Drum, Drum and More Drum

Drum, Drum and more Drum has been the name of the game for the past few weeks on the northern part of the Indian River.

Several fishing fanatics that I talk to on a semi regular basis said that everyone fishing shrimp was catching Black Drum  in the river, so I decided to see if I could pick up  a couple.

Late this afternoon I finally decided to check out the river and see what was being caught in the area.

I hastily packed a few rods, some bait and my cameras and headed for Catfish Creek.

I left the house around 4:30 pm and got to the river about 10 minutes later.

On the way into the Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge I spotted a pair of Great Blue Herons doing their mating ritual.

I stopped to take a pic but before I could pull out a camera, the female took off and left the male courting himself.

I took this quick pic and continued up Gator Creek towards where I hoped to get a fishing spot.

There were a surprising number of fishermen on the Indian River and around both sides of Catfish Creek had fishermen staked out at their favorite spots.

At one spot I hoped to fish I spotted Bernice, a fishing acquaintance who always seems to catch some fish.

She was fishing next to a couple of other guys and when I asked her if she was catching anything, she show me these pics of juvenile Black Drum that she had been catching for the past couple of weeks.

 

I took these copies from her actual photos and continued down the dirt path looking for a spot to fish.

The next opening was free and since it was almost dark I decided to put out my poles and fish with frozen cut bait and shrimp.

There was a mild wind blowing and all my rods were rigged without sinkers.  I baited up one outfit with a medium fresh dead shrimp and was going to add a sinker to hold bottom when I realized I didn't bring along any tackle. In my haste to get out of the house, I forgot everything so I tossed the bait out as far as possible and let it set.

I baited the second rod with a cut ladyfish steak and again tossed it out as far as I could and sat down to enjoy the overcast weather.

After several minutes, it was evident I needed a sinker.  I was fishing braid and it acted like a float pulling the baits with the wind.  Not a good way to fish for reds or drum!

I saw a couple of guys fishing the entrance of Catfish Creek with artificial baits in a shallow draft boat so I decided to give that a try.

I pulled out another rod and tied on a gold spoon hoping to entice a cruising redfish, but after a couple dozen casts, I realized it was a losing proposition.

It was around 5:30 pm when I finally decided to put everything up and head home.  

As I drove around the loop a kayaker was loading up his kayak so I asked him if he was catching or fishing.   He tole me he caught a  few small sea trout but had no luck with the Black Drum or the redfish.

I thanked him for his report and headed home for some more turkey.

Maybe tomorrow I'll get out earlier and pick up some drum for dinner.

Till next time, Tight Lines.