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Updated 2/22/10
Black Drum
Everywhere
Another cold windy week on the water made fishing
tough. I cannot wait for spring to arrive and at least give us
some halfway decent conditions out there. Braving the cold and
the wind we caught some fish this week but it was not on fire by
any means.
Black drum were the highlight of the week with fish up to 28
inches and 12 pounds taken. We did catch sheepshead, rat reds,
trout, ladyfish and a few pompano too but finding a good bite
took work. |
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On the bright side, once you did find fish feeding it was
wintertime mixed bag action with four or five species caught out of one
hole.
Downsizing the bait to small pieces o f shrimp is what it took to get
the action going. Using these tiny little baits caught the largest fish
of the week. Double-hooking the shrimp chunk on a lead 1/4 oz jig head
then working it slow bouncing and dragging the bottom in deeper channels
really did the trick catching all species of fish. With the water so
stirred up out there from the wind fish are feeding more by scent then
sight. Also with colder than usual water temperatures the slow moving
fish find it easier to eat just a little snack size chunk than chasing
down a whole live frisky shrimp.
I have caught more black drum this winter than I can ever remember. The
black drum seem to be everywhere that I target redfish and sheepshead.
Though in the same family as the popular redfish, they only seem to be
caught during the winter months.Younger smaller black drum are often
mistaken for sheepshead as they have black and white vertical stripes.
These stripes fade as the fish get larger.
Upon closer inspection black drum have a totally different mouth than a
sheepshead with no teeth and a crusher in their throat just like a
redfish. When lifted out of the water they often make a drumming noise.
They are fun to catch but do not make the long runs of their relative
the redfish. They do make good table fare though and taste just like a
redfish. FWC regulations on black drum are minimum size of 14 inches
with a max of 24 inches and you are allowed five per day with only one
over the 24-inch max.
Trout fishing has been pretty good in sheltered channels, bigger sand
holes and canals. Most of the trout have been right around the 15-inch
minimum but there have been a few bigger ones in the mix. Our big trout
for the week measured 23 inches and was caught fishing soft plastic
shrimp jigs. Some of the bigger sandholes on the east side of Macever
Keys and Regla Island have been loaded with trout and ladyfish. Drifting
through these sandholes while bouncing jigs on the bottom has been some
of the best action in town. There have also been lots of the smaller
silver/sugar trout in the mix too.
Redfishing was tough last week with most of the reds on the smaller side
of the slot. Deeper mangrove shorelines on the low tides held a few but
redfishing for me has just not been good. Places I have caught tons of
the rat reds this month in previous years have only been producing a
few. Areas around Blind Pass and Wulfert Keys have held a few with an
occasional keeper.
Luckily these same redfish spots have been loaded with sheepshead and
the unexpected black drum.
Click the links below to view copies of my other recent reports.
01-25-2010 -
02-01-2010 -
02-08-2010
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