Captain Judy Helmey
Miss Judy Charters
"Kicking Fish Tail Since 1956!"
124 Palmetto Drive
Savannah, Georgia 31410
912 897 4921 or 912 897 3460 fax
www.missjudycharters.com
September 29, 2008
Happy Fish Day!
Saltwater inshore, offshore, blue water fishing report, Freshies Suggestions, and "Little Miss Judy's story! Thanks for reading! Captain Judy
Freshies Report
Dangling Your Lure From Above Isn't Such a Bad Thing!
Dr. Bruce Ong does quite a bite of saltwater inshore fishing with our company. Before heading out on his trip, I had to ask, "Got any freshwater tips you want to share?" Dr. Bruce immediately started telling me about his last fresh water fish day. As I listened it came to light quickly that this was going to be a very good fish story. Not only that, but it also offered up some great ideas as well as suggestions that could be used later to find and catch more fish!
While fishing a local pond in the Hinesville, Georgia area Dr. Bruce had quite an unusual day of fresh water fishing. The area that he fishes is great because, not too many other fishermen boiling down to "not much fishing or catching pressure."
Once arriving to said fishing area he noticed "large mouth bass jumping out of the water!" As he quietly approached he watched as large mouth bass leaped for their food. All this action was taking place under a large over hanging tree limb. As we talked Dr. Bruce explained how he was going to fish this area. Since the overhanging tree limb was the focused strike zone his plans were to work outskirts. It's a known fact that large mouth bass on most occasions stage on the out skirts of the actual strike zone. I called this "re-charging for the next attack!" It takes a lot out of a large fish to feed. So therefore "in-waiting on the out skirts" offers up them time to figure out their next feeding move.
As Dr Bruce watched the area he noticed dragonflies and butterflies flying around under the over hanging tree. He watched as this one butterfly flew into the strike zone and was quickly devoured by an unscheduled flight of a large mouth bass. He remarked, "he really didn't know that a large mouth bass could jump that high out of the water."
On this particular day all large mouth bass were caught while pitching lures that stayed on the surface when retrieved. The catching was very good. For every three cast he either had a hit or hooked up!
About ¾ into the catching day for some reason Dr. Bruce cast place didn't go exactly where it was intended. The fact of the matter is the cast landed the lure over the hanging limb and it stopped about 4 feet over the water. As he watched his lure just hanging there he started thinking about those bugs flying around freely. So therefore with that though in mind he started moving his lure up and down while it was still hanging in the tree. Sure enough a large mouth bass jumped out of the water just as the one before and hit his lure in mid air!
The moral to this story is a simple one. The first thing especially in this case is all those bugs flying around under the tree were definitely a sign that fish were probably down under. For some reason the bugs stayed under the tree even though they were being pick off "one by one!" So therefore where you have bugs continuously congregating above you probably have fish down under. It's hard to work a lure from a boat like Dr. Bruce did while it was hanging in the tree. However, if you could and your had bug-a-flying so would the fish!
As I listened to Dr Bruce's fishing story one of my own popped into my head. When he said, "the butterflies and dragonflies kept flying under the tree getting picked off one by one," it made me think on this one time while offshore…
While out on the ocean I watch as a couple of sharks were feeding on the surface. Apparently they had rounded up a school of fish and were having a secured lunch. As I watched a few things came to mind. The first thing was their lunch AKA the school of fish schooled up tightly so that they might scare off the soon to be invaders. This didn't work; because the sharks were have a feeding field day! The fish on the outskirts on the tightly schooled baitfish were the first to be on the shark's lunch menu for the day.
As they were feeding the birds were diving picking up the leftover. When the leftovers turned into oils the birds started sitting on the water so as to feed a little more comfortable pattern. In other words, "now they were sitting at the dinner table." As I watched I couldn't help, but think, what if the sharks started eating the birds? When that though popped into my head it happened. Shark started eating the birds scattering feathers everywhere. Some were airborne from the wind while others just laid on the ocean surface not attached to anything.
When the sharks attacked the birds, you would think that they would just fly off. Well, they didn't they just moved over a bit and kept feeding on the leftovers while just sitting on the surface. This happened several times while the sharks were feeding! The sharked attacked and the birds just moved over! This all boils down to a fact that those that live in the wild have a very serious desire to eat, which over rules any fears of death! So therefore today they eat and if they are still around for the next feeding pattern, they feed again!