing to those that have never done it before. According to most this is the most fish that they have ever caught with just one reel up and in some cases “ever!” The best news about this situation is this: It certainly is fun to catch the bait, take it off the hook, and put it in the live well. However, it’s even better to use the bait as bait for the bigger fish!



The bait rigs can be work several different ways. The first thing that I do is to ascertain where the bait is holding. This means shallow, mid-column, or deep. Once I see the bait on the fish finder I tell the fishermen where to drop down too. If the baits are holding on the surface they will most likely hits the hooks as soon as they are lowered into the water. If the bait are at mid water column depth, bites will happen but not too quickly. It’s my opinion that when staging mid water they are forming up in tight school so as to warn off any would be predator. The best way to attract hits in this holding situation is to drop, stop, and pick rod gently up and down. This normally gets you hooked up. I always suggest especially when in this staging mode that it’s best to reel in as soon as you get a hit, meaning don’t wait till you load all hooks before retrieving. In some cases, the predators causing this stand off with then turn and hit you rig most of the time cutting it off.

When the baits are close and hanging right on the bottom I always suggest free dropping till the sinker hits the bottom. As soon as this happens I suggest holding on the bottom. This means if you are fishing from a drifting boat that you will need to keep slack in your line. Doing this lays your Sabiki more parallel with the ocean floor, which most of time triggers a serious bait bite.



Last but not least “the bail well, which is the holder of the precious bait that you just went to so much trouble to catch!



Always have a bait well that continuously changes out the seawater. This keeps your bait healthy and lively. If your baits start to look wash out this means your not getting enough water circulation in your live well. The meaning of washed out when it comes to live baits is loosing color with pail-ness in mind. When this does happen I call it “bait in shock!” The old standard of not putting you hands in the live well especially if you have just put on sunscreen or anything else still stands. “Don’t do it that’s what the dip net is for!”



Photo by Captain Judy Helmey

This is a soap fish. We don’t catch a lot of these fish, but when we do I always like to explain to my customers exactly what this small fish is all about. It’s not very big meaning less than 10 inches long. It looks like a full mature miniature grouper. The soap fish has skin not scales and it has quite a bite of mucus as it outer covering. Normally a reel from 100-foot depth does this fish in. When we catch a fish that I am going to release I like to vent their air bladder and throw them in the live well so that they can get their swimming act back together. By putting the soap fish in my live well for a little “R and R” I found out one very important thing. And you might not believe this, but it’s ho so true. This fish didn’t kill my bait physically; it killed them by just being in the live well. Apparently the mucus from this fish’s skin is poisonous to other fish especially while in captivity. Believe me, it didn’t take but a few second to seal this killing deal. I looked away for a few minutes and the only fish left swimming in the tank was the small cute but deadly bait killing soap fish.



Photo by Captain Judy Helmey

These are what we call jelly balls. I guess you could call this a school of jelly balls. These jellyfish will not sting you like their cousins. Over the last few months there have been thousands of these jellyfish scattered from the sound to 60 miles offshore. This is most likely the most I have seen over the last few years. Here are a few interesting things that you need to know about these jelly fish.



The burgundy colored shirt around the bottom wipes right off and once it gets on any thing boat, clothes, etc…the color almost permanently dyes the area and it is hard to get out of material..…This is one reason we are wearing AFTCO navy blue shorts instead of the lighter color ones…



They won’t sting you, but the mucus once rubbed on your skin especially around your lips will cause temporary numbness to the area applied. I never suggest anyone trying this but for sure this is real interesting stuff.



Dipping up jelly balls is like snipe hunting. We use to gather the jelly balls when we were going to do a little spade fishing. The customers loved dipping them up. We do this sometimes now, but now release them unharmed after a few inspections take place.



When keeping the jelly balls alive you can’t put them in your live well because their mucus will kill all bait in the tank…If you do keep them in your bait tank by themselves and if it’s not properly cleaned out all future bait fish added to tank will immediately die…



Most all jellyfish have a rider onboard, which is a spider crab. We are not sure whether they are just migrating together or it was love at first sight. Now you know the rest of the jelly ball story.





Bill fish on the run!

I am always getting asked, “How hard does a marlin pull?” My answer goes like this…

To simulate a marlin run…

“Get a reel that has about 500 yards of 50 to 80 pound test line loaded on to it. Set the drag at about 30 pounds of pressure and then attach the end of the line to a Chevy or Ford pick up trunk (or whatever they are driving), have someone floor it, and while the line is peeling off, try and stop the truck! Now you know the rest of the story!



Here’s the good news, if you happen to hook up a marlin and the one driving the boat can get it turned around quick enough to chase the fish or can “back down fast” you then have a very good chance to catch it. However, it’s not easy and everyone on board has to work together!



Blue Waters of the Gulf Stream

Yes, it’s a long ride, but if you get a calm day with great weather predictions I suggest going for it! In most cases the late fall/early winter bite is as good as the spring and early summer action. Dolphin, tuna, and Wahoo with a touch of billfish on the side!





Drawings by Captain Glaen Richards

I am sorry that I didn’t have a picture of a barn with cobwebs flowing in the wind. The closest thing I had was this drawing. The top drawing is an open barn with cobwebs before they get the cotton candy hanging effect. The second drawing is the best way to ball up your cobwebs so that you can use them as bait.



Freshies Suggestions



“To cob web or not!”



I bet that title got your attention! Before I tell you what to do with the cobwebs I need to get you to understand exactly what I am talking about. As a child I visited and stayed a lot at my Aunt Hattie’s farm, which was located out on Highway 17. For those that don’t remember Highway 17 this was the only road that took you to the big state of Florida. As of this time interstate I-95 was most likely only a dream on lots of pieces of paper.



My aunt had lots of barns, which were full of hay. The hay was packed in the barn sometimes 10 bales high. I ought to know all the kids used to climb all the way to the top of the hay pile. My aunt always said, “Whatever you do don’t climb on the hay, because you might fall between them and be lost forever!” Just so you will know…I along with all the other neighborhood kids climbed them all. Now, I am not going to say, “That one didn’t fall between a high stack of hay and had to rescued by the volunteer fire department, because that certainly is another story in waiting!”



If you happened to remember about a hay barn, all of the open windows, and doors you would know that there is quite an airflow that pushes through. The airflow keeps the hay dry, which means it doesn’t go bad and the cows as well as the horses have lots to eat. When the airflows through the cobwebs they get in step meaning they wave in the wind. As they wave they seem to get longer and longer. Now that I think about it these webs were all spider free. I guess in a spider’s world waving in the winds isn’t too much fun. Now I am not going to say, “There weren’t lot of spiders, there were, but they didn’t like this movement. So they moved and made webs else where in the barn.”



So here’s the deal and I am sorry for those of you that weren’t amused on how I got to the point. We would take a stick of approximate length and wave it around the barn wrapping the lengths of cobwebs up like cotton candy. Then we would head off to Aunt Hattie’s pond, which was full of all kinds of fish and “a fishing we would go!”



Don’t worry I am not going to leave you hanging. The cobwebs that were like cotton candy wrapped on the stick were removed in pinches, rolled around in our hand, until a small ball was formed. The cobweb spider ball was then stuck on our hooks, dropped in the water, and the fish loved it. Yes, rolled up cobwebs placed on a hook is better than what most fishermen refer to as bait!



PS: If you try this cobweb bait using suggestion, you certainly don’t have to tell anyone! You can just keep it between the fish and you!



For 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 Night fishing around dock lights is the ticket to this catching a fish ride! More next week















































Little Miss Judy’s Believe It or Not!



Monster Lobster



Photo by Captain Judy Helmey

Captain Ali Young is holding up a lobster that was caught at the Savannah Snapper banks around 1985. This particular one weighted in at about 7 pounds and was caught by Tommy Thompson while diving at the banks in about 110 feet of water. According to Tommy trying to get a lobster this big in a bag is not possible. So therefore he pulls them out of the ledge, puts it near his chest, the lobster grabs hold to his diving suit, and they both basically swim to the surface together. All along with the lobster thinking it’s safe and Tommy thinking about how good his catch is going to be. Over the years we have caught a few lobster on hook and line. This lobster was steamed on a grill, which just about covered the entire surface area. It was then dipped in butter, feeding two adults and three cats!



Thanks for reading!



Captain Judy


Thank You,
Captain Judy
"Kicking Fish Tail Since 1956!"
1 912 897 4921 office
1 877 500 3363 toll free
Miss Judy Charters