Now that hunting season is over in the lower 48, I hope you guys don't mind one off-topic big game (fish) post.

I caught this yesterday evening on 17 lb test. This saltwater marsh leviathan weighed a little over 38lbs. That makes it the 8th largest black drum caught in the state, according to the Louisiana state record books.

WOW!!! That sure is a WHOPPER!!! Bait? Lure? How long did it take to get it in on the 17# line?

Congratulations!

Outstanding Michael! They are very strong bulls on a rope for sure. Were you able to salvage any meat or did it have parasites? Congrats on a great fish.
David

Thanks for the responses. I know it's a little off-topic, but I thought you all might enjoy the picture and story.

Here is the told to my buddies...

After work, Francois Ancelet, Scott Mackey, and I decided to make a quick fishing trip to a nearby favorite spot. We were fishing near Bayou Bienvenue and the former Misssissippi River Gulf Outlet (MRGO) on a falling tide just after sundown. Scott and Francois were casting along the rip-rap rocky bank so I decided to toss a shrimp in the opposite direction to the bottom in 25 feet of water. After a minute or so, I felt a tap on the end of my line and set the hook. At first, I thought I set the hook into a piece of wood or an oyster bed because my line didn't give, but then I felt a little shake. I began to crank on the reel when all of the sudden my drag started screaming as line was being pulled out at rate fast enough to make Scott to turn around and ask, "What the hell have you hooked into?" Francois seemed to know the answer almost immediately and confidently replied, "That's a Big Ugly." For the next twenty minutes, the fight was on! It pulled out a tremendous length of line as it swam for deeper water. Luckily, I just filled the spool on the Shimano reel with fresh 17lb. flourocarbon line. It gave the 4000 sized reel a run for it's money as the backbone arched heavily on the 7'6" mag-medium rod. Afraid to run out of line and lose the leviathan, we pulled anchor and went on a Louisiana sleigh ride. The beast put up a good long fight. but eventually succumbed to the constant pressure from above. Needless to say, our jaws dropped as it surfaced. Scott had been anxiously standing by with a net that was quickly identified as being way too small for the job. Francois scrambled for a pair of leather gloves as I persuaded BIg Ugly in close to the boat. Francois was able to grab the fish by the gills and lower jaw , heaving the beast into the 16 foot flat bottomed boat with an authoritative thud. "Wooooo whoooo!!!" A few beer-foaming high fives and we were headed back to the dock...

(Unfortunately, it was full of parasites. This has been my experience with many large drum and Jack Crevalle. The fish was un-revivable and I sure as hell wasn't going to give it mouth-to-gill resuscitation.)

Great looking "Big Ugly".

As much as I would like to catch one to say I did it, I am just as happy with the little ones, they eat good ands fightc good at the same time.

Cool! Thanks for sharing.

Great story too! Memories last your entire life, make a bunch of good ones like that.

That's one hell of a nice Black Drum!! Congrats!!