Learning how to fish involves a lot of things There are the mechanical sorts of things, such as learning how to tie knots, how to cast, and how to rig certain baits. Then there are the nuances specific to a given fishery. What sorts of conditions bring out the fish? What are the best baits and presentations to get a bite? It’s a constant learning process.
Josh Buckley has been making an annual pilgrimage to the North Carolina coast with about 20 family friends for the last 12 years. It took him more than a decade to catch his first red drum, and he wasn’t able to catch the moment on camera. Read how he made sure that his buddy got the visual proof of his first kayak red.
“This red drum was caught on our annual Outer Banks of North Carolina (OBX) trip,” said Josh Buckley. “Some say Hatteras is the place to be, not so, this was out of Corolla, beyond the breakers, in the Atlantic, about one mile off the beach. It fought for 30 minutes within a pod of bunker. A great way to spend a sunset. This was one of a few on the trip. The angler is Julian Fodor, assisted by Mike Buckley.
We have an annual family trip in the Fall to Carova Beach, NC. A group of about 20 family members stay in an ocean-front home where we spend the week being beach bums, kayak fishing and moonlighting for huge red drum. We’ve been taking this red drum pilgrimage for 12 years. It took me buying my first kayak in 2009 (OK Prowler 13T) to actually catch one of these monsters in 2012. We either missed the run, had terrible weather, or they didn’t come into the beach to catch them in the surf. In 2012, I caught my first, a 44” Red Drum from the kayak (my father’s camera died while I landed it, this comes into play later). An angler who catches a drum over 40 inches is awarded a trophy fish citation from the North Carolina Department of Wildlife. After nailing down the pattern, both time of year and conditions, needed to make this happen we were determined to have success in 2013.
Photos: Seafood @ West Main (above), Kayak Angler (top)
