Virginia Saltwater: Red Drum
Almost two years to the day after my first trophy red drum trip in Virginia with Tom Ritter (MarVaOutdoors.com), he gave me a trophy-filled day I'll never forget. The morning was a grind of only three red drum, though one was my biggest red drum ever at 52.5 inches and estimated to be 60 - 70 pounds. We searched in vain for cobia before finding an absolutely massive school of hungry bull reds. From 1:30 to 3:30, literally every cast except one produced a trophy red drum. They were eating jigs of all colors and even Whopper Ploppers. A fun part too was that the only other boat out there was my buddy Travis Kemp of Foolproof Fishing with his group, so all of us caught as many trophies as we could handle before a storm started brewing and chased us off the water.
Those two hours produced 28 citation red drum, for a total of 29 trophies on the day, shattering my previous record for most trophies in one trip, which had been 18 trophy channel catfish in North Dakota, interestingly just shy of exactly 12 years before. My biggest citation from that school measured 52 inches, easily 60 pounds, and it was the last fish of the day. In all, I caught seven citations over 50 inches. (By comparison, my previous personal best was 47 inches.)
It was a truly unforgettable day and I cannot thank Tom enough for the trip of a lifetime.
