Educate Me

[Cachalot]

For all you experienced fisherman. This will be the first spring for me to fish for striper and drum with the family (maybe, they won't go if it is too cold). How do you do it? what is the best bait? what is the best lure? What is the best way to attach the lure? Anchor or drift? Any good how too's to read? Any good video to watch? Was at the dock last spring and an angler gave me a big chuck of drum. man was it good. whole family loved it. thanks in advance for the help. Told Harry to put my boat in the water as earliest as possible. Anybody want to go and teach me how? Boat in Breeze Lee, A dock.

[lancer]

Hey catch-When the time is right,you'll know from posts here on the barn,get yourself some fresh clams and anchor in the usual hot spots in the bay.Fresh clams are key,surf clams,a bushel full for all day or night.Bait up and wait-ocasionally through some clams over the side for chum.Change your baits every 10 minutes or so depending on the strength of the tide. You will be able to catch drum or striper at the same time. Make sure your reels are up to the task of hauling in a drum fish,they can get big!! Some guys only fish at night for drum,I have caught them during the day as well as at night.The old wives tale is when the gnats come out in the spring-THE DRUM BITE IS ON!!!

[phish4fun]

Go Over To The Db Forum And Do A Search On Drum.

[Capt Harv]

Article on my website about drum fishing.

[AJ168]

Your best bet is going to be to find a local reputable tackle shop in the area you plan to fish and pick their brains for a while. Ask location, water temps, tides, baits, rigs, etc. Also, there is a good tv show about NJ fishing. Go to NJAngler.com and click on TV show. You can stream current and past episodes. Many of them are about chasing stripers, and there's a good one about drum.

[DaisyMaySportfishing]

Cachalot....if you really want hands on practice I'd jump on an open boat/shared charter trip with one of the guys here. You will be able to see first hand how its done. Also, you can ask lots of questions while you're out there. For the cost, you cannot beat the experience you will get.

Don't get me wrong, there is plenty of info on here(via searches stated earlier) as well as the local tackle shops to get you started. This is just another option!! The guys on here are top notch and you will learn a ton!!

Dave

[Captain's John & Diana]

Spring drum fishing is about as easy as fishing gets and there are many ways to bring your self up to speed on how to do it. I think the safety aspect of it needs mentioning if you do not have a great amount of experience fishing on the Delaware Bay. Fog and nasty spring thunder storms can ruin your day real quick when spring drum or striper fishing. We always used to start the season around the first moon in May over at Slaughter Beach, DE in the shallow water water but now hardly ever burn the fuel and go there any more. Make sure you have enough chain on your anchor to get a good hookset as I have seen so many new comers not be able to anchor simply due to lack of enough chain on thier anchor rodes. Sometimes with tide against the wind I have had a hard time anchoring on the coral beds and I have 25 feet of chain as the wind overpowers the tide and it becomes a pain to get set up. Boats with lower profiles probably do not have this problem as much as we do but on a few occasions it is quite difficult for us to get our anchor set on a hard bottom with tide and wind against each other. Watch the weather and when there is warm air temps and still colder ocean water fog is a very real possibility in the spring and it can be nasty at times. Make sure your boat has all the required US Coast Guard equipment as we have been boarded a few times for safety checks while spring drum fishing by the coasties over the years. Good luck and drum fishing is awesome and one of my favorite types of fishing and a great way to get the season started each spring. They will outfight any striper you will ever catch 5 fold and for a inshore species offer one quality battle on medium tackle. They are not a whole lot of fun to clean but most folks we know enjoy eating them although my wife and I release most we catch and only keep a couple per season for table at the most.

[LamiglasMike]

For all you experienced fisherman. This will be the first spring for me to fish for striper and drum with the family (maybe, they won't go if it is too cold). How do you do it? what is the best bait? what is the best lure? What is the best way to attach the lure? Anchor or drift? Any good how too's to read? Any good video to watch? Was at the dock last spring and an angler gave me a big chuck of drum. man was it good. whole family loved it. thanks in advance for the help. Told Harry to put my boat in the water as earliest as possible. Anybody want to go and teach me how? Boat in Breeze Lee, A dock.
If you really want to learn, you should hop on a charter and pay attention to the mate. The mates on most charters are well educated on the ins and outs of all types of fishing. Thats what I did, besides asking lots of questions on the barn.

You should go to some of the semiars in your area. The Fisherman magazine puts on a good semiar series at most of the boat shows. The AC boat show is coming up soon, check it out.

1st get the "NJ Angler Magazine", lots of great stuff in there. Also check out their TV show, lots of tips on what, when and how. The Fisherman magazine is good also.

A must have is the book "Baits Rigs & Tackle" by Vic Dunaway. This book has helped me a lot, and continues to do so. I have two copies, one at home and one on the boat.


Some books from my library, that have helped me also.

Striped Bass Fishing - by Saltwater sportman Magazine
Saltwater Fishing Tactics - by Salwater sportsman Magazine
Fishing the NJ Coast - by Jim Freda
The NJ Boat Fisherman - by Nick Honachefsky
The Striped Bass Book - by Milt Rosko
Saltwater Fishing a tactical approach - by Freda and others
Fishing for Striped Bass - by Gary Caputi
Fishing for Weahfish - by Keith Kaufman
Trolling for striped Bass and Bluefish - by Pete Barrett
FLUKE an Anglers Guide - by Bob Sampson
Cutting Edge Saltwater Fishing Tactics - by George Poveromo

Hope this helps, best of luck, Mike

PS: Soft baits 1st, Clams in the early spring until the adult bunker move in with the Bluefish, then bunker it is (heads).

[double bogey]

Have never fished for Drum since I was under the impression thta they were not very good eating Howeve, after reading a few posts maybe I was wrong. Can anyone set me straight? Also, if the are decent table fare, what's the best way to prepare?

[Blynch]

In terms of Books, The Striped Bass Book (Milt Rosko) will tell ya all you need to know about bass. I dont know a whole lot about drum, but i can give you a brief overview on bass fishing. The easiest way to start is with bait fishing. I've got afew web pages on a little site i created for the fun of it that might be useful-

General- http://www.fishnj.netfirms.com/new_page_1.htm

Catching bait etc- http://www.fishnj.netfirms.com/MISC.htm

Home Page- http://www.fishnj.netfirms.com/index.htm

P.S.- of you look at the site, turn on you speakers!

[captainbadfinger]

It is very easy,just FOLLOW THE YELLOW BOAT;) :D

[Never - Satisfied]

It is very easy,just FOLLOW THE YELLOW BOAT;) :D
And tie off on their stern.:eek: :D

Seriously now, don't anchor up too close to another boat.

[Cachalot]

thanks all, can't wait till spring. boating for 30+ years off and on but still new to a lot of fishing. have done summer bottom fishing off and on for many years. caught the fishing bug again when my youngest, nine years old, started to really enjoy it. my first job out of school (28 years ago) was on 1000 foot oil tankers, loved boating ever since.:D

[DEEP POCKETS]

Have never fished for Drum since I was under the impression thta they were not very good eating Howeve, after reading a few posts maybe I was wrong. Can anyone set me straight? Also, if the are decent table fare, what's the best way to prepare?

I caught and ate my first drum last spring and it was very tasty.:)

The fish was around 20 lbs and I cut the fillets into fish stick size pieces and breaded and fried up in some olive oil and served with cocktail sauce & cold beer;) Good eating for sure.

[DaisyMaySportfishing]

I caught and ate my first drum last spring and it was very tasty.:)

The fish was around 20 lbs and I cut the fillets into fish stick size pieces and breaded and fried up in some olive oil and served with cocktail sauce & cold beer;) Good eating for sure.

What he said!!!! Its fantastic! You can also go a little further and put some mozzerella and sauce for drum parm. That is a favorite for many drum fisherman!:)

[striper2278]

It is very easy,just FOLLOW THE YELLOW BOAT;) :DWhich one...Ralph has one too:D

[DoubleG]

Be carefull if your running over to Slaugter Beach for drum. I suspect it will be an all out war between De & NJ law enforcement.
Delaware has enacted a saltwater fishing license & NJ now requires a boaters license. If your fishing in a different state make sure your aware of that state's regulations & fish limits. Its a real PITA to keep both sets of regulations onboard. Sometimes I think they states don't have uniform regulations because they would lose a source of income from violations.
I rather spend my money on a new fishing rig rather than paying for infractions!
George