Bang the Drum Slowly

[Big Mike]

Ron and I fished the slower lower this morning specifically looking for trout. My day started fairly slowly with just a couple large perch while he was catching 16-18” stripers. As it was approaching low tide we had no problem staying along the edges of grass beds we came upon. At one of the beds my rod went rocketing back in my hand and I thought for sure a CNR, but I felt head shakes. After a spirited fight I landed this beautiful 17 3/4” red drum, just short of legal.



About 10 minutes later I passed through the same area when my rod rocketed again. This time I knew it was a red. Got it on board, measured it at 19” and was thinking about some blackened red fish when it did a Houdini and flipped out of my grip over the side. Didn’t even stay around long enough for a picture. Probably for the best.

Ron did get a beautiful, fat 20”speck but I couldn’t find one to complete my slam.


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[UnkleRob2020]

Wow...such a beautiful fish...i have never seen one red like that in person. I caught a couple small ones last year but they were silver (at least I think they were puppy drum). I do not think I ever had fish envy until joining this forum. Knowing that real people are catching these fish locally makes it seem almost attainable even though I am much less skilled than most of you.

[J.A. Veil]

Nice catches Mike. I hope that some of those puppies migrate this far north again like they did last summer. My first Severn redfish last year came on July 31.

Unkle Rob - the reds I caught around Annapolis last summer were much more silvery than the one pictured in Mike's post. The main thing is to look for one or more dark spots on the tail.

[ski357]

Mike-awesome looking fish! Thanks for the report, sorry to hear about the 19". I hope to run into such quality fish this evening. I saw a large pod of feeding dolphins by St. Inigoes last night. UnkleRob-the surest way to catch fish is having a line in the water. This forum is a great asset and the members are generous with their knowledge and time.

[scorchy]

Two thumbs up on the reds. I'm thinking that when I retire, I should move a couple of hours south.

[bignose]

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I'm glad that you let that fish "escape.".
It was too pretty to eat.

[Big Mike]

Wow...such a beautiful fish...i have never seen one red like that in person. I caught a couple small ones last year but they were silver (at least I think they were puppy drum). I do not think I ever had fish envy until joining this forum. Knowing that real people are catching these fish locally makes it seem almost attainable even though I am much less skilled than most of you.

This fish looks particularly red due to a couple things in my favor. It was caught early so the sun was still low in the sky giving the light that reddish morning hue. I also make it a point to get my back to the sun and try to hold the fish so that it’s in the sun with minimal shadow. If I’d taken the picture straight down on the measuring board it would have been much more silver.

Don’t sell yourself short. I fish a lot, like 4-5 times a week. You won’t see me post that often because most trips are average or less. Every now and then the fishing gods smile on us and you get a post worthy day. If I had a GPS track of this day you would have seen Ron And I on the same mile long circuit within a 10 yard width as we tried to follow the grass. I happened to be in the right spot to catch these drum. Could have just as easily been Ron who passed through no more than 5 minutes before me on the first one. If I was to rate this day on quantity of fish it was average, it was the uniqueness of the catch that made it notable.