by John Kumiski
“Here comes another wave of fish, John.” Steve Baker had his hands full, fighting a drum, but another pod of fish was coming down the bank. Capt. Joe Shute used the pushpole to hold the boat in position. It looked like I had no alternative but to put down the camera and pick up a fly rod. I did, and in an instant we had a double hookup. It's a good life in the North Carolina salt marsh!
In the Tarheel State the fish Floridians call redfish are known (properly) as drum. They come with various descriptive adjectives. “Bull drum” are big, mature, breeder sized redfish. The word “drum” without an adjective describes fish between about 10 to 15 pounds. “Puppy drum” are fish that Florida anglers would describe as “in the slot.”
Joe Shute had brought Steve and I to a tidal creek within the extensive salt marsh surrounding the Morehead City/Atlantic Beach area. The water was draining from a shallow pond through this creek on the outgoing tide. The pond was full of puppy drum, which were all trying to swim past us to get down the creek to deeper water. They just kept coming and coming, pod after pod of fish.
The position of the fish was easily ascertained. Birds frequently hovered over them, waiting to pick off the shrimp that were showering out of the water ahead of them. And the water was shallow enough that the pushes of the fish were clearly visible. And if you somehow missed all of that, the crashes of the fish as they pursued the wealth of shrimp and finger mullet were anything but subtle. All we fishermen had to do was sit there patiently and wait for the fish to get into range, and then accurately deliver the fly. Bam! It worked every time.
We were using seven-weight rods with floating lines and nine foot leaders. There are a lot of oysters in the marsh, so Capt. Joe likes stout tippets, 20 pound fluorocarbon. He prefers dark colored fly patterns, with gray and white or all black Clouser Minows being particular favorites. My own feeling was that these fish would probably eat an acorn, but being the guest, and having fun catching fish after fish, I just stuck with my host’s recommendations. There wasn’t any arguing with its effectiveness.
Capt. Joe owns a tackle shop in Atlantic Beach, and guides from there for everything from puppy drum in the marshes surrounding the Morehead City area as well as in the Atlantic for false albacore, king mackerel, dolphinfish, bluefin tuna, and more. On this trip Steve and I were sticking with fly fishing from Joe’s Mitzi for puppy drum, fat, healthy fish and plenty of them.
Our first morning fishing the falling tide had been an unqualified success, with over a dozen drum boated, several more missed, and a couple of flounder and a black drum thrown in for good measure. We took a break for lunch, and then headed back out to fish the high tide for tailing fish on top of the marsh.
I love fishing in the grass like this. It’s kind of like fishing in a hayfield, completely different fishing for a fish I catch all the time when home. But on this particular day, with perfect conditions in one of the most beautiful marshes I’ve ever been in, we saw only three fish. I beaned the first one with my cast, the second spooked off of Baker’s cast for no apparent reason, and the grass was so thick where the third one was that we couldn’t push the boat close enough for a shot. So after the smoking hot action of the morning we had a very contemplative kind of afternoon.
To contact Joe Shute call 800-868-0941 or visit his website at http://www.captjoes.com/flyshop_Contents.htm. If you’re considering visiting the Atlantic Beach area, contact Tom Bennett, a fly fisherman himself, at (252) 247-3434 for lodging at the Comfort Inn in Morehead City, or Emerald Isle Realty at 252.354.3315 for more upscale accommodations.
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This article was written by John Kumiski of John Kumiski Outdoors and Travel. Contact him at his website www.johnkumiski.com or via email at john@spottedtail.com. Copyright 2007 John Kumiski.
John Kumiski 's most recent fishing guidebooks are How and Where to Catch Redfish in the Indian River Lagoon System (Argonaut Publishing Company), and Fishing Florida's Space Coast (Argonaut Publishing Company).
John Kumiski's newest book is Redfish on the Fly- A Comprehensive Guide.
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