Black Drum on the Eastern Shore.

[esfishdoc]

It feels good to post a fishing report after a long winter. I’ve been working too much I think and I haven’t been out this spring except for a boat ride.

I didn’t make it out Sunday as I had hoped for, but today was perfect. I had spent the night in Norfolk last night so that I could deliver Karen to the airport at 510AM…. Ouch… not only was it outrageously early but it cut into turkey hunting. I got a couple more hours sleep after dropping her off (she went to NJ for a conference) and then on the way home stopped in at Chris’s Bait and Tackle for some chowders and hooks for drum and some 3 ½ inch 12 gauge 2 ounce #5’s for the turkey I hope to shoot in the next couple of days.

I’m not sure what time I left Willis Wharf other than “close” to 3. Low tide was listed as 440 at the Machipongo Inlet. I had a pleasant ride out to the fishing spot.

There were one or two boats there when I arrived and I dropped anchor and had the stern in 15 feet of water. I started rigging some rods that had last seen striper action in December. One by one I got 3 lines out.

I had picked up several sharks during the next hour and broke off a couple of leaders that shouldn’t have broken. Turns out I was using some dry rotted 80lb leader material that had probably died a slow death in the sun. I retied all my hooks with some fresher material. I’m glad I did.

About the time the water was starting to flood around 540 I had a run and set the hook. At first I thought it was a big shark the way it was running and shaking its head. But…it wanted to stay down. That rod was on the light side and I had 30 lb mono and a questionable leader so I didn’t want to muscle it. I finally saw brown!

I got it in the net on the first scoop and boated my first Black Drum of the year. It measured 38 inches. It had swallowed the hook so it was my fish for the day. If I had lip hooked it I might have thrown it back and fished for a bigger one but all in all I was very happy. I had plenty of time to stop and take some pictures and get back home to hose the boat down in daylight.

From the looks of things this is just the beginning. There should be some big ones on the way.


Here is a link to pics from the afternoon... some boats.. some birds... and a really bad pic of me and my fish.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/33755787@N ... 9465/show/

 

[Megabyte]

Excellent report Richard!!!
Congratulations! 8)

 

[esfishdoc]

FWIW, no need to kill an unwanted gut hooked fish. Using steel hooks? I hope so, as they will rust out. We've cleaned fish and found hooks completely embedded and grown over w/skin.

I figure since I can't tell what kind of injury it has sustained I'm keeping it... it is not unwanted....

 

[B-Faithful]

Glad to hear you are getting out Richard. Arent the smaller drum better eating? Less likely to have worms..

 

[esfishdoc]

Glad to hear you are getting out Richard. Arent the smaller drum better eating? Less likely to have worms..

Most people say exactly that.... however...

The worms are always in the tail section and they are easy to see. If you don't want to eat the worms they are easily removed.

I'm convinced a lot of people say the smaller ones are better eating because that's all they've caught.

I've caught and prepared 70lb drum and served it up with no complaints and no knowledge of the age or size of the fish.

I like the big ones. I'm only going to kill 2 or 3 black drum a year regardless of the size. Fried drum ribs are to die for around here and the bigger fish have bigger ribs. With bigger slabs of meat it is easy to select special cuts for different methods: chunks for frying, thin fillets for blackening, scraps for drum cakes.... and one big head makes gallons of fish head soup. I also collect the teeth and otoliths.

From a conservation standpoint I don't know which is better..... assuming you've made the decision to kill a fish..... and assuming many of them are female... is it better to kill a young one with many potential years of breeding or one that is toward the end of life... this I don't know.

Richard

 

[arlyn9391]

It feels good to post a fishing report after a long winter. I’ve been working too much I think and I haven’t been out this spring except for a boat ride.

I didn’t make it out Sunday as I had hoped for, but today was perfect. I had spent the night in Norfolk last night so that I could deliver Karen to the airport at 510AM…. Ouch… not only was it outrageously early but it cut into turkey hunting. I got a couple more hours sleep after dropping her off (she went to NJ for a conference) and then on the way home stopped in at Chris’s Bait and Tackle for some chowders and hooks for drum and some 3 ½ inch 12 gauge 2 ounce #5’s for the turkey I hope to shoot in the next couple of days.

I’m not sure what time I left Willis Wharf other than “close” to 3. Low tide was listed as 440 at the Machipongo Inlet. I had a pleasant ride out to the fishing spot.

There were one or two boats there when I arrived and I dropped anchor and had the stern in 15 feet of water. I started rigging some rods that had last seen striper action in December. One by one I got 3 lines out.

I had picked up several sharks during the next hour and broke off a couple of leaders that shouldn’t have broken. Turns out I was using some dry rotted 80lb leader material that had probably died a slow death in the sun. I retied all my hooks with some fresher material. I’m glad I did.

About the time the water was starting to flood around 540 I had a run and set the hook. At first I thought it was a big shark the way it was running and shaking its head. But…it wanted to stay down. That rod was on the light side and I had 30 lb mono and a questionable leader so I didn’t want to muscle it. I finally saw brown!

I got it in the net on the first scoop and boated my first Black Drum of the year. It measured 38 inches. It had swallowed the hook so it was my fish for the day. If I had lip hooked it I might have thrown it back and fished for a bigger one but all in all I was very happy. I had plenty of time to stop and take some pictures and get back home to hose the boat down in daylight.

From the looks of things this is just the beginning. There should be some big ones on the way.


Here is a link to pics from the afternoon... some boats.. some birds... and a really bad pic of me and my fish.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/33755787@N ... 9465/show/

Fishing is a nice activity especially during holiday and summer. Fishing is the activity of catching fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping. :wink:



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