# Finally



## Carolina Rebel (Aug 25, 2005)

I joined Pier and Surf years ago, while I had a summer job at a Jacksonville, NC warehouse during my time in college. I was and still am a finishing fanatic, and I wanted to get good at surf fishing. I had surf fished for years, with little more than pinfish and dogfish to show for it, and I knew the potential was there for more. I knew that there were people out there that, on a regular basis, caught big and desirable fish from the surf, and I wanted to be one of those guys. 

I might add, I was not a complete stranger to the red drum. On a vacation at Holden Beach when I was seven or eight years old, I caught a puppy drum. I was fishing mullet strips on a rod that my Dad would cast for me on a store-bought hi-lo wire rig with a 4ish ounce pyramid weight. The rod was a black 9 or 10 foot Daiwa with dark blue wraps, the reel was a big Daiwa Silverspin, and as I fished it throughout the weekend I was mostly uncertain of the cause of the jerking of the rod tip so I set the hook nearly every time a wave crashed on my line. Once though I set the hook and the line got VERY heavy, and I couldn't keep the rod tip up, and a little line even left the reel, so I yelled for Dad's help. He got the rod steadied, I got some line back, and after awhile he ran to the water and hoisted up my fish -- the puppy drum. They really aren't that tough, right?

Fast forward to my college years. No puppy drum since that first fish, and I decided the time was right. I planned a trip to an ideal spot, Cape Lookout, in late Spring when the drum would most certainly be feeding, and I even planned it with an experienced surf fishing friend from high school. We got to CaLo and couldn't get net any bait to save our lives. We drank a fair share though, and once my friend, drunk (my day to DD), after watching a good mock dogfight between an F-15 and F-16 overhead, walked to the edge of the water and picked up a lone, live finger mullet with his bare hand. We placed it in a bucket and drove to the jetty and before I could park the truck, he jumped out, grabbed his rod, and tossed the mullet into a hole by the jetty, and caught a 28" puppy drum. I cast to the same spot and caught dogfish, and a couple days later the trip wrapped up with no more drum. 

The next couple years saw days-long trips to Portsmouth, Ocracoke, and Hatteras during ideal times, fishing reasonable tackle, and no drum. After that came marriage for me, no more trips with my dedicated buddy, but annual trips to Topsail with my wife who is an avid surf angler in her own right. No amount of cut bait, live bait, fresh shrimp on the beach delivered a drum. 

Then came a new job teaching high school, less flexibility in vacation time, fewer beach trips. 

Then wife got pregnant, and no beach trip for over two years.

A couple weeks ago, nearly on a whim after we realized our budget could handle it, we made our way back to the beach. We arrived Friday morning and were staying through Sunday. Friday I put on a pinfish catching clinic on the beach, which my son loved. He loves to hold fish, even pinfish it turns out, even though they hurt. Friday night I tried for whiting for a little while, but fishing was slow and the wife wanted to go out to dinner so fishing got cut short anyway. I was a little sore over this given the blow anticipated for Saturday and Sunday, but what can you do? After dinner the wife was sleepy, I wasn't, so I fished the dock behind our place for a little while and observed a group nearby catching bull mullet, and one person even managed a puppy drum. Nothing doing for me, but I did not fish very long.

Saturday the wind blew as forecast, and I was not interested in chucking 8 'n bait on a slightly crowded beach into heavily rolling surf. I did something I haven't in years -- I played on the beach without fishing. While my wife sunbathed, I chased my son up and down the beach, wrestled with him on the sand, and carried him into shallow water. All three of us searched for shells, built sand castles, and just enjoyed being there. It was nice! That night we went out to dinner, and after my son went to bed my wife and I decided to fish the waterway behind our place. I had used an 8 foot Shimano Tiralejo with a Daiwa SS 1600 to toss out a chunk of pinfish on a fishfinder rig. While throwing a castnet near some grass away from my rod, it went off and my wife picked it up momentarily. I grabbed the rod from her and realized I was outgunned pretty quickly. This fish, whatever it was, was moving away VERY quickly, and the more heat I put on it the faster it seemed to go. I watched as it took well over half of my 20 pound Power Pro, and I struggled just to keep the rod tip up. The fish stopped for a second or so, then took off again even faster than before. Finally after what seemed an eternity the line went slack, and what I am certain was a skate or a big shark was gone. One person fishing nearby said it could have been a drum, but I don't know! Will they dump that much line? 

Anyway, I swapped the SS 1600 for a Saltist 20H, tied on a new rig, and cast again with another chunk of pinfish. After a little while I saw the rod tip shaking a little, then a lot, then it went down and I grabbed the rod. This fish took off, but nothing like the first one. After a 50 yard run it stopped, and I got a little line back, and soon it was in sight . Lo-and-behold, it was a DRUM! It fought strongly, peeling off line each time I brought it near the dock. Finally after a few minutes of back and forth, I got it around a piling, down the dock, and into the net. The result:

https://goo.gl/photos/xQGatAr6LWxnHDAv7 

If you can't see it, a 33" red drum. 

I was so excited I ran it to the bedroom for my wife to see, before returning it to the water, reviving it, and watching it swim off. THEN I was ready for that first fish to come back. My legs were shaking, and I felt like I do after shooting a nice buck. All those years of build up, and you know what? It was well worth it. I have bragged to everyone I could about that fish, and I can't wait to catch another. Speaking of which: 

I had a few whiting and croaker and the cooler by this point from a smaller rod I was fishing, but I wanted one more shot at the big fish I hooked earlier that got away. I cast out a big chunk of pinfish, watched the rod, and it went down as if hooked to a submarine. I picked it up and watched it peel a cool 200 yards of line form my Saltist, before I eased the drag up enough that the line broke. Or did it bite off my rig? Who knows? 

If the budget looks alright this fall, my trusty Daiwa 900H will find out. In the meantime, I hope fishing is good for y'all, and I'll report the next noteworthy catch.


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## Papa-T (Sep 5, 2011)

Nice fish. Congrats. Just wandering what your wife said when you came running in the house with the drum. Classic!


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## Drumdum (Jan 6, 2003)

Thanks for the report,great story!


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## Got Fish? (Dec 31, 2014)

Congrats! I'm waiting for my first as well!! Conquered the black drum earlier this year, but still no reds... Tight lines!


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## BaitWaster (Jan 8, 2004)

Now that you have broken the ice, many many more to come. ;-)


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## dialout (Feb 5, 2011)

Ran it into the bedroom....priceless. 

Congrats.


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## fishinbob (May 27, 2011)

Its always a great feeling when you reel in a nice fish like that. Congrats!


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## Bayluvnnrse (Jun 17, 2012)

What a great story, and a fantastic outcome! Got my bedtime story in for the night, now time to settle down with visions of :fishing: in my head. Thanks for a GREAT read, and congrats on the fish!


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## hawkman (Jun 16, 2014)

Awesome story! I know what you felt!


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## flathead (Dec 18, 2003)

Another memory created............too bad fish can't talk............would love to hear the drum's version


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## Carolina Rebel (Aug 25, 2005)

Thanks everyone! 

Drum's visit to bedroom went something like this:

I ran to the door with the fish in both arms, and quietly opened the door. Wife was in bed, out cold, so I walked up and carefully tapped her shoulder until she woke up. She said "Hey, are you coming to bed? What time is it?"

Me: "No, I caught a drum, you need to see it."

Wife: "Aw baby, I'm proud that you caught one but I can't walk all the way to the dock, I'm sleepy."

Me: "I've got it right here"

"HUH?!"

_Wife eases out of bed, rubbing her eyes in disbelief_

Wife: "Where?"

_I turned lamp on low so she could see the fish_

Wife: "OH MY GOD! And you brought it all the way up here! Can we eat it?"

"No, it's over-slot. I've gotta go throw it back, but you had to see it!"

_Wife looks confused and sad_

"OK, I'm going back to sleep."

Next morning when she woke up, she said "Hey did you catch a drum last night?" She was never fully awake it turns out. Glad I got some pictures!


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## Bullred (Mar 13, 2010)

Congrats!


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## lil red jeep (Aug 17, 2007)

dialout said:


> Ran it into the bedroom....priceless.
> 
> Congrats.


Ain't that great? If I had done that my wife would have beat me over the head with the poor fish!


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## LEADDRAFT (Oct 9, 2001)

Congrats! Awesome story!


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