NCangler

Originally Posted by Linesider2

I finally made it out this weekend to look for the old drum and was able to get two during the weekend. Me and a buddy went out early in the morning Saturday and Sunday. We only landed one each morning and I was lucky enough to land both. I'm sure he'll catch them all next time! These two are only the second and third I've caught. I've been looking forward to this time since I caught my first big-un two years ago. Couldn't go last year because Hurricane Irene decided to complicate things by starting a fire in my mother-in-laws stand alone garage and burning our boat. Bought a new one this year and oh man I have been thinking about this season.

Both mornings we started out real shallow in 3 feet because a couple weeks ago another friend latched onto a big drum at this same location with a gulp shrimp on a jig and popping cork. Fought it by driving the boat to gain back line and then the line was cut by the motor right after I saw it next to the boat. Too bad my buddy didn't get a chance to see it but I sure did. Chasing this drum reminded me of the guys chasing tarpon in the keys. I have no experience chasing Tarpon in the Neuse but I'm sure it's the same.

This weekend we played the waiting game while constantly checking and replacing the bait. The bait we had was mostly spot from the flounder jubillee that happend a couple weeks ago at the beach right in front of the house on theother side of the river from Oriental before heading into Adams Creek. Another side note: I was going to post a video of that night but I accidently deleted it from my phone. My wife posted it on facebook and I'll post it here if we can copy it back to the computer. It was very bizarre to see all the fish. Fish of all type. It was mostly flounder and eel but plenty of spot and pinfish. We also saw some lizard fish (which all were already dead), a couple of pompano looking fish and white perch (I think). We only saw 1 puppy drum and 1 trout in the hundreds and hundreds of fish. I went back less than an hour later to get more photos of the event and the beach was CLEAN. Only a few flounder and eel occasionaly but man I wish I would have witnessed the mass migration out.

Saturday's fish came on the very first bait and very first cast of the first rod. I had it in the rod holder for a minute before taking it out to reel it back in to adjust the line spacing to the boats position. I felt a tap tap and then it was ON. What a feeling. The Sunday fish was even better after having to wait over an hour. It fought three times longer, more runs, more bulldogging and maybe a pound or two bigger and an inch or two longer. I am hooked I tell ya. We paid special attention to getting the fish in the boat quick, getting a picture and then back in the water to revive and release. I'll start releasing in the water once I've caught a few more! Looking forward to Labor day to do it all over again. I do need to figure out how to find the larger menhaden and mullet in the river but I'll be sure to buy some as backup.v

On Saturday, got back in late morning to get my wife, mother-in-law and her boyfriend so we could boat over to Oriental for lunch. Didn't know the Tarpon tourney was taking place. I had the pleasure of meeting and talking to Capt.Dave for a few minutes. I haven't seen any reports on the tourney but hope everyone caught and released at least one Silver King.

It's been a good year for catching mostly trout and some rat reds and undersized flounder but the Old Drum is the DEAL!!