Fishing With Capt Thunderbolt (2007)
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By: Capt Rick Reynolds

05/28/2007

Capt. Jeremy had a 4 person 6 hour charter today for Miss Judy Charters . Wind was out of the east at 5 knots. Water temp was 75° and clear. The party caught 9 trout and several ladyfish. All fish caught today on Georgia shrimp. Trout like them much better than their ugly cousins from florida.

05/26/2007

Capt. Rick had a charter today for Miss Judy Charters . Wind was out of the east at around 10- 15 knots. The fishing party was 45 minutes late so we did miss part of the better outgoing tide. At the first drop we caught and released 2 bonnethead sharks,ladyfish and a nice seatrout. Missed a few bites there as well. Water temp was stained and 73° .

05/24/2007

Capt. Jeremy had a charter today for Miss Judy Charters . Wind was blowing out of the northeast at 15-20 with higer gusts. Caught and released some speckled seatrout and bonnethead sharks as well as a few blue fish. Not too bad considering the wind. Digital camera is not working.

05/16/2007,05/17/2007, 05/18/2007 and 05/19/2007

Capt. Rick and Capt. Jeremy had 2 charters each for Miss Judy Charters . Weather was not great on any of these days, and neither of us took pictures. Wind was out of the Northeast each day, some more than others. Air Tempertures dipped into the mid 50's Early saturday morning, with a northeast of 15 mph wind. All tides were extra high coming off a new moon. The combined catch of all 4 days were bonnet head sharks, blue fish, and seatrout and ladyfish.

Tom Carfrey supplied us with much needed Mud Minnows. This helped offset the 25 dollars a quart for florida shrimp. These are not indiginous to Ga, but the trout will hit them reluctanly. However we did go thru 4 quarts of these hardback shrimp in 4 days.

Capt Jeremy experienced the full force of the Thunderstorm that rolled thru Thunderbolt on 5/17/2007. I met him at the marina and he was in the middle of a lot of lightning and high winds coupled with a torrential downfall. As he pulled up to the dock, He got a shock from our stainless wheel. The boat did not take a direct lightning hit, but it hit close enough for him to feel it in the wheel. The only electronics disturbed by this event was it blew the bulb in the bow light.

05/12/2007

Capt. Rick had a charter for Miss Judy Charters today. It was 2 people for 4 hours. Day started off in the FOG. The Wilmington and Bull Rivers both had low visibility. Picked up at MISS JUDYS at 6:30 and headed to the Bull River. Water temp was 71°. Some of the water was clear other was stained. We fished the outgoing tide, which was over 7 ft. today. We caught and released 3 trout at the first drop, then moved to a couple other drops that did not produce. Decided to try out in Wassaw sound and Michelle, caught and released a nice Black Drum. Georgia shrimp is scarce, but for $25.00 a quart, you can pick up some hardy Florida Shrimp.

05/05/2007

Capt. Rick had a charter for Miss Judy Charters today. It was 3 people for 6 hours. Was much too rough to fish out in Wassaw Sound, so we went to the Bull River to try to get out of the wind. WInd was out of the North east at about 15 knots. Water temp was 72 and very stained to muddy. Below is the fish that they decided to keep. One of the guys is mounting the shark.

05/04/2007

Capt. Rick had a scouting trip for trout today with his friend Vince. Started out catching and didn't stop until we were out of bait. Caught trout , blue fish, ladyfish and whiting on Live shrimp, mud minnows and dead shrimp. All fish caught using traditional floats. Water temp was 72 and clear.

05/01/2007

Capt. Jeremy had a 4 hour group charter for Miss Judy Charters today. Water temp was 70° and clear to stained. Wind was out of the southwest at 10- 15 knots. Air Temp was in the upper 70's. The Group caught and released some bonnet head sharks and a few trout.

After loosing a huge shark at the boat, Capt. Jeremy instructed where he thought his client should cast. Below is a picture of a nice Bull Red that was a shade over 30 inches. This fish took a live shrimp and pulled quite a bit of drag. These Bulls put a strain on light tackle. Because we always have the opportunity of catching large bull reds, that is why we always take a few extra minutes to snell all our hooks.

04/27/2007 & 4/28/2007

Capt. Rick had a charter for Miss Judy Charters today. This was a 4 hour charter With a 3 people from Charleston. We were part of a 9 person charter. Started fishing in the Back River.
Our boat was not having much success so we moved to the Bull River where we caught a few trout like the one from the scouting trip the day before with Capt. Jeremy. We also caught Blue fish and some nice sized Bonnet Head Sharks that was released. The charter was on the 28th and we scouted the 27th. Water temp is approaching 70 degrees, but the wind had layed down some on the 28th. Water clarity was good in the Bull River. We were fishing the outgoing tide.

04/22/2007

Capt. Jeremy had a charter for Miss Judy Charters today. This was a 8 hour charter With 3 people. They caught seatrout, and several Large Bonnet Head sharks. Water temp was 65° and clear to stained.

04/21/2007

Capt. Rick had a charter for Miss Judy Charters today. This was a 6 hour charter With 4 young men from South Georgia. Water temp was 64 and stained . Caught Fish at several drops. Had a 24 inch red that we released and a nice 20 inch trout that jumped back in after I had removed the hook. He will be there for another day. Missed a few bites and had a couple break offs as well. Landed and released a black tip shark and kept a nice Black drum and Bull whiting. All in all a good day considering the temperatures and wind.

04/20/2007

Capt. Jeremy had a charter for Miss Judy Charters today. It was a 6 hour Charter for Mr. Dennis Obryan. They gave out over 100 Dennis Obryan Tshirts to the Riverworkers that work on Barges and docks. This is a particular difficult charter as it challenges your boat handling skills by making different approaches to dredges and tug boats and barges.

04/19/2007

Capt. Rick had a charter for Miss Judy Charters today. This was a 4 hour charter With a 4 guys from Texas. Water temp was 61 and stained to muddied. We experienced a 8.5 foot tide at high tide with at least a 3 knot current. We did not do particularly well. WInd was also out of the East at 15 knots. After dropping off the guys, I stopped at a redfish drop and was broken off 3 times in the structure. Capt. Jeremy joined me and hooked a nice 22 inch red and wrestled him out of the structure without breaking the 15 lb leader.

After being broken off 3 times, I switched to 20 lb leader and they could see that. So I went back to the 15 lb flourocarbon. Below is a shot of Capt. Jeremy Squinting in the sun with a nice redfish that we released unharmed. It looks like either a dolphin or Shark had nipped this one on his dorsal fins.

04/13/2007

Capt. Rick had a charter for Miss Judy Charters today. This was a 4 hour charter With a couple guys from Upstate New Your. The charter started at 12:30 pm and we fished most of the Incoming tide. Water temp was 63° and clear. We started out in Wassaw sound and worked our way inshore.

The blue fish were biting as well as the trout. Couldn't get on a big school of trout at any of the drops but most trout were in the 16 inch range. Attached is a picture of Pau and Don and the trout they caught. All fish caught today was released.

04/06/2007

Capt. Jeremy and Capt. Rick Scouted for some inshore trout today and found what we were after. Tried several spots out of the wind. Water temp was 66° and clear. Caught some trout on the last of the incoming and the first part of the outgoing. Below is a picture of one of the larger trout that measured 21 1/2 inches long.

03/31/2007

Capt. Jeremy had a charter for Miss Judy Charters today Water temp was 66°. Went to a trout drop and had quite a few hard hits, but they were not able to catch any today. Then went out in the sound and caught quite a few whiting. Below is picture of one of the most unusual fish that we have caught.

The wind was calm when the charter started around 8am , however by 11 am , the wind was blowing a good 15-20 knots out of the South East. Water clarity went from good to almost muddy.

03/31/2007

Capt. Rick had a charter for Miss Judy Charters today Water temp was between 64° and 65°. Water clarity was very stained. Caught several blue fish at one of the trout drops. Then decided to go out in the sound and whiting fish. This was a 4 person charter with 2 of the persons young boys. It was a challenge, but we managed to catch a few whiting.

03/25/2007

Capt. Rick had a charter for Miss Judy Charters today. This was a 6 hour charter with an Uncle and his 8 year old nephew Josh. We hunted for trout and found them scattered. They hit live shrimp on the popping cork as well as artificial. Josh's Uncl Al freelined a live shrimp and caught a very nice trout as well as a stingray that we released. Finding clear water was a key factor in the catching. The bites were real slow out in the sound with most action coming inshore in the rivers and creeks. Water temp crept up past 65°. Fishing is going to only get better!

03/24/2007

Capt. Rick had a charter for Miss Judy Charters today. We caught a few trout and missed a few more. Water temp climbed up past 60° . This was a 4 person 4 hour charter that started at 1pm. We had to really look to find the fish. Below is a picture of one of the trout we caught.

03/16/2007

Capt. Rick spent a couple hours scouting during low tide. Had 1 huge fish that broke the 15 lb leader on the initial run, plus cut the 20 lb power pro when he ran thru some oyster coated poles. This fish was hooked in about 18 inches of water. Water was dirty and around 60°. Have not had the camera during the last few outings.

03/15/2007

Capt. Jeremy had a charter for Miss Judy Charters today. He picked up 4 people from the Weston as part of a group charter. He reported that they caught trout on all drops and had slow but steady action all day. They practiced catch and release. Water was stained to dirty in the Savannah and Back River. Water temp was 60°

03/10/2007

Capt. Rick had a charter for Miss Judy Charters today. We caught a couple trout and missed a few more. It was windy and the water was dirty. Water temp was right at 60°

02/17/2007

Capt. Rick and Capt. Jeremy tried the KC reef today. We were going to try for some sheepshead in the concrete rubble. I had difficulty getting my reef anchor to catch, so I got pretty far from the structure and tossed out my New Navy anchor. We drifted back over the structure and caught quite a few sea bass, but no sheepshead. Went to leave and the anchor had gotten into some of the rubble, so we spent about an hour getting that one back. Seas started out great but turned rough in the afternoon. Air temp was 28 when when left the dock. All in all a good day for Sea bass. We kept a few for supper.

02/10/2007

Capt. Rick scouted out Grays Reef today with his son Capt. Jeremy Reynolds and two friends from work, Vince Bruton and Kevin Disalvo. Had a great day of catching fish but most of the sea bass were too small. Probably threw back over 100. Also the blue fish were thick here as well. Around 2pm we moved to the J reef and hooked up the structure with my old Navy anchor. We caught more sea bass and lost a couple big fish in the structure. The Sea bass were bigger at the J reef than at Grays. Oh I left my Navy anchor with the structure.

01/06/2007

Capt. Rick scouted today and caught and released several 12 inch trout on live shrimp. Water clarity was good in the Wilmington river, but dirty in the Back River. Water temp was 58°. Wind was light and variable at 5 to 10 inshore. The bite was extremely slow. When a trout took the float under, you still needed to let him have it as they were not hitting hard, and I missed quite a few by pulling it out of their mouths. The shrimp are running medium to large. I got a pint or live shrimp from ADAMS, but they are operating day by day right now.