Big Virginia Red Drum and a Whoopin
By Dr. Julie Ball

Click the images for a closer look at this drum.

16 May 2007
I watched the forecast, and saw a stiff SW wind turning and coming out of the NW associated with a front rolling though late this evening. That sounded like red drum weather to me, so my plan was to shoot across the bay while it was blowing SW, and get anchored in red territory and wait for the switch from the NW.

The ride across the bay was smooth, but when we reached the Eastern Shore at about 7pm, we were greeted with 3-footers. I was still fine with that, and while watching the sky closely, we snuck around to the calmer leeward side of Fisherman’s Island and dropped the anchor in 9 feet of water. Not much competition, since most smart boaters were already gone.

I set out four lines with blue crabs, and watched the wind pull a huge bow in all my lines. I chatted with two other buddy boats, and no one was catching anything yet, and one of them left to head in. After about 20 minutes, the wind turned and started howling from the NW…right on schedule. Ok, it’s time. Ten minutes later, I picked up my cell and dialed my buddies’ number to see what they were up to. Just then one of the rods took off, and began screaming as the line peeled off. I threw down my cell, and picked up my rod and held on. The thing was moving off so fast, I thought it was a big Southern Ray. Great, what a pain. Then it turned and ran toward the boat. After a few minutes, it came to the top and rolled, and I saw a huge red tail flip as he took a dive. It’s a red! The fish was a pretty one, measuring out to 50-inches. A few photos and an easy release, and the lines were back in.

As I began to look around, the seas were building, the sun was setting, and the wind was now whipping to about 30 out of the NW. We also noted big dark clouds passing to the south with flashes of lighting. Ok, I didn’t want to deal with that in the dark, so we pulled up and headed toward Rudee. Too late. As we reached the mouth of the bay, the clouds made it really dark, and we met up with a 4 to 6 foot following sea. Not good. The boat handled well, but there was a little stress factor involved. We made it in fine, and so did both buddies. I was home by 10:15 pm. Whew.

See Ya out there!

Julie