[ToeJoe]

Managed to get out a couple nights this week from about 5 to 7:30. Incoming tide using shrimp, bloodworm, & clam fishbites as well as cut spot. The shrimp and bloodworm fishbites worked well. Couldn't keep the spot on the hook long enough to tell - tons of bait-stealers. Both nights were pretty active especially for small blues. Probably caught 30 or so. Got 3 redfish with the biggest just under 18" but more than 17"!!! Figures, right? All went back. Got a juvenile black drum, and a few spot, too. Fall is looking good.

So, funny thing around here when I say reds folks look at me cross-eyed. Call it a puppy drum and they get it, though. In Florida we called them reds more than puppy drum or channel bass.

Fish on!
Tj

 

[Dr. Bubba]

In Virginia they are called by their real name - red drum, or just drum. And sometimes channel bass, which is holdover from the earlier 1900s.

Our NC brothers and sisters coined puppy drum, yearling, and drum (or old drum/old warrior) to classify them by their size. Many in VA also use this.

Black drum are simply called black drum.

 

[ToeJoe]

Maybe so...

In Virginia they are called by their real name - red drum, or just drum. And sometimes channel bass, which is holdover from the earlier 1900s.

Our NC brothers and sisters coined puppy drum, yearling, and drum (or old drum/old warrior) to classify them by their size. Many in VA also use this.

Black drum are simply called black drum.

Maybe so, maybe so; however sciaenops ocellatus (Red drum) are even called Redfish and Channel Bass on the VMRC website. https://webapps.mrc.virginia.gov/public/reports/swrecfishingrules.php Sixteen years in Clearwater, FL has the name Red, or Redfish imprinted on me.

As far as black drum go, I've found most folks around here can't seem to identify them very well at all especially juveniles. Despite some really obvious differences like teeth and dorsal fins, I've seen young black drum being kept because the angler thought it was a sheepshead. Or maybe they new better and figured I didn't.

Regards,
Tj

 

[Dr. Bubba]

Must be a FL guy on the VMRC staff.....

On the other hand, poachers will say anything to justify what they do.

 

[ToeJoe]

Can only teach those willing to learn...

Must be a FL guy on the VMRC staff.....

On the other hand, poachers will say anything to justify what they do.

Well to the former I'd say somebody was trying to get it right, and to the latter I'd say that is a fact. ;-)

Tj

 

[GotchaMack]

If we get through winter without too many harsh cold snaps, next year's puppy drum run will be epic. This year class of fish that is currently 15-17" or thereabouts is about the most prolific I can recall. I just hope they dont all get slaughtered next year because if people can release more than they keep you will have a strong red drum fishery for many many years to come.

 

[Fish'n Phil]

TJ...maybe try some mullet? Spot and menhaden are easily removed by bait stealers. When it gets cooler the bait stealers should be less of an issue.

 

[44361]

I was in Gulf Shores, AL. recently and they are called reds. Any thing over the Al. slot 26" is called a "bull".

 

[Dr. Bubba]

I'll start calling them bull reds when they start growing horns...

btw....the females are larger than the males....

 

[757_Fisherman]

Nice report!!! Where do you fish by the Lesner?

 

[Tom Powers]

If we get through winter without too many harsh cold snaps, next year's puppy drum run will be epic. This year class of fish that is currently 15-17" or thereabouts is about the most prolific I can recall. I just hope they dont all get slaughtered next year because if people can release more than they keep you will have a strong red drum fishery for many many years to come.

Stellar red drum year classe and a few mild winters mean three years of keeper fish then they move through the slot. When they move through the slot they move off shore until they reach bull red size and return to spawn.

My hopes are with yours.

I still have not figured out what it takes for them to have a successful spawn.

 

[Dr. Bubba]

successful spawn: GMack touched on the most important thing around here. Depends on winter.

All these 15-17 inch fish your seeing now were born last summer. They overwinter, and the ones that avoid freezing water and predation are making their first trip out of the Bay now. Some will only make it to Lynnhaven or Rudee and try to overwinter there. Yorktown hot ditch will hold some too.

I wonder how many make it, even in a good year like this?