Capt. Judy Helmey is reporting some pretty good action off the Georgia coast.
“The inshore bite continues to be very good one day and not so good the next,” she wrote. “Whiting bite has been great, and thank goodness I have been on the on-bite days. Plain old bottom fishing has been great in the sounds with small pieces of shrimp on small hooks and light tackle.”
“Redfish (slot and trophy redfish), spotted sea trout, flounder, sheepshead, black drum and whiting have pretty much lined our captains’ coolers on the on-bite days! Best bait hands down is going to be live shrimp, with the cold water. Mud minnows come in second.”
Photographed here is what Capt. Judy called a grand gaggle of whiting, caught by the Silva family while on spring break at Tybee Island. Capt. Matt Williams, of Miss Judy Charters, showed them the fish-catching way.
“When it comes to catching whiting, it sure is a lot of fun!” wrote Capt. Judy. “Although the fish are small, it comes with some big bite patterns. Normally these fish hold at a certain depth, and at a certain tide under certain circumstances. Once you figure out their selection for the day, you will be catching good to go.”
“Here are a few tips: Once you find their preferred depth, continuous bites can happen. Keep in mind that this fish can hold in as shallow as 8 feet to as deep as 30 feet of water. They love staging at the contours/drop offs on the bottom. Heck, take a close look at your chart plotter and let it show you the way. The old whiting has the strangest bite pattern. The fact of the matter is a whiting peels its shrimp, just like we do, before eating it.”
“If I have said this once, I have said it thousands of time. And since I have been fishing for over 52 years, this certainly is not so much of an exaggeration! I always tell my customers that where you catch one whiting they are plenty more. The reason being is they follow the food. So, if you are anchored and start catching fish right off, you most likely have picked the right spot. In my case, since my boat has a 12-foot beam, the fishermen on the port side might catch more than those fishing on the stern or starboard side. In thinking about that, 12 feet can make a lot of difference. Having everyone fish on one side of the boat can get a little crowded, but it works!”
Out on the artificial reefs, the Spanish mackerel have arrived. Capt. Judy said to watch for feeding and diving birds to find them, and the best way to catch them is trolling a Clark Spoon. On the Snapper Banks, bottom fishing for vermilion snapper, black sea bass, triggerfish, porgy, white grunts and other biters has been good. The best baits have been cut squid and fresh fillet fish.
Capt. Judy Helmey runs Capt. Judy Charters out of Savannah, Ga. Contact them at 912-897-4921 or by email at fishjudy2@aol.com.