Fishing With Capt Rick and Capt Jeremy (2009)
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annie

By: Capt Rick Reynolds

04/24/2009

This was a 4 hour trip that started at 7:30 am. This was part of a group charter. Water temp was near 63° and stained. Tides were running faster due to the New Moon. The bite was slow but all bites came on the Inticer cork manufactured by Midcoast in Texas. These fine corks as well as quality shrimp can be purchased at ADAMS Bait house in Thunderbolt. This was the first day in quite a while that the wind layed down somewhat. We had an eagle watch us for about an hour this morning. Another factor that led to the slow bite was lack of salinity in the upper inshore rivers.

04/23/2009

Capt. Jeremy had a charter today for Miss Judy Charters. First time Capt. Jeremy ran a tshirt charter for Miss Judy for Dennis Obryan. It was successful as they were able to distribute over 80 tshirts to local savannah watermen.

04/17/2009

Capt. Rick had 2 charters today for Miss Judy Charters. First was a 4 hour trip that started at 7:30am. We tried fishing out near Wassaw Sound, but the 15- 20knot wind out of the North East was not fishable. We hit several inshore drops but to no avail. Finally headed to the Back River, and it was sheltered. Had quite a few missed opportunintes, but near the end of the trip we managed a few Trout. We had to be back by 12pm, so I could get ready for my 1 oclock trip. Water was stained, but relatively nice in sheltered water and it was 61 degrees. The trout pictured below was a solid 18 inches.

The second trip left promply at 1 pm. Because the wind had only increased in velocity, I went straight to the Back River. We kept a few trout, but missed some really nice bites as well as some lost fish at the boat. Action was nonstop. I had 3 adults and 2 small children, so this was a challenge.

04/16/2009

Capt. Jeremy had a last minute charter today that started around 11:30. Capt Jeremy left the digital camera at home today, but had a great 4 hour trip, keep 17 Speckled seatrout from a small of 16 inches to a few around 21 inches. This was a 4 hour charter. Water was stained and the temp was in the lower 60's.

04/10/2009

Capt. Rick had a charter today for Miss Judy Charters. This was a 4 hour trip that started at 10am. We tried fishing out near Wassaw Sound, but the 15- 20knot wind out of the South West was not fishable. We could find clear water and it would muddy up within 10 minutes. Water temp was in the upper 50's and crept up to 61 by the end of the trip.

We also had a full moon rising out of the west in line with sun rising in the west at approximatly the same time. This along with the Southwest winds caused the tides to spring higher and currents were running faster. With the outgoing tide and soutwest wind, made fishing almost anywhere difficult. Below is a picture of a nice flounder that we released. All fish caught today were on live shrimp from Adams Bait.

04/09/2009

Capt. Jeremy had a charter today for Miss Judy Charters. This was a 4 hour trip that started at 9am. Capt. Jeremy had to deal with excessive winds that blew all day. He had 4 young ladies and 1 adult. They bottom fished as well as cork fished and released 8 fish during the day. Water temp was in the upper 50's, falling from the lower 60's just a few days before.

04/04/2009

Capt. Jeremy had a charter today for Miss Judy Charters. This was a 4 hour trip that started late, so they fished the last of the outgoing tide. They caught and released a few trout, but got into a school of nice Bonnethead sharks. Water temp was 62° and dirty. Wind was light and variable out of the east.

04/04/2009

Capt. Rick had a charter today for Miss Judy Charters. This was a repeat trip with A young man named Jake, that I have taken before, with his Grandad. Wind was out of the soutwest at 10- 15 knots. Water temp was 62° and dirty. This was a 4 hour trip that we almost fished 5 hours. We kept a few trout and landed a couple of bonnetheads, of which they kept 1 for a meal. We also released a few croakers as well.

03/29/2009

Capt. Rick had a charter today for Miss Judy Charters. This was a repeat trip with Clay that I have taken before, with his family. Today it was Clay and a friend of his from Atlanta. Wind was out of the Southwest at 20, gusting to 30 knots. This was the cold front that was pushing in after raining all night. The water temp was 62° and dirty.

We are on the cusp of a new moon, so the current and tides were faster and stronger than normal. We fished the last 4 hours of the incoming tide. The Bite was slow but Clay hooked a nice redfish that broke him off in the oysters. Finally got into a slow trout bite, and the Inticer cork worked better than the standard Popper. It was a slow day but not bad considering the weather.

03/21/2009

Capt. Jeremy had a charter today for Miss Judy Charters. This was a tuff trip with wind blowing 15 - 20 knots out of the northeast. Water temp was around 61°. Had quite a few bites, but only landed a nice flounder. This was a four hour trip and had to really look hard for places to get out of the wind. Capt. Jeremy reported seeing quite a few redfish schooled up, but they were not very interested in either mud minnows, live shrimp or artificial. As the water continues to hit warm, it should get better.

02/11/2009

Capt. Rick had a charter today for Miss Judy Charters. This was a repeat trip with Vern of Dennis Obryans lawfirm. He books a trip with me 2-3 times a year to distribute his t-shirts to all that work on the River. The wind was 20 knots out of the southwest, so the Savannah river was very choppy. Water temp has risen to 52°. Last Friday it was a very cold 46°. We distributed over 85 shirts to riverworkers on Dredges, Oil company Tugs and both local tugboat companys. Capt. Ray Crawley reported a nice catch of 11 seatrout and a few redfish today on artificial. This should be a very good spring.

01/03/2009

Capt. Jeremy had a 4 hour charter for Miss Judy Charters. Today the winds were light and variable. Water temp was 56° and very clear. They caught a few trout, missed a few trout and lost some at the boat. Bite was slow in the cold water. Did not have the camera today.

12/31/2008

Capt. Rick took a quick trip to the Back River with his friend Tom Carfrey to scout for some trout. Water was very clear but rough due to the west winds gusting to 15 knots. Water temp was around 56°. Tom pitched artificial and I fished with some live shrimp. Donnie Adams Of Adams Bait house has Plenty of quality live shrimp. Donnie Indicated to me that he will remain open as long as people are coming in to buy bait. We did not have much luck with the wind in this location, but here is a picture of us leaving one of the drops. Notice just how rough the Back River can be during either a predominatly east or west wind.

The last "story" that Pat told me was that if you catch a Black Crow and split his tongue, then you can teach him to talk. He said he new someone who had done that and the Crow would sit up on a Dock Piling, looking out towards sea. Whenever he saw his owner coming, he would start talking saying "Here he comes, here he comes." Then the crow would take off and meet the shrimp boat coming in and land on his owners shoulder and sit there for the ride in like a Parrot.

One thing Pat Smith could do was catch fish. He would always catch a limit of redfish, most of which he kept and he was quite capable of catching extremely large reds as well as limits of trout. The best things I know about fishing I learned from Pat. I just wish I had a chance to see him one more time before he left us here.

Another thing Pat Smith told me was not to fuck with the Colombians. Pat told me that in the early 80's he ran a shrimp boat load of marijuana into Thunderbolt and successfully unloaded it from his shrimp boat into a tractor trailer, that he had arranged to meet him in Bonaventure Cemetary. This was going to be a 1 time thing for $500,000. He got away with it and was just fine, when a few months later, there was a knock on the door and the Colombians were there with another $500,000. He got caught with that load of Grass. According to Pat, he lost his house in Savannah, and a house in St. Augustine, and what was left of the $1,000,000. He paid EVERYONE off to stay out of Jail. This was word of mouth from Pat to me, so I can only assume it happened.

I know he was THE best fisherman I ever knew and was a true friend. The Jack Crevall below did kick his ass! He did not believe in light tackle. Always used a 6500 ABU high speed retrieve loaded with 80lb Magibraid, on an 8 and 1/2 foot rod. He said he used the higher test pound braid as it wouldn't tangle as easy. Plus he packed his reel with almost 250 yards of it. He did have a big red, like the one just below, break him off in some oysters. That was that for the rest of the Day. He didn't cry, but he sure stayed pissed off. For the rest of the Day he wouldn't net any fish that I caught.

That particular red that he is holding took a 1/2 blue crab in about 25 feet of water. We did revive the fish. It was over the 27 inch limit at that time, but he still wanted to keep it. Pats favorite place to fish was the SAVANNAH RIVER.
I think Jimmy wrote this song about Pat, They knew each other.

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