Fishermen along North Carolina’s coach now have two relatively new techniques for catching old bull reds, not just one.
In 2013 a few months after fishermen in the Pamlico Sound discovered that large, soft-plastic minnows fished under popping corks would “old” drum, Mark Stacy of Ocean Isle Fishing Charters, discovered the tactic of catching old drum under bait balls just off the beaches of Brunswick County.
“I didn’t discover it totally by accident, but I think I was the first person to fish for old drum underneath bait balls in 8 to 10 feet of water in the Atlantic Ocean,” said Stacy, who admitted that he and other anglers had sometimes accidentally snared big drum while throwing cast nets to land baitfish.
“So I’d been thinking about it,” he said. “On Oct. 11, 2013, I was at Little River Inlet, intending to catch a redfish. I rode down the beach by myself, saw a pogey pod, threw a bait in there, and 45 seconds later I was hooked up. I ended up catching nine. All of them were 20-plus pounds and some over 30. I didn’t make it to the Sunset Beach Pier.”
Stacy said he “let everyone know” what had happened.
“The next day, Brandon Saul, a friend from Holden Beach, took two Texas guys, and they caught 24,” he said. “Now, people catch them like this from Southport to North Myrtle Beach.”
Stacy said he usually looks for pogey pods in 8 to 12 feet of water.
“I don’t think it is much different from what they’re doing from Oriental to Pamlico Sound,” he said.
Stacy said he tried a popping cork rig and soft-plastic minnow once last fall, and a big drum hooked up but shook off.
Nesbitt Noble of Southport’s Tackle Box said he learned about big drum and menhaden bait balls 10 years ago.
“Paddle-boarders told me about seeing redfish attack pogey schools in shallow water near Little River,” he said. “But Mark was definitely the first to fish for them. We kicked ourselves (for not trying the tactic).”
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