OLD POSTCARD from the nrly 'Me promoted the popular aport of flehliig tor dram from row boete. V Ith their string of dram are Lynn MorrUon. Bob Neely and Harry

Eldredge.

started fishing for drum whenever the dogwood turned white or the gnats started biting. The fellows who had rods and reels used linen line that had to be dried after every use, and they secured leather thongs between their lines and their leaders. They also used a fish finder ttyit slid up and down the lines. I still use a fish finder today, but 1 tie my line directly to the leader, because the braided nylon I use doesn’t chafe or cut off like the linen line did. I STARTED DRUM FISHfNG with Ward Smith of Court House in 1952, and I’ve been doing it ever since. He taught me to be as quiet as possible, and how to tie drum knots, and where to fish. We had a 12 ft. open boat with a 715 h.p. motor. We didn’t need any more than that because we only went out about 150 yds. from the beach. In early 1956 my wife’s cousin, Cpt. Fenton Yeariks, took me off the beach where we fished in his clam boat, and through use of his depth finder we found a ledge back of the flats that looked like a natural seed oyster bed. We took downshore ranges, inshore ranges, and upshore ranges to form a triangulation which enabled us to return to the same Spot each time. In my first season after finding this place, my boat got 58 drum which was quite a feat in those days. It didn’t compare with the catches of Lynn Morrison of Green Creek, and Harry Eldredge, who regularly brought in 200 drum a season to Neely's pter — but it was pretty good for a novice fisherman. The glass rod came into being about this time, and replaced the handlines and stiff bamboo poles — and the drum started to act like a gamefish. Before that, the humpback didn't have much chance against 100 lb. test line, and tarred rope. SOMETIMES THERE WERE

300 boats clustered at anchor off the Green Shanty grounds, and on good nights everyone seemed to nave a fish on. Drum in those days were caught for eating, and if you got one or two you had a good night. We fished till dusk ip-12 ft. and 14 ft. boats, and either tied up at piers like Neel's or used railways at Walt Soboleski's or A1 Dephino’s in Town Bank. In 1958 I was with Jack Douglass when he caught a 90 lb. drum that broke the world record. I did the gaffing, and when that fish came aboard it filled the stern

of our 14-footer.

In the early '60s when drumming inshore slacked off, some of the fellows with bigger boats started going over to the Delaware side, and they caught a lot of drum there. When this type of fishing started falling off they started trying around 14 Foot Light and Brandywine shoal, and there they found more consistent catches, which bring us to present-day drum fishing. It’s changed a lot since the Green Shanty days when A1 Macfarlane used to sneak off to a spot away from the fleet to the mouth of Coxe Hall creek, and come in with three drum which made him the envy of the fleet. It’s a different batlgame nowadays, with the big cioUar contests and catches of 20 drum a night being the rule rather than the exception. MY OLDEST FRIEND, Elmer Higgins Jr., who gleaned more than 4,000 drum in his lifetime, used to say we had five schools of drum in a season as they went up the Bay to spawn. First, the puppy drum (15 to 30 lbs.), then a gold colored-type of drum. The third school found them marked with white stripes, resembling a sheepshead. The fourth was a whitishtype drum, and lastly there were the big humpbacks, 80 lbs. and up, that showed at the end of the

season before they left the bay in large schools on top of the water. AH season long you get some stragglers from each of these schools, but most years they

follow the Higgins pattern.

The inshore sloughs aren’t producing anymore, because of poUution, and the old timers would have a hard time recognizing the fancy rigs, with C-Lorpn and radar, that we’re now using (most of the pioneer drum fishermen were lucky to have a compass). But the drum still play the same, and the thrill of catching one is still the same. Thank God, the challenge is till there, and every

drum season is a little different. I HAVEN’T COVERED ALL the stories; like how they use to have to use dynamite in the oyster grounds when the drum got too thick, or the trips I had off Peirces Point with ’’Perc” Douglass and "Sykes” Howell. And I haven’t elaborated on how drum were netted, and how they came to be accepted as an edible fish. I’m still fishing for them, and those drum have heads and tails. That’s about all I really know about them. Boyd Tyler of Court House is an avid fisherman and author of the weekly 'Ocean & Bay Soundings column In the Herald & Lantern.

To Our Friends & Customers Jacquaa Direct Factory Sweater Outlet Store It Located In The Stone Harbor Mall. We Are Not Located On 96th Street Nor Anywhqre Else In Stone Harbor. From The Entrance On 96th Street, We Are Located At The Rear "INSIDE” Of The Mall. Thank You.

Scvta&t CutteCLadies’ 100% Cashmere Sweaters All sizes - colors - styles at savings 30% to 60% below national pricing

Men’s V-Neck Cashmere Rainbow of colors Sold nationally $105 to $135 Our Price $ 52 00 Sizes S,M,L,XL

NOW ALSO CARRYING SUMMER SPORTSWEAR SKIRTS - TOPS - BLOUSES - DRESSES All At Our Fabulous Discount Prices

MONOGRAMMING NOW AVAILABLE

Wo'vo doublod Iho tlxo of our Stono Harbor Storol STONE HARBOR MALL TERRA MAR PLAZA 96th ST. (R*«r of Moll) 97th ST. (Front of Moll) 900 TILTON RD STONI HARBOR 366 3114 NORTHFIILD 645 3330

CAPC MAY COUNTY MAGAZINE / 15