![]() But there is just something about catching big fish on light tackle that really excites me. I have lost my share of big drum during the fight. You’ll probably say at this point that the tackle I am using is too small for the really big ones. ![]() This article is about those trophy fish over 40 inches. (Editor’s note: Chuck, you haven’t mentioned a single FishTalk advertiser yet - Dang!!)įirst, let me define “big reds.” I’ll start by saying I love catching red drum in any size from small puppy drum, to slot reds (18 to 26 inches – the legal size to keep three red drum in Virginia, and 18 to 27 in Maryland where you can keep one), to the next size up (27 to 39 inches), to the big ones (over 40 inches). I dress the jig with any of an assortment of plastic tails, mostly from Gulp!, Salt Strong, and Z Man. I then add a half to three-quarter ounce leadhead jig. On the business end, I tie about three feet of a 20- to 30-pound leader (fluorocarbon or monofilament). These are the same outfits I use for much of my inshore fishing. The Diawa is lighter but is also a strong inshore reel. Before you complain that this is an advertisement for Penn, let me tell you that I plan on also using a Diawa Fuego reel this year. They are rugged reels with HT-100 Carbon Fiber Drag Washers. I prefer Penn Battle II and III reels for this. I have caught them mostly on 10- to 20-pound braid, spooled on 2500 or 3000 size spinning reels. When fishing with artificials, I use lighter spinning tackle and cast to the fish. (Yes, that is FishTalk contributor Wayne Young, with a whopper!!) Big Fish, Small Tackle Few forms of fishing are as exciting as fooling a big bull redfish on light tackle. In recent years I have increasingly targeted them with artificial lures on spinning tackle. Sometimes fishing like this is great, sometimes it isn’t. After that, it was a sit and wait scenario. We usually sat at anchor in a location where we believe the fish to be and put out baits on relatively heavy conventional tackle. And that is an excellent way to catch them, particularly in late spring. For many years, all of the big red drum I caught were on live or cut bait like crabs, menhaden chunks, spot, or croaker.
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