Vernal Reds

For me, it is one of the most anticipated times of the year.  

Big.

Red.

 Drum.

 Roaming the flats of the Eastern Shore...

marauding...

annihilating...

leaving slicks of oily remnants in their wake... 

It's just a matter of finding the time 

to find them.

So far, I've only crossed the CBBT twice this season.  Luckily, I was able to find them both times.  On the first day, the weatherman's magic 8-ball was wrong again.  The wind stuck around too long and the rain showed up hours ahead of schedule.  However the water clarity was good enough to still spot schools at times.  The side scanner unit came in really handy though for JBrooks, WillyRags, LuckyLockhart and yours truly.

I found the school 4 or 5 times that day.  A few times, I couldn't have seen them without the Hummingbird 698ci HD si, and a couple of times my eyes saw them before the unit.  The first encounter was early in the morning with the sun in our eyes and wind on our face.  We spread out to cover more water.  I noticed a long diagonal marking on my screen to the right and before I knew it I was paddling right over it.  Then all of a sudden the water erupts violently about 40 feet in front of me.  I spooked em and several large reds exploded on the surface.  The wind caught my 5" paddle tail before it could get to the target area twice but Jeff took the cue and paddled up until he could get a good cast.  He hooked up, but broke off.  Jay was paddling near where the top end of the diagonal marking would go and hooked up a minute later.

Jay Brooks 47"ish Red Drum

We lost the school after that, but we knew they couldn't have gone far.

With the wind being stronger than expected, the water wasn't exactly stand up friendly.  However the Predator 13 was still stable enough for me to get up and take a look around.  And even with the clouds moving in, the polarization on my Maui Jim's cut through and I was able to find the school a couple of times.  After I pulled up a 48"er, Jeff Lockhart got one at 46"ish.

48"

As the rain showed up, I relied on the side imaging unit again.  After covering a good amount of water, the blank screen would suddenly get lit up with marks and I tried my best to choreograph which way my buddies should cast.  We all hooked up, lost fish, and hooked up again on the same school.  At one point we had 4 on at the same time.  I landed one more at 46", William Ragulsky got one at 48" and Jeff scored a 51"er. 

I ended up finding another small school and watched a big fish follow my lure to the boat, but ended up spooking.  All in all, it was a great first trip out for the big reds.

My second trip was a short one.  I had strict orders from the boss lady to be back at a certain time.  The sun was out and the wind wasn't too bad, but once I paddled out to the flat, I realized how dirty the water was.  Again, I was glad I brought the Humminbird side scan unit.  Normally it would have become a troll and hope kind of day, but I actually found a school using the imager and casted to them instead of trolling.  I only landed one though before I had to call it quits.

41"

I'm hoping to go again, 

but you know how life goes...

Til the Break of Dawn

10pm Friday night and Rudee inlet was completely deserted.  Slick calm water and a dense fog made for an other-worldly ambiance as I took the first paddle strokes of my new Ocean Kayak Ultra 4.7.  At 15 and a half feet long, it's meant more for open water rather than a small inlet, but I had to try it out.  The acceleration and smooth glide had me geekin' to say the least.  A full review and rigging post up will be up in the near future.

I wasn't quite sure what the plan was that night but I figured, like a party that I wasn't sure of, I can always leave and go home early.  I ended up wildin' out until 9:40 the next morning.  As long as I was back by noon, the boss lady was ok with it.  So I hit up the lights first after slowly navigating through the fog.  I was mildly entertained by small bluefish on little grubs n jigheads but thought about leaving if that was all Rudee had to offer.  I checked a few other lights with little improvement until I found one with bigger shapes cruising around.  I immediately recognized them as schoolie stripers and just as I expected, my paddletail got crushed as I swam it just under the surface.  I pulled two off the light then they disappeared.  After paddling around, trolling, checking other lights, and messing with more small blues, I came back to the same light and the stripers were there again swiping at little minnows.  Again, I danced with a couple more before they would shy away.  I repeated this process until I was satisfied with 6 stripers up to 23", all fat, strong, healthy, and released.  By now it was about 2:30 am and I was thinking about peacin' out but then I heard a massive splash through the fog.  Fast forward 4 more hours and I ended up with 4 or 5 blues in the upper 20" to lower 30" range with the biggest going 34".  I also had one on that felt really nice but I couldn't get her to join me in my new ride.

So as color streaked toward the east more and more people showed up.  Before I knew it, it was down right crowded.  As I paddled along, I heard my name and saw someone waving me over through the fog.  It was Ryan Clark with a few really nice flounder up to 22".

He found a good bite and started throwing a flyrod with sinking line after that.  Not too long, he had an 18"er on his own fly.

I'm not one to leave a hot bite, so I threw a little paddletail on 1/4oz jighead and...

31" Red

Red Drum Chamber of Death

Shortly after that, I finished off my night/morning with a 17" flounder.

Bluefish, Stripers, Red Drum and Flounder....
I'd say the Ultra 4.7 maiden voyage was a success.

Tardy to the Drum Party

I was actually caught off guard.  After finding the right time to ask the boss lady if I could go for big reds this weekend, she looked at me with a sharp glare... "It's not that I don't want you to go.  I'm just so tired of you coming home and whining like a baby about getting skunked again and again."  Cringing from the salt that just got dumped on my festering wound I thought "so that's a yes?" 

This would be my 7th trip in a month.  Many Eastern Shore regulars as well as several first timers watched me strike out over and over as their reports of successful trips, I admit, drove me wild with jealousy.  The ill-fated timing... that one bad knot... the enslaving wind forecasts... and all the tiny on-the-water decisions that cut me with every could-have-been replayed themselves as my frustration got worse and worse.

But with so many friends cheering me on, I finally made it to the big drum party.

Photo courtesy of Joe Underwood ©2013

An entourage showed up at the Wise Point boat ramp on Memorial Day morning and we scouted the area thoroughly.  In the mix was mister YakAttack himself, Luther Cifers, and his son Tyler who had just graduated two days before.  Luther was on a mission to get his soon-to-be Virginia Tech Hokie on a big red. 

One of the stars of this spring's drum run, Joe Underwood, hooked up first on the troll.  I immediately turned around and paddled toward the school.  After spooking two reds right in front of me, I tossed my swimbait passed the area they were going and hooked up with the quickness.  It shot straight at me as I furiously reeled in the slack line.  I saw the giant go under the kayak and rush off in the opposite direction I was headed.  While spinning the kayak, I thumbed the spool a little too hard and *pop*.  Expletives exploded out of my mouth as I slammed the rod tip into the water.  Immediately, I grabbed the trolling rod and start casting, but no dice.  After things settled, Joe landed a nice 47"er and I started feeling a little déjà vu from a few weeks ago where I busted off a big red while others landed theirs. 

But the day was young and the search resumed.  Joe was flanked by Luther on one side and me on the other when he made visual contact.  Since he already landed one, he let his true character shine by backing off and letting Luther, me, and a few others take our shots.  I couldn't see the fish from my angle, but I noticed a difference in the surface ripples and put my swimbait out in front of it.  I hooked up again.  And broke off again, even with looser drag.  I didn't have time to lament at that moment since I knew the fish were there.  An almost panicky feeling came over me as I grabbed my other rod.  I fan casted the area and paddled in the direction the school was going, but again, we lost them.  After lingering in the area, a little while later William Ragulsky picked up a nice one on the troll and much to Luther's delight, Tyler got a 42" while casting.  

CONGRATS, TYLER!
Photo courtesy of Luther Cifers ©2013

I decided to put away the rod and reel that broke off twice.  After putting a lot of pressure on that 30# braid over the last two years (e.g. big reds and sharks at Sandbridge) I should have changed it out earlier.  My 50# spinning set up became the go-to and when I hooked up while blind casting, it held up to the test.  It was one of those hook ups where I hadn't even started cranking yet.  Just as I was closing the bail, the line came tight and the acappella from my drag grabbed everyone's attention.  Part of me wanted to tighten it up, but after the last two hook ups, to say that I was nervous would be an understatement.  When I finally had it in my lap and stretched it to the end of my 4ft ruler, a sigh of relief came over not only me, but everyone else there who knew about the overweight monkey on my back.  

Photos courtesy of Joe Underwood ©2013

As the day progressed, the wind's crescendo put a sour note on our search for more big reds.  Alex Britland and I met the notorious Wicked Pissah himself, Joe Maccini, in the back of a creek slinging little puppy drum with his spinnerbait on every cast.  

We crashed his party of one and proceeded to hootin' and hollerin' with him about how fun the little reds were on light tackle.  The action was literally non-stop.  Had I not forgotten the tagging kit, I would have ran out of tags fairly quickly.  I even pulled out the big 10wt, which was intended for the big girls, but was still fun with little reds up to 19".  

Loading up at the end of the day and not cursing the parking tag hanging from the rear view mirror was much needed.  When I pulled up at home, I was half way tempted to pretend like I didn't catch anything just to see how my wife would react, but my big goofy grin gave it away.  I know we're in it together when her sigh of relief from checking one off the list is as satisfying as my own.

Too bad there's no rest for the weary as I'll be after number 4 soon.