Fishing With Capt Thunderbolt (2006)
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By: Capt Rick Reynolds

07/30/2006

I had a charter today. It was 6 hours 4 people. We left the dock at 6:30 am promply. We were 1 hour into the incoming tide. Wind was 15 out of the South - South-west. Water Clarity was good and the water temp was 83° - 84°. down 3 degrees from yesterday. Most of the day was spent in overcast skys that kept the air temp down somewhat. First few bites resulted in some sharks and whiting. The Bonnet Head sharks were thick today. I think we caught and boated 3 and broke the leader at the boat on at least 4. We also caught a boated a nice spinner shark and released another at the boat.

One of the guys caught and released a ladyfish as well as a blue fish. We had a few breakoffs on the hit that I believe to be some spanish Mackeral, however since we didn't hook any not sure. Between the 4, we boated around 20 legal trout and released them all back to the sound unharmed.

We had action for the whole six hours. During the last hour we tried for some redfish and black drum. At that spot we caught 2 undersized reds and no black drum today. All in all a good trip, however one of the guys had his finger on the line when a very large bonnethead hit on a dead run. Result was some cuts to the fingers due to the strength of the shark and the characteristics of a super braided line.

07/29/2006

I had a charter for Miss Judy Charters today. It was 6 hours 3 people. These guys were from Atlanta and were very good. Randy and his son Randy jr, caught the most. Tracey had a couple smaller trout and lost a biggun at the boat. Randy sr. had the first shark on for about a minute before getting cut off. Then he caught a small trout. Randy jr. hooked a nice 3 foot bonnet head shark, but he broke the leader at the boat. Both the Randys caught back to back trout in the 17 -19 inch range.

Randy Jr. Caught another Bonnet head shark that Stacey landed by grabbing by the tail. We unhooked the shark and successfully released him.

Water temp was 87.2°. Water was very clear out at the sound. Wind was soft out of the south as well. Tides were great as I predicted on my last weeks forcast. This was a good charter, but the bites got slower near to the end of the trip.

07/28/2006

I had a charter for Miss Judy Charters today. It was 4 hours 3 people. The tides were high when we started, but we still managed to hook and loose a couple nice sharks at the boat. Since we only had 4 hours, I decided to move us inshore, and the 3 girls caught bluefish, trout and Black Drum. The wind was blowing and it was hot, but they caught and released their catch. I didn't have a camera today. I had my live well pump go out near the end of the charter.

TIP: If you are using the RUlE 700GPH with the replaceble pump, please examine it well. River Services in Thunderbolt was out of just the pump, so I bought the whole assembly and was just going to use the pump part. Troy Bradley was doing just that and noticed the pump had a crack in it, not visible in the assembly. We took it back and opened up 4 more at the desk before finding one that was not broken. Remember these were not visible unless you unscrewed the pump and visually inspected it.

07/16/2006

I had a charter for Miss Judy Charters today. It was 6 hours 3 people. Two were from Alabama, and the third, who caught the largest trout of the day lives in Savannah. The trip began at 7am and the tide was at dead low. As the tide came in we caught a couple small sharks. We then caught a few bluefish, and ladyfish as well. After the 2nd hour of incoming we settled into a good trout bite with 1 angler landing and releasing 9 trout. The angler from Savannah, caught the largest trout at a solid 18 inches. The third angler landed a respectable flounder. All these fish were caught out in Wassaw Sound.

During the last 2 hours of the charter we moved inshore to try for some reds. We didn't get a redfish, but we caught and released a couple more nice trout and a blue fish.

Water color was better than yesterday, but still stained. Water temp was 83.4°. The wind was from south, soutwest at 10 knots. Fishing was constant for most of the trip. Humidity was high and the air temp was in the 90's, very easy to get dehydrated even though it was overcast much of the day.

The Big Trout of the day at the top, followed by the flounder and then the angler who caught the most trout today.

07/15/2006

I had a charter for Miss Judy Charters today. It was 6 hours 4 people.I had a very nice 3 generation family onboard today. The Party consisted of the Grandfather, Father and his wife and son Hunter. Hunter had not fished with a spinning outfit before today. He picked it up with no trouble at all. He caught the first fish, a short trout.

Water temp was 84° and stained to muddy at most places. Wind was South west at around 15 knots. Fishing was slower than normal today. I attribute this to the lack of water clarity and higher than normal tides and faster current. We are still under the influence of the nearly full moon. Everyone caught some fish, including sharks, blue fish, ladyfish, trout and reds. I did not have my digital camera today.

07/09/2006

I had a charter for Miss Judy Charters today. It was 6 hours 3 people. Water temp was 81°. We fished the outgoing tide today. It was too windy to fish the sound, so i tried some inshore drops that produced small redfish and decent bluefish. We also caught a few trout and kept several of those in the 17 inch range. Water clarity was very stained. Where we did find clear water we caught fish.

07/07/2006

I had a charter for Miss Judy Charters today. It was 6 hours 4 people. Water temp was 83° and dirty. Wind was 20 knots out of the North East. Started the day with each person catching and releasing small sharks. This was followed by a few small blue fish. We also caught and released 2 small redfish. No trout today.

Left Wassaw and headed up the Back River to get out of the wind. Continued to catch small bluefish. Saw 1 school of large redfish, but could not get a hookup. There possibly were some large gar mixed in with the reds. Ended the day with a small alligator, that was released. The conditions for fishing today was rough. High winds against the outgoing tide created muddy water.

07/03/2006

I had a charter for Miss Judy Charters today. It was 6 hours 4 people. Water temp was 83° and clear. Wind was mostly calm. Started the day with each person catching and releasing nice sharks. 2 caught mature bonnet heads and 2 caught large black tips. Paula caught the largest shark, then John hooked a large one as well. Wade caught the first shark of the day, and Lauren caught the last one. Everyone caught some seatrout. They kept 8 and released the shorts. Below is a picture of Lauren with a nice trout. This family had it going on all day. The Kids were very well mannered and fun to fish with.

07/02/2006

I had a charter for Miss Judy Charters today. It was for 8 hours 2 people. Water temp was 84° and clear. Wind was 1 to 5 out of the South. We caught and kept 6 trout 17 to 19 inches and 1 whiting and 1 flounder. Released 15 short trout most between 12.5 and 13 inches. Also caught and released 4 or 5 nice sized black tip sharks and a couple bonnet head sharks. Had a trout get nailed by a 3 foot black tip about 10 feet from the boat. Blowup was awsome. See picture below.

07/01/2006

I had a charter for Miss Judy Charters today. It was for 6 hours 3 people. Water temp was 84° and clear. Wind was 5-10 out of the South. We caught and kept 5 trout and 1 whiting and 1 bonnet head shark. Released several short trout .

06/30/2006

I was scheduled to help out Miss Judy Charters today. But I fished a couple hours before the charter and kept 3 trout, largest 20 inches and 1 flounder. Picked up my charter and it was a father and son charter. They caught several trout, mostly keepers and some bluefish. 1 redfish was caught as well. They both hooked and lost sharks as well. Water temp is 84 and clear. Below is the fish I kept today.

06/25/2006

I was scheduled to help out Miss Judy Charters today. The Trip was scheduled to leave at 6:30. I picked up bait at 5:30 and was at her dock by 6:10 am. It had rained some during the night but was ok right then. My two guys showed up on time. As soon as they stepped in the boat, here comes the thunder and lightning. Weather Radar had indicated that we would be getting some bands of light rain during the morning.

I discussed this with my group and we were leaning towards doing a rain check. However Capt. Judy made a wise decision to Canceled all her trips for the day. This speaks alot for Her and her fine company. I know she had 2 Offshore trips and 2 Inshore trips that were canceled. This demonstrates that not only is Miss Judy a world class angler, but she puts Customer safety as number 1 on her priority list.

I was cut off from my marina after that first band of storms moved west of Turners creek, so I opted to go alone for a couple of hours to see if the fishing was any better today as I plenty of Fresh live shrimp and pollywogs. I ran out to Wassaw Sound and had several hard bites from trout just as the water approached high tide. I hooked and lost a very heavy trout at the boat, during the next band of showers.

Fishing should improve with the passing of this front. The much needed rain should help the new shrimp to grow as well as cool the unstable air and water down a degree or two. Below is a picture of the weather that circled me. I had a very wet ride in and the wind did pick up when these rain bands moved over.

Today is my sons 21 st birthday. Happy birthday Jeremy!

06/24/2006

I was supposed to run 2 charters for Miss Judy Charters this weekend. On Saturday 06/24/2006, I had a couple from Atlanta. We started at 6:30 am and fished hard for about 7 hours. We took it easy the last hour and just rode around. Fishing was not good. The wind was out of the east at 20 knots. The water was dirty and the tides were springing. Final catch for the day was 2 Blue fish, 2 Ladyfish, 1 trout, 1 nice sized Bonnet Head Shark and several small sharks. Water temp was 83°

06/18/2006

I was able to help out Miss Judy Charters today. I had a 6 hour trip with a father and son. We caught sea trout, sharks and flounder. Wind was still out of the east, but the water clarity was good. Water temp was in the upper 70's. We had a lot of action, but the father lost a lot more than he caught. Considering the conditions, we had a good day. I have not had my digital camera since June 10th.

06/17/2006

I was part of a group trip arranged by Miss Judy Charters. I had a group of 4 from Albany, Ga. This was a 4 hour trip starting at 1 pm. We caught some ladyfish and sharks, but that was about all. Water was dirty and the wind was out of the east at 25 knots. We did some sightseeing, but the fishing was poor.

06/15/2006

I had an all day charter with Mr. Shawn Durham from Atlanta and his son David. We caught sea trout and whiting and sharks. Water temp was 77° and dirty. The reminets of the first hurricane of the season had just passed thru. Water temp was cooler and the water salinity had changed due to the rainfall over the last couple days.

06/11/2006

I had an all day charter with a group from Atlanta today. My son Jeremy has passed the Coast Guard test for his OUPV license. We are waiting for Sea School to check his paperwork for his license. Since he will be licensed in the near future, I asked him to come along and basically run the charter. He did well and the group caught sharks, whiting, redfish, trout and Spanish Mackeral. Water temp was 79° and clear. As the day progressed the wind did as well. This was a couple days before the reminents of the hurricane passed thru. Jeremy did real well on this charter.

06/10/2006

I participated in a group trip arranged by Miss Judy Charters. I had a group of 3 from north Georgia. The pickup was from the Weston across from River Street. We decided to spend a little more time riding out to Wassaw Sound, than to stick near the Savannah River.

We had a full moon, dirty water and big tides, so the start was a little slow. As soon as the tide ebbed we caught a few trout and whiting. We also caught some small sharks. Saw a lot of Bait being knocked up by something. We moved to another drop and they caught 2 keeper trout and a whiting. The Sharks moved in and I was able to snap 1 picture before this nice sized bonnet head broke the choke hold the admiral had on him and flopped back to safety . Water temp is in the high 70's. Patches of clear water was available today. Wind was mild.

06/09/2006

I helped Miss Judy Charters today with a group of 4 people from Central Florida . It was 2 couples who were very experienced anglers and did not have any problems casting light tackle in the wind . We missed the last hour of incoming and first hour of the outgoing. Water temp was 77° and clarity was good most of the time. WInd was about 15 knots out of the North East.

Both ladies started off be eaching catching small sea trout. Then we caught a couple shartks. I decided to relocate us to another outgoing tide drop out of the wind. We did have a lot of missed bites, due to slack in the line, caused by the wind. However 1 of the guys caught a couple nice seatrout in the 18 inch range. The other angler caught a keeper whiting. Then we caught and self released a rather large Bonnet Head shark. We also caught and released a few ladyfish. Given the Tides, winds and Lunar conditions (full Moon) we did ok. I enjoyed fishing with this group

06/04/2006

I had a 6 hour charter with a couple from Denver, Co and their friends from N.C. Started out a little slow as the charter started at 9am , low tide. However as the tide flooded in, the bites picked up. Several Trout were caught as well as a couple of blacktip sharks. We had 1 larger 30 + inch black tip break off at the boat. Flounder and blue fish were caught as well. However Joy from NC caught the largest trout at a little of 22 inches. All fish were released today. Water temp was 72° and clarity was good. WInd was mild out of the South West at about 7 knots.

06/03/2006

I helped Miss Judy Charters with a group charter today. My 2 guys ( Mike and Jeff ) were from the Atlanta area, 1 experienced and the other not. We tried for tarpon first thing this morning. I used some live pogies for bait. We caught 2 sharks and had 1 hookup on a tarpon that broke the leader on his first jump.

We moved inshore and finished the day with another shark, 2 blue fish, 2 trout and 1 redfish landed and 1 redfish that threw the hook near the boat. These guys were a pleasure to fish with.

05/28/2006

I helped Miss Judy Charters with a trip today. I had a man and wife team from Statesboro. As soon as we got to the first drop, Charlene caught a nice trout. Gary also caught a few trout that were too small. Then he had a couple of hard hits that cut the leader. Soon he hooked up with a 17 inch Fork length Spanish Mackeral. Charlene followed with a nice spanish as well. Water temp was 77° and stained. Then when the action slowed, instead of going up a creek we headed out for some whiting. Gary and Charlene both missed some good bites, but Gary soon hooked up with a 36 inch Sharpnose Shark. Charlene laid her rod down while I was bringing the shark into the boat. She wanted to take a picture. Yep, another rod over the side, this is 2 in 2 days and this one was not recovered. I did not take any pictures today as The camera was in the console. Wind Kicked up to about 20 25 knots in the early afternoon.

05/27/2006

I had a chance for a last minute charter and prepared as well as possible for it. However the day started crummy when one of the guys let go of the rod and reel on his first cast. I was able to grab the line, and stripped off a spool full of POWER PRO. Hopefully the reels bearings will not be affected, time will tell.

Things began to improve when the other angler, Eric caught his ten fish. His father caught a few as well and didn't throw away any more of my spinning rods. Things slowed up near during the last 2 hours of the outgoing tide, so I went into TYBEE CUT to fish some of the stuff in there. During the last hour, I decided to work my way back to the Landings. I discoverd a sand bar that I knew about , but didn't realize it had shifted somewhat. After a 2 hour wait, seatow pulled me off.

05/26/2006

I scouted for trout today with my son. First time we both had off the same time and wanted to catch a few for supper. I introduced Jeremy to the Mud Minnow and Popping corks. Water temp was clear and 76°. I caught more than he did, but he caught the biggest at 19 inches. We kept 8 and released 8. We decided early on not to keep anything smaller than 15 inches. I cannot stress to you enough .. DO NOT PAY $25.00 dollars a quart for florida shrimp that are nothing more than a large hardback shrimp. They do not have a good scent and mud minnows are just a better bait this time of year.