We departed Lewes Delaware at 5pm aboard the LIL ANGLER II with Jon Walczak and his crew in search of the black drum. Along with Jon was his son Brandon, friends Wayne & Greg and Greg’s son Chase. In addition we had Mike Parker and Captain Willie from WBOC’s television show Outdoors DELMARVA. Winds were calm and waters were flat as we ran to the drum grounds off of Slaughter Beach. Our first set was in about 15 feet of water with a slight ebb current. We could hear the drum beneath the boat, but smooth dogfish were the name of the game. Wayne did kept two nice size doggies for the table. The current slacked and we made a move to the west and set up for the flood. Again we could hear the fish and see them on the Garmin, and still only doggies. About 9pm a rod goes down and Jon Walczak picks it up, all think it’s another doggie, but no it is the elusive black drum. Mike Parker gets the camera rolling as Jon battles the beast. Not sure how long the fight was but the fish came boat side and the mate Jonathan Masten neted the fish. We get it on deck and it measures 37.5 inches and weighs 40 pounds +/-. Then it’s back to the doggies. All this time the wind is picking up and there is a persistent unrelenting rain. We make one more move to escape the doggies, but it was not to be. The seas picked up and it got right sporty due to the wind against current. Around 12:45 am we called it a night with just the one drum. Mike Parker and Captain Willie filmed the entire night and interviewed everyone aboard. It is anticipated the trip will air on WBOC Outdoors DELMARVA on May 19th. If the date changes, I will post the change
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