Captain Judy's Fishing Report

May 18, 2009

Here's what is in the week's report!

Captain Judy's "Paid It Forward" Fishing Statement!
Lure Tip of the week "Z-Man Chatter Shrimp!"
Captain Ray Crawley and His Spotted Sea Trout Affair
Captain Jack McGowan's May 12, 2009 Inshore Report
Tal Willis Spreads the Cobia Catching Wealth!
Artificial Reefs "Spanish Mackerel"
Savannah Snapper Banks "Amberjack"
Big Shark Bite!
Atlantic Bumper "Horny Bellies!"
Gulf Stream Report Zack's Team on "Z TA Sea" (Picture Story)
Freshies Suggestions "The Big Chaffers!"
Little Miss Judy's Believe It or Not Story! "Gray Marine In-Line 6's, V8 Engines diesels and Gas Engines" Part one

Captain Judy's "Pay It Forward" Fishing Statement!
I am forever having fishermen ask, "Why do you share all this fish catching information?" The answer is simple is that I want to give back what I learned from fishing all these years. I would like to share something else with you readers. A lot of fishermen are willing to also offer working tips that are using. In my cobia article this week, Tal Willis offers up a tip in which to catch a cobia, which was a good one for sure!

Another reason that I don't mind talking so much about catching fish is that I truly do love what I do. So therefore I think it is important that everyone to gets as much enjoyment out of fishing as they possibly can. I have been fishing a long time and it seems that I still learn something everyday! So therefore fishermen that "Pay It Forward" seem to always get their best chance at saying "FISH ON!" Just think about it! Join this crowd and send in those reports!

Inshore
Lure Tip For The Week!
Z-Man Chatter Shrimp
You might just want to give this artificial lure a pitching chance!
Captain Ray Crawley of Miss Judy Charters did just that! According to Captain Ray it's different and when worked slow "fish are drawn to it!" When retrieved it looks like a fleeing shrimp, which fish seem to attack first before really taking a good look. Once this takes place the "old strike now and ask questions later" is "done did!"

Captain Ray Crawley and His Spotted Sea Trout Affair
Thread the "ICE" on to 1/8 ounce COTEE "white" jig head with the "big red eye!"
The eye of a lure sometimes is what gets the attentions of a fish. It's a known fact that when a baitfish gets nervous the "eyes widen." So therefore any artificial bait that helps in regards to this theory is going to be a very popular!

The silver fluke Strike King lures have been getting some pretty interesting bites and that's not just from fishermen either! I have to admit when it comes to studying and thinking about catching an inshore fish Captain Ray has "got it going on!" He comes up with some usual combinations for "sealing the catching deal!" Here's one that Captain Ray reluctantly shared with me! You will understand why especially after to get at the reasoning.

Since the "glass minnow" rush or should I say, "migration" has been taking place for the last few weeks' "fish are getting fat." Most all-inshore fish are definitely paying attention as well as gouging themselves on these "tasty as well as very available" visitors. With being said, "any artificial lure that looks, acts, and maybe smells of "glass minnow" should get some strong bite action. The bottom line when it comes to catching during a situation like this is that it's rule of thumb to "match their catch!"

Captain Ray as usual has done his homework with this one. He like using lures made my "Strike King." The reason being is that they are made from 3X plastic, which means almost indestructible. The best news is that this lure brings the fish to the bait. When eating is tried the fish becomes quickly frustrated. This lure has an amazing amount of elasticity, which means, "A fish gets caught up as well as off guard trying to eat this bait. So therefore the bottom line is this "when the fish can't "rip it up" it inhales the whole lure!" This boils down to the fact that careless mistakes are made and quick!

The bite this past week proved to be better about one hour before the high tide stage. According to Captain Ray when the current slowed "the serious large sea trout bite was on!" He was working the sound areas around sloughs and formed rips. It's best to always work areas that you have caught fish before. Another way to make sure that you are where the fish are is to become a bird watcher. Where you have birds hovering and feeding you probably have fish feeding down under. Trout, especially the large ones, can lay a path of "oil, parts, and pieces" especially while in the feeding mode. Trout are known for being fast feeders meaning if what they hit doesn't entirely go down the hatch leftovers patterns prevail. This all boils down to a bird feeding paradise!

Captain Jack McGowan's
May 12, 2009 Inshore Report
With a few warm days it feels as if summer is already here! The water is still a little muddy from wind and lots of fresh water pushing down river to the coast. That being said still, " fishing has been good!" A strong if not great whiting bite! The whiting bite will lessen start as conditions continue to warm. Large pods of 6-inch pogies are thick in the sounds. With baitfish come sharks. While fishing near a large pod we hooked and caught several male Atlantic sharp nose sharks. A fun fighting fish about 3 feet in length.

Lots of ladyfish have shown as well! The ladyfish action around the beachfront has been strong! This a fun fish particularly with a fly or artificial. The sea trout bite has been good particularly in the sounds fishing rips with live bait. Sea trout are keying on glass minnows but will readily take a shrimp. Most the shrimp are a little large. Don't anticipate seeing smaller shrimp until the brownies, brown shrimp, arrive which is about the 1st of June. Lots of anticipation on the flounder bite. Generally the flounder bite corresponds to Memorial Day as general time frame when fishermen say flounder are biting! A few are being caught but anticipate the flounder bite picking up in the coming weeks!

When pogies are flicking on the water there are likely predator around. As conditions warm large predator fish will be more and more numerous. For now blue fish, ladyfish or small sharks are the ones most likely down under pushing the pogies to the surface.

The CCA Skidaway Chapter recently had their annual banquet. The chapter banquets are great opportunity to renew a membership as well as attend a fun event! This is definitely an organization that fishermen and conservationists can rally behind! Check their website for coming events at www.ccaga.org

As water gets cleaner the bite should pick up. Tides are decreasing throughout the week. Likely the better sea trout bite will be locations with better currents. Redfish action has been good. Fishermen who are consistently targeting these fish are able to land six or more in an outing with up about twelve fish. Mud minnows as well shrimp are a great redfish bait! A report or two of large schools or redfish but don't anticipate to see that. Those fish are on the move and not easily caught. As the flats heat the schools tend to break up but an occasional school can be spotted. Sharks also have a tendency to bust up schools of redfish or sea trout. As water temperatures rise look for reds hanging around dock piling in deeper water. Hope this helps and Good fishing!
Capt. Jack McGowan

Tal Willis Spreads the Cobia Catching Wealth!
My new good friend Tal Willis sent me an interesting email about his personal trick for hooking up a non-interested cobia. With that being said, "I can't tell you how many times I have had a cobia or even two cruise cursorily up to my boat. However, what I can tell you is that when one does, "I go crazy trying to capture it attentions, which means get them hooked up!" I have to admit that over the years I have many a fish swim up to the boat and just carelessly swim around the bait offered. All I have to show from these visits is the memory of a racing heart and bruised up legs from stumbling around the deck. There is more…in most instances the customers don't know what's going on and haven't even seen the fish. So therefore I really looking like I am like a crazy person! Well our new "Cobia Catching King Tal" has shed quite a bit of light on why his new method works so great. And as soon as I read his email "so did I!"

Let starts with this scenario: The cobia or cobias come to your boat or you happen to see one cruising by as you are making way. With this scenario you are in "cobia heaven!" When you are at the stage of the game here are just a few things that you could do that have worked on some occasions.

Throw what you are fishing with in front of the fish. It doesn't matter whether you are using live bait or dead bait. Just get the bait to the fish and see what happens. The fish might eat or not!
Or
Cast out surface plug such as the world famous "Cisco Kid," and start working it as erratically as you can. It's best to keep the lure moving so as to not only get, but also keep the fish's attention. Back in the old days, this lure action used to catch them all of the time. My father was the "Cobia catching king!" An 8-inch black "Cisco Kid" was his lure of all lures when it came to getting a cobia's attention. Heck, back then we were dealing with lures made from wood. When the paint wore off from all the bite action Daddy would just hold the lure up while it was still tied to the main line and "get out the can of black spray paint!" There was one thing that you had to remember when daddy was spray-painting and that was to not be situated down wind! I can remember many a time that my hair got sprayed with black paint. According to my father this was fishing at it's finest!
Or
My father's other method was to "beefed up a traditional float rig." This is sized up traditional float rig, which is more likely to hold the action of a larger fish means bigger hooks, heavier leaders, and floats. For bait when using this set up Daddy loved to use what he called "Live Pawn Shrimp." I just called them large shrimp, because to me that what they were. And what we didn't use for bait we ate! On some occasions we would anchor up current of the fished area, let our floats drift back in the current, and play the old "waiting for the cobia to show up game!" Then there were times that daddy just pulled up to the buoy or Texas Tower and cast his float into what he though was the "strike zone!" Just mentioning the "Texas Tower" brings memories of long gone yesteryear. I had best not start on this story or I will never finish!

Another live bait that will work with the beefed up traditional float rig would be those slimy eels, which most cobia can't pass up. That's unless they feel like it at that moment. When in the "trying to the get the cobia eat mode" my father always threw out something extra in the water. If there was a drink can near him he would grab it and slam it down into the water. The act worked great when the can still had some drink left in it, because it made more noise on impact. When the can landed not only did it make a noise, but it also send out rings. If a cobia heard this "it came running!" This gave daddy a few extra minutes to regroup, suck harder on his cigar, and change up his bait-offering situation!

Almost any bait "live or dead" at any time will work on a cobia. However, knowing and being in that certain time frame where all of the right combination comes together doesn't always occur. I could go on and on with different baits, but I think you get the picture. Now that you have read all of this I will now publish Tal's Trick for getting the cobia into a big bite mode!

"Tal's Lip Rippin' Cobia Technique"
Tal Willis has come up with a proven way to get a nonchalant cobia to take his bait. He has seen countless live eels and menhaden thrown at surface cruising cobia. Tal has watched as the cobia looked maybe took a sniff and then moved on. Here's his technique in a nut shell…

Tal simply ties on a 3-ounce buck tail jig to his main line. He likes using a "SPRO Jig," which was also one of my favorites when I was bottom fishing. When the allusive cobia arrives he simply cast it off to the side of the cobia, lets it free fall about 10-20 feet, and then start retrieving wildly. According to Tal you don't want your delivered lure to fall straight, but at an angle. At this time you are going to loose sight of the cobia, because it's following the dropped lure. According to Tal and he is so right, the cobia is now chasing what it believes to be some sort of fleeing fish.

Once you figured that your dropped lure has made the 10 to 20 feet free fall start retrieving it with short aggravating action. According to Tal "the cobia" will become so interested in your lure that it will normally eat it right at the boat. This all boils down to "you made the fish disappear when it follow the jig and now you have brought it back for the stronger hook up!

Here's what Tal uses as terminal gear
Tal's rig is a light tackle Shimano "Calcutta 400" and Shimano "Teramar" rod 7ft medium to heavy 15-25 lb rod. For line he is using 30-pound test braid to which he ties on 5 feet of 60-pound test fluorocarbon leader. Tal's 3-ounce SPRO jig has plenty of battle scars, but it's still popular with the fish!

Artificial Reefs
There are a few bottom fishing being caught. However, to get you're best shot at bottom catching I suggest seeking out isolated areas located on the reef. Black sea bass tend to stern far away from those that might eat them! The trolling at this time has been a mixed bag affair especially in these areas. On your way to the artificial reefs keep watch for any "birds-a-feeding." I stopped this past week after seeing a tightly schooled bait pod and found large bull red circling. The bottom line is to keep your eyes open and your hooks baited, because you really never know when you might run up on a serious bite opportunity!

Savannah Snapper Banks
As I have been reporting the bottom fishing at the Savannah Snapper banks has been exciting to say the least. On this day we had a big shark around the boat that tried to eat every fish that we hooked up. As if that wasn't enough smaller sharks started circling eating the leftovers and then the large shark started eating them…from bottom fishing to trolling offshore, we have a lot going on in the catching department!

Atlantic Bumper AKA "horny belly!"
We have this baitfish holding on the artificial and it can be found schooling in rips. It looks like a great bait either when used alive, fresh dead, or cut up. However, it's my opinion that it's not good bait "away you use it!" Now I am not going to say, "If this bait is presented to a very hungry fish they just might eat it." However, in my fish catching world I don't want to loose that biting chance. So therefore I pass them up every chance I get! For those fishermen out there that know which fish won't pass up a chance to eat them, please let me know.

Up date: Bait such as cigar minnows and Spanish sardines has been scattered with some fishermen catching a lot while others not seeing any at all. I was among one of those fishermen that couldn't fine any many this past weekend. The Atlantic Bumper is sometimes accompanied with the Threadfin herring. The threadfin makes for great bait either live, fresh dead or cut up! More in next week's fishing report.

Freshies Report

The Big Chaffers!
Most freshwater fishermen hold their catch by the bottom lip. Even though most fish held like this don't really have serious cutting teeth they do have a pretty darn good pair of "chaffers." This means the fish doesn't really bite, but if you drag your finger across the fish's mouth area enough times your fingers will get scratched and chaffed. With that being said, "The rougher the holding fingers, the busier the fish catching day! So therefore when a fishermen doesn't want to talk about his catch "now you know where to look to get your own darn report!"

Little Miss Judy's Believe It or Not!"

Gray Marine In-Line 6's, V8 Engines diesels and Gas Engines
Part One
As you know I have been fishing a long time. With that being said, "I have had all sort of different power sources to get me to the fishing grounds. When I first started going out in my boat at the age of six, "thoughts of what got me there wasn't important that's unless it broke down." At this point I just wanted it fixed and really didn't care "how or why!" As time went on and I really got involved in the charter industry an engine performance was an important value to not only getting you to the fishing grounds, but also back home. As time marched on "the goings on and importance of an engine" became clearer and clearer.

There is a funny thing about fishing and all true fishermen will understand. Yes, we catch fish with the bait used. However, in some cases we feel it just might be the sound of the engine that helped us out. My father believed this so much that after purchasing a new 9 horsepower outboard motor one time, after trolling with it, it not feeling right, and not even getting a bite "big moves were made." The moves I am talking about are those tracks he made back to the dealer to "purchase back" the outboard he had just traded in! So I can finish this story, "Yes, he kept the new engine, but used the old one when going trolling for spotted sea trout!" Yes, in this case when the old engine was used "bites did happen!"

When we went from outboards to inboards things really got interesting. Our first inboards weren't diesels they were "gas hogs." Most of the gas engines were taken from wrecked cars and converted for a marine application. According to daddy the radiators were removed and was replaced with a heat exchangers. We had "V8's" and "In-line 6's." At first all of our offshore boats were slow meaning "10 knots" top speed. I laugh at this yesteryear thought. During this time we still put our caps on backwards! It took time, but we did get eventually get where we were going! This is when "Gray Marine slat head in-line 6's were the our main power source. I will never forget this type of engines as long as I live. The design was a poor one for sure. Even though they or we called them "slant heads" these engines has "flat heads!" The part I am describing is the top of engine where the spark plugs sat. I have to laugh ever time I think about this one. When water would get on top of this engine it would run off except where the spark plugs were. These the spark plug pocket, at least that what I called them, held water. And if you tried to wipe it out and the engine was running you would definitely get a "strong shock!" To this day why I just didn't turn the engine off or just let the water evaporate off and the engine motored on it way is beyond me!

Thanks for reading! Captain Judy