Captain Judy inshore offshore fishing report September 2019

While inshore fishing with Captain Garrett Ross of Miss Judy Charters this bachelor party fishing team changed a boat ride into a fish catching affair! Fishing and catching what comes next? Marriage! Anderson Wasden holding fish his brother Chris Wasden (both from Savannah) their friend Ryan Carroll visiting from Boston! Here’s a story that needs to be told….Anderson (bachelor) Chris (his brother) and their friend Ryan wanted to do a little afternoon of boat cruising, having a few, and then a little fishing. After all the northeast winds were howling and the tides were raging causing many other problem.  So therefore they reconciled themselves to a resting boat ride at best, which was fine with this trio!  Well, as you can imagine if you have been keeping up with my fishing reports you already know that Captain Garrett is sometime called the “Fish Whisperer!”   So Captain Garrett took the trio to a place that is not affected by crazy northeast winds and raging tides!  For now, let’s just call it the Captain Garrett’s Happy Fishing Place!  What did Anderson, Chris and Ryan catch?  They caught fought and released 45 red fish! And my friend this is not a fishing tale it!  It’s the plain catching truth!    And they thought a big rest was in their future!  HaHa!  Not on Captain Garrett Ross’s watch!

While inshore fishing with Captain Kevin Rose of Miss Judy Charters Bill Hess (Florida) had quite a day!  Nice spot tail, Bill!  What did it eat?  Live shrimp served under a popping cork!

Sporting red legs!  Live shrimp are known to be larger during certain times of the month.  It’s my opinion that they are larger right before the full moon stage.  This is when they develop what my father called “red legs,” which means they were just about to make their run to the sound.  During this time you probably could get away with using a larger hook. Can’t you tell this shrimp was just about to take off to parts unknown!

While inshore fishing with Captain Kevin Rose of Miss Judy Charters Ashley caught this very nice spotted sea trout!  Yep!  Using live shrimp as bait is still the ticket to this fish catching ride!

Captain Kevin Rose of Miss Judy Charters Jeff Matthews his son Nate age 17 had quite a fish catching day!  What did they catch?  Spotted sea trout and red fish!  This is what they kept and of course they released the rest!

Ladies Just Having Some Fish Catching Fun! While inshore fishing with Captain Robert Brown of Miss Judy Charters these two ladies had a wonderful catching time!  Very photogenic fishers for sure!  And yep, nice red fish for sure!  Is it still swimming?  Yes it is.

Captain Kevin Rose of Miss Judy Charters is holding up three of the fifteen red fish that he caught on his pre-fishing fishing alone day!  Nice fish Captain Kev!  (See the story below!)   Captain Kevin Rose of Miss Judy Charters is doing a little fun fishing one on one!  What does this mean? Just Captain Kev and the fish!  So here’s exactly what happened!  Captain Kevin decided to do a little pre-fishing!  What pre-fishing?  Well, that is where you get in your boat and take a ride to where you think the fish are. Once arriving whether you are fishing singular or not you bait up, make your cast, and wait!  On this particular day Captain Kevin was fishing alone. After making 17 casts while using live shrimp as bait he hooked up 15 red fish!   What does all of this mean?  Here’s my twist on this:  Fifteen assorted size red fish slot limit and up were hook up!  It took 17 casts and 17 live shrimp to perform this catching miracle!  All that’s left to say now is “I wish I was there!”  Don’t you?

Captain Kevin Rose of Miss Judy Charters caught this gaff-top-sail cat fish.  I know you are thinking what the heck?  Well, back in the real old days we would catch as many cat fish as we would the old whiting.  And heck that was a lot of fish for sure.  Then all of a sudden no more cat fish were caught.  My father said, “Some sort of bottom virus killed them all!”  And that was over 40 years ago.  And there is another tale to be told…My father also said, “If you get fin-ed by them..It’s best to rub the belly of the fish that stung you on the puncture wound! The slim from this area would cut the pain!”  Believe it or not, but this was true!  Then there was a fake news article written one time that said licking the stomach of these fish would send you on some sort of physodelick seeing trip…before the fishermen read the whole article they tried it…if they had read to the end they would have found out it was one big joke! Then you had fishermen swearing it worked!  I got to tell the power of the press and a fishermen tale still certainly amazes me!  Savannah Snapper Banks. As you know the snapper banks is a great place to go fish.  The bottom fishing is great!  Why? You really never know what you might catch!  And here’s the thing you most likely will catch something just about every time you drop your baited hook onto a live bottom area!  As far a top water fish, well, especially at this time of the year you could catch anything from  Mahi Mahi to a tuna to a Wahoo to a king mackerel…you just never know, but no matter what it’s time to go!  Your boat or mine!

Captain Steve “Triple Trouble” Howell, Captain Kathy Brown, and Merri Caye Orrick!  Captain Kathy is holding nice scamp grouper and Merri Caye is showing off her just caught trigger fish.  Captain Steve caught this nice scamp while using a live cigar minnow. According to Steve, as soon as his bait hit the bottom this fish inhaled it!
I (Captain Judy) am always complaining that due to the fact that there are so many genuine red snapper that it’s hard for fishermen to get their baits to the bottom in order to successfully catch grouper!  Why? In regards to my reasoning it seems simple, but it is not!  First, most fish have a time to fed, a time to rest, and a time to move.  In the case of bigger fish such as the amberjack, genuine red snapper, and grouper I have a theory!  And by the way if you don’t know I have been fishing for a very long time. So with that last statement, “You just might want to take this information to the bank!”

Let’s start by narrowing the feeding habits of these three large fish! The amberjack also known as reef donkeys normally stage most of their feeding in the upper water column. This means if this fish is hungry none of your live bait much less your cut squid or fish is going to make it to the bottom.  At least, on the first drop it is not!  After the initial drop and hook ups are made the amberjack and their counterparts move about chasing the fish that are hooked up.  This disrupts their schooling up powers and turns them into followers. This is only good for those fishing above that are trying to get to the bottom to catch other fish!    However, if you are looking to load the boat with amberjack all you have to do is to keep the last hooked up fish in the water until you have put out the next bait. Quite often when we are targeting amberjack we catch all of them in one drift out of one school at one time!

The genuine red snapper is known for feeding in the upper water column, but not generally outside vertical live bottom area. The location of this fish’s eyes tells a feeding story for sure.  This fish eyes are situated more on the side of its face than the top.  This means the snapper types feed side to side with great skill and expertise.  So  bait that happens to make it through any schools of amberjack might not make it pass the upper feeding zone of the snapper.
Now let’s talk about the grouper, which is the fish that you are most likely are trying catch. The grouper’s eyes are located more so on the top of it head than not.  What does this mean?  This is one fish that holds close to the bottom and basically looks up to fed. Now they do swim around and are not considered couch potatoes at all. However, big fish are smart and in some cases wait for their intended meal to be hence forth delivered. Normally when a grouper is staging close to the bottom it is basically outside of its home better known as the hole in the ledge.   So I say, “When they are staging they are feeding!”

Let’s start with the fact that you have gotten rid of the amberjack and all that is between you and the grouper bite is the genuine red snapper.  For live bait I suggest a large one such as a ruby red lips also known as a tomtate or vermilion snapper also known as a b-liner or sand perch or rock bass or blue fish or a pinfish.  All of these baits will definitely get the attention of a big hungry grouper.   Even if a red snapper sees it and wants it, it is going to take time for this fish to eat it.   So therefore your bait to have a better chance of free falling to the bottom giving you a better chance at hooking up that big staging grouper!

Merri Caye Orrick is sporting a great fish catching smile!  And of course, Captain Kathy Brown of Miss Judy Charters is having some fun! Captain Kathy is holding a soon to be released juvenile red snapper.

Merri Caye Orrick is holding up a nice trigger fish, which gladly ate her bait offering of squid! What does this mean?  Trigger fish love small pieces of squid!

Merri Caye Orrick is holding up a nice trigger fish, which gladly ate her bait offering of squid! What does this mean?  Trigger fish love small pieces of squid!

Merri Caye Orrick Savannah, Georgia just caught this nice soon to be released almaco jack! Captain Kathy is just about to let it go back to the wild!

Captain Kathy Brown of Miss Judy Charters is holding a nice big genuine red snapper that Captain Steve “Triple Trouble” Howell Atlanta, Georgia caught. Yep….it is soon to be released! Why?  Cause it is the law!

While free drifting over the live bottom area at the snapper banks this big reef shark decided that it could not resist my live bait! So it grabbed the bait and made one heck of a run.  Yep…it took are the line off, which equated to be 300 feet plus.  But that was ok we all had fun reeling it to the boat.  And the funny thing was I don’t think this shark knew it was ever hooked up!  Where is he now?  Still swimming freely exactly the way it did before!

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