While inshore fishing with Captain Garrett Ross of Miss Judy Charters Shaught Galloway Michigan caught this beautiful red fish! Now this is a nice one for sure! It almost didn’t fit in the 14 to 23 inches slot limit, but it did! So therefore dinner it was! As far as bait used, well, hard to catch, hard to find, and hard to buy, live shrimp. And this is not a new bait situation, but it just gets better from here on!
Justin Brazell Reidsville, Georgia, Dalton Powell Reidsville, Georgia, Jonathan Hinojose Collins, Georgia, Trevor Hunter Collins, Georgia, and Captain Garrett Ross of Miss Judy Charters
What the heck in on the fish cleaning table? Well, first I must add, we need a bigger fish cleaning table! These guys cleaned up for sure! Now, this is what the group kept and they released the rest. On the table we have several groups represented...spotted sea trout, red fish, and sheepshead!
Justin Brazell Reidsville, Georgia is holding a beautiful red fish! This fish is sporting its winter time colors! Yep, it was picture taking time and then it was releasing it back to the wild time! Who showed Justin the way? Captain Garrett Ross of Miss Judy Charters!
While inshore fishing with Captain Garrett Ross of Miss Judy Charters Jonathan Hinojose Collins, Georgia caught this beautiful sheepshead! Now this is the perfect size sheepshead to fillet, leave scales on, and throw directly on the grill!
Inshore Fishing Report
Well my fishing friends’ things in the inshore catching department are just about to change. Heck, no matter what, the water temps are on the rise making the fish hungry and ready to make a move. March is the month where fish know for a fact that plentiful schools of bait fish are just about going to arrive. I mean heck, before temps got above 60 degrees no respectable fish is going to burn energy looking for something that may or may not be there to eat! The bottom line to this report is if the sun is shining or not, if the water temps are over 60 degrees of not, and you don’t have exactly the right live bait who cares JUST GO FISH! Why? Spring 2021 is coming and after all that we have been going through on land it is time to hit the water! Your boat or mine!
Dylan Childers Kingston, Georgia (age 18) just caught a nice porgy and Captain Kathy Brown of Miss Judy Charters is assisting! The best news when bottom fishing at this time of the year at the artificial reefs is the fact that you really never know what might bite your!
Sheepshead aka convict fish!
Artificial Reefs Black Sea Bass or not!
Fishing artificial reefs areas equals to Short Boat Rides to the Fish!
During this time if you would like a short offshore boat ride to the fish I suggest heading out to one of the near shore artificial reefs. And the next question would be once again, “Your boat or mine?” These areas are holding some pretty interesting catching options. Normally the black fish also known as black sea bass are holding on low relief bottom. There are pallet balls, tires, concrete piles, and culver pipes, which offer these fish a lot of feeding opportunity. As far best bait I suggest using cut squid or fillet of fish. Heck, jigs tipped with or without any sort of bait “artificial or not” jigged or placed directly on the bottom will also work. I have found that artificial reefs such as J, L, CCA, or any others located in 55 plus feet of water to hold the most concentration of large black fish. The secret is to stop, drop, and move until you find the fish. And since we have had several close encounters over the last few years with hurricanes some artificial bottom has been moved or is covered with locking bottom sand. So, if you mark a few fish up off the bottom, there is most likely a lot more locked down in the sand in a facing the current mode. This is where stopping, dropping, and checking could turn into some serious catching. Please know when drifting bottom spots at this depth too many drifts will scattered the fish. I suggest making a couple of drifts, moving off, and looking for more active bottom. After waiting 30 minutes or so circle back and fish this same spot. If the fish have moved, I suggest looking up or down current around the next structure.
Sheepshead Bite!
The offshore sheepshead aka convict fish bite should still be strong for the first two weeks of March. I suggest keeping your search of these fish to those artificial reefs or wrecks located in less than 50 feet of water. Any structure that offers lots of vertical feeding opportunity will hold the most sheepshead. Normally this is the time that this fish bulks up for their journey back to the inshore waters.
The best bait when targeting this fish is the purple back or black back fiddler. Did you know that a Sheepshead can hit your fiddler so hard that it can **** the insides out of the crab while leaving only its empty shell left balanced on your hook? So therefore with this shared knowledge I suggest always giving your fiddler crab a good once over before sending it back to the bottom. After all, no respectable Sheepshead would be interested in an old empty fiddler shell! And you must know what I mean; after all when you have eaten all of the deviled crab stuffing, the feeding interests is gone!
An old time Grand Picture sure!
I love this picture! You can’t keep a genuine red snapper until the 2021 snapper season opens, but you sure can catch them and take a grand picture! Captain Kathy Brown is looking good and so is the fish! Now this picture was taken during a time when you could keep them!
Savannah Snapper Banks
Best places to GO FISH brought to you by Captain Judy!
This live bottom area is located about 29 miles off our coast. It takes a longer boat ride, but certainly does offer a lot of different catching opportunity. The bottom fishing is great and no matter the amount of baited hooks used, hook ups should happen! The best bottom rig is going to be a two hook rig made with 3/0 to 4/0 circle hooks. Please know that when targeting fish in the snapper grouper complex regulations require that you must use some type of circle
I like making my rigs out of 80 pound test monofilament line. In the charter boat world, 16 ounce bank sinkers are the best. However, you can get away with 8 to 10 ounce especially when there isn’t as many fishing at one time. As far as the fish catching possibilities I will name a few: large green head black fish, 5 gallon bucket size trigger fish, nice hog nose snapper, knobbed head porgy, amberjack aka reef donkeys, masked almaco jacks, banded rudder fish, football sized vermilion, solider fish, and I could keep on listing, but I think you get the just of it all! Lots of different species of fish for sure! We tell our customers that the Snapper Banks trip offers the biggest opportunity to catch the most different color fish! Don’t forget your offshore fish color identification booklet! This is one area that it will definitely come in handy!
This is a great time of the year to bottom fish around the naval towers as well as the live bottom areas located at the Savannah Snapper Banks. Believe me, I have fished these areas for years and they are still holding fish! I call these fishing spots meeting places for fish! I have broken it down into three areas: North snapper banks: R7 3149.000/8016.500 Naval tower, live bottom areas: 3144.970 /8013.890 this is a good area to start a bottom fishing drift. 3144.192 /8013.021 this is the coordinates to a ledge, which runs 160 degrees and 330 degrees from this coordinate will keep you on the ledge.
Middle snapper banks: R6 (M2R6)3132.000/8014.000 Naval tower, live bottom areas 313 5.350/8021.660 ledge and 3134.990/8022.900 scattered live bottom. South snapper banks: R2 3122.530/8034.010 naval tower, live bottom areas 3124.768/8036.795 (tight/small area but very productive) and 3124.658/8035.262 (Once locating this coordinates work your way back 290 to 310 degrees to find more live bottom areas) Prior to heading out, it is best to always check the coordinates/areas in which you are planning to fish. I suggest purchasing a TOP SPOT Georgia offshore Brunswick to Savannah waterproof chart Map number N229. I provided coordinates to this company many years ago. These coordinates are proven to hold the attentions of fish! As with most passed around coordinates the numbers used sometime aren’t exactly on the fishing spot. The reason being is, especially in my case, these coordinates were derived from the use of loran. When transferring and re-computing coordinates it seems that they never seem to be spot on the fish. To combat this problem I always suggest slowing down before reaching suggested coordinates. While making way slowly I suggest keeping a sharp eye on your fishing finder.
Freshies Report!
Well, it is official; Cuz Captain Mickey has got a new boat!
My Cuz Captain Mickey Holbrook has officially got his new boat “Rams Reward” is rigged and ready to go! So, if you want to go fishing on Lake Lanier fishing, I suggest giving Captain Mickey a call 470 262 6035! Why? Our family knows the ways of a fish! If you don’t believe me, just ask the fish!
My cuz, Captain Mickey Holbrook owner operator of MAD GILLZ Fishing Guide Service is a member in very good standing with the gangster side of our family! And that is all I am going to say about that! And the best news is none of us have done any sort of prison time! Captain Mickey is also old time fishing friends with Captain Garrett Ross of Miss Judy Charters
So therefore any of you that want to do a little fresh water fishing I highly suggest giving Captain Mickey Holbrook owner operator of MAD GILLZ Fishing Guide Service a call. (470 262 6035) There are two things that we know for a fact ...and what is that? Our Lake Lanier fresh water connection is Cuz Captain Mickey Holbrook! And I approved this message times two!
Little Miss Judy’s Believe It or Not!
Fishing Extraordinaire Burke Wall
1944-2021
Over the years I don’t think there were many fishermen far and wide that didn’t know when you talked about the boat “Trashman” you were talking about fishing extraordinaire Burke Wall or vice versa! Over the many years of fishing these two just came together! And when Burke Wall talked on the radio from the “Trashman” that was no denying exactly who was holding the mike! I have some pretty interesting stories about Burke, some I can publish and others I cannot for sure, but if I run into you I will be happy to share them with you!
I remember this one time; I was a speaker at the Savannah Sport Fishing Club I suggested giving this certain blue water lure a try. My father, Captain Sherman I Helmey, came up with this famous rig, which worked when pulled in green and blue water. Now, it was not a believable lure for most, especially for Burke. As we semi-talked about it I could tell that Burke was not so interested and most likely would not try it for sure. My line following the suggestion was always, “Just try it and don’t tell anyone about it!”
Well, the next time I ran into him in a quick passing Burke said, “I didn’t take enough floats!” We both just smiled! And I remember that like it was only yesterday! Time does fly by way too fast!
I am sad for this loss; because the radio chatter will never be the same! I will certainly miss looking to the east and being able to see for miles the spray produced as Burke breached the horizon in the Trashman. This was one big boat that could make tracks in just about any sea conditions! As we all made way to the Wassaw Sea Buoy, on some occasions, it was possible for me to ride in his calm wake! However, this didn’t last long, who the heck could keep up!
To Burke’s family I wish to send my sincere condolences! It is a very sad time for us fishermen, but not so for the fish that Burke so successfully hunted!
Thanks for reading! Captain Judy
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