November 10, 2009

Fall on the Outer Banks can be a nice and relaxing time to be on our beaches.  The prime tourist season is over. The speed limit on Highway 12 through the villages returns to 45 mph. The village off-road vehicle closures are lifted and the unprecedented restrictions of the consent decree come to their yearly end.

But for anglers from all over the country what the fall signifies is the start of red drum season here on the Banks.

Red drum are arguably the most sought after inshore game fish along the southeastern seaboard and gulf waters. They bring big money to every area that has them and catching them seems to be highly addictive.

You can watch anglers catching these fish almost every Saturday morning on ESPN, and tackle companies invest a lot of time and money in developing tackle to catch drum in all kinds of conditions, areas, and sizes.

The red drum is the North Carolina state fish, and Hatteras Island has played home to the world-record red drum since 1973, when Elvin Hooper put a 90-pound drum on the planks of the Rodanthe pier. Eleven years later, David Duell caught a 94-pound red drum from the Avon surf, and that record still stands.

I have followed these fall fish from pier and surf on the Outer Banks for nine seasons, and I am still addicted to them.  I find them a hearty opponent, no matter if they are 10 pounds or 50 pounds. They are incredible fighters and, pound for pound, some of the strongest inshore fish.

September generally marks the downside of spawning for these fish, so they get ready to make their fall run and begin their exit out of the Chesapeake Bay and every inlet on the Outer Banks. The inshore waters become a feeding ground for these awesome fish as they begin to move and feed on migrating schools of bait and fish.

Inshore and near-shore boaters can catch these fish easily at times by sight casting or bait fishing. But, I think these fish are such a big staple here on the Banks because an angler can catch them on a pier or with his or her feet in the sand in big numbers and of bragging-worthy size.

Many times have I seen a person who was fishing for a sea mullet luck into a 30-pound red drum. So, it is a fish of the people. You don’t have to have a lot of money, a boat, four-wheel drive or the most expensive tackle to have a shot at catching one of these fish. However, nice tackle geared towards these fish does increase your odds and chances of repeating the event.

This fall marked my fourth season chasing red drum with a video camera, and it is because of these fish that I started shooting fishing videos to begin with.

I find it hard to put into words the addiction that I and others have to these fish. I became weary of trying to share the stories of the big red drum blitzes, where 50 to100 citation fish get hit from a particular pier or surf fishing spot in one day, so I figured it was easier to film it and let people see for themselves.

This fall was a remarkable year at Cape Point, with the small puppy drum and yearlings showing up in good numbers around Labor Day.

There is generally a little bit of science involved when it comes to any species of fish -- water temperature, wind direction, tide, etc. -- but not this year. The fish on Cape Point would bite almost daily for no rhyme or reason, and some of the most experienced red drum anglers all agreed they had never really seen this type of two-month long bite.

 I enjoyed it. I managed to catch 73 of them by the third week in October – even when I was spending most of my time filming. I must admit that most all of them were not citation fish, but I used the lightest tackle possible to increase the pleasure of these strong fighters.

The piers that historically do well with these fish once again have had a good year thus far. I saw days where a few dozen or more citations were being caught, and I assure you that this is a good amount in the big picture.

I ask a lot of people why they love this fish and dedicate so much of their time to them, considering that every fish over 28 inches has to be released. Most all of them have just as hard a time trying to explain this to me as I have explaining to the rest of the world.

I am not a poet or a master of words, by any means, so I let my videos do the talking and describing for me whenever I can.

This is one of those times. Please enjoy the following video.

Click here to see the video of red drum fishing

(Rob Alderman is the host and producer of the” The Outer Banks Angler” fishing program and the owner of The Outer Banks Angler store located in Buxton. You can find out more on his adventures at www.OuterBanksAngler.com.)