Anglers who ignore the Crystal Coast during early spring are missing some of the year’s best fishing for red drum, including sight angling and fly casting.
Missing the tourists who flock to its beaches and waterways for six months out of the year, Carteret County can be kind of empty during the winter, especially the waters of the Beaufort and North River marshes.
“Some people think our fishing shuts down at Thanksgiving, and even more of them think it’s over by January — that they might as well wait until May to come back,” said guide Chris Elliott of Beaufort. “But you can catch puppy drum any day of the year.”
Elliott and Joe Shute of Capt. Joe’s Bait & Tackle in Atlantic Beach are two inshore experts who said the fishing public is missing a great opportunity in the late winter and early spring months.
That’s because the puppy drums that crowd the marshes during the summer and fall don’t really leave — even when the fishermen do.
“We get some pretty days in March, and we don’t have many people down here at all, so they’re missing out pretty good,” said Shute. “We can get a pretty good knot of days toward the end of the month.
“There are all sorts of ways to catch ’em; it depends on how you want to do it,” said Shute, who has guided for puppy drum for close to 20 years. “In March, you have to fish slowly. The water will be cold, but on nice, warm days, up in the day, they’ll get more active and go out and chase.”
The really neat thing is sight fishing becomes a really big part of March fishing for puppy drum. The water is gin clear, fish are in extremely shallow water, and a majority of casts are directed at fish anglers can see.
“That’s when a high platform on a boat comes in handy — so you can see them,” said Shute. “And you want to be quiet, because in the clear water, they can see you more easily.”
Puppy drum populate most of the backwater areas near Morehead City, Atlantic Beach and Beaufort. Shute fishes the Beaufort marshes — the “haystacks” — plus the North River marshes, the Bogue Sound, plus Back Creek and the South River off the Neuse River.
Finding fish isn’t rocket science. It’s a matter of covering a lot of water, looking for schools of reds cruising in the shallow, clear water. They occupy many of the same places they can be found during the summer or fall — marsh banks and oyster beds — but especially at mud flats.
“They’ll get on a mud bottom because it warms up quicker than a sandy bottom, or they’ll get in the back of a creek,” said Shute (252-240-2744). “A lot of times, if you can see them moving, you can get out in front of them and lay your stuff out and wait for them to show up.”
Elliott, a pro bass fisherman who moved to the coast and began guiding about 5 years ago, said schools of puppy drum are liable to show up anywhere any given day — and they’ll stay in roughly the same area for hours.
“There’s no telling where you’ll find ’em; they may be 2 miles back in a creek or almost out in the ocean,” said Elliott (252-808-7067). “I ride around a lot looking. I’ll look at some oyster points I know or along marsh grass lines where I’ve found ’em before.
“And you can see ’em 50 yards away, no problem. A school will look like a whole, dark cloud. It’s really neat to watch ’em. And because it’s cold, and they’re a little big lethargic, they won’t haul as quick when they see you. A lot of times, you can just about hit ’em in the head with your trolling motor before they’ll move.”
The schools of fish aren’t as massive as they are in the heart of the winter, when hundreds of fish might congregate in a single area, covering an acre of two of water at a time. Shute said a typical school of March puppy drum will number between 10 and 20 fish.
“All winter, you’ve got big schools; you can sit in one place and catch 40,” said Elliott. “As spring approaches, they start to break up into smaller schools. Some of them will head up toward the Neuse River; they’ll start to spread out.
“But anytime you’re dealing with a big school of fish, you’re dealing with fish that have been together a long time — several months at least. Usually they’re all from the same year-class, so generally all of the fish in a school will be about the same size.
“One thing that’s different in March than the rest of the year is when you get a school in a little area, it’ll stay there. They’ll work a point, going from one side to the other, then working around the front of the point.
“Or if they’re on a marsh bank, they don’t go down the bank and just keep going. At some point, they’ll turn around and come back. They’ll work in a little area for a long time. If they get in a little bay that’s got a couple of oyster rock points, they’ll work it real slow and stay in it a long time.”
Shute and Elliott said the typical puppy drum caught in the marshes and creeks of Carteret County will run anywhere from 15- to 30-inches long. Shute said most of the fish he catches during the winter and into March are a little smaller, usually ranging from 15 up to 24 or 25 inches.
North Carolina allows anglers to keep one puppy drum per day, but fish must be at least 18-inches long and no longer than 27 inches. Shute said once puppy drum reach 30 inches in length, they leave the marshes and move out in the ocean, spending the rest of their lives in the big waters except for an annual early-fall spawning run back into the Pamlico Sound and Neuse River.
The best action in the marshes typically takes place well up in the day. During sunny, bluebird days, direct sun light warms up the dark, mud bottoms of the marshes, especially if the tide has been low and is rising, the shallow water warms up more quickly. Once that happens, puppy drum will move in, cruising the shallows in search of a stray crab or shrimp or tiny baitfish.
Anglers must fish slowly.
Shute said the clear water and opportunities for sight-fishing present a good chance for saltwater fly fishermen to take the measure of puppy drum.
“You can see ’em, and we do catch ’em on a fly rod,” he said. “You use dark flies — blacks, gray/white with gold flash, mostly Clousers, No. 2 hook and a 3-inch fly. A 6- to 8-weight, 8- or 9-foot rod is about right. I like a flourocarbon leader, and you lay that fly out, let it sink and hop it along real slow, with real short hops.”
Most of the damage Shute and his fishing parties do in March is with medium-action spinning tackle and either artificial lures or cut bait.
“You can fish soft-plastic lures — Berkley Gulp!, DOA’s, Slurps — any soft plastic will work on drum,” he said. “You can fish topwaters like a (Zara) Spook, a Top Dog, a swimming minnow, or you can cheat and use finger mullet or shad.
“I like to fish a popping cork such as a Cajun Thunder with a swimming minnow or bait underneath it.
“There’s really not much for them to eat, which is why it doesn’t hurt to have some natural bait. I like to fish bait under a popping cork because you can twitch that cork and move the bait a little bit. And it keeps you from getting hung up on the oyster rocks.”
Shute fishes his baits using a 4/0 circle hook on a 2- to 3-foot leader behind the popping cork.
“You move it real slow, throw it out in front of them and just bump it across the bottom,” he said. “The bait probably needs to be right on the bottom, because you’re only fishing in about 2 or 3 feet of water. With that circle hook, I let them do all the work.
“A lot of times, I’ll fish a DOA (shrimp) or a soft-plastic bait behind a popping cork.”
Elliott likes to fish in the afternoon during a “mid-tide” — halfway between high and low and either rising or falling.
“On super-high tides, the fish will get back up in the (marsh) grass, and on low tide, it can be hard to get around,” he said. “The middle of the tide, either rising or falling, is better for me. And it’s definitely a better afternoon bite because the water you’re fishing is so shallow it heats up throughout the day and cools back off every night.”
Elliott fishes a variety of lures, baits and rigs for puppy drum, often driven by weather or water conditions.
“You can fish a Beetle Spin, a little grub or something like a (Gambler) Flappin’ Shad on a jighead, but if it’s cold, you need to stick to cut bait,” he said. “I’ll fish it on a split-shot rig, or I’ll fish a popping cork with the bait underneath it on a jig head. That’s something you do when you know where some fish are, but you can’t get them to bite — if I find some, and they’re too lethargic to chase an artificial, they might bite bait.
“The other thing I like to do is, instead of fishing bait underneath a popping cork, I’ll take a Spook or Top Dog and take off the hooks, then tie an 18-inch leader of 30-pound monofilament (to the eye where the rear hook is normally attached), and I’ll fish bait on a 3/0 or 4/0 Eagle Claw circle hook or a jig head. It’s just a little different version of a popping cork. You can throw it a lot better, and the action is about the same when you walk the bait. Plus, you get the ‘click, click, click’ sound from the rattle in the bait, and that will often attract fish a little bit.”
Shute said puppy drum will stay active until the water temperature hits the low 50s. When it drops below 52 or 53 degrees, “they’ll go dormant,” he said. “You can look at all the fish you want, but they won’t bite.”
That’s when fresh cut bait can be effective. If the water temperature stays up, the action can be surprising, with lots of dozen-fish days.
“If we don’t get any real cold weather during the winter, we’ll have a great early spring, and then a great summer and fall,” Shute said. “They’re a little lethargic during the winter and into March. They don’t roll and fight quick as hard as they do in the summer and fall.”
Active or lethargic, Shute said fishing slowly, even getting in front of fish, making early casts and waiting for reds to arrive is often the best tactic one can employ.
“If you see a school moving through the marsh, you can get in front of it and lay your stuff out and just wait for them to show up,” he said. “If you’re fishing soft plastics (on a jighead), you just have to move it very slow — maybe just lift it up and drag it a little bit with your rod tip. You need to keep it on the bottom, even if you’re bumping it along.”
Relatively light tackle is still the rule. Elliott fishes a 6-1/2- or 7-foot medium action All Star spinning rod and spools his reel with 10-pound-test mono. No shock leader is needed; when he’s fishing a soft-plastic bait with a leadhead jig, he ties his line directly to the jig.
Shute fishes a 7-foot G. Loomis spinning rod paired with a Penn Slammer 360 reel and 10- to 12-pound-test mono.
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