And here’s yet another red fish that couldn’t pass up Captain Kevin’s trained mud minnows.


Yet another red fish that could not pass up Captain Kevin cold water bait offering of lipped hook mud minnow.

Artificial reefs


We are catching lots of king mackerel. However; they are mostly juveniles, which mean they are mostly all under the legal length to keep of 24 inch fork length. The bad news is you can’t keep them. The good news is that they are fun to catch on light tackle. It’s a catch and release kind of fish catching thing! There is Spanish mackerel, little tunny, and Jack Crevalle schooling in and around the schools of juvenile kings.



Captain Kathy Brown is showing us a nice king mackerel that a customer caught while plain old bottom fishing.

Smoker Status
We caught this king mackerel while plain old bottom fishing. It hit a small fish that was being reeled up to the boat. A couple of things: I am glad the customer’s drag wasn’t too tight and he didn’t horse the fish. As you can see, he caught the fish and it was a nice one too!

Sharknado


Who let the sharks out?
Following the tune of “Who Let the Dogs Out?” I am kind of wonder “Who Let the Sharks Out?” I have seen more large bull sharks that usual and we have caught, fought, and released dozens of them just in the month of May. And now towards the end of June it looks like it is going to be a bonus shark catch and release month!



This is the perfect size bait to use when bottom bumping!
Plain old bottom bumping truth!

Bottom bumping is not a generic as you think. Some fishermen think that bottom fishing means just letting your bait sit on the bottom. Well, you can bet there are more options, than is, especially if you want more hook ups. I am always suggesting to the customers that if you don’t get a hit to reel up a few turns and then re drop back to the bottom. When the sinker hits the ocean floor it causes what I call the sand storm effect. This action gets the attentions of those fish that hang close to the bottom. Another way is to work the water column close to the bottom. Fish that don’t feed near the bottom in some cases do more watching than feeding. When dropping your bait to the bottom I suggest to reel up a few turns then go into the lifting your rod up and down consecutively. Fish that want to watch more than eat will most likely get snagged. Heck, it not calling the ball, but it’s a still catching the fish! Heck you could ever snag yourself a gag! (grouper)

Side note: For those of you that didn’t understand “Calling the ball” it means the fish didn’t bite and you didn’t wait for it. It means you just put your hook where it counted and you got hooked up!
It’s time to wet a line.

Little Miss Judy’s Believe It or not!
Sherman Shooter!



This is my mother all dressed up standing in the living room of the house that I still live in today. I somewhat remember this fur coat. It was a beauty for sure. My father purchased it from Kirshner furs, which is still located on Bull Street.
The recipe for my father island famous “Sherman Shooter!”
1 shot brown liquor or moonshine
1 shot apple cider vinegar (not the clear stuff)
1 shot of Ketchup

Mix well, pour over ice, and hold on!
The story behind my father’s Sherman Shooter! And what my father had to say about the other so-called southern drink the Mint Juliet!

The “Mint Juliet” was a serious southern drink that was forever talked about, but would have never crossed my father’s lips. According to my father a drink that required picking mint leaves and spooning sugar was definitely not his kind of toddy!

If you have been keeping up with my stories you already know that my father, Captain Sherman I Helmey, was considered a “Colorful Coastal Character.” My father loved life and he spent all of his time, at least when I knew him, making the very best of it. He loved fishing, hunting, having lots of different dates, and his afternoon drinks. Back in the old days before the opening of The Piggy Wiggly on Wilmington Island there was only a few places to purchase any kind of grocery items. There was Woos 7/11 owned and operated by Mr. Soc Woo. You could get almost anything from there from food to hardware, but it closed right at dark. Now if you happened to need anything after dark you could go to “Mitchell’s Store” owned and operated by Mr. Mitchell. This all seemed fine until you needed something on Sunday after dark. The reason being is that Mitchell’s technically closed on Sunday’s. However, if needed daddy could have knocked on the door and gotten service, I’m sure!

My father always loved to have his brown liquor drink in the afternoon. Sometimes this afternoon drink would turn into several. He usually mixed his drinks with sprite, squirt, milk, or coke, but on some occasions he would be out of all of the above mixes.

So here’s what he would do. He would take apple cider vinegar and blend it with tomato ketchup. This became his mix. He poured this concoction into his brown liquor. Now for those who might want to possibly make this drink. It’s mixed with one part-liquor and three-part concoction. It actually wasn’t that bad. You know I had to taste it. Yes, even an eight-year-old got a taste. However it only consisted of the concoction only. This drink became known as the “Sherman Shooter.”

Thanks for reading! Captain Judy