2019 Big Drum reports/pics

Justin

Old Mossy Horns
What few there are have almost came and gone. Still a few stragglers. Only fished about 3 hours on the sand this fall, and pulled one off in the snag monster on the point.
 

Browning86

Six Pointer
My 3 biggest were 41”, 46”, 48.5” from CALO. Fished 11/6-11/10. We landed 20+ over slot fish in our group in 2 days. It was fun!
 

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Justin

Old Mossy Horns
My 3 biggest were 41”, 46”, 48.5” from CALO. Fished 11/6-11/10. We landed 20+ over slot fish in our group in 2 days. It was fun!

Glad to see you got on them! They’ve been relatively scarce from sand and planks this fall.
 

Browning86

Six Pointer
Glad to see you got on them! They’ve been relatively scarce from sand and planks this fall.
Thanks man we had a good trip for sure. Way different catching the big ones in the surf than on a boat. Caught one midday and it looked like a torpedo going back and forth in the waves. It was awesome.
 

Justin

Old Mossy Horns
any ideas why?

OBX north beaches (23-38)had an alright bite. State line bite was iffy. Point bite was spotty. 3-5 good drum piers were shut down. Other two never had a good bite. Some 20-30 fish days, but that’s not many considering the rods in the water. I fished Jennettes two days and saw 8 fish, 6 out of one 90second Chinese fire drill. Fished Rodanthe pier for the Hatteras Island wooden pier tourney (which replaced the PBR tourney that Avon usually has) and there were no drum caught in 30hours of fishing. I caught one the Wednesday before the tourney started and one was caught about 30min prior. I heard one was caught near dark Sunday after the tourney. They never had a big bite there.

That said, I have no answers. Bait never really showed like it should. Fatback showed at tourney closing time Sunday but there were no drum under them like there should have been. Normally November schools of fatback have drum under them.

Omega was hitting the mouth of the bay hard, after quota was met, on big schools of fatback that should’ve had drum under them. No dead drum seen that I’m aware of, but those schools in that location at that time of year should’ve have fish in them. No telling if there was drum in them as bycatch and how much.

They could’ve just stayed off the beach? I don’t think they killed enough fish to affect the fall run. N winds have been a bitch, and there hasn’t been a great pattern to put fish on the beach or by piers. A few good condition days, but not overwhelming.
 

stiab

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
There were 60 drum caught from the HI beaches during the NCBBA Red Drum Tournament, Oct 23 -26. But that was pretty much 2.5 days of non-stop fishing by 361 anglers, so the numbers caught may not be very impressive. I analyzed the final results spreadsheet, and among the most interesting things found was that 90% were caught during dark hours, proving what we have always heard: when drum are feeding near the shore, they prefer doing that at night.
 
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Justin

Old Mossy Horns
There were 60 drum caught from the HI beaches during the NCBBA Red Drum Tournament, Oct 23 -26. But that was pretty much 2.5 days of non-stop fishing by 361 anglers, so the numbers caught may not be very impressive. I analyzed the final results spreadsheet, and among the most interesting things found was that 90% were caught during dark hours, proving what we have always heard: when drum are feeding near the shore, they prefer doing that at night.

knowing a fair sampling of participants ranging from one that placed to some that just do it because it’s happening, 361 participants could be whittled down to about 61 that are a serious threat and 300 blind hogs that might stumble on an acorn, then throw in the stations that aren’t set up on good structure and that dwindles the odds too lol.

all that said, I like the extrapolation if data on your part!
 

stiab

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
361 participants could be whittled down to about 61 that are a serious threat and 300 blind hogs that might stumble on an acorn, then throw in the stations that aren’t set up on good structure and that dwindles the odds too lol
You are absolutely right about the anglers, some are doing it just as a fun event. I know four who only fish once a year, and one of them only owns one rod. They have been fishing the RDT for over 10 years and none have ever caught a drum. But there are no "stations", everyone gets to fish where they choose, but some are obviously better at picking places.
 

Justin

Old Mossy Horns
You are absolutely right about the anglers, some are doing it just as a fun event. I know four who only fish once a year, and one of them only owns one rod. They have been fishing the RDT for over 10 years and none have ever caught a drum. But there are no "stations", everyone gets to fish where they choose, but some are obviously better at picking places.

never fished the RDT, just assumed it was ran the same as the Anglers club tourny. My bad. Thanks for the correction
 
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