Why fish get the sore mouth!

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)

Artificial Reefs

For all of those fishermen that have been waiting for those 'fall time short boat rides to the fish' need not wait any long. This past week was quite enjoyable with our customer getting the opportunity to catch bottom as well as top water fish while visiting these areas. Lets start with the bottom bite, which was quite aggressive. Black sea bass, trigger fish, ocean perch, sand perch, rock bass, blue fish, summer trout, spotted sea trout, flounder, and black drum found their way to our hooks. The good news is this bite will only continue to get better. For bait we were using cut squid squares and fillet fish pieces. It was ascertained quickly that 'the smaller the bait the better the hook up ratio.' After a few almost successful retrieves with 'fish on resulting in fish off' changes were made to accommodate this bite pattern.

Sore Mouth

Back in the old days, my father called this type of bite 'sore mouth!' According to my father especially when a cold front was approaching 'fish got sore mouth syndrome!' Daddy explained, 'with a cold front approaching the fish still want to eat, but when they do it's painful.' This leads to the fact that fish must get 'pressure headaches of sorts.' At any rate, he was correct the fish basically want to eat, but the pain of trying to really take the bait was a little over whelming. So therefore while fishing this pasted Thursday prior to the second cold front approaching 'our fish hung on the bait as long as they could before they let go!' As our customers started to reel up their rods were bent and it seemed as if they were hooked up. However, about half way into the retrieve the supposedly hooked fish 'just let go!' The best way for getting a more solid hook up is to down size your bait design. When a fish's mouth is sore that first bite must result in a solid hook up or 'temporary riding of the bait' is all you are going to get!