• 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 or should I say, “Catching with Captain Garrett Ross of Miss Judy Charters!” Dan Sikes Savannah Tim Rider black sweater shirt Mack Sikes, and Chris Vincent (All from Savannah, Captain Garrett Ross in the back) had a great time catching, keeping, and releasing!





    Inshore Bite Plight!
    Well, you can definitely tell that our inshore fishermen are dealing with cold water conditions! Why? The fish are doing exactly what they normally do when trying to get ready to survive the winter time blues. What the winter time blues? Well, I will tell you..It is when you have an amazing fish bite and then it stops, but some fishermen are still catching while others are not. My theory is fish know colder water conditions are on the way. So therefore when a food sources happens by a gorging event takes place! During this time of the year everything down under is trying to get ready, but these happenings take place in stages. So therefore you might find strong bite in one place and not in another. Fishermen find this time of the year very frustrating especially those that happen up on a school of fish that already have their bellies full! The best way to combat this is to keep moving from spot to spot until you find a hungry school that hasn’t already gorged themselves!


    Captain Judy’s 15 minute rule!
    Coming up with a plan when dealing with these sort of feeding habits is one you should stick with, but only if you want fish for dinner. I suggest already having in mind the area you want to fish and go to the closest place first. During this time of the year approach the area slow while being as quiet as you can. Fish seem to hear and see better when the water the colder and clearer. Once set up I suggest that you use my 15 minute rule. If you haven’t caught a fish in 15 minutes I suggest moving. If you catch a fish, I suggest waiting 15 minutes and if you don’t have any more action, well it is time to move! I suggest fishing 360 degrees around your boat, fish the mid-water column, and close to the bottom. Another way to find out if you are close to the bite is to let the tide take you float down the bank as far as you can. I like starting the first drift about 10 feet off the bank and then the next situated about 20 feet off the bank.

    While inshore fishing with Captain Matt Williams of Miss Judy Charters Danny Kennedy, Cliff Hendrix, Ricky Prince, and Jim Davis (all from Metter, Georgia) had a wonderful time! Danny, arranger of this fishing trip, shared some very interesting old time pictures with me, which I will be writing about soon!


    A date with bait!
    Always if you can purchase live shrimp I suggest doing so. That will take some of uncertainly out of your fish day. Heck, if you have to catch your own shrimp and you can’t find any, well, you most likely have been here done that before! No matter what always have some sort of a bait plan in place. If nothing else, don’t forget to bring some frozen bait such as shrimp or squid or finger mullet. Most bait houses/tackle stores carry this especially during cold water times. And of course, later on, when it really gets cold there is always the seafood counter at the grocery store! You don’t have to tell anyone you got your bait there! It will be our secret!

    The best fishing team ever! David Miller and his son David (Blue Ash, Ohio) visit us (Savannah, Georgia) a lot! The fact of the matter is we just happen to be on their list of things that they like to do best, which is fishing fishing fishing! Yahoo! While plain old bottom fishing with a live pinfish David caught this big trophy red fish! His son Christopher is assisting! Job Well Done!

    Christopher Miller Blue Ash, Ohio is holding a nice black sea bass that he caught while doing a little bottom bumping! What did he use for bait? Cut smoked mullet! Heck, we all liked it! and as it turned out so did the fish!
    Artificial Reefs
    It is that time of the year where anything is possible. Last week we caught some really nice cobia and this week we caught some nice large black fish. I didn’t see any cobia this past week and didn’t catch any shallow water grouper. However, I am going to keep trying, because it is time to snag a shallow water gag! (Grouper) As far as bait when targeting grouper under these conditions, I suggest trying small pin fish, blue fish, tomtates, sand perch, or rock bass. Actually any sort of live hardy baits will work. Just think about this...your bait has to lure the grouper out of it hiding place, which is the structure. As far as rig I suggest a beefed up Carolina rig type with a 4 foot 80/100 pound monofilament leader. I like using a 13/0 circle hook! However, use what you are comfortable with! Believe me if the fish is there it is coming out to get your bait! Why? Because, they are there to do some heavy feeding so that they can move on!

    Christopher Miller Blue Ash, Ohio is back at his offshore assisting job! He is holding yet another fine trophy red fish that his father David Miller caught fought and landed!
    While plain old bottom fishing with cut fish and squid we caught some really nice black fish. The artificial reefs are holding some really nice black sea bass; blue fish, trigger fish, white grunts, flounder, trophy red fish, and other bottom biters. The secret to fishing the artificial reefs areas is too: Don’t drift the same area too many times. Engines noise scares the fish and frequent drift scatters them. Know the area you are going to be fishing and keep moving from spot to spot! The best news is that our artificial reefs have plenty of potential places for a fish to hold up and feed. Capitalizing on this situation of having lots of areas to move to and from is going to put you on the fish more often than not!





    Terrell Gooding (Tybee) and Captain Deidra Helmey Jeffcoat of Miss Judy Charters are both sporting gag grouper catching smiles! I would like to have reported that this big fish hit live bait on a Carolina bottom rig. However, I cannot! However, here’s what I can report! Terrell dropped his two hook bottom rig, which was baited with small pieces of squid! As soon as Terrell’s bait rig hit the bottom this large gag hit it and the rest is catching history! So therefore I can honestly say, “Terrell snagged a gag!” and he is having grouper fingers for dinner sometimes this week!
    Savannah Snapper Banks
    Yep, we got fish!
    This is the area that all fishermen and potential charter customers should consider especially at this time of the year! Why? The bottom fishing is great for black sea bass; trigger fish, vermilion, porgy, as well as other biters. The top water bite is also pretty interesting. The past week we caught king mackerel and little tunny. The bait used was the most simple. We rigged ballyhoo on light tackle king mackerel rigs and trolled 3 ½ inch silver Drone spoons. And we also some nice keeper grouper and this season is open unit the last day of December 2019! What does all of this mean? You still got time! Give us a call 912 897 4921 for more information! And what’s left? Your boat or mine?


    Check this out! Captain Deidra Helmey Jeffcoat of Miss Judy Charters is holding up a nice knobbed porgy, which Captain Steve “Triple Trouble” Howell caught while doing a little bottom fishing at the snapper banks in about 100 feet of water! We used to catch quite a few of these fish back in the nineties while bottom fishing at the Gulf Stream! Check out the water it is as blue as the water at the Gulf Stream!
















    Christopher Miller Blue Ash, Ohio and Alli “The Kid” DeYoung are both sporting a wonderful fishing catching smile! Yep, that is a nice cobia that Christopher caught while plain old bottom fishing at the artificial reefs!
    2020 Captain Judy’s Inshore/Offshore Fishing Clinics


    February 22, 2020 Saturday and February 23, 2020 Sunday
    On inshore/offshore boats in the water
    $150.00 per person for inshore
    $150.00 per person for offshore
    Morning departures
    Time: 8:00AM till12:00 NOON


    Afternoon departures
    Time: 1 PM till 5:00 PM
    Snacks and drinks provided by Captain Judy


    Place: Miss Judy Charters dock
    202 Wilmington Island Road, Savannah, Georgia 31410
    912 897 4921 for more details!


    We will be offering classes on the water in the boats:
    Inshore fishing
    Proven Inshore light tackle techniques revealed!
    Red fish, spotted sea trout, and flounder!
    And
    Offshore fishing
    Proven offshore techniques that took years to modify!
    (Artificial reefs, Savannah Snapper Banks, and Gulf Stream)


    On the freshwater side...we have



    For those of you that want to do a little fresh water fishing I highly suggest giving 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 new fresh water connection is Mickey Holbrook! And I approved this message!
    Little Miss Judy’s Believe It or Not!

    The Helmey Clan was tailgating way before it became popular!
    From left to right: My father Captain Sherman Helmey, his older brother Randall Helmey (Randall’s wife Mamie, and my father’s younger brother Mac Helmey! Here’s short recap: My father was married eight times and never stopped dating. Randall and Mamie were married for 60 years plus and only dated each other. Mac Helmey was married to Frieda for many many years. Randall always told me that the reason he was the smallest was because his brother Sherman made him do all of the work! The truth of the matter is my father and Uncle Mac on one hot summer day when the brothers were very young suggested suggest something to Randall! What was that? Well, there was this rattlesnake in a ditch. The brothers told Randall, “I bet you can’t jump over that snake!” Well, Randall made the leap, in mid air the rattler jumped up and bit him, which altered his childhood greatly! Now you know the rest of this story!


    A Thanksgiving story


    My Aunt Hattie’s Brown bag theory


    My Aunt Hattie, which was my father’s older sister always cooked the best Thanksgiving dinner! Her cooking abilities were unbelievable. She would cook along with the help of Bertha doing almost everything from scratch. Aunt Hattie’s Thanksgiving dinners took days to prepare. In fact during my younger years, if I’m not mistaken, all ingredients including the bird was raised or grown on her big farm. However, the fruit that she used to make that unbelievable ambrosia was probably purchased from a stand right out there on Highway 17. I know that the pecans that went into this particular dish were picked from the farm, because quite often I helped with the gathering.

    Child Cheater also referred to as a rubber spatula


    Bertha of whom worked with my Aunt for a long as I can remember was always there to help with the “Thanksgiving Cooking Bonanza.” I was always interested in how they made everything look and taste so good. Her personally grown vegetables were always the “prefect vegetable color.” They baked a coconut cake that was 6 tears high. It never leaned or anything. The bad news is I wasn’t always around for the mixing of the cake, because this is one bowl I would have loved to lick. However, my aunt had this kitchen utensil that I later called a “child cheater.” This reason was a simple one. Whenever I happened to be around when baking she used this utensil and it would remove almost all of the tasty ingredients from the walls of the mixing bowl. There was always a little left, which was only enough to get a short taste.


    The turkey was always browned to perfection. Her secret was certainly a one of a kind at least in my book. She cooked the turkey in a brown grocery bag. The bird was put in the bag much like you would have put one in a state of the art “plastic browning in bag.” The drums always stuck out a little, but not enough to let them be exposed to direct heat. There was another weird cooking method that Aunt Hattie used, which I am still scratching my head about! The turkey was wrapped in a sort of gauze that pretty much look like some sort of a bandage. When the bird was cooked and un-wrapped it also came out golden brown with skin and everything. However, when it was first put in the oven it looked like a real bona-fide “turkey mummy.”
    The food wasn’t the only highlight of the Thanksgiving Day. My Aunt Hattie always set the prettiest dinner table I had ever seen. She would always use her best china and silverware for this special occasion. The Table was huge. It would seat at least 12 guests. There were high back chairs with big arms rests. When you sat in them you knew for a fact that you had to be someone special just to be invited. The good news about my Aunt Hattie was that my father and I were always invited. It was a family tradition to spend Thanksgiving Day at her house. This particular dinner was always served at 2:00PM sharp. You could tell when dinnertime was approaching, because everyone would start showing up. My father and I always arrived early so that we could all watch the televised New York Thanksgiving Parade. It was as I said part of a family tradition.


    When it came time to eat everyone was gathered for a prayer. As a small child, I am sorry to admit, I always opened my eyes just to watch what every else was doing. Most of adults were standing very still with their eyes closed. However, all of us kids basically did the same thing watched and semi-listened as what seemed to be the longest prayer ever said in the world. At least it seemed long to us 7 year olds. At the end of the prayer all adults reached for their chair and proceeded to sit down. The children were all escorted to the kitchen where a special table waited for us, which fit our size perfectly. However, we would always talk about the day when we all would be sitting at the grand dinner table.


    However, now that I think about it when I finally graduated from the kitchen to the main dining room it hasn’t been all that I thought it would be. I had to fix my own plate and wait for others to start eating. Our tea glasses were sitting in crystal holders, which were supposed to keep any sort of wet stains off the starched white tablecloth. Trying to eat and drink at the same time could be tricky especially if you missed putting your glass back in the holder. The food sure didn’t taste any different. Don’t get me wrong it was still delicious, but somehow it wasn’t the same. This goes to show you that it takes a lifetime to realize that in some instances “change and all that implies” certainly isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be! However, “family traditions” are what Thanksgiving Day is all about! Although in my case, moving from one room to another didn’t seem like a big step, but it certainly was!


    Thanks for reading! Happy Thanksgiving! Captain Judy
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