CAPT JUDY APRIL 2008

April 28, 2008
Happy Fish Day!

Saltwater inshore, offshore, blue water fishing report, Freshies Suggestions, and “Little Miss Judy’s story! Thanks for reading! Captain Judy

2nd Annual Tybee "Dac" Kids Fishing Tournament
http://www.tybeedackids.org/ThanksFish.html

Saturday, May 3rd, the 2nd Annual Tybee "Dac" Kids Fishing Tournament will be held! This is a non-profit event! The kids can fish right from our docks (Tybee Island Bait and Tackle’s located on Lazaretto Creek) or by boat, or anywhere for that matter. There will be tents set up with all kinds of free goodies for the kids, plus nice trophies and prizes for winners. Trophies and prizes are given to for just about every kind of fish caught, biggest, smallest, etc. They also have a casting competition for the kids, and a cookout of hotdogs, hamburgers, and other foods, along with free T-shirts for the kids. All precedes goes to a scholarship fund. Here is the website: http://www.tybeedackids.org/ThanksFish.html
“This is already a great proven event!”

3rd Annual Tybee Island Fishing Tournament
www.tybeeislandbaitandtackle.com
912 786 7472

Saturday May 10th is the 3rd Annual Tybee Island Fishing Tournament. This is our 3rd year holding this tournament and there is no entry fee.

Trophies and gift certificates will be awarded for best team, which can be made up of 4 fishermen. Any type of species if fish caught receives various points. The harder a fish is to catch the more points it’s worth! For example, each whiting brought in receives 1 point each, whereas redfish receive 12 points each. I have a listing of all fish that count and how many points each are worth, plus the biggest fish of each species caught receives an additional 10 points. Most points at the end of the day are the winner. Fishermen can fish from the pier, surf, boats, or anywhere that you wish. Last year, the team that won had two people on kayaks and one person fishing from the shore. They had several redfish, trout, flounder, and two whiting. Because they had the biggest flounder of the day, they received an additional 10 points. The second place team didn't have as many fish, but they had the biggest trout and the biggest redfish, allowing them 20 additional points, and they still lost by 1 point! Which means, the winners won by bringing in those two whiting!! Anyway, it is a lot of fun, and since there is no entry fee, we have a huge turn out. Last year we had over 200 people enter. This year, with two weeks to go, we already have 200 people signed up! Any team that enters is also able to win the best individual category. Rules and information is posted on my website www.tybeeislandbaitandtackle.com, then click on "08 Tournament” It’s time to sign up!

Inshore Fishing Report

Rupert Heller Spotted Sea Trout Theories

My dear friend Rupert Heller is known as one of Savannah’s best inshore fishermen and he has once again some great secrets. As we talked, I asked “could I publish?” he said, “yes.” So therefore the listening and writing began.

Firstly, “The Rupert” absolute favorite time to fish is the “quarter moon phase!” However, he doesn’t just wait for this time to fish, he goes when the opportunity is served up! While talking he shared with some other real interesting information.

April is the month to target inshore fish in Cabbage Island and Salt Pound area. According to Rupert, the make up here at this time offers spotted sea trout as well as red fish lots of spring time feeding opportunity. He also likes to make the run to the floodgates at this time. According to “The Rupert” large sea trout hang around the up rights that hold the gate up. As we talked I asked how he would fish the flood gates at this time…. and here’s his answer…

Fishing the Savannah Flood Gates With “The Rupert!”

The best tide to fish is when the out going stage has reached its 50% mark, meaning “half way out.” His signature movement in this case is as simple as it can get. He simply cast to the foot of the bridge’s up rights; lets his bait fall to the bottom, twitches it, then he bounces it, and then precedes with a slow retrieve. As he bounces the bait it gets caught in the current, which moves it away from the structure. Once you get over 20 feet away, completely retrieve, and place cast again working as many as the up rights as you can. When you get a hit or a hook up you have found the fish. So therefore he suggests working this area at least until the action slows. Rupert has a theory when it comes to the spotted sea trout bite when fishing the floodgates. On the fall “the bites can be small!” When in the retrieval mode “big bottom up bites can happen!”
Know the Savannah Flood Gates!
There are two ways to fish the floodgates especially when it comes to the currents. You can anchor up current of down current. All fishermen have a theory when fishing a particular area. This is area is know for it’s strong currents. So therefore any time that you are anchored up in strong current, and the anchor break loose, it’s best to have a plan. You don’t want to get hung under the bridge or up against it. I am always suggesting if the wind is howling and the current “screaming” in the same direction that it might not be the right day to pick this area to fish. I suggest that until you really know this area that you fish it with caution! Yes, there are fish to catch, but “catching safety” should be considered first!

Rupert Heller’s Signature Screw Tails and Jig Heads

For bait he is using jig heads and screw tails. After personally seeing his arsenal of fishing tackle I can say for sure, “it can’t be purchase, because it definitely his own signature handmade brand. However, since I have seen his tackle first hand I certainly can offer some tips in regards on how to reach out for more solid hits. Rupert has come up with his own theories when it comes to what a spotted sea trout wants. From what I have seen him catch in the past, believe me he knows what he is talking about.

Rupert’s Eye Series Jigs

According to Rupert “the eyes” whether real or not plays a big factor on whether or not you get a hit. That last statement makes a whole lot of sense. I want to explain it from his and now my prospective. Spotted sea trout, no matter what size, are known for being natural born killers. They stalk their intended meal before making a kill. In other words in most cases it a premeditated kill. The bottom line is if it looks alive or apprehensive, and it will fit into their mouth, they will hit it! When a spotted sea trout is stalking something alive and it has any sort of a clue “eyes go large,” which enhances the bite procedure even more. Rupert’s theory was basically derived from what he has found out over the years about the actual killing hit of the trout. He called the lures that he makes “the eye series!” Rupert purchases standard ¼ to 3/8-ounce jig heads and he “tweets” them. His workshop is full of different colors of paint to which he add a touch of something to all lure used. After his personal paint job is preformed his last touch and probably the most important is what he does with the eyes. Rupert in some case glues on extra large eyes, which he purchases at the craft store.

Rupert’s Paint Job Touch Up!
The Color Pink Is In!

The Rupert would prefer to purchase his favorite color jig head, but if he can’t “making do is what he’s best at!” His favorite color jig head is solid pink or pink/white variegated. If he can’t find this color on the tackle shelf, all he does is break out the “pink” finger nail polish. In this case, it’s not finger nail polish; it’s called “Special pink jig head quick drying enamel paint!” After painting his jig head he might add a red dot, which will represent this custom made paint job’s eye! Now you know where the name “red eye” came from. Just teasing! As I talked to Rupert I found out that he preferred red to black eyes!

The Hook’s Shaft!
Lets talk a little about that shaft/hook attached to the jig head. This is that part that holds the fish after it hits the jig head better known as the hook! The artificial bait used is threaded on to the hook’s shaft. Rupert likes to paint the hook’s shaft either orange of red, because he feels it’s important. There is good reasoning behind Rupert’s theory, which can be concreted by just a small observation. All you have to do is to take a good look at a live shrimp. If you will notice there is a line running down almost the entire length of a live shrimp. Rupert calls this the “life line,” which supposedly is what gets the spotted sea trout’s attention in the first place. When you paint the hook’s shaft with orange or red and thread on the suggested clear screw tail the lifeline appears! While on the subject of screw tails as bait used here’s yet some more “Rupert real time interesting information!”

Rupert Preferred C-Tails Name Brand
Rupert prefers a special name brand, which lately he had only found while searching the Internet. It’s called “C-Tails.” Now the reason this is his brand of choice is due to the fact it’s the best he has found on the tackle market. I guess I should explain first what I am talking about. Rupert uses a lot of screw tails. His preferred colors are clear body with silver flakes, clear body with gold flakes, and clear body with green flakes. No matter what, he prefers all his clear with colored flakes to have clear tails. Boy, you can certainly tell that I am a fisherman with passion, because I realize how important detail really is. Once you have fished for a while sooner or later “details” whether you like it or not will “raise its ugly head!”

Over the years Rupert has come to these solid conclusions when it comes to clear screw tails with certain colored flakes. Here’s the boiling down point: silver flakes gets the most interest from spotted sea trout. However, if you start getting lots of blue fish hits or should I say, “Tail cut offs” he suggests changing to green flake. For some reason green flakes lures don’t appeal as much to blue fish as those with silver. Rupert then adds green flakes aren’t a spotted sea trout’s favorite, but when blue fish are mixed in the school these two bites gets separated. This boils down to less blue fish attacks and more spotted sea trout attentions. The gold flake screw tails works great when targeting red fish and flounder on mud flats. According to Rupert all you have to do is cast up on to the flat at your selected area and just take your bait for a “slow, but solid drag retrieve.”

Rupert Talks About the Perils of Fishing the Beachfronts!

Rupert Heller speaks about “fishing the beachfronts!” Before we go into how to fish these areas it’s best to know whether or not it’s safe! Especially when traveling to these areas in small boats and in such shallow water. The first thing that you must know is that these beachfront areas that we are speaking about are all mostly exposed to the open ocean. So therefore before departing on such a fishing journey as this it’s suggested by Rupert to check current and predicted weather conditions as well as “real time” wind values. It’s suggested that if the wind is coming from an easterly direction that you make other plans. The prefect wind is “west and the least of it is the best!” You don’t want more than 6-inch wave height. After all you are going to be fishing not surfing! Let assume that the ocean is flat, the wind is dead, and the sun is shinning. In other words, “you didn’t have to go with Plan B,” which is where you would fish if you didn’t have good weather/wind conditions.

Rupert’s Lessons on How to fish the Beachfronts Rupert Style!

Once you have off loaded from your boat and have secured it properly it’s now time to a little “fishing watching!” While walking Rupert suggests to take a look at the waters as you make move along the water’s edge. You are looking for dark spots in soft surf. These spots could be underwater holes in the sand, which are isolated spots for fish to hide as well as area to go into the ambush mode. Underwater ridges or ledges also have darker water over them, because it’s deeper here also. These areas are where fish stage to hide and eat. When you find spots such as this these should be considered your fishing grounds. There is good and bad news when it comes to these areas. They could be here today and gone tomorrow, because the strong ocean currents continuously change beachfronts bottoms. This isn’t new news. It happens all of the time. With that being said, “migrating fish once arriving to this new frontier know what game they have to play survive this area!” Knowing what to look for will increase your catches.

Rupert suggests walking these breakfronts or cruising these areas in shallow draft boats. Looking for darks spots is just one way to find fish. However, there are more signs such as birds feeding or holding as well as sheens on the water. Sheens are formed when fish feed. It would seem for you to be able to see these “kill oils” on the surface that lots have to happen in regards to the feeding department, which isn’t so true. Try dropping one small drop of fish oil in the water and watch what happens. The bottom line to this experiment is that a little oil makes a large showing on the surface, it stays together, drifts with the current handed, and shows you where it came from in the scheme of things. Sharpen up your awareness is easy to do if you just stop to watch the surroundings handed to you! It’s time to go fish! Thanks Rupert once again for sharing with us fishermen such great information!

Artificial Reefs

Spanish mackerel and blue fish galore! I caught most of these fish trolling deep with #2 and #3 planer with 2 to 21/2 inch Clark spoons. Occasional king mackerel and dolphin! By the time you read this more top fish will have arrived!

Front Line artificial Reefs….KC, DUA, SAV, and CAT

Artificial reefs located in less than 45 feet of water are holding lots of black sea bass. However, most of the fish are too small to keep. For those that want to do a little jigging or bottom fishing with light tackle this is a great area to try these techniques out. Please carefully release fish you can’t keep!

When you take a further ride offshore to those reefs that are located in more than 45 feet the bite pattern changes. You could find yourself catching a better range of keeper black sea bass as well as genuine red snapper. Black sea bass have to be 12 inches tail length to legally keep and have a bag limit of 15 per fishermen. Genuine red snapper have to be 20 inches tail length to keep with a bag limit of two per fishermen.

When fishing these areas plain old squid or cut fish will work on both the black sea bass as well as the genuine red snapper. However, if you have the opportunity to catch some nervous bait I suggest doing so. The baits that fall under this category are Spanish sardines and cigar minnows. There are more types, but these bait are the major players. The reason I call them nervous baits is that they don’t have an air bladder. The means they can comfortably move up and down in the water column without adjusting. This boils down to the fact that when a fish get an opportunity to eat one of these fish they go for it. “No chasing involved for those eating when this bait is on your hook!” The great thing about this bait is “fish eating don’t think or look before attacking, which provides the fisherman with a more solid hook up opportunity!”

Savannah Snapper Banks

The bottom line to the report is simple…it’s not that far, the fish are biting, and it time to go! Bottom fishing, live line drift fishing, and trolling are available at this time! The best news is that the top water as well as the bottom fish have arrived, are hungry, and ready to bite your hook!

Gulf Stream Fishing At its Finest!
Captain Little Tommy William Interview

The world class boat “Trashman” and crew fished the blue waters of the Gulf Stream this past week. Here’s the first hand information from Captain “Little” Tommy Williams of the fishing days events. Captain Tommy was an invited guest and his job was to work the soon to be busy cockpit. While working the cockpit, Little Tommy was instructed what to do by Captain Bert Cline. Captain Bert is a world-renowned captain as well as fisherman. He comes from a family of serious fishermen and has pulled lines in many distance waters!

With sea conditions toping out to around 12 feet Captain Bert took The Trashman” to the test. They started at the South Ledge and moved out to 1,600 feet of water looking for any sort of temperature break. Once working this area over and finding what fishermen call “a desert situation” time was wasting. (No fish here!) Captain Bert picked up the “Sat Phone” and called “Roffs,” Roffers offshore fishing service. After the call was made sources confirmed that there was 4-degree rip formed off the Deli Ledge. This information meant a dozen plus mile run. The good news was that if the rip was there and it was sporting a 4-degree temperature change “the catching opportunity would be good!”

Upon arriving to this area “green met blue water,” which boil down to “ideal conditions!” The green water perching from the west met the north tracking blue waters of the Gulf Stream. It was very choppy where these two waters collided. In this serious formed rips many sharks, over fifty sea cruising sea turtles, and flocks of sea birds were watched. According to little Tommy, he guessed there were at least 500 sea birds waiting and feeding. Where the waters met a 4-degree temperature change happened. Lines were set out, properly presented, and large dolphin ate! The catch line up was impressing to say the least. There were several dolphins in the 35-pound range. To add to this serious catch 10 plus dolphin were thrown in the fish box. These fish ranged from 25 to 10 pounds. The catching was great and the scenery was also picture perfect with the exception of those 12-foot waves! Thanks Little Tommy for this fine report!

Freshies Report

Culprit “Foxy Craw”

All fishermen, including myself love to work artificial bait. I like working the old plastic worm, which by the way, at least in my book, is a real good way to catch a fish. In the case of this bait all fish from fresh to saltwater loves to attack and eat the vulnerable worm. Now lets go different and step out side of the box. I don’t know about you, but I have to believe in the artificial bait that I am using or it just doesn’t work for me. So therefore the bait I am going to explain is hard for me to describe, because I am only half way there.

Without a do…the bait I am talking about is the plastic crawfish. At any given time when this bait is dropped overboard “the fish calling begins.” It offers up a lot of bells and whistles in this bait department offering, for sure. On the fall it vibrates offering up a great calling card. When it lands, an underwater dust storm is formed. This by the way is “hands down” can and does catch any fish’s eye! If you don’t get a hit on the fall or the landing there is still is plenty of bite opportunity coming your way!

Even when this lure just sits on the bottom it’s legs and arms “do that floating thing!” A slight twitch and this bait basically come “almost better than real alive!” So with all this being said, “I guess I need to re-cap what this bait really has to offer. When it’s cast placed it starts working, while it’s falling it’s working, when it lands it’s working, and when it’s sitting, it’s working! Oh, by the way all of this that I am describing is exactly what a live crab does! I call this bait the greatest crab poser ever!

This bait can be rigged and worked from the tail or the mid section. While on a slow retrieve it really does imitate a scurrying crab type moving for cover on the bottom. Smart fish are naturally tuned in regards to this type of bottom movement. It’s my opinion, that the larger the fish the longer it waits to take the bait, especially in this case. The trail that this bait makes when retrieved across the bottom is as good as it gets! In a fish’s mind this is the trail to follow!

For those wanting to get their best shot while using this style of bait, Culprit has an artificial crawfish that really works. It’s called “Foxy Craw!” This lure even has flavor enhancements onboard! All you have to add is the water and a little of your own signature movement!

Although I (Captain Judy) fish more in the saltwater than the freshwater, but she is privy to many secrets freshwater catching tricks! Captain Judy’s sometimes-saltwater fishermen are real avid when it comes to fresh water catching. With all that being said, “While fishing in the saltwater, they talk about freshwater fishing!” And since Captain Judy knows what to ask, great answers are shared!

Little Miss Judy’s Believe It or Not!

Part Four

Mr. Helmey in the forties!”

This story is a continuation of last week’s interview with A. L. Smith. He works for my father, Mr. Helmey, in the forties. I must add that these things that Mr. Smith told me I didn’t know about…This is real interesting stuff….I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

There was this one story that Mr. Smith told me that I had to share. He said that on this particular day, all had arrived at work, and the day was unfolding with lots of work to do. About an hour into the workday, someone ask if they had seen Mr. Helmey? This wasn’t an unusual question, because daddy came and went pretty much all day. However, on this particular day someone noticed daddy sitting in his car. At first no one thought anything strange. After a few hours Mr. Smith decided to check on Mr. Helmey. As soon as he reached the car he realized that Mr. Helmey was hurt badly and couldn’t move. He hollowed for help and all came running. Several of the workers pulled daddy from the car. According to Mr. Smith, daddy was a bloody mess. As we all know when blood makes a showing, it always looks bad at first. In this case, there was lots of blood, which had stained daddy’s clothes. They didn’t know where to start, all thought that daddy might need to go to the hospital. However, when the word hospital was mentioned the seemly knocked out cold Mr. Helmey strongly said “no!” With that short, but direct statement Mr. Helmey was lifted up and taken inside the office where the secretary proceeded to help clean him up.

According to the story, as each day went by daddy got better and better. All this lasted about two weeks with the limping getting less every day. As soon as daddy recuperated business was back to normal! Mr. Smith said, “None of us really knew what and why this happened. We didn’t ask and no one was talking so therefore it was basically swept under the rug to be forgotten!”

As I listened to this story and since I knew my father along with all the shenanigans involved, I wasn’t a bit surprised. If I had to guess and since daddy was married 8 times as well as he never stopped dating, jealousy could have been the motive. Or it might have been one of those “two cars in one” that he had cut the wrecked end off each so as to make one good car. Who knows it might have just come apart! I guess we will never know for sure. However, this situation leaves lots of room for some interesting guessing!

Thanks for reading!

Captain Judy