January 26, 2012

Some time in 2011 When my hair was REALLY long! lol
Big black drum fishing tonight - excited.
-Capt Jesse L Nofi

Tampa Bay, FL January 28th 2012

January 28th 2012
I wanted to fish the night before but didn't get out of work until 6:30PM and was tired. The plan was to get hooked up on Snook with some redfish and ladyfish in the mix.  As soon as i got to the spot i lost my first live bait before i had a chance to blink.  The next bait yielded a nice snook - not a giant but a good fight and a great way to start the night. 

Upon arrival to the next honey hole the kayak began vibrating to the beat of the Black Drum...  for those of who who are wondering what would make a kayak vibrate...  Big black drum ( a type of fish ) continuously sound mating calls underwater that make somewhat of a repetitive thumping noise. It's hard to explain - but it's extremely exciting when you get to the spot... and you hear them drumming.. dum dum, dum dum, throw in a bait.. ZZzZZZzZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
  I've caught these fish before and they range from about 8-45+ pounds in this area.  The average fish is around 15 pounds under the docks.  They eat fresh dead blue crab and shrimp. After striking out on the drum ( having the wrong bait ) - i switched to artificial lures and caught some redfish, a few more snook, and some ladyfish.  As the tide began to slow down, the air and water temperature began to drop making it a perfect time to call it a night. I got some hot chocolate and a plan for tomorrow after sunset.

Tomorrow night i'm going back and bringing blue crabs for the big black drum.  Considering there aren't as many snook as there used to be in the area, i'm going to concentrate on the black drum as they are much larger, and much more plentiful. I'll land at least one SeaMonster size fish tomorrow night.  I'll take a picture from the kayak, maybe a video if i can remember to charge the camera instead of taking cell phone snapshots all of the time.  Here's a old pic of me with one of those fish - This should help you get an idea of what i'll hook into tomorrow night.

                                                                   -Capt Jesse Nofi