Foggy Conditions and All that it implies!

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

October 15, 2007

Captain Judy's Saltwater Fishing Report

Which includes:

Inshore report, Offshore Report, Freshies Suggestions, and 'Little Miss Judy's Believe It or Not!' (Story)

'Little Miss Judy's Believe It or Not!'

Foggy Conditions and all that it implies!

Last week I had to head out in the fog and it was real bad. Visibility wasn't real good, but in my case as well as many other fishermen of this day and time, we have our electronics to rely on. As I navigated my way through the heavy fog watching carefully in all directions while keeping one eye on my chart plotter my mind drifted back to the 'Good old times!'

Back in the old days my father and I had two things that we used in regards to navigation. We had a 'compass and basic navigation by the seat of your pants!' Now as far as that compass that we used I will say, 'it might have not always been set properly!' In the old days when you purchased a compass it wasn't always 'set.' It came packaged in a box that contained a small tool, which was used to set the compass. As well as I can remember to set our compass daddy had to line the boat up between two range points located right off Savannah Beach. I remember this one time that we couldn't get the compass set so according to daddy we had to improvise. You aren't going to love this one!

To improvise properly you had to know the heading from point A to point B! Here's a good example: From what we called the 'Tybee Sea Buoy' when heading to the 'Black fish Banks' we took a heading of 90 degrees. Now, when using a compass that wasn't set correctly you had to basically feel your way to the area. You had to take in such considerations as rising sun location, wind, wave, and current directions. Back in the old days these things listed were part of our daily plan for successfully getting from point A to Point B even with a correct set compass! Once arriving you either had to add or take away degrees from the heading made from the 'not so set compass.' It wasn't that hard to do and back then I really didn't think much about it!

In this day and time especially when 'fog is involved' even though I have all these high tech electronics I still am a little nervous, because you never know what might happen. In the old days foggy conditions never really affected me in regards to navigation. My father used to shake his head while saying, 'you don't have enough experience to be scared!' So therefore taking in to consideration what my father though then and adding in my experience now, I should be more than scared! Now you know the rest of the story!

Here's My Line Now Bite My Hook!

Captain Judy

'Fishing Physic!'