CAPTAIN JUDY HELMEY
'Kicking Fish Tail Since 1956'
POB 30771
SAVANNAH, GEORGIA 31410
912 897 4921
912 897 3460 FAX
www.missjudycharters.com
July 21, 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
Derrick Mitchem's Wall Hanger
At the age of 14 Derrick Mitchem caught his first 12-pound largemouth bass. According to this fish catching report, it was an accident, but Derrick learned a great lesson from it. This all took place at the family's Mitchem pond located in Albertville Alabama. Derrick had gone down to the pond to do little afternoon fishing. For bait he had tied on an 'Electric Blue Zoom 6 inch plastic worm.' With his secret weapon in place 'a casting he went!' He drew back and made what he thought was pretty good cast! It would have been a great cast had his bait not landed in that over hanging tree and he hadn't backlashed so bad. Since Derrick was fishing alone he really didn't care, because he could straighten out the line so as to do it all over again. As he watched the bait, which was once hung in the tree, as it just fell out and landed in the water. As he watch this happen he began the un-tangling of his 'eagle's nest reel!'
I know you have heard this before, but I will tell it again for those that haven't. In the charter boat business we have a lot of tangles, which make us 'professional un-tanglers!' Some customers have small backlashes, which are called 'bird's nests.' These tangles are easy to get out with a mere pull or two of the loose loops. However, when the backlashes are tight and the loops really extend out of the reel 'inches plus' they are called 'eagle's nest!' Now you know the rest of the story!
At any rate Derrick started his untangling event, which took a few minutes. After pulling on every loop and getting the tight spots loosen the reel was once again in working order. This meant that Derrick could now reel in and re-cast to that prefect spot. As soon as Derrick started reeling he felt pressure on the end of his rod. At first he thought he was hung on something, but then that whatever started moving!
With that one instance Derrick went into 'got to land this fish mode!' As soon as he finally got the fish to the bank he couldn't believe his eyes! It was the biggest large mouth bass he had ever seen on the end of his line. Derrick was excited, but he controlled it well. After he landed the fish he started screaming so loud that his mother heard him all the way up to the house. Derrick said, 'My mother came running out of the house, because she thought a snake had bit me!' He laughed, 'I was so happy, because I landed that big fish all by myself!
Derrick caught this 12-pound large mouth bass on April 10, 1990 at 3:30 PM. He told me about it in great detail while offshore fishing on my boat on July 10, 2008. If those last statements don't make you want to take a child fishing I really don't know what will!
The 12-pound large mouth bass was mounted and it hangs on Derrick's trophy wall. Every time he looks at it he re-plays the whole catching thing all over again! Derrick favorite casting trick in regards to getting a large mouth bass's attention is a simple one. And it goes something like this: Cast so that your bait used bounces off the tree first and then into the water. Allow you landed bait to act stunned as long as possible only barely twitching it. The real secret is to make it look like it's trying to wake up from a bad landing! The bass will come and who knows, you might catch a 'wall hanger' too! Thanks Derrick for such a great story and we certainly do hope to see you again soon!
CAPTAIN JUDY HELMEY