• Savannah Fishing Report - GA

    Miss Judy Charters
    http://www.missjudycharters.com
  • Miss Judy Charters provides Inshore fishing, Offshore fishing, and Gulf Stream fishing charters. Whether it's sport fishing for the serious angler or a leisurely day for the family, we have the trip for you. We have been fishing in Savannah, Tybee and adjacent waters for over 50 years. We have the knowledge for your inshore and offshore fishing adventure.

  • Savannah Fishing Report - GA

    While inshore fishing with Captain Garrett Ross of Miss Judy Charters Frank Livingston Cleveland Ohio (Janet’s son) Jim and Janet Spicuzza Bluffton, SC caught some really nice fish. Frank is holding a nice trophy red fish that couldn’t pass up his mullet/menhaden duo bait. The secret in this case is not the sauce it is the smell!!






    While inshore fishing with Captain Garrett Ross of Miss Judy Charters Frank Livingston Cleveland Ohio (Janet’s son) Jim and Janet Spicuzza Bluffton, SC caught some really nice fish. It is a known fact that most all fishermen have a tendency to stretch the truth, but as you can see fish cleaning tables cannot!





    While inshore fishing with Captain Garrett Ross of Miss Judy Charters Janet Spicuzza Bluffton, SC caught this nice black drum! Check out the winter colors that this fish is sporting!


    Inshore fishing report
    Well, there is one thing I can say at least for these past weeks, “WE GOT WIND!” and lots of it! However, our inshore captains, I have to take my hat off to them, have been doing a fabulous job of staying on fish. When the northeast winds howl it eliminates about 50% of their ability to fish key fishing spots. Why? It’s too darn rough to go there! So what’s left when dealing with this scenario? If you want to catch fish you got to find spots out of the wind! Why? When you have lots of wind you get lots of muddy water conditions, which means fish give up the spot they are holding or they just basically shut down while waiting it out for better feeding conditions.


    This is a great time of the year to find new out of the wind areas that are holding the attentions of fish! The inshore bite is strong now! However, when fishing in windy muddy water conditions it is best to find some clean water and use live shrimp as bait. Taking advantage of the situation and fishing new out of the wind places is a great idea! After all, if you are already on the water and the winds are howling I suggest making the best out of it. This could mean turning you fish day into a looking for better out of the wind fishing spots day. Heck, fishing is fishing and if it was easy it wouldn’t be so darn interesting!


    Live Shrimp Catching Report!
    Well, serious inshore fishermen, it is that time of the year where live shrimp is definitely the bait to use that’s if you want your best chance at catching a fish. And of course my old line of fish like it because it is easy for them to catch, easy for them to eat, and easy for them to digest definitely comes into play! Most bait houses have their tanks full, because it is so plentiful in the creeks and rivers. And there is more good news; if you like you can catch your own. According to Captain Matt Williams of Miss Judy Charters catching plenty can be in your future if you catch it at the right tide. He had been catching his bait off mud flats on a falling tide.


    As the tide floods shrimp seek refuge in the grass to do a little feeding, hiding, and resting. And when the tide starts to fall, well you guessed it, they have to evacuate back to the mud flats. Shrimp aren’t big swimmers they are more designed for hovering and holding in place. So therefore find this scenario and you might catch enough shrimp for bait and for dinner! Wouldn’t that be something!


    Sound Fishing!
    It is that time of the year where bottom fishing in the sound area can certainly delivered a lot of catching fun!


    Our customers have been catching everything from whiting to summer trout to flounder to blue fish to trophy red fish to all kinds of sharks to stingrays! The best news is most all fish are caught fought and released back to the wild! As far as best baits, well here’s the thing, just about anything will work, but let’s get a little technical!


    Whiting, blue fish, summer trout, flounder, and other biters love small pieces of shrimp. Frozen shrimp actually works better than the fresh just caught never been frozen stuff. Why? It is a smelling thing!


    Sharks, stingrays, and bull reds like a little bigger piece of meat. I suggest trying to catch some menhaden with your cast net or cutting up croakers or whiting. Best cuts are those that have the juicy insides still intact. I suggest changing these styles baits often, because in this case the secret really is in the smell trails delivered by the passing current!



    While inshore fishing with Captain Garrett Ross of Miss Judy Charters Jim Spicuzza Bluffton, SC caught some really nice fish. Jim is holding nice black drum, which hit a live shrimp presented under traditionally adjustable cork! This fish along with cousin the red fish are known for being strong pullers! Why? Check out those shoulders



    While inshore fishing with Captain Garrett Ross of Miss Judy Charters Michael Doran (Navy) Hoyleton Illinois, Tim Ward (Plaid) Yorkville Tennessee, and Jerry Davis (pink) Herrin Illinois had a catching blast. And this is not just a fish catching tail of grand portions it is the darn truth!


    I call this fish cleaning table a smorgasbord affair! Why? Red fish, sheepshead, and flounder, which are definitely three fish that taste and can be cooked differently!



    While inshore fishing with Captain Garrett Ross of Miss Judy Charters Jerry Davis (pink) Herrin Illinois, Michael Doran (Navy) Hoyleton Illinois, and Tim Ward (Plaid) Yorkville Tennessee caught some really nice trophy red fish! This was Michael’s first one! Yep this fish was released and is still swimming and growing!



    While inshore fishing with Captain Garrett Ross of Miss Judy Charters Jerry Davis (pink) Herrin Illinois, Tim Ward (Plaid) Yorkville Tennessee, and Michael Doran (Navy) Hoyleton Illinois caught some really nice trophy red fish! This was Tim’s first one!



    While inshore fishing with Captain Matt Williams of Miss Judy Charters Jim Wakim (family from Tennessee) his sons David (13) and Anthony (17) had a fun catching time! On the fish cleaning table we have what is better known by us locals as a Savannah Slam!! What is that? Red fish, spotted sea trout, and flounder! What does this mean? They done good! This is the fish that they kept and they released the rest! What does this boil down too? Some for you later and them now! A win Win combination!


    Artificial Reefs
    Believe me I would love to report that we have the normal serious top water bite that we usually experience in October going on right now. However, I can’t, but here’s what I can say....


    It seems since the slow passing of Hurricane Dorian our top water fish have basically relocated to deeper water. We are seeing and catching king mackerel at the Savannah Snapper banks. Heck, I have seen surface action of Spanish mackerel in the deeper water, but not so much at the artificial reefs. And to top everything else off, there is plenty of bottom catching, just not much keeping involved. However, there is a lot of fun catching when keeping is not the goal and thanks goodness we have a lot of customers that feel that way! So here’s a suggestion that works and plays into the suggestion quite well. There is a lot of bottom fish at the artificial reefs and they are very hungry. I suggest using light tackle rod/reel combo and fishing with a Hopkins lure. This means no real bait!



    Yep, the Hopkins lure is one of the best old school tools that you can have in the old tackle box. You can tie it directly on your main line, cast into to place, let it fall, and then repeat. While fishing with this set up at the artificial reefs there is one thing that is going to happen for sure! What is that? You are most likely going to hook up either on the fall, the bounce, or while in the relieving stage! And that my fishing friend is three very good catching odds!


    It is my theory that when dealing with what seems like more illegal keeper black fish that keepers that going artificial helps eliminate some of the smaller fish bite. Now don’t get me wrong, you will still catch some smaller fish. However, a larger fish is going to carelessly attack, because this is one lure that triggers that sort of a direct hit! I need to add that flounder can also been thrown into this catching mix! Don’t forget your dip net and I suggest investing in more than one Hopkins lure! (You won’t be sorry!)




    Savannah Snapper Banks
    After the wind calmed this past weekend we got to take our customers to the snapper banks to do a little bottom fishing! The morning bite on Saturday was very slow! However, after noon time the bite finally picked up and we caught some very nice vermilion snapper also known as b-liners. The bait that worked the best was small pieces of cut up squid wing. In fact, I noticed the smaller the bait the better the bite. And if you think about the feeding habits of vermilion snapper we would all understand why smaller bait is most likely always going to be better. The vermilion main diet, believe it or not, is jelly fish, which are very soft and easy to inhale. So keeping that in mind when baiting up is going to get you more hook ups than not!



    Talk about a blast from the past! This is Captain Mark Jonas holding a nice bull dolphin, which he caught while blue water fishing off Savannah’s coast in 2002. He was no stranger to fast boats. Captain Mark’s on his very fast contender, first of its kind used at Miss Judy Charters, made blue water fish catching history! He could leave after daylight and be home before dark while doing all the things we did with exception of having to ride 4 hours to get there and 4 hours to get back!


    Gulf Stream
    The fall/winter edge has not formed yet, but it is coming! I will keep you posted and if you like you can keep an eye on it by going too.. http://sstcharts.com/ (It’s is free and Tonya offers some great blue water information!)

    Here’s what I was told about the blue waters of the stream.


    I did get a blue water report from Tommy Williams (big) and it was pretty darn interesting. While fishing on board Dr HOO HOO’s “Sea Loin” (37 Freeman) the fishing team had a pretty interesting blue water trip. On their way to their first stop, which was the Triple Ledge they made way at about 44 to 55 knots. Upon arriving they laid out a winning trolling pattern of old school cedar plugs and blue/white Ilanders Jr. rigged with small ballyhoo. Black and non-painted cedar plugs were pulled at about 300 feet out, which got the attentions of some nice black fin tuna. The llanders didn’t do too badly either. The black fins loved their trails delivered! All and all they landed about 10 black fins all averaging 15 to 20 pounds while trolling in about 180 to 250 feet of water!
    Then it was decided to do a little day time sword fishing! Once arriving to about 1800 feet the set up looking for a daytime swordie! The area fished had lots of birds feeding, watching, and cruising. After a while of drifting over prefect areas no sword fish hits were delivered! According to Tommy Williams (the old one) seeing all this surface action and birds feeding reminded him of the real old time fish days!
    So they headed back towards the B-liner hole where it was decided that they do a little bottom fishing or should I say bottom catching. While using standard two hook bottom rigs, squid or cut fish as bait, they caught large vermilion, trigger fish, sand tile, and several 6 foot nurse sharks! According to this report the currents were raging, but the secret to catching was all you had to do was to get to the bottom. Once you made a touchdown you hooked up! It was as simple to that!


    Now I have to finish this blue water report with some real interesting information. Fishermen always say, “It too long of a ride to get to the blue waters of the stream off the coast of Georgia!” Well I must say, “Dr HOO HOO thought so too that is until he may some changes. His boat “Sea Lion” doesn’t speed it basically flies! So Here’s what I was told...to get to the Triple ledges (about 60 miles off W2 sea buoy) they traveled at speeds of 44 to 55 knots. When moving from spot to spot it certainly didn’t take long on this boat. Now when it was decided to head home from the B-liner Hole (about 60 miles of W2 sea buoy) it took one hour to make this run. You do the math! You go DR HOO HOO!
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