Earlier in the week, Captain Mike Beane of the Blue Dragon invited me to run a trip and scout for Cobia and Drum with him.  I jumped at the opportunity and in the short time I've know Mike, have learned a lot from him and enjoy the time on the water. Here's a snapshot of the 43" Red Drum he put me on:

Thanks Mike for the Pulleage !!!

Here's a quick recap: We left the dock late afternoon and headed 1st to the IMG and then ended up over near Grandview.  The sea state was still sloppy at the IMG and way too rough to anchor. The wind was against the tide and was not safe for anchoring.  So, we ran to Grandview, anchored and got our chum slick going.  There was bait everywhere. We set a mix Cob and Drum rigs out and the neatest part of the setup for me, was a kite rig that Mike flew to run several live spot off of. That things was cool and Mike made it look easy to use. After about 45 minutes, rod tips started twitching and the starboard aft rod went down! 

Mike handed it to me and boy, what fun that was!  The drum made a strong initial run to starboard and forward.  I managed to turn it, and it came back toward the boat and went straight down. About that time other lines starting going off and Mike and Bruce were busy. Then the drum turned back and went straight for the anchor line and under the boat. I hoped on the STBD gunnel and headed forward around the cabin. After a brief run the fish turned and went under the boat. "Cobia", I guessed. I had to thread the rod under the anchor line and back down the port side.

I thought to was a Cobia there for a couple minutes and was expecting another spirited run. So I sat forward on the pilot house and settled in for a fight. Then on the next run, the fish just gave up. Hmmm. I thought at that point that it may be a Drum.  Finally, it surfaced and we confirmed that it was nice Red. I used my knock off brand boga grip to lip it and we took a quick photo, measured it and let it back in the water.  My release was sloppy and I was not happy at all.  The fish was not revived like I wanted, but finally swam away into the deep.

We fished for a while longer and blues started nailing our bait and the current kicked in full force. At that point, we headed for the Barn as most of us had dinner plans. All in all it was a fun time on water and a learned several new techniques from Mike. He really knows his stuff and for me it was good to get away from the helm and bend a rod !!! 

Thanks again, Mike!