Levar's Birthday Fishing Trip

Date Fished: 01/30/05 Water Temperature: 60 Water Clarity: Murky

2 Monster Black Drum Caught On 12 lb. Line!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Headed out about 3:00 in the afternoon to go fishing with my little brother Weston and my brother-in-law Levar and his friend Johnathen. We fished the pilings under the bridge heading towards indian point (by the Nueces Baitstand). We were all wading and free-lining shrimp on the bottom which is extrememly treacherous. I lost about 4 liters but kept fishing because I had some really nice strikes. I didn't manage to get anything but still had a good time. Johnathen took home a keeper drum and a small keeper trout.

It was already dark and getting pretty cold so we decided to head in. Levar suggested that we go try over at marker 37 pier because it was lighted and thought we might have better luck there. I had to take Weston back home to the island which is right by the pier so we headed that way. When we got there we walked almost to the ended and saw a guy with something huge on his rod. We walked all the way down and saw him trying to pull in a huge black drum (about 30-33 inches). When they got it all the way to the pier everyone freaked a little bit because they couldnt fit it in the net and one guy thought he would try to hand line the fish in. Needless to say the line snapped and the drum was gone. Determined to catch a bull drum (which neither Lever, Me, or Weston had ever caught) we all casted out our lines and waited, fishing with dead shrimp on the bottom. After only a couple of minutes I noticed something knocking my rod pretty hard. I tightened my line pulled back to set the hook and SNAP! my line broke. I have no idea why it broke but think maybe a barnicle or rock from earlier must have frayed my line. I retied my line and about as soon as I had casted it out I look over and see Levar's pole bending like crazy. He has something huge on. His drag is ripping and the fish on the end of the line is just cruising down the intercoastal taking Levar's line with him like it is nothing. After about a 15 to 20 minute fight the fish is finally close enough to see. It is a monster black drum. The fight continues for a while and with help of myself and the guy that runs the baitstand, we net the monster and get him on the pier. The fish is 40' inches and weighs a ton (we had no way of weighing it). Levar takes a picture with his fish and releases it. It was huge. When it made the famous sound that only a black drum makes it shook the pier under of feet! It literally sounded like a huge bass drum being beaten at full force. Levar was a little shaky after making his catch and we walked back and began talking about how insane and lucky he was to catch such a big fish on his birthday...

I tell him "Let's stay 30 more minutes" and he agrees with me. So I cast out my line and tell my little brother to keep an eye on it for me while I run to the restroom. Sure enough I am walking back down the pier and I see Weston running full speed towards me. I know something is up so I take off running down the pier. Sure enough there's Levar holding my Ugly Stick and the pole is bent like I have never seen it before. He says "Weston hooked it and I am just holding him for you, here you go, it's all yours now." I grab the rod and pull back a little on it. It is the most weight I have ever felt on the end of a rod and reel in my life (I am thinking, I am just hung up)then suddenly the fish begins steadily ripping drag off my reel with every move of his tail. He ends up making a move the same way down the intercoastal that Levar's did and I end up at the end of the pier, same as Levar holding on to this monster. Levar is like "I wish we had a camera just to show how much your rod is bent" because it was bent over like crazy. I just hold on and let the fish wear itself out. I knew if I made one small mistake or did anything that wasn't perfect I was going to lose the biggest fish I had ever caught. So I just sat there and had patience and let him slowly but surely come in and get tired. I brought him in about 20-30 yards from the pier and I could see it was a huge black drum. After a few more minutes of wearing him down we got him in close and tried to net him but the net was too small. It took the help of some fellow anglers who were there watching to help us get this monster in and over the side. It was a 43' inch black drum and was by far the biggest fish I have ever caught. I took a picture with my fish and released him back into the water. Within 10 seconds of being back in the water he swam away back out into the intercoastal on his own.

I aways have a good time fishing even when we don't catch anything but it is times like this that make it all worthwhile and to be able to catch and release such a huge fish left me feeling great knowing he was able to head back out to sea to fight another day...