# Drum fishing - Wednesday 12/30



## deatonic (Jul 15, 2014)

Prior to Christmas, I had been PMing back and forth with Sharkchum about meeting up with him down in Sargent for a day of fishing. It was going to be sort of a Christmas gift for myself and a couple of buddies. We were originally going to shoot for Monday the 28th. On Sunday morning, we saw that the weather was going to be lousy and so we postponed until Wednesday. When I went in to work on Monday morning I saw the post regarding the terrible news of the passing of John's wife. Obviously meeting up with Sharkchum was out, but my buddies and I were still planning on making the trip down from Austin.

We got the beach around 10 and tried to get further down the beach. The storms from earlier in the week had washed a bunch of debris onto the beach and the path just above the waterline looked pretty sketchy. We turned around and went back to a spot we saw as we were driving in. It wasn't what we were hoping for, but it was better than nothing. We scattered our lines with fresh crab into the water, but got nothing for an hour or so. We decided that if we couldn't get down the beach to a better spot that we might as well go home because nothing was biting where we were at. We loaded things back into the truck and gave it one more shot. There was a couple of sketchy patches, but we did make it down the beach to where we had originally planned. We got poles back in the water with fresh crab. It didn't take long before my pole got hit. As I was reeling the black drum in, a jeep that had been parked off in the distance drove over towards us. By the time that I had the fish on the beach Sharkchum was out of his truck and talking with my buddies.

He wasn't in the mood to do much fishing, but he hung around for a good part of the afternoon with us. That is the first time that I had met John in person. Like many of you, I have read his posts and feel like a know him a bit from reading them. He is genuine and sincere. He is so willing to share his knowledge to complete strangers. It would have been great to meet under better circumstances, but you also get to see a person's true character in times of trial. I have the utmost respect for John first as a person and second as a fisherman. We had a great visit. He laughed at some of our gear and then opened the back of his jeep and taught us how he makes his leaders and weights. He taught us about the tides, the importance of the barometric pressure, and what to look for as you are driving along the beach. Hopefully we were able to provide a little relief for a couple of hours from the burdens he is carrying right now. 

All fish were caught on fresh crab. We were casting from the shoreline so the fish were in close. By the end of the day we had landed 10 or so, with several getting away before getting to the beach.


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## 535 (May 23, 2004)

great report!


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## longcaster (Apr 13, 2006)

Very nice!


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## troutless (Feb 17, 2006)

Excellent report and photos.
Prayer sent to John and family at the lost of his wife God bless.


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## WillieT (Aug 25, 2010)

Great report. I hope to meet sharkchum some day. He seems like a very nice person. It is terrible what he is going through. Glad you got on a few fish.


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## peckerwood (Jun 9, 2012)

Great day for ya'll,and a better one for John! Thanks for the report.


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## Solodaddio (Mar 22, 2014)

Cool! Glad the trip was worth it, sometimes you've gotta push the boundary to find the fish!


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## [email protected] (Jan 14, 2005)

Sweet catches!


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

That's good beach fishing, some fine drum!


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## TexasTom (Mar 16, 2011)

Great trip, pics, and report! Thanks for sharing! Well done!


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