OT - fish story, no flyrods involved

as some of you know, i'm about a 2 hour drive inland from the coastal
area i usually go for puppy drum fishing. my bay boat has been in the
shop since early july with minor issues i couldn't resolve. OK, there
really is no issue with the boat that i can resolve, so they all require
a visit to the boat and motor doctor. anyway, just got it back and
needed to test some stuff and run gas out of the tank...so off to the
sal****ers at 4 am to catch the high tide at 8 am and first hours of
falling tide. didn't visit joe's island, as i wanted to check out some
marshe islands i had fished with wally and mark on different occasions.
caught one large flounder there, saw one drum swirl on a big oyster
head...but no drum otherwise...so, after about 2 hours, i headed to the
marsh islands i usually walk. nothing on the first one... i went to
another. it has a shell point on the east side and a mucky shallow
cove, then a small point on its north end with a great weedy and mucky
bottom about 20 yards out. the drum like spots that the small crabs
prefer. the mucky, weedy bottoms and the marsh island banks always seem
to be my best producers for me. but, it's been a tough summer...very
hot, and i haven't seen or caught the usual numbers. yesterday looked
like it was gonna be just the one flounder. i made about 100 casts in
all the usual spots as i worked toward the north point. nothing. after
about 10 casts from the north point. i figured it was going to be a
drumless day... then...

i caught one about 20 inches. skinny. i debated making him a meal, but
decided against it and released him. on the next cast, i hooked the
biggest puppy drum of my brief drum fishing career. she was well-hooked
and very strong. it zinged the drag on my 20 pound braid, and did
several parallel runs on the top of the water about 20 yards out. i got
a good look. at one point it ran toward me and i got a look at it with
the pec fins extended. based only on past experience, my guess is it
was easily 35"... and, it was accompanied by 15-20 others of its size.
they were running with and opposite my fish the whole time in a sort
of frenzy...like you see with feeding fish. and then...on one of the
near surface parallel runs, one of the other fish going in the opposite
direction hit the line and my fish turned, and my braid broke at the
lure...i didn't tie a palomar, and i've never had a problem with my
improved, improved clinch...so, i think the force of the two fish popped
the weakest link. for about a minute though, it was sporting.

tide was about an hour into dropping from high. i fished the island for
another 30 minutes without success, then took off on a parallel course
with the inner banks about an 1/8th mile from its shore, exploring.
found some new likely spots, and saw one of the "old drum" (not a
puppy), break the surface within 20 feet of the boat. she was one of
those 40-50 inchers. never seen one as big inside the banks, but i
don't know why they wouldn't be there.

anyway, a fun day, with few fish, but a great fish story and memory.
this has been an odd summer, and i haven't fished as hard for the drum
as i usually do. work and other stuff have kept me at home. i don't
know how the extremely hot summer we have had will impact the fishing,
but the place remains worthy of the effort. i think the kayak will come
in very handy getting me into new shallows where my boat won't go. joe
and i have talked about a september test run, and that should give me a
better sampling and idea about the drum this fall. as always, water
temps, tides and winds will decide the question...but yesterday sure
felt good as an omen of big fish.

jeff