Pirates target and catch REDS

[striper_on]

48" Me

50 1/2" The Pirate

51 1/2" Steve-O

Sorry Duane (yellwfin)

I'd would have stayed out all night for you to catch one bro.

Great crew and 2 cases of beer.

Fun night on the Chesapeake Bay!

[gottaflylee]

I do so love the old girls...

[seasea]

thats pretty awesome, drinking beer and catching giant reds......what a blast!

[shunt]

Awesome work guys! I never get tired of catching, talking about, thinking about, looking at photos of red drum. How do you guys fish for them (I am assuming bait fishing from an anchored boat)? What type of rigs?

[cblocal]

Awesome job on the big reds. That is one of the next fisheries that is on my list.

[striper_on]

Awesome work guys! I never get tired of catching, talking about, thinking about, looking at photos of red drum. How do you guys fish for them (I am assuming bait fishing from an anchored boat)? What type of rigs?

In know way am I a pro at this butt this is what works for me.

fishfinder rig to a barrel swivel, to 50# mono to a snelled circle hook 8/0 gamatsu. i use 65# tuff line and tld 25's and diawa saltist 40 and 50's. I like to make quick work on these big girls in order to not hurt them. I know they are very hardy fish but remember this is my way. I use hard blue crab males and females. I take the claws off cut the points off the crab as to let some scent out and hook the circle hook through the second knuckle pass the back fin and through the top of the shell. My spread consist of 8 to ten rods. I also use the chesapeake bay sandwich Clam and crab on the same hook. Yes I anchor, find sloughs, cuts, lumps fish the edges. I fish from 6' of water to 24' of water. I leave reels in free spool with the clickers on. When a fish runs let him go for a couple of seconds and then point the rod at the fish push real to strike and reel he will hook himself. so far not gut hooked fish as of yet. last year i used 9/0 mustad j hooks and gut hooked several. if that happens cut leader close to the hook as possible and set it free it will live. good luck and hope this answers all your questions. we do troll for them but not this time of year. pm me if you have any questions.

[shunt]

Sounds like you are successful at it and are serious about catching them and protecting them. If you are not using them already, I would encourage you to look into using an Owen Lupton style rig. You can probably google/search for them and learn a lot more quickly that I can write here. These rigs utilize the following components:

Short mono leader (3 to 5 inches, with 3 being the optimum)
In-line circle hook (a mashed barb helps you unhook and relase the fish quicker)
Fixed weight (the actual Lupton Rigs use big egg sinkers, but they also can be made with a snap swivel fixed such that you can use a pyramid or bank sinker as conditions dictate)

The idea behind the rig, that by the way has been research-proven, is that you essentially eliminate almost all deep hooking. I believe that the research showed that deep hooking was eliminated somehting like 95 or 98 percent. I have personally used this style of rig to catch hundreds of old drum and take every chance I get to vouch for its effectiveness. When you first see/use the rig you might be skeptical, particularly if you are used to using longer leaders and fishfinder style rigs. Besides effectively catching the fish and preventing deephooking, the rigs also have several other advantages: They cast like a bullet due to the fixed weight and short leader, they can be fished effectively when you are unable to keep lines tight at all times while swinging on the anchor.

All of the leading captains down here use them for old drum fishing, including Brian Harrington (Extreme Measures). I write all of this to encourgage you to try this type of rig out. I believe that you will never go back if you do. I you would like, I would be glad to make up and send you some rigs to use at no cost.

If any of the above doesn't make sense let me know and I can clarify/explain.

[striper_on]

I use storm sinkers they seem to hold well in the current of the Ches. Bay.Yes I've heard of that rig and thanks and I will try it.

[shunt]

http://www.ncangler.com/articles/sal...drum-rig-1070/