Captain Judy Helmey

Kicking Fish Tail Since 1956

124 Palmetto Drive

Savannah, Georgia 31410

912 897 4921or 912 897 2478

912 897 3460 fax

Fishjudy2@aol.com

March 6, 2018

Captain Judy’s offshore fishing Report and Little Miss Judy Silver

King story!

Fishing statement: To try to insure that fishing stays in the hearts of those that love it and to help

the ones that are going too!

Chris Cummings Brentwood, Tennessee, Rebecca Byrd Franklin, Tennessee, and Captain Judy

are having a great time. Rebecca caught this nice genuine red snapper and Chris picked it up!

And it was so big it wouldn’t fit in the picture! Check out this beautiful ocean!

Who are these people? FISH CATCHING MACHINES!

Artificial Reefs

For those that want a short boat ride to the fish now is the time! Artificial reefs in less than 50

feet of water are holding sheepshead, black drum, flounder, trophy red fish, cold water sharks,

juvenile black fish, and a few other bottom biters.

For that want to ride a little further offshore I suggest taking a heading to the artificial reefs that

are located in more than 50 feet of water. You could find yourself catching some nice black sea

bass, porgy, flounder, and other bottom bites.

For those fishermen that are doing it their way I suggest first visiting the site below. Why?

Because I suggest that you have all the coordinates of all of Georgia artificial reefs along with

each reef’s detailed structure. It is much easier going over this information while at the kitchen

table. Why? Because the table doesn’t move like your boat is going too! Just do it!

http://coastalgadnr.org/ArtificialReef

What is this? Well it does like a underwater spaceship! However, it is a spotted jelly comb jelly

fish. Have I ever seen one before? NO!!! Pretty cool!

Savannah Snapper Banks

This area is holding lots of black sea bass, vermilion snapper, white grunt, trigger fish, red

snapper, grouper, and I could go on, but... The bottom line is we got lots of fish! Please always

check with http://safmc.net/ before heading out! Remember we got rules and lots of them!

Captain Kathy Brown of Miss Judy Charters is holding Rebecca Byrd’s (Franklin, Tennessee)

just caught black sea bass! Rebecca’s fishing team did a grand job of catching fish!

While fishing with Captain Judy Helmey of Miss Judy Charters Chris Cummings Brentwood,

Tennessee hooked up and caught this nice male black sea bass!

Captain Kathy Brown of Miss Judy Charters is holding Rebecca Byrd’s (Franklin, Tennessee)

just caught soon to be release genuine red snapper! Chris Cummings of Brentwood, Tennessee

is Rebecca’s back up plan!

Chris Cummings Brentwood, Tennessee, Rebecca Byrd Franklin, Tennessee, and Captain Judy

are having a great time. Rebecca caught this nice genuine red snapper and Chris picked it up!

And it was so big it wouldn’t fit in the picture! Check out this beautiful ocean!

Chris Cummings Brentwood, Tennessee, Rebecca Byrd Franklin, Tennessee, and Captain Kathy

Brown are having a great time. Rebecca caught this nice soon to be released gag grouper! And

once again Chris picked it up for Rebecca! It is becoming his job for this fish day! What did

this grouper eat? Small rock bass! On this day the fishing team consisted of Chris, Rebecca, and

Simon Bruce of London, England. Simon wasn’t up for fishing so he was the watcher. Once we

started home he shared some wonderful as well as very interesting stories with us. It seems that

Simon is affiliated with the law firm that has been in business for over 200 years. His firm

handles assorted matters for the Queen of England. Simon’s specialty is keeping in step with

writing the proper prenups for those engaging in marriage. His latest prenup was for Prince

Harry and Meghan!

On the last drift of the fish day Chris Cummings Brentwood, Tennessee settled the score for the

day. Chris caught this nice genuine red snapper and of course Captain Kathy Brown is giving

big thumbs up for this grand catching accomplishment! Yes his fish was bigger than Rebecca’s!

And thanks all I am going to say about this!

Captain Kathy Brown of Miss Judy Charters is just a riding on the stern and giving a big thumbs

up!

Captain Steve Triple Trouble Howell is doing what he does best, which is to avoid getting his

picture taken. However, sooner or later I will get this picture taking job done!

Captain Kathy Brown of Miss Judy Charters is holding up a pair of just caught black sea bass!

She is wearing her lucky fishing catching shorts! Aftco really does know what they are doing!

Bet you didn’t know that they had as built in secret fish caller!

Captain Steve Howell of Miss Judy Charters is holding up a nice black sea bass that is bigger

than the one that Captain Kathy caught previously.

Captain Kathy Brown was spot on! Every time she dropped her line she hooked up!

Go here and find out the real catching deal!

For more information go to https://www.lifesparkfishingtackle.com/

aptain Kathy Brown was spot on! Every time she dropped her line she hooked up!

Go here and find out the real catching deal!

For more information go to https://www.lifesparkfishingtackle.com/

aptain Kathy Brown was spot on! Every time she dropped her line she hooked up!

For more information go to https://www.lifesparkfishingtackle.com/

Well, I had to get in the picture sooner or later. Captain Steve Triple Trouble Howell and Captain

Judy are doing what they do best, which is catch fish and smile about it!

Gulf Stream

IT IS TIME TO GO!!

Freshies Report and it’s a Salty Report Too!

Just do it!

Bill Vanderford

My long time friend Bill Vanderford invented these lures many years ago. The best news is not

only do the freshwater fish love them so do the saltwater ones too! A lure for all seasons with

good reasons!

Bill Vanderford says, “The fishing season is on the horizon, so if you want an easy way to catch

more fish than ever....the Swirleybird is the answer!” Captain Judy says, “Order some today!”

www.georgiafishing.com/swirleybird-spinners/

Guess who likes to go fishing besides Captain Garrett Ross of Miss Judy Charters?

Young Golden retriever Tripp Ross

Little Miss Judy’s Believe It or Not!

Photo by Bill Vanderford

Younger Captain Judy Helmey of Miss Judy Charters is holding up two nice silver

kings that were previously swimming in the deeper waters of the Atlantic Ocean!

Why am I saying this? Now read on for the rest of the story!

What a Silver king?

This is a true story about the great unknown “Silver King.” Don’t go running to your

identification book for this one. My Father would come home from fishing and he would tell me

that he had caught a silver king. It was normal for him to make that statement. As I got older,

and we started fishing deeper, I finally realized what exactly he was talking about. It’s no great

secret about how the fish can change their skin color to adapt to their environment. Flounder,

grouper, and black fish are among the many that can camouflage themselves for protection so

that they can sneak up on their intended prey easily. I don’t know if camouflage is the right

word, but it’s definitely part of their makeup. The fish’s skin color changes with the color of the

water. The lighter the water the lighter the skin and it reverses with darker water. Therefore, a

silver king is a mackerel that had just migrated into darker water, but hadn’t had time to change

its skin color.

Over the years, I have come to understand what all these skin color changes might mean, at least

to a fisherman, who doesn’t have a degree in marine biology. It boils down to what I have come

to call certain fish; they are either residents or non-resident of the area from which they are

caught. My theory not only applies to mackerel it also applies to many other fish. Take the

silver king for instance that daddy always caught. He fished mainly in an area that we now

consider very green water. This area was a live bottom that was known as the Black Fish Banks.

The Black Fish Banks was located to the east about 10 miles off of Tybee Island. In the early

50’s this spot held everything from Black Sea bass to grouper. In fact the first in person red

snapper I ever caught was in this area. Top fish, such as Bonita, cobia, and mackerel, (both king

and Spanish) could be caught there from early spring to late fall. Now that I look back, the black

fish banks were certainly a very active area even though it wasn’t that large. While bottom

fishing we would always throw out a top line that we would bait with a live fish. I don’t

remember cigar minnows until the early 70’s. I’m not saying that they weren’t available; we

didn’t have the knowledge of them. At any rate, this top line would always produce, if you had

the right kind of bait. Not all-small baitfish would work. The most favorite was the pinfish,

which is the shape of a ruby red lip also known as a tomtate. And a cigar fish better known by us

offshore fisherman as a reef runner. (Check out next week’s little Miss Judy stories...it is about

reef runners) However there were so many bottom fish fighting to get at our bottom hooks it was

hard to catch a small fish. In fact you were considered lucky when you did catch one. Once you

had live bait, you were in the fishing driver seat, because you knew you were going to get a hit.

We used a single 6/0 hook with a short wire leader. I don’t remember using stingers or two hook

trailers until the 70’s. Since live bait wells were not part of the offshore fishing scene at this

point, you immediately hooked you bait up and put it out. After hooking up your prize fish of

the day, which usually was a very large king mackerel, your customers got the fight of their life.

Daddy would get the old wooden gaff that was always re-enforced with black tape. The tape

would either be around the end, which was holding the gaff hook in place or on the handle area

holding the long crack together. You haven’t lived until you have a semi-cracked wooden gaff

pinch your hand. After you get over that minute of pain and the blood blister appears, you then

go get the black tape, which is now consider marine covering for your gaff. Now that we are

back to the fish, Daddy would gaff it, but only after it made several passes by the boat. He never

liked to gaff a green fish. A green fish was a fish that still had a lot of energy left making them

hard to gaff. I used to think it was because the fish was so strong, but my father was a big man.

As time has passed, I now have figured it out. If he hadn’t waited until the kings got a little tried

the wooden gaff probably would have broke. Upon landing this monster, Daddy would

immediately throw it in the big wooden cooler. This is when he would determine whether or not

this fish was a sliver king. As you already probably have figured out, if the fish’s skin was sliver

he was labeled a “Silver King.” However, if the skin was dark green, it was just another king

mackerel, which wouldn’t get as much applause from Captain Daddy. Boy, I sure did have a

great fishing childhood!

Thanks for reading! Captain Judy