Happy Halloween!
Please meet Miss Judy Charters “witch pick of the week!”
Can anyone guess who this is?
The inshore bite continues to amaze us one day and then the next not so much. I guess this is why we still call it fishing!
Captain Matt William showing us more than a hand full of fish!
Inshore
The inshore report is pretty much the same..but you might ought to add that not all fishermen are catching fish…and if you don’t get them the day that you do fish, this just happens at this time of the year…Fish are not where they are going to winter as of yet. They are on the move and this is why some spots are good one day and the next time it is a ghost town! Heck in some cases you might find yourself in a catching paradise in a spot that never holds fish, but does have something to offer a passing fish..well these are what I call stopping off feeding sites which equates to kind of like a drive through at a fast food service!
The inshore fishing has been very good! The bottom line is live shrimp is the best bait and after you get that to working then you certainly can change to the artificial stuff. With daylight be shorter each day water temperatures have fallen to their respectful degrees. So not only do we know fall has started so do the fish. For those fishermen that want to do a little bottom fishing in the sound, well, the whiting bite has been pretty solid. Best bait for whiting is small pieces of shrimp laced on to small hook fished on the bottom with a Carolina rig. Sometimes the whiting bite will lull so if this happen I suggest changing up to a small piece of shrimp and small piece of fillet of whiting…we call the whiting cocktail!
October 23, 2014 Thursday
4 hour inshore fishing with Captain Matt Williams
A catching they did they go!!
Branch Powers his son Cody, Captain Matt Williams, Ann Crawford, Bobby Shanebrook
Here’s how this inshore fish catching trip went: Ann and Bobby of New Hope Pennsylvania were visiting Branch. Branch, Ann, and Bobby stopped by the office and booked an inshore 4 hour trip. At the request of Captain Matt the departure time was to be around 9:00 AM. As Branch was heading out the door, he asked, “Can I bring my own rod?” and I replied of course!
On fish day morning, group arrived, and we loaded everyone on the boat. Yes, Branch brought along his own rod, which was rigged with one of his preferred jerk baits. At around 1:00 PM, Captain Matt called and asked if I would like to take a few pictures. My standard answer when it comes to taking pictures of customers and fish is always a big yes! I arrived to the dock just as Captain Matt was bringing his boat around to his spot. Customers were smiling and yelling at the same time about the great time that they had. With all of them talking at once here’s what I got out of the four conversations had: At the first drop we started catching fish and then they stopped biting. Then Captain Matt said, “I had best move and try to find some more hungry fish.” Once arriving to the next spot it was all that they could do to keep their bait in the water, because as soon as it landed a fish they did have. Let’s just put it this way they caught more than twenty and it was more than plenty. A good catching time was had by all!
Branch Powers’ jerk bait ruled on this day!
Branch Powers personal jerk bait that the spotted sea trout could not pass up!!
What did the spotted trout prefer on this particular day on a mid day outgoing tide stage on Thursday October 23, 2014? The group started out with Captain Matt’s personalized floats system, which keeps the bait exactly in the strike zone. After the bite gets going he mixes it up with live shrimp and artificial shrimp patterns. On this particular day he picked a 3” DOA shrimp pattern called Mumps, which is a clear with red glitter. He rigged this artificial bait directly onto the hook as he would a live shrimp. Branch, whom brought his own rod/reel outfit rigged with what looked like Arkansas shiner jerk bait. This artificial bait proved to be very successful once cast into to place.
DOA shrimp patterns when worked, not only look, but acts just like the real deal!
And this is where the fish’s heartaches begin!
When using live shrimp as bait, most of the time it’s a one hit deal and if you miss the set, well it’s time to re-load. However, artificial shrimp patterns last a little longer basically making a trout so mad when they can’t kill it that they just keep coming back for more heartache.
Captain Matt Williams picked artificial shrimp pattern that worked like a charm! The bottom line to this fishing report is this: The spotted sea trout fishing is pretty darn good, live shrimp is great bait to start with and once you get the bite on I suggest switching some to artificial jerk baits and DOA shrimp patterns. And whatever you do don’t forget your dip net!
Email from Ann Crawford
To end this report I have to say, “It was great meeting everyone and can’t wait to see them again!” After writing this report I received this wonderful email on Friday October 24, 2014 from Ann: Here’s the mail….“Thanks again for hooking us up with Captain Matt for our inshore fishing frenzy on Thursday Morning! Branch, Cody, Bobby and I made memories to last a life time. And we all look forward to going fishing with you in March 2015 and every time we come to Savannah!”
There is only one last thing to say, “Now that’s what I am talking about!” Thanks Captain Judy
Offshore artificial reefs
Surface baits can still be found in these areas
The artificial reefs located in t 50 plus feet are holding some real nice size Spanish sardines and cigar minnows. If you have time, while on your way to the snapper banks, I suggest stopping by and catching a few hundred of these baits. The reason being is that when this bait is dropped to the bottom in around 100 feet it can trigger a very serious bite! Keeping this bait alive and healthy is the way to go. Whatever you do don’t forget to keep all the ones that die and all parts and pieces. Believe me I say, “It all works like a charm!
Bottom fishing especially since the water temperatures have dropped, has been solid. Best bait is going to be cut squid and fish. If you happen to see any surface schools of bait I suggest catching a few and giving them a try. We have been catching black sea bass, hog nose, ring tail perch, trigger fish, and some gag grouper.
Captain Judy Live Bait Theory!
Take a close look; these are horny bellies in flight!
Here’s what I think…we have not had a bunch of live baits on the surface this year. The artificial reefs, which normally have schools and schools of bait fish circling around the underwater wrecks have shown us no activity. Now we have had menhaden aka pogy populations in the sounds and beachfronts, but that is about it for the live bait. The Spanish sardines and cigar minnows just have not been here. Another bait fish that has shown up in large amounts is the horny belly. These baits do work some, but don’t have the oils that the others have. Horny belly will work sometimes when used alive. However, more so not that so!! Heck, when you cut a horny belly up there is no fish oils. It kinds of boring, because this bait offers no strong fish smell like the Spanish sardines and the cigar minnow does. Heck, the old cigar and sardines put off the prefect stink when they are used live, dead, cut up, and etc. So if you can get them use them! Also I would like to add..since we haven’t had much of a king mackerel run and I believe this was due to the lack of bait, who knows maybe we will have a fall/winter run! When I first wrote the report we had not seem much king mackerel activity. However, since some surface baits have arrived we have started catching a few king mackerel. Who knows it might be a bonus November catching experience with catch kings galore. I will keep you posted!
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