Article by Dale Timmons
It’s hard to believe that it is the first of September, and summer is pretty much gone. For many anglers, September means red drum season, and those of you who know me know that I have chased “big red” in the surf for many years. I do okay catching drum from the beach, and I love it, but there is another red drum fishery that is starting to get notice in this area, and that is a boat fishery on the nearby ocean shoals and inshore wrecks. Last year quite a few reds were taken this way. Places like Great Gull, Little Gull, Fenwick Shoal and the Mud Hole, along with some shoals and sloughs without names can all produce a drum bite. Capt. Mark Sampson on his charter boat “Fish Finder” even caught several reds while fishing for sand tiger sharks with a biologist who was doing some sort of study. Oddly enough, the drum that Mark caught ate a whole large bunker on one of his “blocker” rigs with wire leaders, something that would make a surf fisherman red drum purist cringe. Anyway, from now on for several weeks, possibly through October, the shoals and inshore wrecks could produce red drum. The drum will move in and out, from these areas to the surf and back, so it is a hit-and-miss type fishery, depending on wind direction and where the bait is.
This type of drum fishing is basically a “dead bait on the bottom” process, though there is nothing to keep a red from eating a small live bait such as a spot, croaker, bunker, mullet or bluefish. Generally though, the head or a chunk of one of these same baits will be all you need. Fresh is best, though frozen will catch. If you can get some live peelers or even hard crabs, half a crab is also an excellent drum bait. They will also eat clams or squid. In fact, Mr. Red is pretty much an “equal opportunity crusher”. The trick is to get the bait under his nose.
The rigs for this kind of fishing are fairly simple. The easiest is probably a three-way swivel rig. Simply tie on a three-way swivel, about a 1/0 size, put a snap on one eye for the sinker, and finish with a hook on the other eye, with about a 12 to 18-inch 80 or 100 lb. mono leader. Remember, all red drum over 27 inches must be released, so I would use a circle hook in the 7/0 to 10/0 range. There are several good ones, and every drum fisherman has his or her favorites, but use a quality hook.
Another favorite rig is the “fish finder” rig. If you fish with a loose drag and the “clicker” on with a conventional reel, or just back off the drag on a spinner, this rig allows the fish to pick up the bait and move off without feeling the weight of the sinker, though I’m not sure it really even matters. You can use a commercially made “fish finder” slide or just a snap swivel, but basically you put the slide or swivel on the line first, then a plastic bead, then tie on the leadered hook, which has a barrel or crane swivel that you have already tied or crimped on. The bead is to protect your knot from the fish finder. The sinker is attached to the fish finder slide. I would use a pyramid sinker to hold bottom in the current. In recent years, surf anglers have gone to short leaders of six inches or less, mainly to get better casting distance, but since that is not a factor here, the longer leader may be better to protect against chafing from a drum’s heavy scales and fins. You can use the short leader, however, and some anglers feel it helps to keep the fish from swallowing the hook, but if you do I would recommend a “shock” leader of 40 or 50 lb. mono to protect from chafing. To add a shocker, the strongest connection is probably to first tie a short double line with either a Bimini Twist or a Triple Surgeon’s Loop, then attach the heavier mono to this loop with a Bristol or No-Name knot. Tie your leadered hook to the shocker with a Palomar knot. Good luck, and if you do get lucky enough to catch a “channel bass” this fall, remember to treat her gently…
Kind of strange that the croaker bite in the bays has developed so late this season. A friend of mind told me he was throwing his cast net for bunker in an inside lagoon last week, and he had so many croakers he couldn’t pick up the net, so he had to open it and let them go. Another friend down in Willis Wharf, VA said they had just really started to bite there last week. Usually by this time the hardheads are leaving the bays and moving to the ocean shoals. Oh well, as usual, who can figure what a fish will do or not do…just enjoy it while it lasts…which may not be too long…
A gentleman e-mailed me last week, and among other things, he wanted to know what wind is good for fishing, and what wind is bad? I’m afraid there aren’t any simple answers to this one. In the spring, for instance, a southwest wind can be good because it brings warm air and warms the water temps. Later in the summer, however, the same southwest, if it blows too hard and for too long, can “turn the water over” and actually cause water temps to drop drastically. Another phrase you often hear goes something like, “wind from the east, fish will bite the least.” Sometimes, though, I like a nice easterly wind, especially when I’m fishing the beach. An east wind that makes the surf “just rough enough” can bring red drum, kingfish or other species in to the beach. A light easterly wind brings warm, clean water inshore, and that can also bring good flounder fishing in the bays and inlets. On the opposite side, in the fall, when cold fronts move through, the hard northwest winds they bring not only muddy the water, they push the warm water offshore and drop water temps. On the other hand, once they calm down and we are left with just a light northwest wind and cool, crisp mornings, I have had some excellent striper fishing in the inlet over the years. A hard northwester may also make things “flat” under the beach, but offshore it can be a bear when you can see those “peaks” and a cloud bank on the horizon. I guess we all have our favorite wind directions, but as you can gather from what I said above, the best winds are when we don’t have too much of it, no matter where it comes from…
Contact Dale Timmons at [email protected] or call 410-629-1191.
