7th Annual NCBBA Red Drum Tournament
Report for the week we were there
October 18th -25th
Arrived on the Island Sunday afternoon and paid the park service for the right to drive on beaches we were given the right to drive on for free years ago. I never get used to that. Dad, Mom and I decided to stay at the house for the evening as it was blowing and COLD. David and Jaime decided to fish for a few hours. I managed to catch enough bait for us all to use the next few days.
Monday morning we all headed out to fish for awhile and found it very tough. Not much biting at all and a very boring ocean. We did manage some smaller fish. And enjoyed a beautiful day on the beach for sure.
Nathan arrived that afternoon and the goal was to tangle with some sharks. Due to the flooding on the island, we were not able to get where we usually catch them so we went to plan B. We have a great time drinking pumpkin shandy and introducing Nathan to Ray-Ray. Caught them til we were BEAT!
About midnight we decided to drive out to the inlet and see if we could get any mullet. There were few big ones out there but we didn't have it in us to throw the net much due to them not being thick.
Called it a night after that and woke up bright and early Tuesday morning. Nathan said farewell and headed to work, we headed to the beach. Tuesday was another VERY slow day with little to show. We decided to head back to the inlet that night and only managed a few baits. Wednesday morning we got up early, ran to Buxton for some Orange Blossom goodness and on the beaches to scout for the tournament. Plugged in three spots on the GPS and ran across a slough with quite a few finger and cob mullet.
I netted up a good amount and back to the house we went to get everything organized.
And the Tournament begins
After meeting with my friend and bait supplier, we headed out to find all three of our spots already occupied. We adjusted and at midnight, lines in the water! We fished until 9:00AM without much to show for it. Jaime reported sharks throughout the night. We headed in and slept until 4:00PM. Back on the beach and we fished hard. After dark, it was a shark fest with us losing about 15 rigs on massive runs. I did manage a 23.5" puppy drum at 11:57PM. First fish I have caught during the first day in a while!
Pretty quiet from midnight til 9:00AM. I did catch a nice Black Drum that I thought was a nice Red Drum! We bounced around some but none of us could make anything bite. Back to the house and up at 4:00PM. We rode around and found a good looking spot with a pretty bar and a lot of other good qualities. Jaime was not far from us to the North. About 9:30 I get a text from Jaime with a picture of a nice Drum. While I am looking at the picture, my rod tip heads to the sand. Jaime's fish was 49.5" and mine was 45.5".
Adrenaline was pumping pretty good now and with the stout NE blow, the Drum are feeding inside the bar. An hour or so later, I get a call from Jaime all out of breath saying that while a judge was measuring his just caught 47" fish, his other rod went off and he managed to land a 45.5" fish. DOUBLE!!!!! What a night so far.
At this point nobody is being lazy and fresh baits were being thrown. About 1:30AM, David has a big hit and it's fish on!!! After a VERY strong fight and a tough landing job on a STEEP break, a nice 47.5" fish hits the beach!
Things quieted down for awhile until about 4:30AM when David hooked a big shark. I was helping with that when BAM, I get a nice hit and land a 38.5" fish....number 3.
Nothing else happened but we fished REAL hard til the end at 12PM.
Headed to the award banquet at 4:00PM and we wound up winning the tournament (Jaime), biggest fish day 3 (David) and most caught in the tournament (Greg). I even managed to win the raffle for a NICE rod and reel at the end. I had a blast as usual hanging out with Dad, Mom and Nathan and was very glad to see Jaime and David win again this year. Team Greggofish will be back next year.....I personally can not wait!!!
