Artificial Reefs


These areas continue to hold an array of top water fish such as Spanish/King mackerel, little tunny, blue fish, lady fish, and barracuda. The bottom fishing, for the most part, is in the catch a lot and not able to keep many mode. The black fish bite is active, but they just aren’t big enough to keep. However the up side is that it’s that time of the year where you could find yourself catching summer trout, flounder, and grouper (mostly gags) while bottom fishing in these areas. The best bait when bottom fishing in these areas is to use small live baits such as black fish, sand perch, rock bass, cigar minnows or Spanish sardines. To catch a few baits I suggest using small pieces of squid or cut shrimp on the bottom. Or you can just pull out the old sabiki bait rig and let it do the catching for you! (No bait needed here!)




Savannah Snapper Banks


The bottom fishing is very good at this time of the year. And good bottom bait is going to be squid or cut fish! However, if you want to step up your big bottom fish catching game I suggest using live bait.
Nervous baits bring on a Fast and Furious Bite!
The nervous baits are those that can move up and down in the water column without adjusting their air bladder. (Who knows they might not even have one!) At any rate, these bait school together and pretty much move all of the time. They are hardy and can last a couple of drops to 100 foot of water without perishing. However, this bait usually works on the first drop! Another good thing about these baits is fresh dead nervous baits almost work as well as the live ones. You noticed I said “ALMOST!” What is considered nervous bait in my fishing world? Spanish Sardines and cigar minnows are my favorites, because they work so well! I have caught many a big fish with this style of bait. The bottom line when it comes to using nervous baits is that they are known for triggering a very fast bite! A big fish makes a move on this style bait before it thinks bringing on the ever popular “fast and furious bite!”

If you would like to read more about nervous baits you can search Nervous baits Captain Judy on the web and find that I have written several articles on this type bait. https://www.reelreports.com/savannah...udy--7867.html (etc, etc)


And the not so nervous baits!
There are times when we can’t catch any nervous bait. My father always said, “If we can’t catch them, neither can the fish!” The not so nervous baits can be caught using a sabiki rigs or while plain old bottom fishing with small pieces of squid. The most popular are vermilion snapper, ruby red lips better known as tomtates, rock bass, pinfish, and sand perch.


Juvenile vermilion snapper and ruby red lips also known as tomtates work great. Both of these baits work on the bottom as well as the upper column levels. A grouper knows if it wants to eat this bait there possibly going to be a little traveling involved. So if the fish is not so very hungry it might just skip this eating opportunity!


The sand perch is great bait! Its main goal is to get back to the sand and blend in. It feels the safest there and does all it can to get back to blending in at home base. A large bottom fish knows that if it wants to eat this bait it is going to have to depart its current location and make way. So here again if a fish such as a grouper just ate or isn’t that hungry, it might just pass up the meal that it is going to have to work for! The old rock fish is shaped like a black fish and acts like on too! However, its coloring leads me to believe that this bait looks for areas to hide near the reef and not in it. And once again this is bait that might require some moving to get too. And as you know a big fish didn’t get big being stupid! So if you don’t get a hit when using these baits it is nine times out of ten not because there is no big fish. It just might be that they aren’t that hungry or feel a little lazy or this bait just isn’t appealing enough!


The pin fish also known as the sailor’s choice is one of those baits that falls under this category, but doesn’t exactly act the same. The old pin fish makes for great top water king mackerel bait and even grander bottom bait. It is more hardy bait; and it is not affected by quick changing of depths. A larger fish doesn’t think too much before inhaling this bait, because the extra movement that this bait delivers alone triggers a quicker assault. So the dilemma begins when you catch the pinfish, because it is great top water and bottom bait.


Once brought to the surface some of these baits will need to have their air bladder expressed. (Meaning deflated) Once you perform this act I suggest putting them directly into your live well. The fresher ocean water that your well circulates the better the bait’s appearance is going to be. Our live well continuously is exchanging saltwater, which allows our baits to truly stay healthy and not stressed! (If only they knew!) Bait that look stressed meaning milking white coloring; don’t work as well as the natural looking ones! We use these type of bottom live baits all of the time! Would I prefer the nervous ones over these? The answer is a simple one, “YES!”


As you can see in my world of fishing of “baiting up” it can become a complicated affair! And it is true that the more you learn the more complicated it can become. I am sure this baiting up information is interesting. However, the bottom line is when it comes to fishing I am always going to suggest that you use the bait that you can acquire and to believe in what you are doing with it! The catching end of it will come!





Captain Judy Helmey of Miss Judy Charters and Matt Bliss Savannah Georgia are showing their fish catching smiles! Matt is holding his just caught gag grouper, which he caught, fought, landed, and of course kept! No releasing here! What was he having at his fish fry? Grouper fingers, grouper fillets, grouper chunks, grouper steaks, and I think you get the picture!





Check out this just caught large genuine red snapper that Jack Thompson, Savannah, Georgia is holding! Captain Judy as usual is giving her thumbs up approval. While all of this is going on both are wishing they were keeping this fish, but as you know we don’t have a season and most likely never will!



Angela Sheets is holding up a nice gag grouper that she caught while using a live pinfish as bait. I have to say, “Angela likes fishing, catching, and smiling! And it all looks good from here!”



Now here’s a grand thumbs up gag grouper catching kind of a picture. What do we have here? Well, the first thing is my long time friend and customer Matt Bliss, Savannah GA is giving his smiling sign of approval. I (Captain Judy) along with Angela Sheets is also smiling and giving our thumbs up! She caught this gag, while plain old bottom fishing! Please note: I always wear navy blue shorts, but today I decided to wear my green grouper calling shorts! Did it work? YES!



Coastal Empire Beer Company has a winner! I heard the buzz around my dock and after interviewing these two gags and one amberjack I knew I was on the right tract! According to those that are in the know, this beer works! Does it attract fish? YES! How do I know that? We used it as a lure! And now I am trying to catch you!














































What kind of beer are the fish talking about? A picture is worth a 1,000 words! Get yourself some Coastal Empire Beer Company Inshore Slam IPA today! After all, if the fish are talking about it, it must be great!! Why? Because they don’t say much, but when they do, we should all listen!
































Blue Water Report Off North Carolina!
Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament 2017!



Please meet the Rehab fishing team! Captain Nathan Shepard of Statesboro, Georgia showed them the big fish catching way! And as you can see the road wasn’t just paved with good intentions! The team worked together and did quite well! A big congratulation goes out from us over here at Miss Judy Charters to all of them!
Now this is one big fish tail! Rehab Captain Nathan Shepard of Statesboro, Georgia and Angler Ryan Howard of Savannah Georgia teamed to bring in this 506 pound blue marlin after an 11/5 hour fight.
Here’s a little information about blue marlin that I have always found quite interesting. Did you know? In this particular blue marlin tournament to keep a blue marlin it had to be at least 110 inches, which measures out to a little over 9 feet. Normally marlin at least 110 inches or longer will weigh in at about 400 to 500 pound class range. Here some interesting facts: males marlins when reaching 150 t0 160 pounds are considered full grown. Female marlin normally quit spawning at around 300 pounds meaning this is about when they change of life takes place. So this is why most blue marlin tournaments have a minimum size limit of 110 inches, which means most females in the 400/500 pound class range no longer spawn. This blue marlin weighted in at 506 pounds and was to say the least a whooper of a fish! I asked Ryan did they use the meat. And he replied, “Why heck yes!” All involved took at least 30 pound of meat each. So therefore Ryan and Wendy are having marlin burger, marlin steaks, marlin fingers, marlin soup, marlin stew, and I think you get the picture!!



Captain Ryan Howard of Miss Judy Charters while fishing on Rehab Captain Nathan Shepard during the annual Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament is seriously hooked up! What is he hooked up with? A screaming 506 pound blue marlin! What did this fish eat? A St Thomas Powder (red/white/blue) lure!
Man or machine? Heck this is a good question! (Back in the seventies we watched the Six Million Dollar Man, featuring Lee Majors written by one of our own Wilton Rahn Denmark. The series was about a crippled test pilot that was rebuilt with nuclear powered limbs and implants.) Now this doesn’t have anything to do with Captain Ryan Howard of Miss Judy Charters, but this thought occurred to me as I looked at this picture! What kind of fish is Ryan fighting? 506 pound blue marlin, which he fought for about 1 ½ hours before landng it.

The man in the blue suit turns out to be a woman!
Captain Ryan takes a good look at his fish that took 11/2 hours of some serious reeling to bring to the boat. People are always asking me to described what is would feel like while fighting a marlin! And here’s exactly what I most always say..take a gold 50 wide loaded with 50 pound HI-VIS line, set reel drag to 25 pounds of pressure, strap yourself in, tie to the back end of a Ford/Chevy/Dodge pickup and have the driver take off... now try to stop the truck! And even sometimes chasing the truck doesn’t help too much! I think you get the picture!
Thanks for reading! Captain Judy



Thanks again,


Captain Judy Helmey
www.missjudycharters.com
912 897 4921