Half Full

I had a couple trips yesterday. . .  It was a tough day.   The puppy drum are starting to thin out.   They are also schooling up which makes it either epic or awful.  The morning trip consisted of a handful of small trout with a 19″ in the mix and a small flounder.  Searched for the drum for a couple hours but came up empty.

The afternoon we focused on drum.   They asked me at the dock how the morning trip went – my response was “I know where they aren’t”……  We went a little further south to see if we could hit the mother load.   A nice long drift produced only 1 sighting and 0 hookups.  Went over to try and catch a few trout but only came up with a couple dinks.  Finally found a couple drum at the end of the 4th quarter.  As the optimist would say – better then a skunk!    Thanks guys for working hard today.  Enjoyed the company and we couldn’t complain about the weather that’s for sure.

The Monaghan Crew

Headed out this morning with Patrick and his crew of 5 for some light tackle action.  Patrick has fished with me before , and last time it was very windy.   Well this morning we were greeted with 0 wind and blue bird skies.

First, we headed to the drum grounds.    Instead of a lot of small packs of fish, we now have a few big packs of fish.   We hit some schools and had a good time with those.  We threw our 6 fish in the box, released a few more, and changed gears.

We headed out in search of some trout and flounder.  We got to the next spot and popped a nice grey trout and a keeper speck in pretty short order.   Hung around that area and picked up some small trout and a few bluefish.

Made one more big move and found a bunch of small trout, flounder, and puppy drum.  We could have won the smallest slam category.   Patrick manages to pop a nice keeper flounder at the end of the trip.  I love ending on a good note.  Thanks guys – fun day

Jumbo Red

Another big ol pig from the beach.  If you are interested in hitting the fish from the sand I am offering guided trips!  Also, a reminder I will be moving my boat the the Elizabeth River on November 1.  Thanks for checking!

Blood Red Moon

The Big Reds have been around for a couple weeks now, but so has the rough conditions and NE wind.   We finally got some SW wind and a window to launch the kayaks and chase a big drum.  Matt and I launched off the beach at avalon with our heavy spinning gear, fresh spot, and some fish finder rigs.  We drifted for about 45 minutes and I finally came tight on my first big one of the season from the kayak.  It felt good to get back in the kayak for a sleigh ride!

Last night, my buddy Patrick and I headed up north to fish them from the sand.   We kayaked the baits out and locked into a couple studs!  It got a little breezy so we wrapped it up after we got what we needed. Beautiful evening with the bright full moon. Thanks for checking!

More Drum and a Tournament 1st place Trout

I had couple guys hop on Friday afternoon for a last minute charter before they headed back home.   The mission was  for them to each catch their first drum.   We headed out to the drum grounds and got to work.   It took a little time to find them but they each got there drum and released another.   We headed to the trout and caught a bunch of dinks and a flounder to round out the evening.  Fun day.

If you have followed my reports for the last 5 months you could see that I have been on the puppy drum every day.  So I fished the Manteo Rotary Inshore Slam Tournament yesterday.  My plan was to get my trout first, then my flounder, then save a little time at the end of the day to get a drum.   After picking through a bunch of small trout and flounder, I finally put a keeper flounder in the box and checked it off the list.  Kept grinding in the same area and got my keeper trout! I was stoked . . . Fist pumping!  I knew the trout was going to be tough, and it was.  It was only 11:30am – I had over 3 hours to catch a drum. No problem – so I thought

I got to the drum grounds and started casting.  I came up on a fish who was swimming with a ray.  Put it in his face and he inhaled it.  I fought him to the boat and he throws the hook right about 10 ft from me!  I was upset, but not too upset.  I had plenty of time and they were there.  I kept casting and casting . . . . and casting . . .  and casting.  2 hours went by without a bite.

I was starting to get nervous, should I stay and grind? should I try a new spot? I had some mullet . . . should I bait them?  I just kept doing what ive been doing for 4 months.  Covering ground.   Finally come tight on another fish, but this one makes it to the net. ONLY TO BE TOO BIG! NOO!! 28 inches and over the slot, DAMN!  Time was winding down and the realization was setting in they I won’t get my slam.  I was shocked.  Watched 1 more fish follow it and turn away , probably had grass on my lure.

It wasn’t a total loss – I did manage to take home 1st place in the trout division.   The final punch in the face was finding out that not a single slam was weighed in.  I knew given the tough conditions that if I could make a slam I would have a really good chance of being the only one.  Oh well, I’ll be back next year.  Thanks for checking!