Red Drum Caught in Massachusetts

An angler fishing salt water for the primary time reeled in an especially uncommon catch for the waters off Cape Cod. On Aug. 15, whereas focusing on striped bass out of Harwich Port, Mass. with Take A Likelihood Charters, Camden Stride, of Vermont, hooked and landed a 34-inch, 12.65-pound crimson drum. It was the primary salt water fish the angler has ever caught.

“It’s like a unicorn, right here,” stated Capt. Sam Crafts, who operates the constitution service off the southern shore of Cape Cod. “We have been [striped] bass fishing, and I couldn’t imagine it. I noticed a faculty of bass within the rip, and now I don’t know if it was a faculty of bass or a faculty of redfish, however I knew it wasn’t a bass as quickly as I noticed that fish.”

Crafts stated the group had chartered him to chase bluefin tuna from his 35-fott Duffy Downeast, F/V Taken A Likelihood, however the tuna fishing was sluggish and crowded. He determined to indicate his shoppers a few of the glorious striper fishing the realm has skilled this summer time.

“We’ve had unbelievable bass fishing this 12 months, finest I’ve ever seen it,” stated the 30-year-old captain, who has spent most of his life on the water. “The industrial guys already stuffed their entire quota, which generally goes into September or October.”

Upon finding a rip with fish on it, Crafts deployed an expansion of lures and started trolling. The redfish ate a Rapala X-Rap Deep, and Stride picked up the rod.

A Uncommon Pink Drum in Massachusetts

“It was his first time fishing on the ocean, and truly it’s the primary fish he’s caught in salt water,” Crafts chuckled. “I used to be freaking out. I advised him ‘I’ve been fishing my entire life, and it’s the primary time I’ve ever seen one.’”

A redfish caught in waters off Cape Cod is uncommon sufficient that Massachusetts has no state file for the species.

Crafts needed to persuade Stride to get a licensed weight on his fish. The fishermen wished to maintain the fish to eat, however “they didn’t wish to undergo the entire technique of getting it licensed,” Crafts stated. “I advised them, ‘guys, I’ll in all probability by no means see one other a type of.’ That fish had some miles on it.” They weighed the fish on licensed scales and took measurements; Crafts isn’t certain if Stride has but submitted the paperwork required for a state file.

Scientists say file excessive sea floor temperatures since spring of 2023 have led to a rise in angler encounters with fish straying from what could be thought of their regular vary. Traditionally, New Jersey was thought of the farthest north crimson drum roam, and Salt Water Sportsman reported on a giant 37-inch redfish caught on a Yo-Zuri Magazine Darter from a seaside in northern New Jersey this spring.

Curiously, Crafts stated water temperatures are colder proper now than they usually could be this time of 12 months. He stated the floor temperature was 65 levels within the rip the place the redfish was caught, and that he’s been seeing temperatures within the low 60s, when 70 levels is what he would anticipate in late August.