I moved to north carolina 2003 in hubert off bear creek road,4.5 miles from queens creek
i began fishing queens creek not knowing what i was gonna find or how to actually fish salt water since i was born up north in p.a.
after looking at the creek many times after i crossed it and seeing all the bait in the water i stopped a few times and talked to people who had some knowledge of the creek,they told me how to catch bait and what i would need and from there i more or less went with that knowledge and began to do my thing
i still had no clue what kinda fish i was gonna encounter and i joined a fishing site based in n.c and gathered more information from a few locals on that site and my history began,to clarify my name for some who may not know me its NCPIERMAN, i chose that name because that is where i used to fish every single weekend in hopes to catch a king to which to date i never have b.i.p was my home away from home.
after paying the pier prices every year for the year long pass to catch a few spanish and blues i decided to expand my horizon
ok now for what i know on queens creek and red drum,i managed to buy back my boat i had owned in p.a and begun searching queens creek when i could and when i couldnt i fished from the shore useing finger mullets and manhadden,the first time i layed into a drum was on a calm nite at a high tide with a beautiful sunset.
i tryed my baits live without much happening and then i decided to use cut bait ,i had 2 rods they were shakespears and not really fancy,i set up near an oyster bar and tossed out a live finger mullet and a cut one as the sunset and the tide almost reached peak tide something hit my rod so hard it almost tore it into the water,stunned i actually missed the fish.
i pulled that line in and started to rebait it when all of a sudden my second rod doubled over and this fish was on and so was my adrenaline,this was a fish i had only ever felt this kinda power when i lived in p.a and started to wonder what i was hooked into,20 minutes later i had landed my first red drum and still had no clue what it was lol,i posted it up and was informed what i had was the state fish a red drum and let me tell ya folks after that i was hooked on red drum fishing.
ok my basic rig is a half ounce barrel sinker with a 6 to 12 inch mono leader tied to power pro with a barrel swivel the carolina rig of course,i use a 2/0 circle hook with the barb crimped down to insure an easy release and less damage to the fish.
also i use corks to float a live bait same as you would in ponds…........one of my favorite ways to fish for them i used to use mono lines till i found out thru a friend about power pro and other braids,i have used other braids but i will stick to power pro since ive never had a problem with it and have had bad problems with other brands.
now you may be asking why a half ounce sinker,to answer that i will simply put it like this i want my bait to be able to move around a little and not get hung up and after alot of trial and error i have stuck with the half ounce to which seems to produce much better for me.
red drum are preditors and love to ambush food they are very smart fish and very spooky so when i am heading to a place i want to fish i shut down and go into stealth mode,i will pole if i have to to get to the fish if i cant run a trolling motor,i set up on oyster bars and small islands concentrating on the points of them or channels that run near them.
i am always watching the water for signs of fish and more so the presents of drum,once ive pin pointed my qaurry i set up 2 rods on the bottom and one on top with a cork,i start with live bait and when i know there is fish there and i dont get a hit i normall cut just the tail off the fish and toss it back out to the drum,if that doesnt wortk i will cut the live bait right in half and toss it back out,either way i have over the years proven this to be a great tactic for fussy drum
drum stay in queens creek just about year round and not in any huge numbers or sizes but they are drum always around ya just have to look for them.
soring fishing drum is probably the hardest toi do because the waters are so clear and the fish are very very spooky if your stealthy enough and determined ,you can catch them,normally the first baits to show up are some crab followed by finger mullets and manhadden.
i like useing crabs for bait and they way i do that is catch a legal size crab and quarter it after removing the top shell,then run a hook thru the leg hole and put it out on the bottom.
fall fishing is great for drum as well,probably the best time of the year since they are bulking up for the winter months when bait becomes scarce,this time of the year is great for top water lures as well as soft plastic lures like jigs….bass assasin shad and curly tailed grubs as well as many many more,alot of people i know use gulp lures which i have used but have never caught fish on so i stick with what works for me.
top water i like a chug bug and a top dog jr those are the first top water lures ive used with succes for drum and trout,my first drum was 26.5 inches on a chug bug and i had sight casted to a school of drum comming towards me and let me tell ya if a top water bite doesnt get your blood pumping nothing will
im by far an expert on drum fishing i just seem to have a knack of finding them consistantly and getting people on there first ever red drum.
mjy biggest advise to those chaseing reds is ..........
1- be stealthy and look at every thing
2-use what works for you live or lure
3- look for ambush places for drum to chase baits
4- just because you dont get one the first time out dont give up they will come
5- just because you dont see a drum doesnt mean he isnt there they are sneaky ive seen them in less than a foot of water and never knew it was a drum till it moved
always always practice safety with these fish
use circle hooks with the barbs crimped down to insure the saftey of the fish,also never grab a drum by the gills or any other fish for that matter it definetly isnt good for them.
make sure to fight these drum fast .....they may be a hardy fish but in the warmer waters the long fight will have a bad effect on them sorta like the heat and us humans and our hearts.
if you want pictures get them fast and get the fish back in the water as fast as you can,before you let go make sure the drum can swim uner its own powers.
any questions feel free to ask and ill do my best to answer them as fast as i can
Great info Tim, thanks for sharing. Folks - Tim is known as the King of the Queen (Queens Creek that is). You wanna know about drum fishing, Tim is the man!
thanks mike as i always say im a mear fisherman just like the rest no king but i do love to fish for red drum
i had more info to share but didnt realize i was running out of word room lol its ok though ill answer any and all questiones asked
for those who have never fished for red drum some advise to you,there is a rig out there called the owen lupton majic drum rig,it consists of a heavy sinker and a short leader that are crimped in place,the reason behind this is it doesnt allow deep hooking of a drum,at least very rarely and i suggest those who have never fished for them use this rig.
these rigs work great in the surf where it is kinda hard to keep your line tight or off a boat where the same problem comes into play,a drum normally doesnt play with its food and when they hit its for keeps and there is no doubt when one hits.
i use the lightest set up i can with a little longer leader because im consantly watching my rods and line for any movement,this is key to keep from deep hooking a red drum.
when you use a circle hook the hook does all the work for you ,they are designed to run right to the corner of the mouth and set themselves deep in the corner,thats why i suggest crimping the barb down as well this makes it easy to remove while limiting the damage to the fish.
normally they say the bigger the bait the bigger the fish and all though i agree with this to an exstent i also disagree it all to me depends on how hungry a fish is lol
a red drums real name is a channel bass and i use that too may advantage i will look for oyster beds with channels close by or islands then i set up right in an ambush spot,this is where bait is traveling thru it may be close to the island or oyster bar and generally are not far from either of them,i will spead out my lines as close to them as possible 2 on the bottom and one on a cork.
my best advise while searching for feeding drum is this….....never run right into a place you think is holding drum always anchor up within casting range then set the anchors as quitely as you can and cast your lines out,if you spook drum when you head into a spot thats ok if they were feeding or there is alot of bait in that area they will come back,it may take a few minutes and you may not see them return but you will know when they are back for sure
i cant say my way of fishing works for all areas but i dont see why it wouldnt,another note is this mono will work for some experianced fisherman and even then they get lucky and drag a few in,but if you really want to get a better landing ratio switch to braided lines,they are more expensive i know but they are more resistant to cut offs,my personal prefference is power pro and the debait can and will go on with every one on which line is better,my choice and opinion is power pro.
one more thing if you ever deep hook a fish never try to remove it just cut the leader and nature will due the rest,most hooks will rust out in a few weeks from the saltwater and accidity in the stomach of the fish,dont only do this with drum but for all fish
Tim—I’ve caught Kings, but only one red drum, and that was stricktly by accident. Had no idea what I was doing! This is some terrific info that you have posted. Thanks!!
Tim—I’m toying with the idea of getting a small boat for fishing the creeks and shallows. The problem is getting another boat and staying married at the same time! Also, with two boats in the driveway, my wife would have to park her car in the street! I’m working on the boat, only kidding about the wifes car.
Hi Tim,
Will your advice apply to fishing for red drum on the inshore side of North Topsail. I am visiting Dec 23-30 and have my trusty Hobie kayak along, hoping to catch some drum in the surf in front of the house or Chadwick Bay in the backside. Was planning on trying a Heddon Super Spook (topwater) and perhaps some heavy jig heads with minnows. Would spoons work also? Or….since I’m a newbie, would I do best to try that Owen Lupton Majic Drum rig you mentioned for surfcast and inshore both? Thanks for any help.
yes those tactics will help you in any area,as for lures ive never really fished them besides queens creek but the chug bug and the top dogs do work well in almost all area’s now you can also use mirror lures in an array of colors like pinks oranges blacks and chartuse
for useing the lupton rig on the surf side yes it will work great and the bait of choice should be pin fish ,finger mullet,manhadden or cut mullet,most of those baits i preffer alive but if you can not find any wall mart sells frozen finger mullets, last i knew you could buy 12 for like 3.00,the only problem with useing baits this time of the year on the ocean side is your gonna catch every thing thats hungry unless you find a school of drum first,i suggest fishing sloughts in the surf,with baits your gonna catch alot of scrap fish that most dont like to catch like dog fish( smaller version of a shark )
the lures you spoke of will work as well as the johnson silver sppon which comes in gold color as well i preffer gold,lures i like are curly tailed grubs with fire tails in green and smoked with christmas flake and also bass assasin swim baits or little fishies most colors will work well but electric chicken color s and whites work good too as well as new penny gulp shrimps,man i cant believe i said those words lol gulp works but to me are over rated
when fishing the creeks with any soft plastics this time of the year or top water lures remember the slower the better, cast into and up the currents letting the currents do the work for you just keep the lines taunt for when the strike does come,for under water lures the same applys let the current do the work and go slow the slower the better,ive seen mirror lures hit just hanging in the current behind the boat
