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
May 21, 2007
Savannah Snapper Banks
Big Bottom Bite
The bottom line to this part of the report is that you need nervous baits to catch a big red snapper or grouper! Nervous baits are those that don't have air bladders. The baits that fall into this category are Spanish sardines, Boston mackerel, small jacks, and cigar minnows. The others baits, which are those that have air bladders are still good, but don't trigger the bite of the larger fish as much as time. The baits that fall into this category are ruby red lips, sand perch, rock bass, and vermilion snapper. These baits listed have an air bladder, which needs to be puncture once brought up from the bottom.
A Gaggle of Gags!
Last week's catch proved to be very interesting with me (Captain Judy) learning a few more "tricks of the trade" in regards to those fish that hug the bottom. First let me set the stage for what is exactly happening in regards to the bottom bite. As I mentioned earlier nervous baits have been hard to find. The ones that I have managed to catch have been few and far between. I am either stopping by one of the artificial reefs located in around 50 feet water or going to one of the naval towers. It doesn't really matter, because the catching of bait hasn't been that good. For "time spent: we might end up with 2 to 3 dozen live bait, which isn't good when you need to have 100 to 200 per day. I will add this bit of information to this report. It has been ascertained by me that when our bait inventories are low, such as they are at this time, a few nervous bait can stir up a good strong bottom bite. However, it's definitely short lived for sure!
We had caught our normal dozen live baits and off we went in search of big bottom fish. I have to admit and am not bragging it's a fact that I know where the fish are at this time. However, triggering the bite is hard to do when the trigger is live air bladder-less fish. We went with what we had, which wasn't much for sure! We were using cut squid and fish as bait. We had a few frozen Spanish sardines and cigar minnows, which proved to run the fish off instead of bring them in. The fact of the matter was that even a fresh dead minnow cut in half worked better than the frozen stuff.
Let's talk about live cigar minnows for a few seconds. This one hardy bait! It can last in the live mode even after being dropped 100 feet to the bottom and retrieved several times. Even when they die the shine still is there, which is what attracts the fish in the first place. This is bait that can be hooked up several different ways. When they are alive we place the hook throw the lips or behind the dorsal fin. When using live healthy bait such as this I prefer to hook them mostly behind the dorsal fin. This gives my customers as well as myself a better chance of a hook up. The biggest problem that we have with fishermen is that they set the hook too quick basically pulling they bait right out of the bottom fish's mouth. It's easy to know the mistake that you made. After or during a hit most fishermen set the hook and start reeling without even checking to see if you are hooked up! Believe me, it's hard to know for sure. I'm not trying to beat you up I am trying to get you to the point where you won't reel and set at the same time.
It truly is about the feel of the fish as it approaches your bait and examines it before eating it. It's kind of like racing, which I don't know much about. However, here's the reason why I want to use racing and catching a big bottom fish as an example. When racing cars quite often bump into each other. They also do what I think is called "drafting," which is where they pull up behind another car and basically get sucked into the momentum of the front runner. This is called "racing at it finest!" I am getting to my point! Large fish unless they just inhale your bait offering basically "bump the bait." I don't think they are tasting it as much as they are setting it up for the big swallow. I truly believe that some fish have their standards before they jump on bait. As you know even baitfish have fins. It's my take that no matter what you think it certainly can't feel good to get one of those fins stuck inside the old mouth! So a bit of bumping and drafting might take place before any actual feeding transpires. Now you know why racing came to mind!
Lets assume that you have had a solid hit, have set the hook, and don't feel anything at all. My next suggestion is to let your line go slack on the bottom. This has to be done within seconds of the time that you have figured that you aren't hook up. The reason being is if you don't your fish catching opportunity will be gone. Normally when you perform this act of so-called "free spooling back" the large fish takes you up on your just killed bait offering. That's the good news. The bad news is if you do reel your bait in and it's still there but looks a little haggard it simply means you didn't give the fish a chance to eat your bait. You were right there with the fish, but got too excited and took its potential meal away! Don't beat yourself up about this one. I have been fishing for over forty years and it still happens to me. I really don't know how but it does.
During this time when there isn't much bait and the bite is so strong I do have a suggestion. It's almost too simple, but here goes…. I highly suggest giving the artificial bottom baits a try. My theory should be listened too, because just last week I hooked and landed one of the biggest gag (grouper) seen in a while. I hooked this fish up right after I made a drift with the few live types of bait that I had left. I watched as the customers got the rub and the draft. However, they set when they should have waited for the later solid hit. However, as we all know that's fishing and we can't catch them all of the time!
I hooked the grouper up while using a standard "butterfly jig." I basically allowed it to free drop right into the strike zone. The strike zone is where the fish are seemly feeding. In this case, we caused the "strike zone" just by dropping in the live baits. The customers basically set the feeding scenario up by keeping their bait in the zone. When my artificial bait dropped in it looked like a fleeing live cigar minnow, which was on the move and fast. On the first initial drop I feel a "fly by,' which didn't result in a hook up. However, I quickly retrieved the lure up another 10 feet and let in free spool back to the zone. The big old gag couldn't resist and hit the lure so hard that I thought the fish was going to pull the rod out of my hand.
"Fly Bys!"
I know you had to scratch your head on that one. So here's my take on this sort of hit value. The absolutely only way in a fisherman's world that you know that a fish has hit your bait is to feel it. When the bait hit isn't hooked to your line it probably starts some sort of death roll, which brings the seemly near-sighted fish back to eat. In our world if we don't act quick when our hooked bait is discovered our catching chance will be gone. "Fly Bys" are basically what a fish does when it's not sure whether or not it wants to eat what it looking or bumping at.
Once again I might need to apologize for getting out there once again. I have the fish hooked and then I go to "side bar" to explain. At any rate, once the gag hit the lure it was so confident that it could take it that the fish didn't try to get back to it's safe haven. Normally a grouper will take its meal to its home, better known as a hole, ledge, or wreck. In this particular case, if the fish had chose it's home base I would have been in trouble. The bottom line now based on the size and portrayed strength that I don't think that I could have put enough drag on board to stop the fish before the line would have broke. When the grouper hit its intentions were made clear by the way it ran parallel with the bottom while heading up in the water column instead of down towards the bottom. This last statement makes you have to know that the artificial lure used did a great job of imitating a baitfish that this grouper didn't think for one moment about hitting and totally swallowing in quick fashion!
I am always talking about the "Butter Fly" Jigs. The fact of the matter is that they do work! As you know I really don't push any tackle unless it is proven by me. In this case, this lure set up wasn't proven one time but many times over. My customers still can't believe that a fish will hit a piece of metal with hooks attached! I believe it, cause it has happened over and over again!
When picking a bottom style lure. I am always talking about the Shimano "Butter Fly Jigs." The reason being is that that whatever they have done in the lure making department it has worked. Believe me after a close observation I have decided that it's definitely more than the unusual placement of the hooks. It's true without a doubt that the so-called "assist hooks" attached to the top of the lure's head section is very effective. However, to get a fish to hit metal it definitely has to offer something else other than hooks. In this case, after looking it over many times it seems that it's the cuts made the causes this lure especially on the fall to look like "the real thing!"
Here's another side of the bait to consider. As the lure falls the double hooks attached to the head lay up against the so-called body of the artificial bait. This keeps the hooks well out of sight from any outside approaches. As the lure makes it fast fall those interested really don't have time to think before hitting first and asking questions later. The bottom line to this report is a very simple one, especially in this case. If you don't "got bait!" I would worry about it, because in this case "metal will do!"