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CaptJudyHelmey · 01-24-2002, 11:42 AM

"KICKING FISH TAIL SINCE 1956" Miss Judy Charters POB 30771 SAVANNAH, GEORGIA 31410 www.missjudycharters.com 912 897 4921 912 897 3460 FAX January 21, 2002 INSHORE Captain Brian Woelber who runs our inshore boat the Miss Judy Four has been having some bonus days while practice fishing for striped bass. Not only has he been catching these fish he has been studying their feeding habits. He had been fishing mostly in the Savannah River areas that have a rocky bottom or structure. Captain Brian has been using live shrimp, artificial lures, and finger mullet for bait. All of these baits will work when it comes to getting the stripe bass to take your hook. However he has come up with a way of deciding which bait will work best and when. According to Captain Brian when the water is muddy your best bet is to go with the artificial or mullet. When the water is clear all baits should work, but to know exactly which one to use consider Captain Brian suggestion. You must watch the shallow near the bank areas to look for any bait that may be popping the surface. If you see fish feeding on the surface, but don't see any bait then your artificial or mullet should work. If you see shrimp popping the surface this is your sign to use exactly that bait, which is live shrimp or some type of lure that imitates this bait. The good thing about inshore fishing at this time of the year is that we all know that it's going to get better everyday. In fact bite patterns will pick up as the weeks pass. Most fish such as trout are deep and hibernating waiting for any up swing in the temperature change. When this happens all will start to move about looking for something to eat. As we all know there won't be any bait to amount to anything in the creeks or rivers so therefore artificial baits will be the ticket to use. However if you know at this time where there is availability of live bait you could definitely find yourself cornering the bite pattern market. OFFSHORE With cooler water temperatures the bottom fishing at the artificial reefs located in less than 50 feet are not holding as many black sea bass as they were. This is due to the fact that when the water temperature dropped the bunk of the black fish moved out to al litter deeper water. There are still plenty of fish to be had, but there just aren't as stacked up as they were prior to the temperature change. So therefore fishing in the shallows area reef means there will be a lot of moving and searching for fish in your future. I did managed to catch quite few black sea bass on my last trip, but it took a lot of moving and looking to do so. Squid and cut fish as usual are the best baits to use. For those who are targeting the sheepshead these shallow water reefs are the place to look. This fishery loves this type of weather and the reefs located in this depth are the places to look. The best place to look is on the spots that have a little structure. The sheepshead love to feed up off the bottom on anything that provides a place for barnacles, oyster, or any other shelled covered marine life. Your best bait for this fish is the fiddler crab. So start digging because these crabs are also holding in a deep pattern. The artificial reefs that are in deeper water are holding large amounts of large black sea bass, triggerfish, and blue fish. Not only will you find the fish I have mentioned you might even find yourself catching your first red snapper or grouper of the year. All the fish will hit just about anything you throw at them from squid to cut fish. If you happen to catch a few smaller fish try using them as live bait. You just might find a large bottom fish that finds it attractive enough to eat. The Savannah Snapper Bank is once again playing host to an array of bottom fish. In fact this area has been in the spotlight for many types of bottom fish for quite a while. The past week proved that statement. I had quite a few calls from local fishermen who just went because it was a pretty day and they needed a day on the water. They came home with records catches of red snapper, vermilion snapper, large blacks sea bass, triggerfish, white bone porgy, and some fishermen even had a few nice grouper. All of these fish didn't mind hitting just plain old squid. This just goes to show you when there are lots of fish in one spot jealousy will take over making them hit anything. So now is the time to make that practice run to the banks. Not only will you catch some fish you might also get some of those winter kinks out of your boat. GULF STREAM Haven't been in a while. So would someone call me if you make the run! "Little Miss Judy's Believe it or Not" As I have mentioned in earlier stories that my father was a whiz when it came not only to repairing a car engine, but also making them ride better. In fact my father told me that a representative of who was sent from "General Motors" interviewed him on several occasions. According to my father the early cars weren't anymore than what he called "Timber Carts" with engines. This meant they wouldn't have rode any different if you had hooked them up to a team of mules. The only actual difference was if the engine would run it wouldn't get as tired as the mules. As he dismantled every car that his family brought he studied every part so as to decide how to make the ride better. He had some great ideas. In fact most of them were off the wall ideas or should I say "off the head and below the knee ideas" that actually worked! Upon leaving the family farm his mother gave him $25.00, which basically according to her was supposed to hold him until he could land a job. My father had a big appetite so his funds were going fast. According to daddy it was hard getting a job as a mechanic with no said experience. Apparently taking the family car apart and putting it back together properly a hundred times didn't count. So he made a decision to pick the best of all of the mechanic shops in town and make them an offer that they couldn't refuse. He offered to work for a week free without pay. Now if he performed his job correctly his weekly pay would be up for discussion. The owner of the shop Smile

d, because he knew that he had a boy fresh off the farm that didn't have a clue. So he agreed to take advantage of daddy's offer. The first week went well with the owner being quite happy with his work. After a few more weeks the owner and Daddy came to an agreement about his draw not a weekly pay. Daddy always made unusual requests for materials that he needed to repair the automobiles. One day he asked the errand boy to go and get him some felt hats. Upon clearing it with the boss he filled the request. He went to the hat shop and purchased the hats. Daddy thanked him and continue working. The next request was for shoe leather. Once again the errand boy got permission to follow suit. He delivered daddy order. Daddy once again thanked him going directly back to work. Daddy had the garage owner and the errand boy scratching their heads for sure, but with the customers so happy who cared. In fact one customer came in after trying out their car and was so satisfied that they wanted to tip the repairman. Now according to his customers after Daddy's adjustments they were smooth riding machines. My father's secret was just about out of the bag. So he exclaimed to the owner, " I made the shocks better with the felt from the hats and the leather from the shoes." At that moment the owner knew what was coming next now that daddy was an experience mechanic. It became known as "Helmey's Garage!" The rest is history. My father worked for the shop owner until he saved enough money to start his own shop, which wasn't very long. Sea You Later, Captain Judy

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