Picture # 1 – John Alden, Jr. of Iron Station, NC holds a red drum caught on a recent trip to Cape Hatteras.
Image #2 -Dick Megorden of Charlotte, NC reveals a forty-three inch red drum caught on a modern Cape Hatteras fishing trip.

Photos courtesy of Capt. Gus

Every single fall a group of fifty as well as surf fishermen opportunity to North Carolina’s Outer Banking institutions in search of red drum, bluefish, flounder and trout. In earlier many years, the Blues Brothers, as they are named, selected to fish the week prior to Thanksgiving, but this calendar year they transformed the date to the very last week in October. The modify proved to be a good one, because the weather was warm and huge red drum were blitzing the surf at the Level of Cape Hatteras.

John Alden of Stanley and his son John Alden, Jr. had the surf fishing excursion of a lifetime the evening of Sunday, October 23, 2011. The father and son duo could not have on their own the next early morning, as they connected the functions of the earlier night’s fishing.

It seems the big reds had been jogging the beach for a lot more than a week. Realizing that the very best bite was at sunset, they arrived at the level in time to consider their area next to dozens of other hopeful surfcasters. As anticipated, the drum started to hit as the sunshine began environment on the horizon. 1st, a single angler hooked up, then yet another, and the blitz was on. The fish ranged in duration from a few to 4 feet, which is huge adequate to tax any angler’s ability in hefty surf.

The Alden’s employed bait casting reels, mounted on extended surf rods, able of tossing a 7 ounce frog tongue sinker with clean mullet strips, hundreds of ft into the ocean. As evening fell, the crowd dwindled, even even though the red drum blitz was still in complete swing. The Alden’s hooked fish soon after fish, shedding a few to the unyielding surf, but catching so many that they were exhausted when the bite at some point subsided sometime following 11:00 p.m. In complete, they caught and introduced 8 red drum, four every single, and misplaced another four or so. The biggest measured above forty inches.

If you’ve ever fished the surf right after darkish, you know how challenging it is. Not only do red drum set up quite a battle, but the pounding surf wears down even the fittest of anglers. Not to refer to, the aggravation of untangling lines and backlashes in the darkish, whilst other folks all around you are combating fish!

Large and Small John Alden weren’t the only types who landed large fish that week. Dick Megorden, an accomplished angler from Charlotte, NC caught a personalized very best, forty a few inch red drum. Others massive catches included Ed Goodwin, Wilmington, NC, Walter Scholtz, Charlotte, NC and Tim Davis, Huntersville, NC.

Upcoming Functions:
A Cost-free Fishing Seminar on “Electric Trolling Motor Maintenance” is scheduled for six:30 p.m. on Wednesday, November sixteen, 2011 at Gander Mountain, Exit 36, Mooresville, NC. Bill Hassig, of Fishermen’s Good friend in Kannapolis, NC will talk about approaches to optimize the functionality and increase the battery existence of your motor. Everyone who owns, or is contemplating the obtain of an electric trolling motor, ought to strategy to go to this educational session. For additional info, call 704 658 0822.

Suggestions from Gus:

Surf fishing after dim is challenging. So it is prudent to have a mild mounted to your head and have at minimum a single handheld flashlight. Equally critical is to by no means fish the surf by yourself, no matter of the time of day or evening!

Hot Spots of the Week:

Noticed bass fishing is superb during the day employing conventional methods. Very best baits are gentle plastics and buzz baits. White perch carry on to hit minnows and jigs in water to thirty feet. As has been the situation all 12 months, Sabiki flies, rigged in tandem with a jigging spoon, enable the angler to catch far more than one at a time. A number of stripers are getting caught on shad, herring and shiners in the river channel among Markers 19 and 23.

The lake stage on Lake Norman is down about four.six feet from complete pond and down two.7′ on Mountain Island Lake. The water surface area temperature is in the sixties.

Captain Gus Gustafson, licensed by the US Coast Guard, is a member of the Southeastern Outdoor Press Affiliation and a Specialist Activity Fishing Tutorial on Lake Norman, NC. Go to his Internet website at www.FishingWithGus.com , e-mail him at Gus@lakenorman.com or phone 704-617-6812.