DaParson's Fishing Adventures

Here is a Video of Saturday's Trip We had a great day at the Jetty today. Normally we don't fish on Saturdays, but today we had a special guest on the boat with us. Mike Varnell, one of the great deacons of Bayshore Baptist was able to head out with us today. We have been trying to get Mike out for quite some time and Saturday was the day. Mike enjoys fishing, but had never been on a trip quite like this. We got on the water about 7:30 and found a strong incoming tide. Water was about 63 degrees, wind was mild out of the south and the moon phase was half-moon. We fished Moon Rock exclusively and caught all fish on cracked crab. Mike hooked this Huge Black Drum - tipping the scales at well over 50lbs. This by far was the biggest fish Mike had ever caught. He did a great job fighting this fish - the current added fight to all the fish today. You get a little bit better idea of the size of this big ugly! On the day, Mike caught 4 nice drum. He commented that he certainly ...

We had a fair day of fishing out on the Jetty. We moved around several times, but ended up with 4 Bull Reds and 1 Big Ugly Drum. The tide was tepid when we arrived but starting moving out later in the morning. The water was 61 degrees. There was a full moon the night before - and the day started out with us being under high pressure - so both of those probably affected the bite. Wayne caught this Big Ugly Drum on a piece of cut shad. The Drum tipped the scale a tad over 50 lbs. Wayne put on quite a show fighting this drum. You would have thought he was on "Hunt for Big Fish" with Larry Dahlberg! Which by the way is one of my favorite shows! Poor little Dewey wasn't catching any fish - not even hard heads - I had been catching some whiting with a shrimp-tipped gold spoon - and I felt ever so sorry for him (he started whining ... grin) so I handed him my rod and he caught this whopper! (laughing) We cut up the whiting we were catching and used then for bait and ...

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...

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...

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...

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 ...

Starting the New Year Right! Dewey, Dewey Jr and I headed out to the Jetty today - January 1st, 2007! It was in the mid 40's when we launched - with a North Wind about 10. It was quite chilly. We fished Shrimp Boat, Tarpon 2 and then the Moon Rock catching several Whiting and 4 Bull Reds. Of coarse, it goes without saying that Dewey caught his Hardhead! While we were fishing, we wondered how many Bull Reds we caught during 2006. I ran a quick tally and the number is between 170 and 175 Bull Reds!! We also caught a 51" King, 46" Cobia, many Jacks and literally a ton of Big Ugly Black Drum! Hopefully this year will be even better and I will be able to add a Tarpon to the list! Dewey Jr and his nice Red. This was a great female bull red. It went about 44-45 inches! Here is the first Bull Red of the Day. And yes, it was that cold! Here was the 2nd Bull Red I caught January 1st, 2007! He, along with all the Reds today, were released. Here was the last fish of the da...

It was a beautiful day at the Jetty. Water was 48.2 degrees - Wind was light and variable - waves were virtually flat. Tide was very slow. We fished Moon Rock, Tarpon One, Honey Hole and the Shrimp Boat. Most of the action came late in the day at Shrimp Boat. Bait was fresh whiting, cut shad and shrimp. On the day there were 5 Bull Reds, 2 Slot Reds, 1 Monster Black Drum, 8-10 Puppy Drum and many whiting, croaker, sand trout. Miracle of Miracles ... Dewey Sr. didn't catch any hardheads!