“Big Fish Bite”
By Terry Lacoss
“I just learned that Razor Ray hooked into a nice run of big black drum fishing just offshore of the St. Mary’s inlet,” Mutt Daniels said. “The water temperature has warmed up considerable during the last few days and the knats are biting, two excellent signs that a major migration of black drum should take place any day now.”
The very next day Mutt Daniels navigated his fishing boat out to the tip of the St. Mary’s south Jetty, set the anchor firmly on the bottom and began catching black drum weighing over the fifty pound mark!
That afternoon the word past quickly among avid black drum fishermen after Daniels weighed in and cleaned his big catch at the Fernandina Harbor. The following day several saltwater fishing boats were anchored at the tip of the south jetty rocks where a massive migration of black drum tested both fishing gear and fishermen as well.
“As I approached the fleet of Fernandina fishing boats Captain Allen Mills called me on the VHF radio and said that his client had just lost a big black drum,” Mutt Daniels said. “As I rounded the very tip of the jetty rocks I noticed a large fish flopping on the surface, which apparently was the same black drum that Allen’s client had just hooked and lost. I quickly netted the fifty-pound black drum, which was the very first black drum that I had boated before putting out my boat’s anchor!”
During a past afternoon fishing trip to the St. Mary’s north jetty red can, Derek Crawford Jeff Ide and brothers, Frank and Donald Spencer navigated to the tip of the St. Mary’s north jetty rocks and anchored just north of the red can. The majority of their fishing tackle included 16-pound gear, while one 50-pound class fishing rod and reel was handy. They soon lost a big fish while using their light saltwater tackle.
“I rigged up the 50-pound fishing rod and reel and dropped a dead shrimp down to the bottom hoping to hook a second big fish”, Derek Crawford said. “Once again a big fish took my shrimp and it was “Fight On”. The big fish seemingly pulled slowly along the bottom, leaving us to believe it may be a big shark that frequently hangs out close to the jetties for an easy meal from passing shrimp boats.”
After a 45-minute fight, a massive drum showed up on the surface where Frank Spencer easily lip gaffed the big drum and hoisted Crawford’s drum on board. Crawford’s big drum later weighed 103.50-pounds!
David Cartwright holds the Florida all tackle black drum record with his 96-pound black drum that he landed on April12, 2001. Cartwright was night fishing just off from “Main Beach” with blue crab on the bottom when his big drum was caught.
However Stella Moore is best known for her record breaking 93-pound black drum that she landed on March 28, 1957. Mrs. Moore still holds Florida’s 50-pound all tackle black drum record. It was one of the more notable saltwater records, as Stella Moore weighed 89-pound, while the drum weighed 96-pounds!
“The best tides for catching black drum at either the tip of the north, or south jetty rocks, is the last of the falling and the first of the in-coming tides,” Forest Evatt said. “I prefer to place my drum rod and reel in my boat’s rod holder, when my fishing rod is in the rod holder, I can watch the rod tip a lot better. Here I will look for the slightest movement in the rod tip, then pick up the rod, reel in the slack fishing line and set hook. If you are holding the rod, it’s harder to detect the light strike of a black drum.”
“By far my favorite black drum bait is a combination of cut crab and fresh shrimp,” Forest said. “However I have fished with conch, shrimp or cup pieces of crab by themselves on a large hook and done quite well.”
Current Florida fishing regulations allow fishermen to keep five black drum per day measuring from 14 to 24 inches, one of the black drum may measure over the 24-inch limit.
“I typically keep one small drum which are by far the better eating than the big drum,” Mutt Daniels said. “I also cut the main artery just behind the gills and allow the blood to bleed out from the flesh, which also takes the fishy taste from the flesh.”
