OFFSHORE MARCH 2002

CAPTAIN JUDY HELMEY
"Kicking Fish Tail Since 1956"
POB 30771
SAVANNAH, GEORGIA 31410
912 897 4921
912 897 3460 FAX
www.missjudycharters.com

March 4, 2002

("Little Miss Judy's Believe It or Not!" story is located at end of the fishing report!)

INSHORE

I love a good fishing story and boy do I have one for you. It has been brought to my attention that the fresh water large mouth bass types aren't the only fish that likes the world famous plastic worm. In fact I was told by Captain Roger Strait that he caught, no lie, quite a few large spottail bass while jigging on the bottom with a blue colored plastic worm as bait. According to Captain Roger he caught the spottail bass way up in the Ogeechee River in about 3 feet water. For those who don't believe this story you must remember that all stories have to start somewhere. Believe it or not, stories such as this one usually originates right from the fish's mouth. It doesn't get any better than that! In my endless book of records I haven't made any notes of any fish lying at least to this date! Captain Roger also did quite well in the trout catching department, but don't worry he didn't tell me he caught them on plastic worms. He in fact caught them on the ever-popular "Electric Chicken." This is the good news for all of you inshore fishermen. It means that the trout are starting to move. So therefore if the trout were there before as in last year they should be headed back to their old feeding grounds. The trout that were caught last week were hanging and feeding over an area that had a live oyster shell bottom. Now you know where to go and what to use. Let's talk about the blue worm a little bit more. It was in fact a plastic blue worm, but I forgot to mention that it had a red tail. If you have been following my reports you would know this would be a great time to start that logbook, because different ideas are sometimes what it takes to catch a fish! It's time for you to be a pioneer in your own fishing mind!

OFFSHORE

The sheepshead fishing is raging not only in the inshore areas, but also on the artificial reefs. The water temperature offshore in these areas is about 57 degrees, which seems to be their bite to eat everything temperature. I caught sheepshead while fishing this past weekend on just plain old cut squid. In fact these fish chased the bait to the surface bound and determined to get, which they did. The best bait to use for this fish is live fiddler crabs. However onboard the "Miss Judy Too" we don't usually have any of those in our bait cooler. So I guess you could say, "when sheepshead are hungry they will eat anything and they did!" The bottom line when it comes to targeting sheepshead is to take the fiddler crab as bait. The rule of thumb when it comes to how many to take is simple. You will you need to take at least 10 crabs for every fish you intend on catching. For those of you that have already experienced and mastered the sheepshead bite you will only have to figure two fiddler crabs per expected fish. Get the logbook out you will need to write this down. Sheepshead will also hit barnacles, raw oysters out of the shell, squid, and land based crickets.

Once again I must say, "No one has to know if you try any of these suggestions." In fact if you do and they work, why would you tell? For those who want to tell me about their strange fishing techniques I am all ears and would love to get some feed back!

The Savannah Snapper Banks is still a great place to visit at this time of the year. The big bottom bite is on and there is plenty of action to be had. All you need is a little bit of squid or cut fish to start your bottom fishing day off right. It's always nice to have bait to catch bait with. All large fish at this time of year love to feed on live bait. I am not just talking about big snapper or grouper. I am talking about large sea bass, porgy, and flounder too. It's easy to ascertain the size of bait that you might need to use to attract a certain size fish. I do it by studying the size, shape, and bite span of the particular fish that I am targeting. The right bait is serious business, because you don't want to drop the wrong size into a school of fish that couldn't possibly get their mouth around it. I classify my live bait in several categories. There are the ones that have an air bladders and while other don't. The one that don't have a bladder will last longer on the bottom in 100 feet of water. However they are usually smaller fish and will attract the small bottom bite. Baits that have air bladders stay healthier especially if you puncher the bladder with a sharp object. This relieves the built up pressure that they acquire when bringing them to the surface quickly. Quickly relieving the pressure usually lets the bait swim again normally, if you don't the fish will just float upside down until it dies making it cut bait.

GULF STREAM

Here's what we have been waiting for. The yellow fin tuna are being caught off of North Carolina coast. As you and I both already know this is early for this area. So therefore this leads me to believe that we are going to have an early Gulf Stream season. I am in hopes of making a run to the blue water next week. If anyone gets the chance, please by all means let me know and I will do the same. I am tried of having the "Blue Water Cabin Fever Blues!"

"Little Miss Judy's Believe It or Not!"

My father and mother had a game they used to play when they went for a night out on the town. According to my father they would pick the place that they were going to spend the evening and then they would plan to arrive separately. My mother would always head for the bar and find a place to sit. Upon her arrival, being unescorted, the attention was definitely on her. She was quite young and very attractive.

My father would bring up the rear and also find himself a stool at the bar, but not next to her. After about an hour or so giving the crowd time to start moving a bit, the games would begin. My father was a quite bit older than my mother, so it was easy to make a scene look real. My father questions and remarks would be loud and almost too direct. As soon as on lookers noticed that this older gentlemen was making certain requests they felt impeded to move into real listening range. They were in hopes of saving the young lady from possible advances that they knew the older man was probably in the process of starting. As soon as a young gentlemen would approach and make his appearance known my father would say, "go sell you peanuts little boy!" A statement like that would surely send any unsure rascal on the run, which is what it did at least according to daddy. Now when things started really heating up daddy and my mother would deicide to leave. This is how they would do it. Apparently back in the old days all bars were very crowded. So therefore they came up with the perfect saying, "Wet Paint, Wet Paint, please step aside!"

As my father told others and me this story many times while on the boat I could exactly see the crowd parting to let them through just like in the movies. I know most of my stories are fishing oriented, but I had to share this story with you. My father had hundreds of stories that he shared with his customers during his many years of charter fishing. I use to watch my daddy sit at the helm and tell his stories one after another while customers hung on every word. As I have always said and still remain believing, "it's definitely not all about fishing!"

Here's My Line, Now Bite My Hook!

Captain Judy