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CaptJudyHelmey · 06-23-2002, 03:59 PM

June 24,2002 INSHORE I love this time of the year. All you need to catch a fish is a hook; line, and sinker, bait is optional. Don't laugh; I have caught more than a few fish without bait on the hook. At any rate, bait is always a plus to the mix. With the surface temperature bouncing from high seventies to the low eighties the fish are eager to hit at most anything. We have shrimp in the creeks, which means the fish are always looking for something different. Now is the time to try your bag of tricks. Give that artificial lure a try; you know the one that has been pushed to the back of your tackle box. It might just work. Now that the fish have lots of the same food to choose, they will hit bait that is unusual. Its called "Strike before they think routine." Spotted sea trout are being caught on live shrimp, however if you haven't fished in a while and are not sure where the fish are holding give trolling a try. They have been hitting screw tails pulled just under the surface. When you start getting hits, stop and offer the live shrimp to them. Trolling can be real interesting inshore I have caught everything from Spanish mackerel to flounder just by taking a lure for a drag. OFFSHORE As we all know, it has been a pretty east wind kind of a year. The saying that I have always heard is "Fish bite least from the East!" Well, I can announce that this statement isn't always true. The bottom fish are biting and have been very active during the last few months. However, if they had waited for the wind to change direction to eat, they would have all starved to death. The Sargasso weed that has been pushed inshore from all of the easterly flow of winds has made it a little hard to troll for any length of time. Your lines get loaded up with this surface-floating weed. At any rate you bite/drag ratio will increase. However, I have a new line for my customers when they ask about the possibility of trolling for king mackerel. It's a simple one, "Whether I put the lines out or keep them in the boat, the catch seems to be the same!" Don't get me wrong I know that there have been some king mackerel caught in this area, but lets face the grime truth, "it has been passed slow!" Everyone including me is looking for answers. For those of you fishermen out there who would like to share your opinion on the king mackerel status, please by all means I am all ears and eyes! Here's some updated new news. According to outside sources there were a few large kings in the 30-pound range caught in the Savannah River, which is a very good thing. So you all know the drill, you must use the best in live bait, the lightest line possible, and the smallest hooks to get these big boys. Once again it's up to you to make that decision. DOLPHIN With the large build up of live Sargasso weeds so close to the shore dolphin both school size and bulls have found themselves closer to the shore than normal. I guess you could say, "these fish are caught up in the moment of feeding while drifting to the west at the same time!" So therefore when you come upon a big patch of these weeds you best take a look and see, because you might be surprised on what you might find down underneath. Here's a pointer on how to be ready to catch that dolphin or school of dolphin that might swim out from under the weeds. I always keep a rod with 20 pound test monofilament line in one of my rod holders on back deck. I just simply put a naked hook directly on the snap swivel and then I attach the hook to the reel. When a single dolphin comes to the boat I just pick up the rod, put a squid head on the empty hook, throw it in front of the dolphin, let the fish suck the bait in, and set the hook. If a school of dolphin comes to the boat my procedures are a little different. Your first move should be to quickly throw a hand full of cut bait such as squid in the water at the fish. This will keep busy for a minute. Get your single hook baited up so that you can make a quick hookup. Upon hooking the fish, retrieve it, re-hook it, put it right back into the water. While you are doing this have your fishing friends to get naked hooks on their snap swivels. All they will need for bait is a small piece of cut squid or a squid head. The fish that you have put overboard should keep the other ones in the school around for a few minutes, but you must keep their attention with the right food selection. I always try to throw out the same type of bait together. We keep squid heads separately in a bucket just for this very thing. These fish will eat for a minute on one type of bait and then their appetite will just change in midstream. Have cut ballyhoo, cut fish, and cut squid ready to throw when the bite pattern changes. Another thing that will help is to spray your wash down hose, not directly in the water, but up high so that when it falls in water it does it naturally. This must imitate school of baitfish on the surface, because this also works for a minute. All these things that I have suggest can take place within a few seconds and be over in less time. I call it "FISHING FIRE DRILLS!" We are still catching Spanish mackerel on medium Clark spoons, either by pulling them on the surface or deep behind a planer. They seem to bite best when the tide is running. I haven't seen many schools feeding on the surface in this area, but I know that any day this will start occurring. When it does, the birds can help you locate the school quicker. At this point, I am using my fish finder and watching for the feeding slicks on the surface. Feeding slicks are caused when the school goes into a feeding frenzy below the surface. Luckily the oil from the baitfish congregates on the surface giving you a general idea where to look for the school of fish. In the old days, sailors purposely dumped oil on the surface to calm the waters. These slicks are visibility noticeable by their claming effects that they have on the surface and by the smell that they produce. If you are down wind from the slick, let your nose lead you. The bottom fishing around the snapper banks has been good but you might need to change your bottom technique. If you are having small fish problems, change to a larger hook. I have been using a standard 6/0 Gamakatsu hook on a double hook rig made out of 80-pound test mono. We are loading the top hook with lots of cut fish and squid. I am putting a small live fish on the lower hook. Your best live bait to use is going to cigar minnows, Spanish sardines, or greenies. Now here is the secret to this rig, don't set the hook until you get a substantial hit. Don't change your baiting pattern especially if the larger fish is getting on the top hook, it's the live fish that is getting their attention. We are catching a lot of genuine red snapper and large scamp grouper. The red snapper and grouper bite continues to rage in 100 feet of water. We are catching these big bottom fish on everything from small pieces of cut squid to small live baitfish. It boils down to either us fishermen being in the right place at the right time or just plain "Pot Luck." GULF STREAM Blue water fishing has been good for quite a while. Now the time has come for the light switch to be turned to dim, but this is not entirely bad. It's not that you can't catch them; it's just that the top water fish are spread out in larger areas. With the surface temperature close to the same from near shore to offshore the baitfish have a bigger fish bowl to swim in. This situation only leads to one thing, you can still catch the big one, but you might not have to go as far. The bottom fishing in 150 feet of water is great. I have been using squid and cigar minnows for bait. These not so secret baits are keeping our bottom lines tight with triggerfish, grouper, red snapper, vermilion, sand tile, and porgy. NEW LURES FOR BLUE AND GREEN WATERS I had a very interesting phone call this past spring. It was from Grant Macartney. He started his conversation out BY SAYING, "I make handmade trolling lures." I immediately listened when he said, "Handmade." When we started fishing back in the fifties, "Handmade" lures were actually all we had to fish with. I don't need to go in to what we caught back in the old days. However, we need all the help that we can get in these new days. At any rate, Grant talked, I listened, which lead me to order his set of "Handmade" lures. When I received them they weren't package in any fancy packing, but I knew that they would work, which they did! They are basically green and blue water lures that you can rig with ballyhoo or just pull naked. Grant's special head design is what makes these lures work! They are made out of abalone shell and broken glass, which adds that touch that the fish can't seem to past up. I know this because not only have I used them, but also all boats in my fleet have given them thumbs up. If you would like to talk to Grant Macartney his number is 1 248 334 2966. His address is Grant Macartney 2555 South Blvd #233, Auburn Hills, MI 48326. These lures are not over priced by any means and don't forget to tell him where you got this information! "Captain Judy's Believe It Or Not" Throughout the year I am always talking about particular types of baits, where, and when to use them. As all of us fishermen know the "Bait" actually gets the fish's attention and it then it's our job to set that hook properly. I was talking to a friend of mine, J R, (James Roberts of Midway, Georgia) the other day and he started explaining to me some of the whys that fish hit certain baits. I would like to share with you what he told me about his reasoning behind why a sheepshead prefers one type of fiddler to another. In the past I have always suggested using the purple back fiddlers over the standard black ones as the best bait for sheepshead. At this point, I really wasn't sure why the sheepshead preferred the purple back to the black ones, but if seems that J R has figured it out. According to J R the purple back fiddlers smell and taste better than the black ones. I just stood there and listened in amazement to his so-called "bait-ology." Here is how he came to the conclusion, it's a simple one especially after you hear the how and why part. He crushed up both fiddlers separately and smelled them. The purple back had a sweet smell while the black back has a sour one. His last and final test was to simply taste both of them. The purple back fiddler definitely had the best taste of the two. Here's my question, are we thinking like a sheepshead or are they thinking like us? Here's My Line Now Bite My Hook! Captain Judy Miss Judy Charters

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