INSHORE/OFFSHORE JUNE 2002

"Kicking Fish Tail Since 1956"
Captain Judy Helmey
POB 30771
Savannah, Georgia 31410\912 897 4921
912 897 3460 fax
www.missjudycharters.com

June 10, 2002

INSHORE

The trout are making more of a showing than they did last week. The bite has been steady once you locate the fish. The basic traditional float rig has been working quite well. Unfortunately live shrimp is the ticket for the best bite, but once you get them in a feeding frenzy you can switch to artificial. The down side to the bait situation is that they are hard to come unless you visit your local bait dealer.

The schools of Spanish mackerel have finally made it to the sound areas. These fish can usually be found schooling structure or feeding in rips. As good way to local them other than seeing them surface schooling is to look for the birds feeding of the leftovers. Quite often birds will hang over these fish waiting for the right time to make their dive to dinner. The good news is that the birds usually stay, even if they are not hungry and watch the feeding frenzy. Once locating the fish, anchor up current from area and pitch to the fish. Normally Spanish will hit anything that is shinny. Light tackle is the ticket for this fish ride!

The shark feeding frenzy continues to rage in the sounds and near shore areas. Our boats have been catching them on everything from just plain old squid to the real fresh live stuff such as whiting or menhaden. Most holes that you are familiar with in the sound areas will have these sharks holding in them. Your best time to fish for sharks is two hours before low to two hours after high tide. Most sharks in these areas can go from 12 inches to 50 inches making this type of fishing real interesting. For those of you who want to go only after the big ones try fishing in the deeper part of the channel. You won't catch them every time. But when you do they will be "BIG!" Your best bait for the large fish is going to be Spanish mackerel. I am not talking about parts of the Spanish mackerel use the whole fresh dead fish. You must be ready before you get the big shark hook up. You will need to have a plan for getting your anchor up quick or to be able to tie a float to your anchor line so that you can retrieve it later. Once hooking up a big shark you must be able to quickly follow the fish or several things might happen. The big shark will continue taking line until it empties your spool or your line will break trying to tighten your drag to quickly. You can't control a big fish you must wear it down. For those of you who want to eat your catch, please feel free to do so. However, please released all fish unharmed if you are just fishing for sport! Please get a copy of rules and regulations for sharks from the Georgia DNR. This is important because you don't want to keep a shark that is not legal, you might get a ticket!

OFFSHORE

We not only have Spanish mackerel in the sounds we also have them in the ocean. The artificial reefs that are located in near shore areas and up to 10 miles offshore are holding these fish. You might not see them schooling, but they are there. I have been catching them using deep running planer with Clark spoon 15 to 20 feet in tow. Another way to catch them is to use your down riggers. They will get that bait in the strike zone. These fish always seem to hold on the reefs deep. My theory to this is that they already have a target rich environment over the structured areas. So they just run in get a snack and stay clear until they are hungry. However, they will occasionally push the resident bait off the structure up to the surface. When this happens all you need to do is to pull the corners of the feeding frenzy and you will get hooked up. For those of you who just want to troll near shore to offshore put your lines out in the channel areas and start trolling to the offshore. Once again you might not see them, but they are there. I usually pull two deep lines and two surface lines. When the deep lines get a hit all I have to do is to mark the spot, slow down so that the top lines will sink allowing them to get a hit, and work this area. The best part about this type of fishing is that there is actually not real smelly bait involved!

The Savannah Snapper Banks continues to shock all of us fishermen. The bottom fish bite is still raging and hasn't let up! The only thing that seems to be missing from our fishing day is the absences of king mackerel. Normally while bottom fishing we put out a top line, which is usually a rigged ballyhoo or live fish. This bait usually gets the attention of any king mackerel that is feeding in the area. However there hasn't been that many king mackerel caught much less seen. These fish are either hiding elsewhere on the coast, but as usual this can all change with any new bait migration or temperature change. I say, "Bring on the changes!"

GULF STREAM

The blue water fishing has either been real hot or "NOT!" I guess this statement depends on which day you went and on which day the fish were biting. There are plenty of rips, weed lines, and prefect temperature breaks, but these situations haven't seemed to matter from day to day. The blue water fish seem to appear and then disappear on a daily basis. We have boats going out and having great catches and then there are those unbelievable non-productive days. There is an upside to all these fish's attitudes and that is "it's fishing not catching on some days!"

However, when it is good it "Red Hot!" Our Gulf Stream boats caught lots of big bull dolphin, Wahoo, and a few yellow fin tuna. Most of the bull dolphin and Wahoo were over 20 pounds plus. These fish were caught to the east and south of the triple ledge area. The yellow fin tuna were in the 50 to 70 pound range and were also caught basically in the same area.

A sailfish was caught and released unharmed 20 miles east of Hilton Head Island this past week. According to Captain Marc of Hilton Head the sailfish was having a great time feeding in the weeds. He presented a bait ant the sail took it serious. The fight lasted quite a few minutes with the angler being able to see the fish jump over 12 times before releasing it.

Captain Judy's Believe It or Not!"

I am always talking about squid as the universal bait of all times, which it is. However, there is another side to a squid especially if you happen to catch one that that is alive. We all basically think of a squid as cut bait, but when you meet them in the live form you might feel differently about them.

We catch them all the time while we are using the Sabiki bait hooks to catch live bait. The squid hit at the hooks with fury getting tangled in the rig. At this time they become part of the live bait well population, but I must warn you about handling them. The first thing that they usually do when you bring them onboard is to spit on you. The first jet of water to hit you is usually clear, but look out for the next shot it might be black. So definitely get them in the live well as soon as possible. However handling them can be tricky they have a bill like a bird tucked in behind all of those tentacles. Be very careful not to get your finger to close to their mouth. Take this warning from someone who knows. I have been bitten on more than one occasion by these seemly dossal creatures. Once you get your prize catch off the gold hooks and into the live well there is another thing that will probably happen. The squid will give that second jet stream of water, which comes in the color of black ink. This will in turn, turn you live well's water completely dark gray not allowing you to see a thing in the tank. After the water is cleared, which takes a while you will be able to see once again. The squid seeing all the fish in the tank will turn a "bright red!" This is its defense mechanism coming into effect. Apparently according to a squid, fish don't like the color red. The squid will isolate itself from all those swimming in the tank. If you happen to catch two squid and the second makes it to the live well something else will happen. After the second squid turns the water dark and it clears up the two will unite to fight off their predators. It's really quite interesting to watching. Any fish that comes to close with get an instant attack from one of the squid, which makes the fish tend to bunch up on their side of the tank. At this point after watching and taking all this in I usually decide to release both squid back to the wild. My reason is a simple one. It's my payment to the squid for such great entertainment! I love my job!

Here' My Line Now Bite My Hook!

Captain Judy

Please visit our web site Click here: Savannah, GA Offshore Fishing Charters and Inshore Fishing Charters with Miss Judy Charters or call 912-897-4921 or
912-897-2478.

Thank you,
Captain Judy