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

09/30/2006

I had a charter for Miss Judy Charters today. It was with a group of 3 for 6 hours . We left the dock at 7:15am . Water temp was 76°. Water Clarity was stained. Fished the incoming tide. Stayed out in Wassaw sound most of the day and caught some puffer fish, stingrays, and needlefish. Young Ryan caught and released a redfish from this location. He also caught and kept a nice flounder for supper.

Moved to a redfish drop out in Wassaw, but it started getting a bit rough, so we moved inshore where we caught and released a couple speckled trout. Below is Ryan holding his flounder.

09/29/2006

I had a charter for Miss Judy Charters today. It was with a group of 4 for 6 hours . We left the dock at 7:30 am . Water temp was 76°. Water Clarity was stained. Fished the incoming tide. This was with the Donahue family,a pleasure to fish with. We did struggle most of the day. Started out catching a couple sharks, 1 sharpnose and 1 bonnet head (released). Then we had a breakoff of a large ladyfish. Moved around out in Wassaw trying to get out of the wind, and away from the baitstealers. Had a couple cutoffs that were possibly Spanish. Had a very large school of fish go under the boat in 5 feet of water that was either a school of Blues or Spanish. However, they did not take our bait.

Moved inshore and caught about 6 seatrout, but only 1 keeper. As the Tide approached high tide, the bite completely shutoff and that was that. A cold front was pushing thru, but I talked to a couple other Captains that did much better. The bait stealers (needle fish and Pin fish, along with yellow tails ) caused us to move when maybe we should have just fished through the annoyance of a lot of hits by fish other than the target species. Everyone fished hard, but we didn't have much to show for a tough day of fishing. Below is a picture of one of the sharks and the other is the family watching the school of fish swimming all around the boat.

09/28/2006

I had a chance to fish with Capt. Jeremy today. I needed to scout for some upcoming charters and Capt. Jeremy was able to go. Around 6 am it rained hard for a couple hours and mudied up the water. We started out in the sound and had some breakoffs. I was thinking sharks, but it could have been large spainish Mackeral. Water temp is holding at 77°. Water Clarity was stained. We caught several ladyfish and moved around out in Wassaw sound.

Move inshore and kept 4 trout 1 whiting and a 24 inch spanish Mackeral. below is Capt. Jeremy holding a nice trout and me with the spanish. It was a fun day of fishing.

09/22/2006

I had a charter for Miss Judy Charters today. It was with a group of 4 for 8 hours . We left the dock at 6:30 am . Water temp was 77°. Water Clarity was stained. Fished the last of the incoming and most of the outgoing tide. I had the pleasure of fishing with 2 couples from Vidalia, Ga. They were quite experienced. On our first drop we caught and released quite a few ladyfish. We picked up 1 keeper Seatrout at that drop.

Next we moved into the Salt Ponds area. Quickly picked up 3 keeper trout and had 3 breakoffs from what I believe to have been Bull Redfish. Picked up some more bait and headed inshore, when one of the ladys picked up 2 keeper Redfish, and I added a fair sized croaker to the cooler. ON the last drop one of the guys hooked what I thought was another bull red but it turned out to be a 4 foot Bonnet Head shark. This fish was in the Herb RIver. We had a great action filled day. I left the digital camera at home today.

09/17/2006

I had a chance to fish with a friend from the Galveston Bay area of Texas. Water temp was 75° and clear. The sea trout are quite a bit larger in Texas but that was the target species today. Dennis and I both caught fish most of the day. We did better inshore, but did pick up a couple trout out in Wassaw Sound.

Water was clear on the outgoing tide today. It was very clear on the first of the incoming out in the sound. Dennis hooked a very large trout that got off before getting to the boat. I saw him roll and am sure he was much bigger than the 19 inch that Dennis is holding in this picture. Final tally for the day was 9 keeper trout and 4 or 5 that we released. We also released ALL REDFISH today. Also caught and released a croaker and a small bonnet head shark.

09/15/2006

I scouted out some new areas today. Water temp was 77° and clear. I fished the last hour of the outgoing and the first three hous of the incoming tide . I caught and released about 15 of these small redfish. Each one was between 13 and 15 inches. Also caught and released some small trout as well. All fish were caught in the Intercoastal and not out in Wassaw Sound. One of my favorite spring/summer Wassaw drops did not produce a single bite. The water was crystal clear, just nothing there at that stage of the tide. I think the water temp is cooling down fast,now and the sharks that were so plentiful a couple weeks ago were not there today. I took this picture as a sample of the small size puppydrums that I was catching. I quickly released this one after snapping this quick picture.

09/08/2006 and 09/09/2006

I had 2 charters for Miss Judy Charters this weekend. Both charters were with a group of 3 for 6 hours . Both Days finding clear water was a challenge thanks to the full moon and exceptionally big tides. Not only was the tides high, but the current speed was faster than normal

On both days we were able to catch some large trout, but this was done on the falling tides. During high tide, some of my normal drops were completely submerged. Expect these same conditions for the next several days. All fish were caught on live bait and the water was stained. Water temp was in the low 80's.

Even though it is still hot, Fall fishing conditions are starting to appear. I have started seeing the Monarch butterflys. This is one of the first clues that the weather is changing. Also if you happen to be outside at noon, notice the sun is now south of us instead of directly overhead. We are losing a minute or 2 in the mornings and afternoons of sunlight. For example on this coming Friday, Sept 15th, Sunrise is at 7:07 am and sunset is at 7:29 pm. Compare that to this past Aug 31, 2006 when sunrise was at 6:58 am and Sunset was at 7:49 pm. That is a loss of 9 minutes in the morning and 10 minutes in the afternoon. That is a loss of 19 minutes of sunlight in just 16 days.

09/03/2006

I had a charter for Miss Judy Charters today. It was with a group of 4 for 6 hours . We left the dock at 6:30 am . Water temp was 83°. Water Clarity was muddy/stained. Fished the last of the outcoming and the first 2hours of the incoming tide.

Started out in Wassaw Sound and the weather was beautiful, but nothing was biteing. However 1 guy hooked and lost a ladyfish. Worked our way form Wassaw all the way into the Herb and on out towards Fort Jackson. 1 yellow tail and that was it. Last hour of the charter came back in and 1 of the people caught a bluefish, then the other person hooked a very nice 23 inch seatrout, followed by another 17 inch trout. A couple rat reds were boated and then it was time to go.

Fishing has been very tough for me since the passing of the hurricane earlier in the week.

09/02/2006

I had a charter for Miss Judy Charters today. It was with a family of 3 for 4 hours . We left the dock at 10:00 am . Water temp was 83°. Water Clarity was muddy/stained. Fished the incoming tide out in Wassaw Sound and caught a bonnet head shark and a spinner shark spun off. Action slowed and the wind was blowing at 15Knots out of the south west. Had a storm cloud approach so we moved inshore.

The bite was slow all day, but we did catch a few trout under 13 inches and a few rat reds and one nice 31 inch redfish was caught by the father. He had been after a Bull Red for 2 years. They were a very nice family to fish with! Below is Hamilton with his small redfish and then the father with his bull. Final picture is the mom with her small redfish.

08/27/2006

I had a charter for Miss Judy Charters today. It was 8 hours 2 people. We left the dock at 6:30 am . Water temp was 83°. Water Clarity was stained. Fished the incoming tide out in Wassaw Sound and caught 5 Nice Trout to 20 inches and a 15 inch flounder. Both guys missed quite a few bites as well.

Also caught a few ladyfish and 1 small bonnet head shark.All fish caught on modified Cajun Thunders with live shrimp. Wind was out of the South East at about 15 knots.

Moved inshore and tried several drops with only a yellow tail and a couple blue fish to show for it. Last inshore drop of the day produced a couple more keeper trout.

08/25/2006

I had a charter for Miss Judy Charters today. It was 6 hours 4 people. We left the dock at 6:30 am . Water clarity in Wassaw Sound was clear, winds were 5 to 10 out of the west. Water temp is now around 83°. Fished with live shrimp under cajun thunders. Had several hookups with bonnet head sharks and put 1 in the boat. Had a couple breakoffs at the boat. Caught a few short trout out in the sound. Had several hookups of large ladyfish.

Decided to move to drop number 2 and again caught a few ladyfish and bluefish. Moved inshore and caught several more short trout. 1 angler hooked an overslzed redfish in about 2 foot of water. Red fish made multiple jumps right down the grass line before breaking off. Moved again and caught a couple more short trout. A lot of action, but nothing notable to keep. Had 1 real quiet fellow who got his sharks wrapped around the motor and trim tabs (2 times). Could not get the digital camera to work today. We did have action all day and I enjoyed the fine company of these good anglers.

08/20/2006

I had a charter for Miss Judy Charters today. It was 6 hours 2 people. We left the dock at 6:30 am . Winds were stiff out of the south east this morning. Tried fishing in Wassaw Sound but only caught ladyfish and shark breakoffs. Wind was just to nasty so we moved inshore and ran into a bunch of yellowtails. Planned to move to another good trout drop only to find someone on it, so we moved on inshore.

Danial proceeded to catch some very nice trout. His partner for today, Hugh hooked a few ladyfish and missed a few trout bites, but did land a decent sized stingray, that we released at the boat. Final tally of the day was 6 keeper trout and a couple short ones. Danial did get a solid 20 inch trout inshore. Water temp was down to 82°and stained at most locations. All fish caught on Live Shrimp from ADAMS BAITHOUSE.

08/19/2006

I had a charter for Miss Judy Charters today. It was 4 hours 4 people. We left the dock at 6:50 am . Tides are normal this week. Started off hooking and breaking off at the boat a couple of nice size bonnet head sharks. We hooked and lost a few trout before landing a solid 19 inch trout. This was followed by a couple nice flounder. Moved to another location and landed 1 small redfish and lost 3 more trout. It was a good day on the water with a very nice family. I did not have my digital camera today, hence no pictures. 1 of the bonnet heads we put in the boat appeared to be ready to have babys any day.

Water temp is now in the low 80's and the water was clear. The wind was a little strong out of the north east. This kept us from fishing drop one the most proper way. Since the wind was stronger than the outgoing tide we had to fish this location obliquely. This means we had to let the stronger wind control the drift instead of the natural tidal flow.

08/12/2006

I had a charter for Miss Judy Charters today. It was 6 hours 2 people. We left the dock at 6:45 am . Tides are running exception high and fast this weekend. This is due to the passing of a FULL MOON on Aug 9th, just 3 days ago. The Moon directly impacts fishing. A Full moon allows the water to rise up higher and faster than the rest of the month, other than during a NEW moon. The moon rises and sets much differently than the sun. For instance on Friday Night, 08/11/2006, the Moon showed itself around 9:52 pm and Set on Saturday, 08/12/2006 at approx. 9:05 am. If friday was a clear night then alot of the fish fed during the bright night.

We had 2 "events" happen within an hour. High Tide at Wassaw sound was at 11:14 am and the Moon Set at 10:15 am. When multiple events occur closely in time, then you should expect some action. If you want something interesting to read, try reading "MOON UP , MOON DOWN.

Another Event that was triggered was the height of the High Tide. We had an 9.3 foot tide where we fished part of today. This exposed areas that normally are not fishable. The Red fish will enter these areas and we did see some "tailing" today. Water clarity was stained, caused by the fast current speeds. Also you had to position yourself and the boat to take advantage of the currents speed and Directions. Water temp is 85° and stained. Wind was from the south around 10 - 12 knots.

My Guys were excellent fisherman and Sportsman. They chose catch and release and everything caught was released. We caught several large ladyfish, a few trout, a flounder, a bonnet head shark and a rat redfish. The action was steady to begin with, but tapered off as the tide flooded. On the lee side of the shore, there was NO BREEZE and it got so hot, my guys asked to move so that they would not overheat. We started back inshore and the last 2 hours of the trip showed a dramatic DECREASE in bites.

08/06/2006

I had a charter for Miss Judy Charters today. It was 4 hours 3 people. We left the dock at 6:30 am . Tried a different location out in the sound. Tide was 1 hour ebbing and the wind was again out of the south.

Miss Judy indicated that they wanted some fish to take home. I Found a good location that allowed the bait fish to be washed into an eddy. The trout were there. Water temp was 85.5 °and clear as I have ever seen it. We are approaching a full moon and the tides are starting to build in the day. However we were fishing the outgoing tide. Below is pictures of the family with each one catching trout 18 - 20 inches. Tina also caught a 31 inch redfish that was released total unharmed. We also caught a few bonnet head sharks as well. We had 4 hours of catching today.

Final tally was 8 keeper trout and about 10 - 15 just under 13 inches released. 3 Bonnet heads released and a 31 inch redfish released. Everything caught on Cajun Thunders and Live shrimp from Adams Baithouse.

08/05/2006

I had a charter for Miss Judy Charters today. It was 6 hours 4 people. We left the dock at 10:30 am . I made the call for the late departure, hoping on fishing the incoming. It was sharkfest today. Some trout and drum were caught but mostly large bonnet head sharks and some blacktips. Water temp was upper 80's and the wind was out of the south at 15 knots. Water clarity was not great.

08/04/2006

I had a charter for Miss Judy Charters today. It was 4 hours 4 people. We left the dock at 9:30 am . Wind was 15 out of the South - South-west. Water Clarity was good and the water temp was 86°. This was a high energy family that kept me on the move the whole trip which is good. We caught about 8 large bonnet head sharks all around 3 feet long. Lost a couple at the boat. Lost a spinner shark as well. Had a few losses of seatrout as well. But we did manage to land 2 nice speckled seatrout and a keeper flounder. All in all a very good outing. Would have liked to have extended this one. Only problem I had was we lost about a pint of shrimp from almost the minute they hit the livewell. These were purchased at a bait store, not caught. Below is mom and daughter catching a bonnet head, followed by mom's trout and the family in the background. Final picture is of the Dad with his trout.