Yesterday, before the Yellow Bluff party, I accompanied some serious birders and we viewed a pair of Bald Eagles.  Walking a wooded trail, we enjoyed the snappy little song of the White-Eyed Vereo.   One danced along the branches barely over our heads.

Traveling through the woods we quietly passed the edge of a pond.  The trees were alive with the sweet voices of song birds, so many different types.  A couple of the winged creatures added loud wild sounds that suggest you’re in a jungle, the large Pileated Woodpecker and Common Moorhen.

When stopped near the reminants of a dead loblolly pine we sighted a female Red-Bellied Woodpecker walking up the side of the tree.  I aimed my binoculars on her and discovered she was next to a small hole in the decaying trunk.  Out of the hole popped the head of her mate, with the bright red stripe over the back of his head.  He was manning their nest.

It’s springtime in the tidal waters along our coast too.  I’m seeing good numbers of redfish, sheepshead and whiting, and lots of baitfish, typical of our abundant spring life.   <Wild Bill>

A three-some of Painted Buntings share the feeder.

A large tarpon cuts through the water on the Georgia coast, before it was landed and released. This powerful beauty can give a fisherman an incredible fight, and is sometimes called, "the silver king of game fish."

Tarpon Music

Scores of glimmering silver pogies, erupted out of the water, resembling a miniature fireworks explosion, skyrocketing a few feet into the air. Beneath them, a louder noise followed on their heels, of water violently swooshing from a large feeding beast. Then a softer musical sound concluded this excitement, spraying and cascading splashes as several pogies fell back into Sapelo Sound.

Again and again, the three of us watched and listened to these sights and sounds, as a half dozen of these small water explosions happened in a span of 15-minutes, our jaws agape, and each time we all pointed and uttered the word, “Wow!”

My clients on this recent trip included Dr. Gary Means and his long time fishing companion, Dr. Henry Lentz. They’re experienced anglers, and each of them have caught several tarpon during 35-years of fishing for them in Costa Rica, South Florida and now Georgia.

Tarpon fishing includes many aspects and skills of fishing …the tackle, preparation, catching bait, and of course finding the powerful predator. There’s also rod handling skills during the battle of trying to get the silver king to the boat.

Gary and Henry have learned how to work the fishing rod to wear out the tarpon. The quicker the battle, the better chance the tarpon has in surviving its release.

After several sharks, a bait picked up and dropped by a tarpon, and jumping two tarpon clear out of the water, we hooked into a beauty. Henry grabbed the rod out of the rod holder and the battle was on.

This was a large fish, so we had to chase it. I uncleated the anchor rope, which was secured to a float, and tossed it overboard to quickly free the boat. Henry gave the sign that his reel was quickly running out of fishing line, so I started the outboard motor to gain on the fish so we could get back some line.

We hooked the tarpon in the sound, and it pulled us into a large creek. Twice this fish made magnificant jumps, and once it twirled our boat in circles like a toy. But eventually, Henry got the fish to the boat.

Quickly we took the measurements… at 73-inches long with a 40-inch girth, put this tarpon at an estimated weight of 146-pounds. When revived and released, this magnificent fish swam off to perhaps fight another day.

When I close my eyes, I can still hear the musical sounds of the pogies exploding as a silver king slams into them for a mouthful, and the soft after noise of escaped baitfish falling back into the water like large rain drops splashing, a sound I’ll always remember of feeding tarpon.

Roseate Spoonbills share a tree top with Wood Storks in coastal Liberty County.

My neighbor, Meredith Devendorf of beautiful Dunham Farms, gave a heads-up on where I might locate the pink Roseate Spoonbill, so off I went in search for this pretty creature.  What a great way to spend an evening… during sunset, in the boat, pushing through winding creeks deep in pristine coastal country. 

I found several hammocks with standing trees of live oaks, red cedars and loblolly pines draped with Spanish moss, perfect habitats for a birder’s paradise.  The clusters of assorted birds were intense.

As I leisurely patrolled the creeks, I sighted over a hundred Woods Storks and White Ibises.  Mixed in with them were Snowy Egrets, Great Egrets, Little Blue Herons, Great Blue Herons, Black-Crowned and Yellow-Crowned Night Herons.  And, I saw an occasional shy Green Heron, too. 

Each creek seemed to hold a King Fisher, darting over head checking out their territory.

Packs of small Semipalmated Plovers danced across the creeks doing aerial displays, and as the sun set, they were replaced by Purple Martins.

Using my binoculars, I scoured the hammocks dotted with perched birds, and I found them, the roseate spoonbills.  Too bad I didn’t have my photographer with me, Joyce.  So I took out my very nice “aim-and-shoot” camera, and did the best I could in capturing the moment.

I located 4 of them perched on exposed tree limbs, sticking up in the middle of a creek from a submerged tree; another one was hanging out on a neighboring hammock, and 10 more, with a dozen wood storks, on another hammock close by.

It’s easy to see what a special place we have here on the coast of Liberty County.

Capt. Wild Bill holds up a large spotted seatrout caught on an artificial bait.

A neighbor recently asked for a tip on how-to catch a large trout.  His question brought back visual memories when I exclaimed, “Wow,” at the sight of a large spotted seatrout, and the magic ingredient that enabled me, or a fishing partner, to catch it.

In recollection of wonderful times on the water encountering a large trout, memories included the presentation of a live baitfish, either free lining, or on the bottom.

When I snapped out of my momentary trance of those good ole’ days, I advised, “Find an area with good food chain activity and try a live mud minnow, or finger mullet, on the bottom with a lead-head jig, or with a Carolina rig.”  Afterwards, I recalled another presentation growing in popularity in tricking that monster trout… the Artificial.

 The effectiveness of the artificial on large trout is something I discovered, over and over again, as a fishing journalist reporting on impressive catches from the best fishermen along the southeast coast.  At first I thought some as weird lucky catches, but it happened way too often to be considered weird or luck.

In summary on how-to catch a large trout: As the trout matures and grows, its diet changes from live shrimp to mainly live fish, such as mud minnows, finger mullet and menhaden.  Old school trout fishing techniques favor a live bait fish, and this works great.  Now-a-days, more and more fishermen are discovering when they pitch an artificial resembling one of these at the right place, and at the right time; they might connect with a trophy trout.

Captain Wild Bill holds up a 20-inch flounder caught on August 01st.

Hello from Yellow Bluff.  As we start the month of August, the coastal fishery is pulsating with life.  There’s lots of shrimp and baitfish stirring the food chain in the waters around our beautiful barrier islands. 

This time of year I’m catching seatrout, redfish, flounder, tripletail, tarpon, jack crevalle, and sharks.

What amazes me is how each trip is different, and I never know for sure how it will turn out.  Most times, when nature provides a virtual smorgasbord of choices, the fun is matching the fish with the client.  Some clients prefer the growing sport of catch and release.  Others are in it for both the sport and for food; I see all ages, and skill sets, too.

I love teaching and advising.  If a client is interested, I’ll recommend specific species and their tidal patterns from what I’m seeing and hearing on the water.   

The young juvenile reds are growing quickly.  I’ve seen a couple at almost 14-inches, and for their size they sure can pull.  If someone wants lots of action and just wants the power of the pull, sharks are abundant. 

This last week of July proved a great week of flounder fishing at Yellow Bluff.  July 22^nd, Mike Kelley, from North Georgia, joined me with his grandson Brandon Wolfe, and son-in-law Greg Lambert. 

Anchored at our first drop and targeting flounder, Greg saw the water explode and asked, “What was that?”  I explained it was a bonnethead, the smallest member of the family of hammerhead sharks, and it jumped a blue crab, its favorite food source.  It was easy to tell that Greg’s a sport fisherman, and curious about the power and pull of the bonnethead shark.

Mike was more from the old school, loves fishing for both the sport and the seafood.

After this group got the hang of how to catch the delicious flounder, they pulled in ten of them, and kept six up to 17-inches.  They also landed a couple trout, two ladyfish and a small blacktip shark.  Then Mike, while fishing for redfish (they caught a lot of juvenile reds under 14-inches) watched his float twitch sort of funny, so he gave his line a quick pull and then reeled it in. 

What I saw next was a first for me.  He hung a mantis shrimp by its back flipper. 

Just when Mike was thinking of getting this weird creature off his hook, a bonnethead was swimming by, and I recommended casting his hook back out with the mantis shrimp still attached. 

In case you are wondering why… I remembered how the old timers, during the winter, sat around the old potbellied wood stove inside Yellow Bluff Fish Camp’s store and swapped fish tales, and talked about the “shrimp mammy” and blue crabs being awesome baits for large spottail bass (redfish).  

The shrimp mammy is another name for the mantis shrimp.  It’s a crustacean, as is the blue crab, and I knew the bonnethead wouldn’t be able to resist.  As soon as the hooked shrimp mammy hit the water, instantly about a 6-pound bonnethead grabbed it and the fight was on. 

When Mike landed the shark, Greg wanted one.  Enlisting Brandon’s help, I caught a blue crab.  Greg hooked it and pitched it out, and as expected, got his bonnethead. 

The following day, I took out John Rose and his son Jonathan, from near the Atlanta area.  They got my attention when one of them got a bite, and they said in unison, “That bit like a flounder.”  Quickly they learned my techniques for targeting flounder, landed 12 and kept 7 of them (19-inches, 17-inches, a couple at 16, 14.5, 13.5 and 13-inches).

Mr. John told me they loved learning how to locate and catch flounder, but they also love to eat them, and said they got four fillets off each fish for a total of twenty-eight fillets. 

The day after, I took out Richard Henry from Savannah, and he sighted his first tripletail (two of them) in strong muddy currents of a spring tide.  Each tripletail was only visible for about 30-seconds before it disappeared into the chocolate milk colored waters.  Richard went on to landed 11-flounder, with ten of them over the 12-inch minimum size limit, and a couple of large female roe trout near 18-inches, to give him a cooler full. 

Two days later, I took out David Sherrod and his son Henry.  They were visiting Yellow Bluff, and wanted to fish for the sport, practicing catch and release.  First I thought of putting them on sharks, but the tide looked just perfect for redfish (a species I’ll harvest, but prefer to target for sport), so we went searching for some larger reds and found them. 

This was a very good week to target flounder, but there are a lot of choices out there.

Department Of Having A Good Time,

Capt. Wild Bill

Henry Sherrod proudly holds up a 20-inch redfish he caught while visiting Yellow Bluff. Henry is 12-years old and from Millen, GA.

On a recent fishing trip, I had the pleasure of spending a wonderful morning with a father and son team from Millen, GA., David Sherrod and his twelve-year-old son Henry.

From the moment they started fishing around the live oyster shell bank, the food chain and redfish activity was intense.  David and Henry made the best of this opportunity by landing nine redfish and three trout.  These hard pulling reds measured from 19 to 22-inches.  They also hooked into and lost a few reds that seemed larger and stronger, probably upwards to 5-lbs.

This was young Henry’s first saltwater trip, and he didn’t miss a beat in making the adjustments to handle the powerful reds on light tackle.  David took a photo of his son’s first coastal fish, a 20-inch redfish.  Dad made sure this trip was about Henry.  The 12-year-old from Millen caught the first fish, the most fish and, on his last cast, he even caught the last fish, too.  

After the trip Henry asked some good questions I’d like to share.

1) What kind of rod and reels did they use?

2) What line strength do I recommend for inshore redfish?

3) Where can he find mud-minnows?

1) The fishing rods were 7-foot Shimano Compre Spinning Rods CPS-70MB: The Shimano website presents this rod as, “The ultimate all-purpose Lindy rig; light bottom bouncing, slip bobber and straight line crankbait trolling.”

The fishing reels were  Shimano Spheros 4000FA s.  This is a quality light-medium spinning reel designed to withstand the elements of saltwater. 

2) The fishing line I like using is the sensitive and strong Power Pro.  It’s a quality small diameter braided line.  I rig my Spheros 4000FA reels with 20-lb test Power Pro braided line.  

3) The mud-minnow is a member of the killifish family, a brackish water baitfish.  The best place to find mud-minnows is at The Yellow Bluff Marina.  Raburn, Yellow Bluff’s Dock Master, actually maintains the best supply of live mud-minnows on the Georgia Coast.  He catches them in small baitfish traps in the tiny creeks of the surrounding marsh.  When the water is high enough, the mud-minnows live inside the flooded marsh grass.

Thanks Henry for sharing your questions.  

Department Of Having A Good Time,

Captain Wild Bill 

                        1.5-hours              2.5-hours            4-hours (Blackbeard Island)

2-people             100.                      150.                         250.

3-people             125.                      175.                         275.

4-people             150.                      200.                         300.

5-people             175.                      225.                         325.    

6-people             200.                      250.                         350.

Trips can be creative to include sunrise, and romantic sunset and moonlight cruises, too.  Snack and beverages can be arranged.  Water taxi service is available to the secluded beaches of the islands of St. Catherines and Ossabaw.        

About Captain Wild Bill 

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Fishing Trips around the Georgia barrier islands of Ossabaw, St. Catherines, Blackbeard and Sapelo, rates include supplying rods & reels, tackle, ice and bottled water: 

                        ½ Day (4 hrs)   ¾ Day (6 hrs)   Full Day (8 hrs)           

1-person          250.                     300.                        350.

2-people          275.                     325.                        375.

3-people          350.                     400.                        450.

Charile Keener holds up a 6.5-lb redfish he caught while visiting Yellow Bluff during 4th of July weekend. Charlie is from St. Petersburg, FL.

This time of year it’s easy to understand why marine biologists proclaim Georgia’s estuaries as nature’s richest breeding grounds along the east coast.  Our warm waters are teaming with critters. 

On outgoing tide, as the water eases out of the vibrant green marsh grass, you’ll see small, bait size, white shrimp skipping along the edges of the bank, schools of finger mullet moving with the current and larger mullet leaping and splashing back into the tidal water.  

Egrets and herons, in different sizes and colors, join the action as they stalk the bank for an easy meal.  Little wharf crabs scamper along the floating docks dodging our feet, and the larger sought after blue crabs are well fed and full of meat. 

Do you like to eat stuffed flounder?  Right now we are catching both the flounder and the crab to stuff them with. 

This time of year the marsh and creeks are alive.  Fishermen are finding lots of action as July is notorious for producing small seatrout and small redfish, but, the large ones are here too.  Hard pulling reds over 5-lbs. and trout up to 3-lbs can be had. 

I love the summer, fishing early mornings and late afternoons.  Midday is perfect for a refreshing boat ride, a cooling swim or enjoying a relaxing breeze on a secluded beach of a beautiful Georgia barrier island.