Down East Old Drum Weekend Report....8/21 & 8/22

[Squid]

It was decided many weeks ago that this weekend was going to be a guys' weekend in Cedar Island, NC to catch a few "old drum" which migrate through the sounds every fall. The full moon in August typically marks the beginning of this, however the full moon fell very early this August so we decided on the new moon. Eleven guys and 4 boats made the journey to "God's country" for the 2nd annual "Wide World of Sports Drum Debauchery Churnament". We arrived at the highly acclaimed 5 star rated Cedar Island Resort and Bistro (said VERY sarcastically for those of you who haven't visited this establishment) Friday afternoon and put the boats in around 6 for the first evening of fishing.

The rules of the "Churnament" were simple: most releases in two nights of fishing wins. Entry fee: $50/boat. Lines in from 7pm-12am. Must comply with all NCDMF rules.

The "Churnament" field consisted of the Team Speckulator, Team Bone Crusher, Team Toadie (they somehow changed their name halfway through to Team Blackjack), and Team Double Trouble.

I joined Grady Gordon and Kyle Hughes as part of Team Speckulator for the weekend adventure. We set up north of the Cedar Island ramp a couple of miles from the rest of the churnament fleet and it wasn't long before we had the first fish of the night on.

Grady Gordon on the rod and was apparently pretty excited about jumping out to an early lead:





Wasn't long before Team Speckulator had recorded the first release of the night:





Watched a beautiful sunset:



And Capt. Kyle hooked up shortly afterwards:





Soon afterwards the boys let me play with one:





He apparently liked me a bit too much as he let loose a nice stream of spooge all over me and the leaning post (look closely and you can see it in the pictures).

Kyle struck again as the tournament fleet moved in on us:





Then Grady again:




In total, we ended up releasing 9 fish Friday night and had a strong hold on the "churnament" lead. The standings after 1 night of fishing were:
Team Speckulator---9 releases
Team Toadie/Blackjack---7 releases
Team Double Trouble---2 releases
Team Bone Crusher---0 releases

Back at the resort Saturday afternoon, Capt. Brandon couldn't take the ridiculing any longer and had to figure out why he couldn't catch a fish the night before since he was set up directly behind us in our chum slick. Didn't take long before we found a crack in his fuel line underneath the engine cowling which was producing the wrong kind of slick behind his boat. So with Team Bone Crusher having a new found 2nd wind, we set out at 6pm Saturday evening for the last day of fishing.

We managed to avoid all of the storms that came through eastern NC however we weren't able to avoid the wind that they contained. A chopped up sound greeted all of us as we turned the corner of the rock jetty. Anchored up in nearly the same spot as the previous night and watched as schools of pogies surrounded us.

Grady drew first blood on our boat again but Team Bone Crusher recorded the first release of the night:







As night fell, so did the wind and the once sloppy sound laid out to nothing. Team Toadie/Blackjack jumped out to an early lead on night two with 3 quick releases however once the wind died, so did their bite.

Shortly after sunset, Grady was tight again with the biggest fish of the trip---a 50+ incher:





Kyle came tight soon afterwards for release #3:



This fish made all of us guys jealous with the spooge display he put on all over Kyle's leg :



They let me play on fish #4...a shorter but really fat one:



And Kyle hurt this fish's feelings for release #5:



As lightning was approaching over land, we released fish number 6 to secure the tournament win:





Team Bone Crusher made an unbelievable comeback after their goose egg on the first day to win the daily prize with 7 releases. Final tournament standings however were:
Team Speckulator---15 releases
Team Toadie/Blackjack---10 releases
Team Bone Crusher---7 releases
Team Double Trouble---6 releases

Any trip "down east" is a memorable one but when you throw in a few special fish such as these 40+ year old drum, it only makes it better. Thanks Grady and Brandon for the invite this year and I'm already looking forward to the 3rd annual "Churnament" next fall!

[buzz4prez]

And I stayed home this weekend thinking it would be to bad to fish.....

[gottaflylee]

Great report and pictures as always Squid. Being up there and fishing is a very special trip and anyone that has not done this, should...
Congrats on pulling off the win...

[NoExcuses]

Oh my! Congrats to all four teams looks like you all won. That 50+ is a dinosaur.