Posts

Showing posts from February, 2007

Black Drum Run: How To Vent Black Drum

Image
Venting the air bladder on Bull Reds and Big Black Drum. Right now the Black Drum Run is on. While at the jetty today - I saw numerous drum caught - pictures taken - then dumped back in the water - floating belly up because they did not empty the air bladder. I thought it would be good to post instructions on how to do this so we can assure the survival rate of these fish. Below are the instructions. What I have found that works great is a Turkey Spice Injector - I bought mine at Academy for $3.50. It works great! Here are directions: Venting trapped gases from a fish caught from deep water Use the largest hypodermic needle you can find (#10 or larger) and remove the plunger. Insert hypodermic needle at a 45 degree angle, under a scale, near the tip of the pectoral fin and squeeze the fish gently. You will hear the trapped gases escaping. Make a needle clearing tool from a piece of stainless leader wire to clear any tissue, etc. from the needle and leave this tool in the need

Monday, February 26th, 2007

Image
Dewey, Wayne and I had an opportunity to sneak out on the water and try and chase some Black and Red Drum down. It was a beautiful day with the winds out of the South at 5 to 10 early, then increased to about 15 later in the morning. We had a good day on the water. We fished several spots at the end of the Jetty - both in and outside of the jetty. Although the fishing wasn't overwhelming - we ended up with 6 Bull Reds and 7 Big Black Drum. The water was about 60 degrees and the tide was really swirling at the end of the Jetty. The Bull Reds were caught on cut shad - and the Black Drum were caught on cracked crab. All were vented and released. By the way, we saw several fish that had been caught and released without being vented. These fish floated on the top - and the SeaGulls peck their eyes and orifices eventually killing the fish. For those who read this blog - there are instructions on how to vent Black Drum and Bull Reds! Make sure you do! It saves them to contin

February 23rd - Foggy Foogy Day

Image
Dewey and I braved the fog for a fishing trip Friday Morning. The forecast was to be in the mid 60's - with winds of 10-15 mph wind - and possible fog. Somehow, it didn't sound that bad. So off we went. When we were on the water, it was mid 50's - East Wind 15-20mph - in the middle of a fog bank. Quite honestly, it was pretty miserable. We GPS'd our way through the fog to the jetty - fished for about 1 hour - water was about 56 with a strong incoming tide. We fished cracked crab and cut shad on the bottom - about 28 foot of water at the Moon Rock. We had 2 runs - one came unbuttoned and the other was a nice Bull Red. After a cup of hot coffee, I mention to Dewey that we could either sit around in the "wonderful weather" and wait for another run or we could call it a day - head back in - and sit in the heated seats of my Durango. We choose to leave and head back in. It was one of those days that we probably wouldn't have gone had we been fishing i

February 5th, 2007 - Water Too Cold

Image
It had been quite a while since we have been able to get out on the water. It was about this time last year that the Black Drum Run was getting started. With the recent weather about 10 degrees colder than normal - the water was about 51 degrees - and a bit too cold for the Run to begin. We used cracked crab and cut shad on the bottom and didn't pick up much at all. We fished a slack and then incoming tide. We moved around quite a bit trying to trigger something - fishing at Moon Rock, Shrimp Boat, Tarpon One and then back towards the Moon Rock - and for all that effort, we picked up 1 Bull Red and 2 Black Drum. Here is Dewey Jr with a nice Bull Red. It was the only Red caught on the day. Dewey Sr. traded in his "Hard Head" fishing skills for "Black Drum" fishing skills! I had the pleasure of taking Coach Leonard, my Son Nathan's Basketball Coach out today. Even though it was a slow slow day, he caught this nice Black Drum! Hopefully, we can get out