Inshore Bite


Red fish, Spotted Sea Trout, and Flounder

Captain Ray Crawley has his own personal way for catching a red fish. According to him he thinks like them and therefore he catches them. Captain Rays is not real happy with the red fish bite this year. His 2014 catches are much lower than 2013. However, this past weekend while fishing a ½ outgoing tide he was able to land 4 red fish. Three of the red fish were in the 20 inch range and his fourth measured in at around 28 inches. The bi catch for the fishing day was a nice flounder. The strike zone for these fish was at the grass edge. As the tide was falling the fish were escaping to deeper water. Captain Ray was using live mud minnows as bait rigged on to his light tackle adjustable float rig. According to Captain Ray lighter tackle rigs work best when targeting red fish, because when cast into place they make a lesser splash down. Bringing to light that when targeting a red fish it’s best to zip the lip, don’t drop the anchor hard, turn your radio off, and limits your moves in the boat. Red fish are spooked very easy and a bad noise runs them in the opposite direction. A good noise such as a shrimp thumbing its tail, distress signals from a hooked bait fish, and a mullet catching air brings them in and doesn’t run them away.

The livelier the bait the better the bite! Floating bubbles on the surface usually means a better oxygen level! Keep your shrimp Slap happy!

If you want a more solid spotted sea trout I suggest using live shrimp as bait.

There have been quite a few conversations about whether or not we have spotted sea population or not. Well, from what I have been seeing at our dock it’s kind of plain and simple. Yes, we do! Bait is always a factor when it comes to catching any particular fish. You either have to use the real live deal or an artificial that looks and when works act like the real thing. For a better bite I suggest using live shrimp!



This hammerhead shark cruised right by my boat at the Savannah Snapper bank. Take notice of the distance between the dorsal and the tail fin. Lots of space, if you ask me!!

Sharks and whiting bite rages on!
Plain old bottom fishing in the sound can certainly be interesting in the catching department. Best bait for whiting are going to be small pieces of shrimp. Best bait for shark I suggest whiting steaks and whole whiting!

Artificial Reefs



Corey Lewis is holding up his just caught cobia, which attacked a worked 3 ounce blue/white jig laced with a white plastic eel better known as “Cobia Candy” by Whoop Ass Tackle Company. The proof is in the catching results!


Mississippi one, Mississippi two, Mississippi three
I had heard this a long time ago from a dear friend of mine, Jackie Sommers. He always counted like this 1,001 1,002, 1,003, and etc before he set his hook. I remember this one that time when a sail fish had taken his bait and I overheard him doing this counting thing. I was reminded of this counting thing just the other day. I had a customer, which was catching most of the top water fish; tell me how he was doing it. When letting his spoon out he started counting Mississippi One, Mississippi Two, and so on. According to the fisherman it was on Mississippi Eight that he would always get a hit. So here’s how it went, he basically thumb controlled his reel while allowing it to almost free spool while counting. And when he reached count of Mississippi Eight, well you guessed it, he hooked up a fish!

Savannah Snapper Banks



While fishing with Captain “Triple Trouble” Steve Terrell Gooding caught this nice genuine red snapper!


When I fishing this area its kind like taking a stroll in my own back yard. I have been fishing the old snapper banks for lots of years. To this day it still amazes me the fish that we get the opportunity to catch when dropping our hooks! While plain old bottom fishing this past Wednesday, even with currents a-raging, we caught some really nice fish. Some made it to the boat while others were eaten by the toothy monster down under.

Here are few tips that you can use, which will only help you to get closer to catching large fish in this area.

Best Baits
Bait, bait, and more bait!
The universal bait, better known as squid with get the catching job done. All fish eat squid; it’s kind of like live shrimp to the inshore fish. However, if you want to trigger a fish’s bite then you need to go with some sort of live bait and this is where it gets real interesting. In the charter fishing world we might spend 1 to 2 hours trying to catch the right kind of bait. The main two ways that we catch live bait is either by throwing the cast net or by using the ever popular sabiki rig.

Casting the old net
When going the cast net route, if you see menhaden in the creeks, rivers, or sounds on your way to the ocean I suggest stopping and giving this a try. In my world of catching bait, if I can’t find the menhaden quickly I move on. But if you want them I suggest giving it a try, because they will work. If you can catch some ocean and peanut menhaden both sizes will definitely work. And when they expire they make for great cut bait. The down side to using this bait is that it certainly does stink and stain your hands, but the fish really are attracted to it!

Sabiki Bait Rigs
The sabiki bait is one of those rigs that still amaze me to this day. When you drop this rig over the side you really never know what you might catch. And the cool catching thing is all size fish are attracted to it. With that being said, “Never leave the dock with only one sabiki rig!” I buy them by the cases! This rig works great when targeting small bait fish such as cigar minnows and Spanish sardines. Both of these baits are great dead or alive. However, a fish will hit one of these live baits faster than a dead one. Here’s the good news, if you can’t catch them any neither can the fish! While using the sabiki bait rig you are going to catch all sorts of small fish from sand perch to rock bass to horse eye jacks to horny bellies. Some baits have air bladders and if you don’t release the air your bait will not be able to survive. The bait with air bladders is rock bass, sand perch, and black sea bass. The nervous baits, which is what I call them, such as cigar minnows and Spanish sardines don’t require any puncturing of the bladder.

Live well
I can’t stress enough how important it is to have a live well that circulates properly. If you aren’t continuously recycling saltwater back into your live well, your bait fish are not going to live through the transporting ordeal. Stressed out baits will change colors loosing that shine which in my book get the attention of the larger fish in the first place. It’s almost a done catching deal if you bait looks healthy just like it did when you caught it.





This is what we call double header bait. From right to left: sand perch and rock bass…both of these baits have air bladders. Once caught, before introducing back to your live well you had better deflate their air bladder. Or else your baits will be most likely be on the dead side.

Small baits with air bladders

It has come to my attention that we are not catching as much baits that fit into the category as in the past. We are catching lots of smaller versions of rock bass and sand perch whether than the larger ones. The smaller baits when using them work great, but you need to use multiple baits. On some occasions depending on the size of the bait we have used up to four baits. Whatever you do, don’t forget to release the air from their air bladders. Even the smallest baits need this attention or else they will die in your live well. This is one bait that will most likely only works whole when it is alive, but when it expires cut it up!
The best way to hook your bait up

When it comes to the nervous baits, Spanish sardines and cigars minnows, I like to place the hook right behind the dorsal fin. This allows the fish attacking to swallow it whole without touching the leader. This application works best when you are using a rig that has the sinker located at the bottom of the rig. When using a Carolina type rig, which is where the sinker is located at the top of the rig, I suggest lip hooking your bait. When going using this method of baiting up the attacking fish tries to take the bait by the head but can’t because it hits the leader. Once the fish realizes it can’t eat your bait by the head it carelessly attacks from the rear forgetting all about signs saying beware!

It’s time to believe..
Which means to accept the truth of what is said by (someone) in this case my father!

Please remember to catch a fish its best when the one holding the rod also believes in what they are using as bait! I know it sounds crazy, but that negative vibe does seem to travel down your line. Thanks to my father showing me the way I have caught lots of big fish while using the craziest baits that you have ever seen. The bottom line is that I believed in the bait, no matter how crazy, that I was using. It does seem that the fishermen with the least experience in most case catch the most fish. My father used to say, “This is because when an inexperienced fisherman drops a hook they know a fish is going to bite their hook. They are not so concerned about the hook is set!”

Gulf Stream

It’s time to go for a big time blue water show!



Nice Mahi Mahi! While fishing with Captain Greg Harvey and Cole Yarbrough also known as “Hollywood” Dillion Hagen blue water crew had a great fishing day!

Bill Vanderford “Lake Lanier’s Legend!”
Lake Lanier Fishing Secrets Revealed [Kindle Edition]
Bill Vanderford (Author, Photographer)
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IOW2A18
http://www.georgiafishing.com/
If you want to go, it’s time to make your spring time plans!
For more about my long time friend Bill Vanderford as well as his accomplishments, his freshwater charter trips or wildlife tours, books written and his special line up of tackle offered, please visit his site http://www.fishinglanier.com/contact.html for all the details! For more details go http://stores.ebay.com/Fishy-Racer http://www.youtube.com/fishyracer

Little Miss Judy Believe It or Not!

Daddy’s Birthday Parties!


This is me (Captain Judy) and my father at one of any many birthday parties. This was the opening of the present portion of the party. My father always received some real interesting gifts for sure.

Although my father is not still with us July 22 will always be a special date, because that was his birthday. My father would always have what was sometime called a “Rip Roaring birthday party!” They were his celebrations of all times! The outline of the birthday party when like this: There was always more than 100 people at the house, the grill that he made from discarded car parts was always fired up and cooking. Now the rule of thumb when it came to what was served was what he had at the time. You could count you lucky stars if you noticed the cooking fare was regular old thick steaks. However, there were times when BBQ crow was served. I’m sure he had his reasons for that one. As far as what was served for beverages it could be anything from moonshine to the store brought stuff. You could believe, whatever it was, there was lots of it! I do remember music, dancing, and lots of falling about. Daddy’s parties lasted from the early evening till the “wee” hours of the morning. I will have to admit, normally when “wee” time took place you could count of something happening in the form of an argument or even a fight might break out. These were normal happen things for this party.

There was this one time where my father received a great “gag birthday gift!” As he unwrapped said gift I started laughing, but daddy had the strangest look on his face. His comment went something like this: “Not only do I not need this sort of warmer the fact of the matter is; it probably won’t fit in the first place.” Without getting out there, someone had jokingly knitted him a red, white and blue “personal thing warmer!” I will stop now, because you probably have gotten “the just of this whole matter!”