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Fishing Reports by Captain Judy
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Saltwater
inshore, offshore, blue water fishing report, Freshies Suggestions,
and "Little Miss Judy's story! Thanks for reading! Captain Judy
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fishing questions directly to Captain Judy fishjudy2@aol.com

Captain
Judy's Fishing Report
August 25,
2008
INSHORE
Basic Boating Course
The Tybee Light Power Squadron
I don't now about you, but if I was just starting out with a
boat and didn't have anyone to teach me the "ins and outs"
of boating, I certainly would be interested in this course. Boating
is serious, but certainly can be a lot of fun! This course teaches
such things as understanding of navigational markers, such as which
side you need to be on and basically what they mean in the first
place. My father used to say "Starboard to the right and Port
to the left, "red right return" when heading in from the
ocean, and buoys are basically highway markers in the ocean. I have
to be honest back then I didn't understand a thing he meant. At
least until he really explained it to me…The Tybee Light Power
Squadron is here for you! I suggest taking advantage of this great
learning opportunity! Once you learn safe boating, then it will be
time to sign up for one of my inshore or offshore fishing classes,
which are going to be held in January and February 2009. Dates of
schools to be posted soon!
Basic
Boating Course Schedule
The Tybee Light Power Squadron
Beginning Date: Tuesday September 9, 2008
Where: Memorial Hospital Hoskins Center - Classroom 4
Located on the corner of Ranger Street and 69th Street
Time: 7:00 PM Registration at 6:30 PM
Cost: $55.00 plus $5.00 each for additional family member
Length: 9 weeks
Course Includes: Boat operation safety, Basic navigation and
piloting, seamanship, reading charts state, and federal regulations
and short cruise
For
more information:
Call Ken Scherzz at 912 925 3126 email kwsrhs@comcast.net or visit
our website www.usps.org/localusps/tybee
Captain Jack McGowan
Inshore Report Straight from the Helm!
Aug 18, 2008
Last week there were several reports of large sea trout. The
biggest fish were found around beachfront; although large fish were
caught in rivers near the sounds as well! Ample amount of rain meant
most of the larger trout were in deeper water (8 to 12 feet). An
adjustable float rig with live shrimp or finger mullet was the
prescribed method. Fish are deep during periods of heavy rain.
Shrimp in a bait bucket hanging off a dock will often die if there
is a lot rain in a short period of time. Freshwater is literally
floating on the saltwater. The most favorable place for a large sea
trout after a period of heavy rain is deep. Smaller male sea trout
can be found be the shallow. Fishing deep is trickier. A rip or
current line might be visible but it is just as likely there won't
be any visible indications. Fishing deep you're still looking for
structure. The structure could be submerged trees, a man made
object, a ledge, or a hole to name a few. A favorite tide is low
incoming.
Although you'll find
various drops work at various tides. Large sea trout are an exciting
fish. Exciting to catch, fun to look at and good eat! With that said
my strong encouragement is for most large sea trout to be released.
These large fish are holding next year's crop. Wendell Harper
reputed as likely the best seat rout fisherman on the Georgia coast
has said "these large fish should be released." This is
from a man who makes a good portion of his living catching sea
trout. If Wendell believes releasing large sea trout can have a
positive impact on the resource then it is likely so. A statement
from other fishing guides is that whatever the limit is then as long
they are within the limit everything is fine.
A few years the Georgia
DNR had a program that would mean a slot limit, in other words
releasing large fish (over 20 inches). The program never
materialized due to a lack of funding. Staying with in the limits is
like meeting the minimum requirement. What do you do when large seat
rout are biting and your folks want to keep everyone. You try to
encourage going light on the resource. When possible whether a
recreational fisherman or charter fish for a variety of fish. Say
you keep a couple of large sea trout, a redfish, some whiting; a
couple of sharks and you have a mess of fish. Maybe in few years my
outlook will be different but as of now it looks like we have plenty
of sharks perhaps even too many. Keeping a shark one or two means
you are saving a bunch of sea trout from either being caught by you
or chopped by a shark.
Speaking of sharks. Sharks can be found along the sandbars off
Warsaw. Fresh water has a tendency to drive fish out and deep. When
the water in the sound is salty that usually when the shark is on.
Big bait, large menhaden are in some weeks and out on others.
Reports of large bait have been consistent off the sandbars off the
north jetty. Bait will mean tarpon, kingfish, jack and large sharks.
When bait is not present it's possible to catch predator fish just
not as likely as when large schools of bait are present. August is
usually the peak month for tarpon! If storms do not kick up the
tarpon bite should be good! If you're struggling finding menhaden
try catching some bait fish like pinfish with rod and reel. It's
pretty fun and should be easy to do. Just down size your hook to
number 6 or so and fish dead bait on the bottom near a dock or grass
line. You might first try chumming them up with some little bits of
shrimps.
Tides for this week are definitely on the increase although the
highest is only 7.8 feet on Sunday. Tides should be good for sea
trout! Here is a report on the Burnside bopper that was a long time
in coming. The float is an excellent float! Made well with several
qualities that competitors do not have. It is locally made and
definitely a superior product. I have no hesitation in recommending
these two floats. The larger is made for conventional (8 to 9 foot)
casting tackle. This is tackle that I don't fish much these days.
This is the reason for the delay in writing about this particular
float design. I was using the larger float on a heavier 7 foot
spinning tackle for large sharks, tarpon and jacks. The float did
ok. When I fished the float, as it was intended it did a fine job!
The idea is a popping float for a casting rod that could you fish
along the beachfront for sea trout. This float does the job.
Strengths of both the smaller and larger version: a unique design
apt for casting, good sound, no additional weight needed and a more
substantial main wire that is most resistant of any float on the
market to bending. Sand Fly Tackle Shop is a supplier. Good float!
If you fish casting rods you'll want this float. The smaller is a
winner as well. The larger one is a must!
Hope this report is of interest and help. Remember to practice catch
and release when possible! Good Fishing! Capt. Jack McGowan
Tim Rudolphi Prefect
Inshore Fish Catching Situation!
August 16, 2008 10:00 AM till 2:00PM
Tim Rudolphi and inshore fishing group had a spectacular day of
fish catching this past weekend. The catch for the was "18 Big
Mega Spotted Sea Trout 20 inch plus." While fishing inshore in
the creek on the last two hours of the out going tide it happened.
Their bait used was live shrimp, which was presented on old stand by
traditional floats rigs. Although every thing was standard changes
had to be made to get a solid hook up. According to the report their
bait could have floated right over the fish without a hook up if Tim
hadn't figured out how to twitch it a bit to trigger the bite! The
bottom line to this report is bait is not all you need when it comes
to getting a fish's attention!
Spotted sea trout
especially the bite ones didn't get that way being stupid. So
therefore sometimes it takes a little push to get them to hit what
your bait. I call this "triggering the bite." The group
was fishing in around 10 foot of water, rigged traditional float
style, using live shrimp, and fishing just about on the bottom. They
would cast situating the float so that the tide could take it right
over the holding school of fish. The school was situated anywhere
from 30 to 150 yards from the boat. They found out quick that just
letting it float over the school of fish wasn't working. So
therefore they came up with now will be called "Rufoffie
Twitch!" This is where you give your float "a little
action" as it floats into and over the strike zone.
King Mackerel
Catching Report!
Trolling Man is at it again!
Shelby Merrick IV while fishing the "Fishin Fool" has
had some great catching days. He called the other day and offered up
yet another trolling plan, which is now being called "Winning
Plan!" Before I get down to "the plan" itself, here's
what Shelby's fishing crew caught: "20 king mackerel, 21/2
parts of king mackerel, 7 barracuda, and 30 little tunny!" Now
you know what they caught..here's how they did it!
Captain Shelby started
at the artificial reef CCA, also referred to as the bridge, with his
trolling plan. His line up was about as simple as it can get. He
pulled various sizes of Drone Spoons behind #3 planers, which were
definitely a hit with most of the fish listed above. He leader
lengths between the planer and the spoon ranged from 15 to 30 feet.
Shelby changed up to what worked and made it happen!
On his out riggers he
pulled lines of plastic squid with rigged naked ballyhoo in tow.
This lure brings on the attention of just about any fish that might
happen by. However, Shelby's real interest while pulling these top
water lure set ups was "Sail Fish!"
During this time of the
surface temperature being the same from the shore to the stream,
blue water fish wonder and wonder a lot into green waters. I have
received at least two sailfish catch and release happenings per week
from South Carolina to northern Florida. As the years go it seems
that these reports get more numerous!
Captain Shelby's
"area trolled" was genius! He pulled the CCA artificial
reefs for about an hour and then took a head of around 130 degrees.
Once hitting about 75 to 80 feet of water he turn due south for a
while and then headed straight to the artificial reef "J"
buoys. He never made it to the "J" buoy, because his group
was worn out and they made they're home before getting to yet
another "Hot Fishing Zone!"
According to this
report they had a fish on or a hit just about every 10 minutes. This
boils down to lots of deck activities such as reeling in, gaffing of
fish, slinging of fish, re-baiting, and re setting of lines. From
the bridge point there was a whole lot of "captain thinking
about catching fish going on!" Since I am also a captain I know
this drill and love it!
Captain Judy's New
Trolling Plan
When it comes to fishing there are always changes to be made in
order to get more chances at catching a fish. In my world of fishing
I have pretty much have used my father's methods and my own
"rule of thumb!" This basically means "the old
ways" are mostly used!' When you are such a driven fisherman as
me "you know when "the old ways" are no longer the
only working factor for catching fish!"
Just to offer up an
example: Lets talk a little about trolling with planers for Spanish
mackerel. I have always used #1, #2, and #3 planers. Behind these
"no matter what size planers" I have always had about 15
to 20 feet of 20-pound test leader to which I tied the spoon
directly on to the line. Basically all standard stuff when it came
to catching Spanish mackerel. You lose a few spoons "here and
there" as well as few larger fish. This size leader isn't real
tough and after a few fish landed it definitely develops weak spots.
When I used this light leader I was always torn between getting the
bite and then landing the fish. I thought that if I used heavier
leader that the "fish bite chance" would narrow and just
pass me by. Well, the other day I lost 6 spoons in less than and
hour while trolling in about 50 feet of water. At first I thought it
was barracuda cutting us off, but after a few minutes of observation
I realized that it was exactly other large fish types!
What I did next was
totally against my fish catching reasoning!
I changed all leaders to 50-pound test monofilament. I kept the
same leader length as before. I loaded each size planer with 15 to
20 feet of 50-pound test line. As I tied my small 2 or 21/2 Clark
and Drone spoons directly on I just couldn't think too much about
it. It flew all over me the fact that I was using such large leader
and small spoons. The bottom line to this change was a big one! We
then went from loosing spoons to hooking up fish, being able to
fight them without the too much fear of breaking them off, and
landing them. It clearly was the thing to do!
The moral of this story
is, "It's hard to teach an old fisherman new tricks! That is
unless they figure it out on their own!"
Blue and Green Water
A Few Need To Know Tips About "Mahi Mahi" AKA Dolphin fish
The first thing that I would like to mention is the fact that
this probably can be listed as one of those most colorful fish. It
doesn't matter whether it's a small one or the biggest bull ever
they still "light up" when they are just about to eat!
They sport beautiful colors of green, yellow, and blue! Once you
have seen this fish's attitude un-fold just a distance glance makes
you completely aware of its presents.
My long time first mate
Captain Ali Young use to play this game with any potential dolphin
that might be in the area. She called it the "Hansel and
Grettle plan. As she cleaned and cut bait she would throw out those
bits and pieces that would semi-float. I'm not talking about
filleted discarded carcasses, but small pieces of internals and
skin. Heck, if you threw out lots of large pieces you would
definitely get the attentions of the toothy monsters referred as
sharks. Believe me if there was a school of dolphin down current
this trail of food would get their attention.
Captain Ali's bait board was always so neat. She really kept it
clean and each bait type had its own pile. So therefore she always
had an array of different types of bait. Now comes the question,
"how much different kinds of bait are there? Well, here's the
answer to this bait question.
Squid
Squid sounds as simple as it can get. However, depending on its
size you can use it whole, chunked up, or cut in strips. The head is
always interesting to most fish. It offers up its own tantalizing
appeal. Squid heads tastes good. And those flowing tentacles while
in the current always get a fish's attention. At this point a dead
squid head could be called "acting just like live bait." I
can't say that I eaten squid head raw, but I have battered it and
fried it. It was very good! The good thing about large squid is that
when cleaning it for cutting up you get a lot of stuff to cast a
float. These parts send out a great scent that fish such as dolphin
pick up from far distances.
Fillet fish/stomach
walls
Filled fish parts are another good bait source. You can fillet a
fish, chunk it up, steak it, strip it, or just cut it into small
pieces. Whatever the case maybe it's always suggested to leave the
skin on. Some master of the baiting universe might scale their fish
before filleting it up for cut bait. It's really up to the one
cutting up. Hap-hazard-ly scaling a fish first before filleting for
bait is a good idea, because those loosen scales is definitely going
to send out a dealing smelling card. The falling off of loose scales
in the scheme of things is good. Whatever you come up with I'm sure
will become a winning plan.
Before filleting and after scaling it's suggested to cut the belly
wall out. This is the fish's part that covers the stomach, which
holds the internals. The good news about this piece is that the
outside does well in water and so does the backside of this piece.
This section is not like the backside of a fillet, because there is
no open meat value. The stomach wall, when stripped offers some
great aerodynamics when being pulled through the water or allowed to
just freely flow in the currents. Tunas, dolphins, swordfish, king
mackerel, Spanish mackerel, Wahoo, little tunny and shark are just a
few fish that don't have many scales. These fish mostly have a skin
covering and their stomach walls make for some great long lasting
bait.
Loose Eyeballs
Although I'm sure you might think I am totally crazy or
mentioning this as a potential bait source. However, they do make a
great bait, float a bit, and definitely gets the attention of
schooling dolphin. To get the eye out all you need is a scoop like
tool. We used small cream spoon. The sharp end of your fillet knife
doesn't work too well. Get yourself an eye-scooping tool! You don't
have talk about this at all…. The bigger the eye balls the better!
Things already
eaten!
I can't tell you how many times I have picked regurgitated
things up off the deck and put them directly on the bait board..
Fish no matter where they feed eat the strangest things. Things that
come up that haven't been overly exposed to stomach acids work just
fine. Here's a list of things to look for…eels in tact or parts
and pieces, octopus or squid parts and pieces, small shells such as
clams and conchs, sea cucumbers, sea horses, and any other small
whole fish intact, parts, and pieces types. I have to add that we
have found in the stomach content everything from chewing gum to
chicken bones.
All or some of these
things you can find on Captain Ali bait board at any given time.
These select baits are good for chumming as well as bottom fishing.
With all this being said, "its only just bait" at least
until it's introduced to a fish, then it becomes a grade
"A" ticket to a "solid hook up!"
What's all of the
bait for?
The bottom line to all of bait gathering is so that you will be
ready in the event that you have any dolphin visitors. When a single
or a school of dolpin comes to your boat there was a reason. They
come for the shade made by the boat, which could mean a possible
food source. The one thing that you must know when dealing with this
fish is that their attention span is limited. The food source will
keep them around, because is their main goal. Food source or
something else has to reel them in. Having a bait board full of
different kinds of baits helps in the scheme of things.
Dolphins don't have a
very long attention span. So therefore when a school or single fish
comes to your boat I suggest throwing some bait right at them. If it
appeals to them it will be eaten. However, if it's sucked in and
immediately spit out it's best to sparely throw another few pieces
of something else. The secret to keeping their attention is keeping
their attention. Now I know that doesn't make any sense, but it's
true. If the dolphin spits out your tossed bait offering you had
best throw something that taste entirely different or has a
different texture. You only have a few seconds to do all of this,
because if you don't do it right your dolphin fish catching
opportunity will swim away.
Dolphin's Eating
Attitude
Dolphin whether large or small in a school or not are the most
finicky eaters in the ocean. They will eat just about anything, but
the fish itself decides when this takes place. The rule of thumb in
the dolphin-feeding world is the fact that they might eat anything
you throw but they have a short attention span. I have seen dolphin
come to the boat eat anything that you throw out in one second and
then spit it out the next. As a fisherman you always think that you
are quick enough to set that hook before they spit it out. However,
they are very quick for sure!
Captain Ali and I always say, "this is fish has the most
attentive mouth we have ever seen. The reason being is that in a
split second they can determine whether or not to eat something as
well as detect any hidden metal AKA "your hook" quickly.
Another thing about dolphin is that you wouldn't expect at least by
looking at them is that you can almost hand feed them. They aren't
real nervous like other fish such as those in the mackerel family.
You can actually watch them as they make their moves on food as well
as your hook.
If a school of dolphin comes to the boat it certainly can be an
interesting catching event for sure. The most dolphins I have ever
caught out of one school counted out to be around 60. I wish I had a
video camera for this "Chinese fish catching fire drill!"
Big dolphin
"Wake Makers'
When we trolled the blue waters I could most of the time
"call the ball!" This is my term for screaming, "fish
just about on" before it actually takes the bait. When a large
dolphin, 20 pounds plus, charges your surface pulled bait it
basically "makes it's own personal wake." With a trained
eye you can see the fish coming from a distance. When a fish such as
this decides on being in the attack/eating mode they turn the lights
on and go into the charging mode. From my boat's bridge I use to see
this all of time as we fished the blue waters of the Gulf Stream.
On a usually calm day
it was easy to pick out a charging dolphin. However, when there were
wind ripples or lots of wave turbulence the charging mode was harder
to pick out. Once you get it, you get it for sure. Most large bull
dolphins are accompanied by one of two cows. I had best explain: The
bulls are the male dolphins, which sport the blunt head. The cows
are the females that aren't usually as large and have a more rounder
head design.
Over they years of
fishing Captain Ali and I came to a few conclusion when it came to
be visited by a "Bull accompanied by a cow!"
Big Bulls
When this fish charges what you are pulling, it's probably going
to eat!" Once focused on certain bait or potential food source
"tunnel vision occurs" in this fish's mind. With that
being said, "bulls charge hard and basically crash the bait at
hand!" Since this fish doesn't have a big set of teeth like a
king mackerel or Wahoo, they basically suck it in and let the
"pull downs" in their mouth direct it to the throat! Big
bulls look for bait that's easy to swallow sending the signal that
real large ones might be a turn off. This is a fish that is very
feeding size oriented! With that being said, if you feel all you
have are large bulls in the area, "pull the larger rigged
baits!" However, if you want what's there, don't want a lot of
mashed baits I suggest pulling rigged baits that are less than 8
inches in length. .
Cows Southern Bells
for sure!
The song comes to mind "She's a Lady," by singer Tom
Jones when I try to put the erratic attack patterns of cow dolphin's
music. There is quite a bit of difference from a bull and cow bite.
Firstly, bulls once focused will charge and eat what's on hand.
However, the ladies aren't like that at all. Here's what they do..
I have seen the ladies
cruise through my spread damaging all surfaced pulled bait while not
even touching a hook. Their specialty is mashing and threshing the
bait and leaving it to the side. To this day I still wonder why they
don't just eat it instead of mashing it. Once the lady makes a run
through my baits those retrieved looked as though someone has
basically stepped solidly on them. In other words "bait made
flat as a pancake!"
Dolphin Deal
Next week I will write about what to do with all of this bait that
you have so carefully collected, how to keep those dolphins around
the boat, what to do when you hook one up, and much more!
Freshies Suggestion
When is it the best time to fish?
Here's just a few suggestion that I think you will like, but
most likely are already aware of. However, being a fisherman I
always like to hear them over and over again.
Dawn and dusk are classic "good" times. It's also good
fishing after a rain that has raised and stained, but not flooded
and muddied the water. Cloudy breezy days are better than still,
clear days. Fishing at night especially in areas that receive a lot
of traffic during the daylight hours. You can also experience a good
bite during the calm right before the so-called "storm."
However, it not suggested fishing in stormy conditions.
Little Miss Judy
Believe It or Not!
Wreck Grouper
The first time I ever met a wreck grouper was in a crate, which
was packed with ice. There were dozens of what was called in the
commercial fisherman's world "100 pound boxes." I had
stopped by to see Frank Mathews and he said, "come look at
these big fish!" This was during the early eighties. At this
time not many people myself included were familiar with this grouper
looking fish. I knew I had never caught one before. I also knew that
even if I had hooked one up I probably couldn't have landed it. The
reason being is these fish preferred structure in 300 feet plus
water. So therefore since I didn't fish these depths my chances
weren't very good for a hook up in the first place.
However, I will admit
that while fishing in around 210 feet of water we hooked something
on the bottom that was the strongest pull I have ever seen offered
up from a hooked up bottom fish. So therefore I just might have
hooked one up, but the when the freight train left the station it do
so on the "wide open!" Our nickname for a grouper was
"freight train pulling fish!"
The wreck grouper have
the biggest set of eyes I have ever seen on a fish. Their eye size
doesn't match their body. A hundred pound fish had the saucer size
eyes. As I looked at all of these stacked up boxes in the back of
the truck I couldn't believe my eyes. Hundred pound boxes hold 100
pounds of fish. With that being said, "most boxes have only one
fish and others only had two!" Frank said, "Some of the
single fish weight more than 100 pounds!"
The other day (August
2008) I had a retired commercial fisherman on my boat. I never
really got his name I just called him "Commercial Man!" It
was nice having someone on board that knew so much about fishing. On
this particular day we caught about six large amberjack, which all
weighted in at over 30 pound each. We also landed some nice grouper
and an assortment of bottom fish. I watched "Commercial
Man" as he fish and I could tell he was "In the knowing
about fish!"
At any rate, we started
talking about his favorite bottom fish to catch and out of his mouth
came "wreck grouper." He offered up a little of his
knowledge and he had my complete attention. The best bait was squid.
I had to ask, "whole or cut up?" Commercial Man replied,
"all I did was load my 10/0 hooks up with the most bait I could
and dropped it down to the bottom!" The fish did the rest of
the work, which was inhaling and trying to get back to the ledge. He
wasn't using a rod and reel set up. According to "Commercial
Man" they were using hydraulic reel set up, which was attached
directly to the boat. These large fish even pulled drag on this
wrench set up!
As we talked he shared
one of a "commercial fisherman's secrets." They would take
about 50 pounds of squid out at a time to start the thawing process.
As they thawed liquid lined the bottom of the bait tub. They threw
socks in the tub, which absorbed the squid's liquid. Now the socks
smelled and even looked like big pieces of squid. Before
"Commercial Man" could speak I already knew what he was
going in to say. He said, "The socks were used as bait and they
were less expensive than the real stuff!" Now you know the rest
of the story!
Thanks for reading!
Captain Judy

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