March 13, 2018 – Fishing reports and a Little Miss Judy Believe It or Not story! Thanks for reading!
Fishing statement: To try to ensure that fishing stays in the hearts of those that love it!
Inshore Fishing Report!
It is still that time of the year that the inshore fish will bite one day and not the next. And picking the day that they fish are going to bite is still a big head scratcher. So don’t beat yourself up about going fishing and not finding any sort of bite. It can happen to anyone for sure! We are still in that time of year where the passing of a simple cold front can change everything!
Here are a few baiting up suggestions: Live shrimp when you can get it! This is hands down the bait of choice for fish. The ever popular cold water mud minnow should definitely be high on your list of baits to try. When heading out don’t forget you minnow trap or your cast net. The backs of creeks are holding a few finger mullet, which also make for great baits at this time of the year.
So my last suggestion is this, if you can’t get any of the above try using old smelly frozen leftover bait from last year. What can this bait do for your fish day? It can make the difference in catching or not!
How do you keep leftover shrimp in your freezer smell free? All you have to do is to drop the leftover shrimp into an empty water or Gatorade plastic bottle, make sure the cap is on right and tight. Then and then this is important, make sure you wash the bottle before putting in freezer. Now you can put in your house freezer and no one will know!
While inshore fishing with Captain Matt Williams the Morgan family visiting from Atlanta, Georgia had a great fishing time. Please meet Tyler (age 14) holding a black drum, his father Doug holding redfish, and his mother Chris holding a black drum! They kept these three fish for dinner, which they were going to cook on the old camp fire. While on this inshore bonanza not only did they catch regular, but they also caught some irregular catches. They caught three eels one right behind the other and eight channel catfish. Yes, the eels and cats were released back to the wild!
Captain Kevin took Brandon Williams and Becca Pollock (both visiting from Jackson, Georgia) inshore fishing this past weekend. Captain Kevin’s fish catching releasing score card for this day like this: They landed 35 plus red fish and 6 six spotted sea trout, which resulted in grand fish catching smiles. What did they use for bait? Well, Kevin managed to wrangle up fifteen live shrimp and some cold water mud minnows. They traded thirteen of these live shrimp for redfish and the rest of fish catching story was derived from pitching mud minnows.
Tide log books!
Tide log books!Here’s a picture of what River Services/River Supply personal log books look like! And this where you can purchase them!
River Services Supply, Inc – 2827 River Drive, Thunderbolt, Georgia 31404
These log books are great because they offer a fisherman a twofold fishing catching opportunity! Firstly if you fish you must add the tide factor in especially if you want catching involved. Secondly, it a simple way to keep a fishing log book! However, I do have a strong suggestion. Hide them well!
It is artificial reef time of the year! What does this mean? Short boat rides to the fish!
Offshore Artificial Reefs!
Artificial reef in less than 50 feet of water are still holding sheepshead, black drum, flounder, and trophy red fish. Best bait to use for the sheepshead and black drum is going to be the purple back fiddler. As far as the flounder I suggest once anchored that you situate your bait used on the out skirts of the structure. Why? When flounder are not feeding they are inside the wreck. When they are feeding they are moving on the outskirts of the area. As far as the best bait, if you happen to catch a small live fish such as a sand perch, use that. However, if all you have is cut fish I suggest cutting out a strip instead of a steak. A strip with flow in the current and is more apt to get a flounder’s attention.
If you see or happen to catch a trophy red fish they will eat just about anything from your expensive fiddlers to squid to cut fish! They will also strike very readily at worked diamond jig. I like the diamond jigs that have the soft plastic green, yellow, and red tubes attached. When you get ready to tie this style of jig on you can tie at either end. I like tying the main line/leader on the same end that the hook/tube is attached. (I have been using the marathon Diamond jigs with latex tail. These jigs come in several different colors!)
Artificial reefs in more than 50 feet of water are holding some very nice black sea bass, but it can be a looking game for sure. What does this mean? These reefs are holding some nice fish, but they are not holding everywhere. They normally are held up in small same size groups. To find the fish’s location you must first get familiar with the reef that you have picked to fish. This means you need to have the coordinates of all low to high structure located on the reef. Taking at look at all of this on the kitchen table is going to be a lot easier than on a rocking boat. Now, sometimes you GPS Chart plotter come loaded with these coordinates. This is a good thing, but if you haven’t updated you machine I suggest printing off the information on each reef. This information is hands down catching priceless! Now that you have your homework assignment I suggest getting busy, but only if you want to get your best chance at finding and then catching fish!
First Row: Black cap and black vest green long sleeve shirt – Brad Fain, Lithia Springs, GA / Blue fishing shirt and camo cap – Danny Webster, of Brunswick, Georgia / Captain Judy red shirt Joel Johns, Lithia Springs, GA / Darrell Johns, Lithia Springs, GA / Blue jacket green t-shirt sunglasses – Paul Thurston, Alpharetta, GA
Back Row: Camo jacket and orange cap – Marvin Reyes, Douglasville, GA / Green jacket, yellow shirt, black cap – Elkin Marin, Savannah, GA / Tall boy, black jacket, cap with blue sunglasses – DJ Hill, Douglasville, GA / Dark jacket green cap sitting holding silver pole – Ron Cooper, Hiram, GA / Royal blue glasses no cap holding silver pole – Luke Camlic, Ft. Oglethorpe, GA
Savannah Snapper Banks
Christopher Miller of Blue Ash, Ohio is holding some very nice genuine red snapper leftovers. It seems that the big hungry shark only wanted a back end snack. When Christopher got this fish to the surface, a large shark came up took this bite, and headed quickly back to the abyss. All we know about the shark is that it was a big hungry one for sure! Since this is only half a bite I am reconfirming that this was a very big shark. Yes this fish was released back to the wild! Why? Because it’s the law!
I fished inshore of the M2R6 Naval tower this past week. The bottom fishing was good, but it was a looking game for sure. About the only fish you could count on catching just about every time you dropped was a genuine red snapper. And believe me they came in assorted sizes from juveniles to sows. (big big red snapper) If you wanted vermilion, trigger, or black fish you had to play the old looking game. The good news is that these fish are there, but it is definitely a moving game. Best bait is going to be squid, fresh cut fish, and frozen cigar minnows/Spanish sardines.
Gulf Stream
It’s still March, but the fish in this area don’t care. So if the weather is good and the boat is ready I suggest going. I can’t confirm this, but I heard through the fishing network that a 30/40 pound yellow fin tuna was caught in about 1200 feet of water. I hope to have more about this in next week’s fishing report!
Little Miss Judy’s Believe It or Not!
Little Miss Judy’s Believe It or Not!Who is this? This is my mother Jerry Lovett Helmey (1925-1957) She is sitting on the end of our dock, which is still located on Turner’s Creek. What can I say about this picture? I believe the metal tub was called a number three wash tub. Anyhow, this is what my father called it. I know as a child it was used for dock baths for me and to carry ice to the boats. Behind my mother pulled up on the bluff is a wooden row boat. This is where we would pull our small row boats, turn them over, paint them with red antifouling paint, and then put them back in the water. Now if the row boats were going to remain on the hill for any length of time… we then turned them back over and filled them with water. Why? The water would keep the boat’s boards from shrinking!
“THEM CITY ALLIGATORS”
Daddy was an explainer and storyteller of sorts. He could take just regular information, add a little spice to it and make it a real interesting story. This is one story that needs to be shared. My father and I traveled highway 17 South a lot. He loved visiting Florida so much that we were down there quite a bit. On our way we would stop at most of the roadside stands. In fact daddy knew a lot of the Indians that ran them. These roadsides shops had everything from porcelain figures to snacks. I especially loved the one that had live things for sale. It wasn’t unusual for these places to have turtles, snakes, topical birds, or even alligators out in plain view and in touching range. In fact according to my father a lot of their income depended on these wildlife sales.
I found this picture on the web…it was labeled “All dressed up to meet you in Florida!” When I found this picture I thought, yep, that’s exactly what I was thinking as a child!
I always wanted a pet alligator, but daddy never would let me have one. I think he knew that he would end up having to take care of it. According to my father alligator sales were good, because lot of tourists from up north were purchasing them as they made their way back home. Upon making it to northern lands they then became known as “CITY ALLIGATORS.” After hearing that statement my 6 year old mind when into double time. All I could vision was alligators dressed in suits and top hats dancing while holding on to their canes. When Daddy started talking again it brought me back to the real world.
My father then told me something that really sparked my interest. Occasionally when up north alligator owners got tired of their pets they quite often just flushed them down the toilet. Then my father said, “Now you must understand, that didn’t kill the alligators it just released them into the underground sewers.” According to my father the alligators did just as well living in that environment. For some reason our conversation got sidetracked to another subject and he basically left this idea in my head.
As we all know there aren’t any alligators being sold on highway 17 south any longer. In fact as you go south there aren’t many roadside shops that sell such wild and interesting things as they did back in the old days. However, to this day I still think about those “CITY ALLIGATORS.”
Thanks for reading! – Captain Judy
Captain Judy Helmey
Kicking Fish Tail Since 1956
124 Palmetto Drive
Savannah, Georgia 31410
(912)-897-4921 or (912)-897-2478
(912)-897-3460 [Fax]
fishjudy2@aol.com
You can see Judy’s previous report here.