Black Drum In The Refuge

This evening the black drum in the refuge were biting, at least they were for Brendon.

When I got home from a long week in Mobile, Al. this evening, I was tired as hell but not tired enough to see if Peacocks Pocket road was opened up for vehicle traffic.

My wife Karen wanted to weed around our Koi pond so I packed up three spinning rids and headed for Gator Creek road.

The air temperature was at 70 degrees and the wind was blowing just enough to make the fishing worthwhile.

When I saw that the barrier to Peacocks Pocket Road was down, I headed up the road to "fish the ditches" for some sea trout.

I picked the rod with a Berkey "Bluegill" patterned Powerbait,  smeared it up with some "Sardine" Pro-Cure gel and started pitching the paddletail bait around some stick ups in the marsh canal.

I had three good hits before I finally managed to hook and release a fat 16" sea trout.

The fish didn't put up much of a fight but it was a fish.

I continued pitching the paddletail bait around the ditch when Brendon pulled up in his black Cadillac and asked me how I was doing.

He told me he hooked a nice redfish on shrimp and lost it at the bank when the hook fell out, and that he picked up a nice 27" black drum that he kept and put into the cooler for dinner.

He caught the fish in an area near Catfish Creek Loop that I passed by on the way in and he suggested I turn around and hit the area.

He offered me some shrimp to use for bait but I didn't plan on spending a lot of time waiting for a fish to bite.

I just spent 6 hours driving in from Mobile and I needed to walk around a bit.

I took a picture of his fish "dinner" and we parted ways "until next time".

I missed one more sea trout and had a couple of bumps on the Berkley Powerbait before I decided to take Brendon up on his suggestion and try for a redfish.

I pulled up to the spot where he caught his fish and started casting the Berkley paddle tail bait and a gold Nemiere Red Ripper spoon around the area.

After several dozen casts with each bait without a hit,  I was ready to pack it in and get something to eat for dinner.

About that time,  a lady drove up with a couple of rods in her car and set up next to me.  She was using shrimp for bait and told me about the "guy" (Brendon) who had caught a nice black drum earlier. 

We briefly talked about how many big fish there were in this general area before I finally decided to give up and hit the road.

I left via East Gator Creek road and on the way out of the refuge saw a small school of either black drum or reds tailing in the weedy shallows.

My back was killing me from the long drive so I did something I rarely do, I passed on fishing the school.

Tomorrow is another day.  Till then, Tight Lines.

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