Miss Judy Charters
Captain Judy Helmey
"Kicking Fish Tail Since 1956!"
124 Palmetto Drive
Savannah, Georgia 31410
912 897 4921 or 912 897 3460 fax
www.missjudycharters.com
July 22, 2007
Captain Judy's Saltwater Fishing Report
Which includes:
Inshore report, Offshore Report, Freshies Suggestions, and "Little Miss Judy's Believe It or Not!" (Story)
Savannah Snapper Banks
Allen Harwood Sail Fish Mania!
Captain Tommy Williams of Miss Judy Charters had quite a day while fishing the Savannah Snapper Banks this past week. Captain Tommy is one of those types of offshore fishermen that like to change up his fishing techniques. He added a new set of downriggers to his boat "Just Teasin!" While making his run to the banks he stopped at a few places to do a little live bait catching. If you have been reading my reports you already know that 2007 hasn't had much in the way of bait. Any bait such as cigar minnows, Spanish sardines, and the likes have been few, far, and scattered. Although there have been times when we loaded up it still has been unusually slow in the bait catching department!
After catching a few cigar minnows Captain Tommy made his way to the Savannah Banks where his game plan was to slow troll for king mackerel. Most all king mackerel that we have hooked have been done so in the lower half of the water column. This boils down to the fact that the bait as well as those that eat them seems to be holding in the same piece of water. After taking in account the whereabouts of the fish Captain Tommy instructed his first mate Jarrod Morris to keep the rigged baits at certain depths. The first down rigger was set at around 30 feet. After this one was set the second bait was placed at around 60 feet. Captain Tommy maneuvered his boat so as to keep the bait offerings over the live bottom areas.
The rigs that were using were Blue and white king busters, which were rigged with live cigar minnows. The rig itself had one live bait hook followed by a small extra strong treble hook. This last hook is sometimes referred to as the "stinger hook,' which seems to always seems to get your fish. I called it the "last call hook!" Once the fish successfully hits your bait and gets a mouth full normally it's the "last call that hooks them up!"
During the morning while using his down riggers he managed to hook up several nice king mackerel, peanut dolphin, and two sailfish. The kings were caught, fought, and landed. The peanuts dolphin took the bait and became airborne quickly! The sails made haste quick fashion! Two sails were hooked and one was officially landed. Allan Harwood was the rod man that landed this fish. Normally sailfish take serious batting practice at what they are planning on eating. The means that they beat their intended meal up first and then eat it. This boils down to the fact that when a bill, bills your bait it's necessary to quickly "free spool back" to the fish. Normally you get a "bird's eye" view of the billfish taking batting practice at your bait. However, when you are using down riggers and especially in this case no batting practice took place. It was basically a "slam dunk," meaning both sails that hit the bait swallowed them on the first pass! It's a little unusual for this to happen, but when a fish is hungry "it's going to eat!" The bottom line to this report is simple one! You never really know what you might catch when "trolling down under!"