Ancient Greeks believed the sun god Helios, offspring of Hyperion and Theia, crossed the heavens every day in a burning chariot. With our modern sensibilities, we snicker and guffaw at our simple-minded forebears for ascribing deity status to a sky-crossing orb of flame. Oh, the naivety!

Actually, a significant cohort exists among south Louisiana anglers who rival the early Grecians in their love, worship and adoration for the almighty Helios. These are the guys who push their boats and motors to the absolute limits to access glorified mud puddles deep in the Louisiana marsh, places that seem inaccessible and entirely too shallow to support any fish bigger than a bluegill.

But somehow, these backwaters — colloquially referred to as “duck ponds” — are exactly where thick-bodied redfish want to be, engaging in a Sisyphean quest to fill their bottomless bellies. The duck ponds are an all-you-can-eat buffet of crabs, shrimp, killifish and finger mullet, and the reds push into them in numbers from one to hundreds and absolutely terrorize the local baitfish population.

Sight Fishing for Louisiana’s Redfish

In these backwater ponds, which are often filtered by submerged aquatic vegetation, water clarity can range from gin-clear to tannic, and the redfish in them glow like stop signs — but only when the sun’s out. In fact, under a cloudless sky, the fish are so easy to spot, shallow-water anglers won’t even make a blind cast. I mean, what’s the point? They’ll simply pole around in the really shallow stuff or use a trolling motor in water that’s deep enough for it, and scan the water through polarized sunglasses, searching for the fish. Baits dangle patiently at the ends of rods, eagerly awaiting the moment a fish is spotted and they can fulfill their purpose.

Accurate casts are absolutely critical, and placement depends entirely on the demeanor and angle of the fish. Generally, an angler wants to cast past the red at a trajectory that will allow the lure to be retrieved a couple feet ahead of the fish. On some days, it’s best to drop the lure when the fish first sees it, and on others, bites are triggered when the angler plays keep away with the lure. Bites are intense, as the clear water allows every aspect of the take to be witnessed — the charging at the bait, the flaring of the gills and the vanishing of the lure as it’s sucked, along with the water around it, into the gaping maw of a hungry redfish.

Then the fights are the ultimate in intensity. Hook a redfish in a deep bayou, and it will head immediately for the bottom, trying to pull you, your rod and your boat down with it. But in the shallows, that’s not an option, so the fish strips as much line as it can on its first run, and then circles the boat like a distance runner on an Olympic track. That’s especially true with fish that locals call “overs” — redfish that stretch beyond the 27-inch maximum size limit.

Oversize Redfish in the Marsh

Biologists say that’s right around the size that redfish mature sexually and get the urge to move out to the Gulf to spawn. But many are late-bloomers that seem stuck in perpetual adolescence and refuse to put on their big-boy pants. Sometimes fish up to 35 inches are encountered in the ponds.

Regardless of size, these shallow, clear-water fish are the prettiest seen anywhere. Like chameleons, their skin changes color to suit their environment. Deep-water or dirty-water reds will be silver in color, with dark-bronze or brown backs, but in the shallows, the fish are bright orange, with the rich color often extending all the way around their normally white bellies.

This trait obviously gives them some camouflage advantage when targeting prey, but it completely betrays them when they themselves are the prey. Even Ray Charles could spot them. But only when the sun’s out. On cloudy days, the fish are nearly impossible to see, and lots of blind casts are necessary for success. It’s still fun and productive, but there’s nothing like casting to a fish you see and watching it suck in a lure. That’s why shallow-water redfish anglers are strict adherents to a religion, and Helios is their god.

The post Sight Fishing Louisiana’s Duck Ponds appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Leave the micro-skiff at home and keep the light-tackle outfits in the garage. If you want to catch bull redfish, think deep water and make sure to bring out the big guns.

The differences between adult and puppy red drum are so vast, you might as well treat the two like different animals. You’ll need to if you want to catch bull reds. Adult redfish lose their endearing adolescent spots, replaced with armor for scales and a caricature mouth only a carp could love. Their demeanor is bullish, using current and mass to fight down-and-dirty. And their meat turns from refined to tough, mirroring their aggressive mentality.

Bull redfish are the “big uglies” TV football commentators always talk about. Although “big ugly” is truly a nickname for a different drum — the black drum. Want to know how to catch these red drum? Conquering them requires sound technique, strength, specialized tactics and a keen eye. Learn how some of the best bull-beaters in the biz stay on top of their game.

Where to Catch Bull Redfish

Bull redfish inhabit waters from Chesapeake Bay through the Gulf of Mexico, making this illustrious species readily available to huge numbers of anglers. Their pervasiveness is outstanding but requires anglers to understand local population habits.

In the Chesapeake, May through September is the optimal time to target big reds in nearshore waters. Giant reds school up in spring outside Hatteras and Ocracoke inlets before moving into Pamlico Sound for the summer spawning season. In fall, those same reds leave en masse and stay along the beaches until water temperatures plummet, pushing them offshore for winter. The Cape Lookout fall run lasts into December and sometimes all through a mild winter.

In Florida, northeast bull redfish start spawning in deeper sections of the St. Johns River during the first big moon in August. In the Gulf, Tampa anglers head to deeper waters near Fort Desoto, off St. Pete, next to the Skyway Bridge and near Egmont Key in fall and early spring. Florida Panhandle action starts right around Halloween and lasts all the way to February, with the most productive time in November and December near the beaches. These large schools of redfish can even be found off the coast of Louisiana and Texas, and range from 500 to 5,000 fish.

Your fishing location will dictate the season to fish, but once you’ve figured out when, and a general where, the task turns to locating the red drum schools.

Find the Hot Spot for Bull Redfish

Locating bull redfish can be difficult, so consider every tool in your arsenal.

“Sometimes I’ll look for indicator species such as cownose rays to lead me to schools of redfish,” says Capt. Tyler Nonn, of Chesapeake Bay, Virginia. “After the fish move out of their early-season patterns, anglers can bottomfish outside the inlets, shoals and ledges in up to 50 feet of water.”

Concentrations of menhaden near drop-offs and ledges of a shoal are a good sign to look for on your bottom machine, especially at the mouth of the Chesapeake. Later in the year, fish can be marked on bottom machines under and around schools of small bluefish or spinner sharks.

“Red drum have a very unique ­signature, much like amberjack,” says Capt. Brian Horsley, of Oregon Inlet, North Carolina. “They will show on your bottom machine as layers, and sometimes they’ll mark diagonally. Deep reds are difficult to target; most anglers actually find them while fishing for something else.”

I had my first run-in with Panama City Beach bull redsyears ago during a paddle-craft media event. Only a few of us had ever fished off the beaches in kayaks, and we were content to target red snapper and groupers with metal flutter jigs. After gathering over good marks on the bottom machine, we dropped down quickly to see what was there. To our surprise, all three of us soon landed 20-plus-pound red drum. That’s when I learned that if you can find the reds bunched up, they’ll eat just about anything.

Redfish in the Panhandle and Tampa areas start to show in strong numbers only when the water temperatures hit the mid-60s, says Capt. John Rivers, who’s fished both areas extensively but now guides in Tampa.

“One easy way to find bull reds is to look for birds diving on the large schools of baitfish that the redfish have pushed to the surface,” says Rivers. “Another way is to have a reliable bottom machine with side imaging that can mark fish when there’s no surface activity.”

In Jacksonville, Capt. Kirk Waltz searches the mouth of the St. Johns River as far upriver as EverBank Field (home of the Jaguars) downtown.

“I begin my search by watching the bottom recorder for distinct breaks on the edges of deep water adjacent to the shipping channel,” says Waltz. “These bottom-contour changes look almost like offshore ledges but can also be sloping drops from deep to shallow water.”

Waltz believes the reds use ledges to block current to conserve energy but also to provide ambush spots as bait washes overhead. Most of these spots are from 29 to 46 feet deep.

Best Lures and Baits for Bull Redfish

Your redfish tackle can make all the difference. The closest thing to a guaranteed bite, especially after locating fish, is to bait with fresh bunker or blue crab on the bottom. Terminal tackle is a simple three-way swivel system — the same rig many anglers use to bottomfish offshore — using 60- to 80-pound ­fluorocarbon, a 5/0 to 7/0 circle hook and a loop to interchange bank sinkers from 6 to 10 ounces.

“I like fresh blue crabs, mullet, pogies or ladyfish chunks,” says Waltz. “Chumming can be very effective. I like to find a spot and deploy four rods using two different baits to see what their preference is. A good soak of 15 to 30 minutes is preferred to allow the scent track to feed back in a light current.”

For the best redfish lures, captains Horsley and Rivers both prefer bucktails ranging from 1 to 8 ounces. “When they are schooled up, they are not too smart and will eat just about anything in their face,” jokes Horsley. Rivers dresses his bucktails with plastics. “I’ll use a 1½-ounce Spro bucktail jig in white, pink or chartreuse with a 4-inch soft-plastic tail,” he says. “Some guys use a plain 1-ounce jig rigged with a 7-inch curly tail.”

What’s the best bull redfish rod and reel? A 7-foot heavy-action rod paired with a 6,000-plus-class spinning reel, spooled with 50-plus-pound braid, is a great setup for any situation in which an angler will encounter bull redfish. Nonn prefers Shimano reels with PowerPro braid, while Waltz uses Penn reels with Berkley braid.

“If the fish are finicky and won’t touch jigs or dead bait, cast out a live bait rigged on a 3/0 circle hook and 40-pound fluoro,” says Rivers. “The [minimalistic] rig catches fish when nothing else will around Tampa Bay.”

Topwater Lures for Bull Redfish

When conditions are right, large schools of reds will hang at the surface in deep water. Each captain I spoke with encountered this behavior, so it’s not location specific.

“When an angler finds an aggregation on top, it’s best to pick off fish from outskirts of the school and try to keep the boat away to avoid putting them down,” says Capt. Tyler Nonn. “Doubles and triples are real possibilities.”

Nonn will cast large soft plastics, such as Hogy Lures, while Horsley and Rivers prefer to work loud surface poppers. “As long as the birds aren’t diving around the large schools, it’s a blast to watch reds fight over and try to smash your plug,” says Rivers.

One sign that bull redfish are around but not necessarily at the surface is the presence of mud balls.

“Reds are famous for attacking schools of bait on the bottom during the spring, and are easily detected by the huge muds under the bait pods,” says Capt. Kirk Waltz. “Catch a few baits from the edges of these schools, and flip them back into the mud balls for quick hookups.”

The post Fishing for Bull Redfish appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Although Capt. Shane York is a regular at his local gym, at least a portion of his body-builder’s physique can be attributed to an annual run of bull redfish at an expansive bay near his favorite south Louisiana port. Every year in the late summer stretching through the fall, mature reds invade the flats in the lower Barataria Basin, and absolutely engorge themselves on bait stocks that must be seen to be believed. York is always there to greet them, armed with soft-plastic paddle tails under corks.

“You can throw whatever you want, and they’ll hit it, but that cork makes it pretty much a guarantee,” he said.

York has been kind enough to invite me to experience the bull-red blitz the last two seasons. Last year, we left predawn out of Myrtle Grove Marina, and caught them until neither of us could bear the thought of reeling in another fish. That was at 8 a.m. All the reds were pushing 40 inches.

“The smallest bull we’ve caught out here so far this year was 35 inches,” York said that morning.

Two years ago, I absolutely wrecked my biceps reeling in bull after bull, including my personal best, a 44-inch fish. Although mature redfish conduct their spawning duties in deep passes along the coast, that’s not where York finds the fish when they’re in feeding mode. He hunts for extensive flats of uniform 3- to 4-foot depths that hold bait, and when he finds one, success is almost assured, regardless of water clarity.

“We catch them out here in absolute chocolate milk,” he said.

The run coincides with the migration of white shrimp leaving Louisiana’s marshes this time of year. York releases every bull he catches, but if you were to cut open one’s belly, it would be jammed full.

Bull Red Drum Eat Speckled Trout

“You would find a lot of shrimp, but you’d also find some speckled trout,” he said. “They feast on those little speckled trout.”

In fact, the trout are such a significant part of the bull reds’ diet that York knows he’s in the right area when aggressive specks and white trout are the first to yank down his cork. Many of the specks are under Louisiana’s 13-inch minimum size limit, but some are solid keepers. York doesn’t mind putting those in the box if his clients want to take some fish home.

Often, diving seagulls give away the location of productive flats, so York said it pays to always be observant. He had just recently discovered the flat that produced so many fish for us last year.

“We were fishing one area, and we were moving to another area,” he said. “As we were driving across the flat, we saw two huge blowups right next to the boat. We stopped, put the Power-Pole down, made two casts and immediately doubled up.”

York’s favorite color lure is black with a chartreuse tail, but he also has success with white and straight chartreuse. He will be putting all those colors to use for the next few months. Once the fish show up in late July or early August, they stick around for a while.

“They’ll be out here really good through October or November, but you’ll still have some stretching into December,” he said.

By then, York will surely look even more ripped.

The post Louisiana’s Late Summer Redfish Blitz appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Red drum is a highly sought-after species up and down the Mid-Atlantic seaboard. Many anglers have formed a special bond with redfish in large part because of their willingness to take a baited hook, artificial lure, or fly. Throughout their range, the strong fight of a redfish keeps anglers’ hearts pumping and adrenaline flowing.

Luckily, anglers in North Carolina have access to some of the largest red drum in the world. In August and September, mature “old drum” come inshore to spawn at the mouth of the Pamlico and Neuse rivers before moving off Outer Banks beaches where they can be targeted in October and November. People from all over the country travel to isolated destinations like Cedar Island, Swan Quarter, Ocracoke and Cape Lookout to try to catch and release a “citation” fish. North Carolina’s Saltwater Fishing Tournament, also known as the Citation Program, recognizes exceptional catches of North Carolina’s most popular sport fish. A citation red drum must measure at least 40 inches. The all-tackle world record, a 94-pound, 2-ounce giant, was landed in Cape Hatteras back in 1984.

Historically most old drum were caught by bait fishermen using large pieces of fresh cut mullet or menhaden late in the evening or at night. Anglers can also have success catching huge redfish during the day using a variety of different artificial lures. As the fishery has evolved, it has led to increased fishing pressure and sometimes very finicky fish. Capt. Mitchel Blake, of FishIBX Charters, grew up fishing the area over the past several decades and has seen the changes.

Where to Find Reds

Pamlico Sound is a large body of water with lots of depth transitions and different bottom compositions. There are no real hot spots — what was good yesterday may well be dead water today. Capt. Blake reminds anglers that the fish are always on the move, and they are significantly impacted by boat traffic. Some studies have shown that drum travel more than 25 miles a day, advancing along submerged edges and ledges in different depth ranges searching for bait and preparing to spawn.  

Successful anglers get on the water early to locate them when they are feeding in 2 to 4 feet of water. Sometimes it is obvious, as reds move a lot of water when they are feeding aggressively. Search for pushes and wakes as you move into skinny water; busting mullet and shrimp popping in the shallows are also good indicators of feeding drum in the area. As the day moves on, especially in areas where there is a lot of boat activity, reds tend to move into deeper water. But they can still be found feeding on large schools of menhaden at the surface. It’s the subtle things Capt. Blake sees that keep him on the fish as he slowly dissects the river each day, not the run-and-gun style so prevalent in the age of social media and Internet reports. 

As you approach an area that seems to have the right conditions, stealth is critical to success. Blake’s biggest piece of advice is to slow down and pay attention to the surroundings. Shut off the big motor early, before you push into the zone, and use the trolling motor as sparingly as possible to hold your position. If possible, use the wind to push you within casting range. Don’t just zoom from spot to spot, as you might be running over the fish while you stare at your phone or navigation screen. Things tend to materialize fast, so you want to be ready with several rods rigged with a couple of different offerings.  

Reviving Red Drum After the Fight

For artificials lures, there are several options that work well. I prefer to fish topwater lures, as I can make repetitive long casts with a big surface popper. Walk-the-dog-style lures work well, too. Both choices make great search baits, as they are designed to imitate the sounds of struggling baitfish. When a fish hears the commotion on the surface, they tend to rise and look for an easy meal. Having a big 50-pound redfish explode on a surface lure is about as exciting as it gets. Large popping-cork rigs work well, too, especially if fish seem skittish or are hesitant to eat a surface plug.

We need to do everything we can to care for these fish, as they are the breeding stock for the entire population. Be mindful and use appropriate tackle to land fish quickly, so they do not exhaust themselves during the fight. Tagging data is clear; red drum survive well when released if they are handled properly. Many fish I catch are released without bringing them into the boat, but I admit I love to hold them in my arms for a photo. When landing a fish, never reach into or attempt to support the fish by the gill plate or mouth. Hold them horizontally and support the weight of the fish evenly as you cradle it like a baby in your arms. Have your camera ready beforehand. Enjoy the moment you have with the fish, but return it to the water as quickly as possible.

Spend time reviving the fish after a hard-fought battle. That means forcing water over its gills by inching the boat forward. If fishing in moving water, the water does the work for you, so hold that redfish face-first into the current. Moving a redfish forward and backward in the water doesn’t help much — no matter what the TV shows say. Watching a red drum regain its strength and kick away is rewarding, almost as much as tricking them into biting your topwater.

The post Keys to Catching Carolina’s Red Drum appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

On a rising tide, the remaining brown shrimp and growing white shrimp that fuel the Louisiana marsh ecosystem are scattered throughout the skinny-water marsh ponds, enjoying the hours of relative peace and quiet that accompany high water levels. To be sure, some get picked off by marauding hordes of redfish that scavenge around every grass bed, searching for any living morsel that might provide an appetizer before the entree really arrives.

That happens when the tide turns. As water levels begin to fall, tides stack the hapless shrimp on the conveyor belt of death, dragging them from back waters to the bigger lakes and bays. Redfish know this, of course, so they camp out at marsh drains, and let the food come to them. This puts the fish in an aggressive, feeding frame of mind, and makes them particularly susceptible to lures you’d find in the tackle box of a guy hoping to win the Bassmaster Classic.

One of my favorites is a Bill Lewis Echo 1.75 crankbait, a lure that’s obnoxiously loud and has more action than a salsa dancer. That’s what I had tied on during a trip in July that began just three hours before the sun would cross the western horizon. I intentionally started late, partially to avoid the suffocating heat but mostly because that’s when the tide was falling. While working the shoreline of a large marsh lake, I came upon a drain that was dumping gorgeous water from a pond choked with hydrilla and coontail. It certainly looked like a place that might hold a feeding redfish or two.

Not all my casts are perfect, but this one was, landing just at the opening of the drain. I wouldn’t have to wait long to see if any feeding reds were there. I don’t think I got two full cranks on the reel before something clobbered the hard-plastic bait and I instinctively set the hook. The water erupted in a froth of copper-tinted foam as a 27-inch redfish became enraged at the baitfish that seemed to have otherworldly power. The fish thrashed its head back and forth, and in the process managed to dislodge the hooks from its gaping maw.

The lure flew through the air, reentering the water about 5 feet away. I was disappointed at having lost the fish but, as always, impressed by the power and tenacity of these trophic marsh dwellers. Then something crazy happened. Apparently super annoyed that its easy meal had gotten away without providing a little corner of contentment in its belly, the redfish charged at the bait and absolutely obliterated it while it was resting motionless on the surface. I again set the hook, and this time, the fish wouldn’t get so lucky. It would never again get to swim where it wanted without a yellow tag near its dorsal fin.

Would the ubiquitous soft-plastic paddletail have elicited the same reaction from this redfish? Who knows? But it’s not for novelty that my favorite redfish lures this time of year would work equally well on a cypress-peppered flat of an impoundment. Redfish just can’t seem to resist them.

In addition to the crankbaits, I also regularly throw a gold-bladed spinnerbait teamed with a ¹⁄₄-ounce jighead and soft-plastic paddletail as well as a ribbed worm fished Texas-rigged below a ¹⁄₄-ounce tungsten bullet weight. The crankbait is my go-to in waters devoid of submerged aquatic vegetation or where there’s a hard edge to the grass that the fish use as a shoreline. When the grass is scattered, I’m more likely to reach for the spinnerbait, and in areas with drop-offs and ledges, the worm is hard to beat.

All are proving particularly effective this year. After a few meager seasons, the spawn of 2021 was especially robust, and those fish are all now in the 18- to 22-inch range. The marshes are absolutely crawling with redfish.

The post Bass Fishing for Redfish appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Whether you’ve heard them called red drum, redfish, channel bass, or spot tail bass, you’ll be hard pressed to find an angler who doesn’t call it a premier game fish. These magnificent fish can be targeted in several inches of water with fly or lure, or caught in deep inlets with heavy tackle and natural bait. Their hard-fights, willingness to take a variety of natural and artificial baits, and beautiful coloration make the red drum one of the most highly sought after game fish species in the world.

A scroll through the IGFA World Records reaffirms the redfish’s popularity amongst the angling elite, with prominent names like Ballantyne, Hogan, and Werking listed alongside their respective records. But much like the largemouth bass, part of what makes the redfish popular is its availability to the masses. Million dollar boats and high-tech tackle are not required, which is evident by the fact that the largest redfish ever recorded by the IGFA were caught from shore or from piers, using basic tackle and a chunk of bait.

This compilation of red drum world records highlights a handful of records set for this species, and clearly illustrates just how diverse fishing for redfish can be.

All-Tackle World Record — 94 Pounds, 2 Ounces

• Weight: 42.69 kg (94 lb 2 oz)
• Angler: David Deuel
• Place: Hatteras, North Carolina
• Date: Nov. 7, 1984

It’s only appropriate, and no surprise, that the All-Tackle world record red drum was caught in the waters off Hatteras, North Carolina. After all, every redfish to hold the All-Tackle title has come from this area, not to mention the countless other monsters that these waters have produced over the years. David Deuel’s massive 42.69 kg (94 lb 2 oz) red drum was caught from shore, just as every other All-Tackle submittal for redfish. Deuel was rigged up the same way as many other surf-casters were on the morning of Nov. 7, 1984 as he hit the beaches of Avon, North Carolina. However it was his chunk of mullet that was picked up by the heaviest redfish ever recorded. Nearly an hour after hooking up, Deuel pulled the huge drum ashore and immediately knew it was a special fish. The fish measured 57 inches in length (to the fork), and sported an incredible girth of 38 inches. Deuel’s monster redfish replaced the previous record by more than 10 pounds, and also earned him the 24 kg (50 lb) line class world record.

Men’s 3 kg (6 lb) Tippet Class — 41 Pounds

• Weight: 18.59 kg (41 lb)
• Angler: Jim Seegraves
• Place: Houma, Louisiana
• Date: April 2, 2004

Arguably one of the more impressive redfish world records was caught by angler Jim Seegraves on April 2, 2004 while fly fishing out of Houma, Louisiana, USA. Seegraves battled this beautiful bronzed red drum for nearly two hours after the fish crushed the crab pattern fly he was casting from Capt. Dawny Ayo’s custom skiff. Why such a long fight? Seegraves was fishing with only 3 kg (6 lb) class tippet, and his record redfish tipped the scales at an impressive 18.59 kg (41 lb).

Women’s 3 kg (6 lb) Line Class — 44 Pounds

• Weight: 19.96 kg (44 lb)
• Angler: Maureen Klause
• Place: Ocracoke, North Carolina
• Date: Nov. 11, 2008

Angler Maureen Klause, a recipient of IGFA’s Bob Herder Light Tackle Award, set the women’s 3 kg (6 lb) line class world record for red drum on Nov. 11, 2008 with this gorgeous 19.96 kg (44 lb) specimen. Klause was fishing out of Ocracoke, North Carolina aboard the Drum Runner with local Captain Ernest Doshier when the fish ate the dead menhaden she was fishing on the bottom, right outside of the surf. Klause skillfully played the fish for approximately 45 minutes, before it could be landed. Once secured, the fish was quickly run to shore where it was properly documented and released alive.

Women’s Smallfry — 50 Pounds, 4 Ounces

Battle at the Bay

• Weight: 22.79 kg (50 lb 4 oz)
• Angler: Kristen Dize
• Place: Chesapeake Bay, Virginia
• Date: Sep. 15, 2001

Kristen Dize holds IGFA’s female smallfry record after landing this 50-pound, 4-ounce redfish in Virginia’s Chesapeake Bay. Dize was bait fishing with a croaker when the fish hit, taking her 20 minutes to land. The catch happened in September of 2001, making this record more than 20 years old.

Men’s 15 kg (30 lb) Line Class — 90 Pounds

• Weight: 40.8 kg (90 lb)
• Angler: Elvin Hooper
• Place: Rodanthe, North Carolina
• Date: Nov. 7, 1973

At approximately 3 am on Nov. 7, 1973, angler Elvin Hooper hooked into an enormous red drum while fishing with a chunk of mullet from the Hatteras Island Pier in Rodanthe, North Carolina. After battling the stubborn fish for over an hour, Hooper had the fish alongside the pier, where it was eventually landed with a pier net. Tipping the scales at a whopping 40.8 kg (90 lb), Hooper’s fish became the biggest redfish specimen ever recorded by the IGFA at that time. Although the All-Tackle title has since been eclipsed, Hooper’s incredible catch still holds the men’s 15 kg (30 lb) line class record, and is the second largest red drum on record with the IGFA.

Women’s 6 kg (12 lb) Line Class — 51 Pounds, 8 Ounces

• Weight: 23.4 kg (51 lb 8 oz)
• Angler: Joan S. Dull
• Place: Cape Hatteras, North Carolina
• Date: Nov. 19, 1958

One of the longest standing world records for redfish is also one of the most impressive. Angler Joan S. Dull of Wayne, Ohio, USA set the women’s 6 kg (12 lb) line class world record with this 23.4 kg (51 lb, 8 oz) drum she caught on Nov. 19, 1958 while soaking a chunk of cut mullet in the surf off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, USA. Despite the large size of the fish and her light surf casting gear, Dull bested her record redfish in just 20 minutes — all done without the assistance of a boat and with only 15 inches of leader!

Men’s 2 kg (4 lb) Line Class — 52 Pounds, 5 Ounces

• Weight: 23.74 kg (52 lb 5 oz)
• Angler: George Hogan, Jr.
• Place: Indian River Lagoon, Florida
• Date: Feb. 24, 1996

Light tackle expert George Hogan, Jr. has spent years pursuing IGFA world records for prestigious saltwater and freshwater game fish. However as Hogan describes in the testimony for his 2 kg (4 lb) line class record, “the day was planned to be a fun trip fishing with my sons.” But Hogan goes on to explain that “when the chance is there for another record catch, I’m always willing and prepared.” That was certainly the case on Feb. 24, 1996 when he caught and released this 23.74 kg (52 lb 5 oz) redfish while fishing Florida’s Indian River Lagoon. Hogan needed only 21 minutes to land the record fish after it ate the crab he was using for bait.

Women’s 10 kg (20 lb) Line Class — 65 Pounds

• Weight: 29.48 kg (65 lb 0 oz)
• Angler: Lyn Gottert
• Place: Cape Hatteras, North Carolina
• Date: Nov. 11, 1983

North Carolina is renowned for its monster red drum, especially in areas such as Cape Hatteras and Ocracoke. It’s no surprise then that Lyn Gottert’s record 20-pound-class redfish came from these exact waters. Gottert was surf fishing in November 1983 when the 65-pound fish hit a mullet.

Men’s 3 kg (6 lb) Line Class — 51 Pounds, 8 Ounces

• Weight: 23.36 kg (51 lb 8 oz)
• Angler: Raleigh Werking
• Place: Oriental, North Carolina
• Date: Aug. 24, 1999

Light tackle extraordinaire and past recipient of the IGFA’s Lifetime Achievement Award, Raleigh Werking has set more than 50 world records over his incredible angling career, but few are as impressive as the 23.36 kg (51 lb 8 oz) redfish he caught on just 3 kg (6 lb) line. Werking was fishing with local guide George H. Beckwith, Jr. out of Oriental, North Carolina, USA on Aug. 24, 1999 when he caught this record redfish. Werking skillfully played the fish for just 20 minutes on his light tackle set-up, before the fish was landed, documented, and then released alive.

Women’s 6 kg (12 lb) Tippet Class — 40 Pounds

• Weight: 18.14 kg (40 lb)
• Angler: Dotty Ballantyne
• Place: Venice, Louisiana
• Date: Nov. 19, 2014

On Nov. 19, 2014 while fishing out of Venice, Louisiana with guide David Mangum, Dotty Ballantyne caught and released this 18.14 kg (40 lb) redfish. Ballantyne set the women’s 6 kg (12 lb) tippet class record after skillfully playing the fish for approximately 30 minutes. Not only a world record, Ballantyne’s fish is also one of the heaviest fly-caught redfish ever recorded by the IGFA.

The post Largest Redfish in the World appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Striped Bass: 81 pounds, 14 ounces

• Gregory Myerson
• Long Island Sound, Connecticut
• August, 4 2011

Who better to ask about the next World Record striped bass than the current record holder. It’s been over a decade since Greg Myerson caught one of the world’s most famous fish and he’s ready to set the next mark. “If they ever lift the slot limit, I’ll catch the next world record, too,” he says. His boasts aren’t hot air, Myerson holds the several striped bass records and striper tournament trophies. Myerson credits the deep ocean bottom and strong tidal currents off Connecticut and Rhode Island for bringing a steady stream of bait and big bass. “Big bass don’t like to move a lot so they are looking for a live lobster.” Myerson even predicts how the next world record bass will be caught; he has developed a rattling sinker that imitates the sound of a startled lobster. “The fish hears the sound and comes to investigate, that’s where he finds my eel.”

Red Drum: 94 pounds 2 ounces

• David Deuel
• Avon, North Carolina
• November 07, 1984

Forty years ago, Frank Folb was working at the tackle shop that weighed the World Record red drum. Today, Folb has retired from tackle shops and taken up gardening, but he remembers the day the world’s biggest red drum was hanging from the scale. “Gosh, it was a fat fish,” he recalls. He says David Deuel fought the trophy drum down the Hatteras Island beach almost a mile before landing it. Due to the current slot limit on redfish, the red drum record will most likely never be broken. Back in the heyday of beach drum fishing, Folb rigged up a mobile scale to weigh a potential record on the beach. “We never had a fish large enough to break the mark,” he says. Folb has heard credible stories of redfish passing the length and girth test, but the fish were released. Despite the difficulty in setting a red drum record, Folb believes a 100-pound redfish is swimming somewhere off the Virginia or North Carolina coast.

Common Snook: 53 pounds, 10 ounces

• Gilbert Ponzi
• Parismina Ranch, Costa Rica
• October 18, 1978

The oldest record on the list is one of the most coveted. While Florida accounts for the largest population of snook anglers, Costa Rica holds the all tackle world record. Stuart-based Capt. Mike Holliday has landed snook up to 40 pounds, but beating the record in his home waters is almost impossible to imagine. “The next record will come from Costa Rica,” he says. Holliday explains the warm Latin American climate allows the snook to feed year-round and reach extraordinary size. Why hasn’t a bigger fish been caught in Costa Rica? Holliday says the fish in the 1970s and 80s were bigger. “People used to brag about the 40-pound club, now they brag about the 40-inch club.” Once again, fishing regulations are the biggest obstacle to breaking the record. Slot limits throughout the snook’s range keep the record safe from American anglers.

Spotted Seatrout: 17 pounds, 7 ounces

• Craig F. Carson
• Ft. Pierce, Florida
• May 11, 1995

Capt. Mike Holliday has personal experience with the World Record spotted sea trout. “I interviewed the guy who caught it,” he remembers. The long-time contributor to local and nationwide publications was on the beat when the fish was caught. “Craig Carson was visiting from Daytona and caught the fish on a Zara Spook off Dynamite Point.” Even though he didn’t witness the weigh-in or see the actual fish, looking at photos of the catch gives Holliday suspicions. “It doesn’t look like a 17-pound trout,” he insists. And the angler weighed the fish on a grocery store scale. And then there’s the incredible size. Holliday shakes his head, “I’ve never heard of a trout even close to 17 pounds.” The speckled trout record has stood for almost 30 years and Holliday thinks it will never be broken. “I’ve fished the same area for decades and caught one fish over 13 pounds,” he says.

Tarpon: 286 pounds, 9 ounces

• Max Domecq Rubane
• Guinea-Bissou
• March, 4 2003

Close your eyes and picture a 300-pound tarpon jumping through the air, diving under the boat and rolling on the line and you’ll understand the difficulty in breaking the silver king’s world-record mark. Zack Bellipigna, angler recognition manager at IGFA, is confident the record can be broken. “As sure as I’m sitting in my chair, there is a 300-pound tarpon swimming off the coast of Africa right now,” he insists. Bellipigna attributes the long-standing record to a lack of angler interest. “Hardcore tarpon anglers are more interested in setting line-class records in the Keys or along the Gulf Coast than going to Africa and catching a giant tarpon.” Bellipigna says IGFA’s Grand Slam awards are also seeing a lot of interest. “Catching a tarpon and two other trophy species in one day is a hell of an achievement but it is achievable.” Still, many of the line class records pale in comparison to the massive 286-pound beast.

The post Waiting for a World Record appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

“The fishing was so good, I could only fish two rods and I was getting worn out,” reported Capt. Kenny Louderback after a recent trip where he landed 23 giant redfish between 44 and 48 inches. “The day before we caught redfish up to 53 inches!”

Capt. Kenny Louderback was fishing shallow shoals at the mouth of Chesapeake Bay and along Fisherman Island on Virginia’s Eastern Shore. 

The day of the epic bite, he marked fish on his fishfinder in 30 feet of water and deployed the anchor. The deep hole was close to shore making a natural funnel for the redfish to travel into the surf zone. 

With two anglers steadily cranking in giant redfish, Louderback was busy baiting hooks, landing drum and reviving the released fish. “Before I release a redfish, I use a fish gripper to hold it in the water,” he explained. (Don’t hold a fish vertically with a lip gripper.) Once the fish swims on its own, he unclips the gripper and lets the red swim free. The captain laughed, “As soon as the bait hit the bottom, I’d have two more fish to release.”

How to Catch Chesapeake Bay’s Red Drum

Fishing with a whole or half hard crab on a 9/0 hook and 50-pound leader, Louderback uses a fish-finder rig with 8 to 10 ounces of lead. To fish the heavy rig and big bait, he utilizes a 6-foot boat rod and PENN Squall 20 spooled with 30-pound braided line. He threads a fish-finder slide over the mainline and ties the line to a swivel. The swivel is connected to one to three feet of 50-pound monofilament and the 9/0 circle hook. 

Up until recently, red drum fishing has been slow. Louderback reports cold water and bad weather are putting a damper on the red drum bite. “A hard northeast wind has caused the water temperature to fluctuate.” He sees 68 degrees one day and 64 degrees the next day. Since the water temperature started to stabilize, Louderback has had consistent action on big red drum. With the slow start, he hopes for a longer season as the water warms into the lower- to mid-70s.

In a couple weeks, Louderback will turn his attention to sight fishing for cobia and red drum. He searches the mouth of Chesapeake Bay looking for the schools of redfish and cobia swimming on the surface. When he spots fish, he casts a two-ounce bucktail or live eel with a medium-heavy spinning rod and reel. He looks for sight fishing to continue through summer and into early fall. 

Outer Banks Redfish Fishing Techniques

Farther south, North Carolina’s Outer Banks have been covered up with trophy red drum since February. “Red drum fishing is awesome,” said Capt. Tim Hagerich, from the Black Pearl Charters out of Hatteras Inlet. When I texted Hagerich for a fishing report, he replied, “I’m on a school of drum right now!”

Hagerich finds drum two ways. When the weather is clear and the seas calm, he heads into the ocean toward Diamond Shoals. Searching the shoals, he finds schools of drum in the clear water. “Sometimes the school has 2,000 fish,” he marveled.

Once he spots a school, Hagerich casts a 2-ounce bucktail toward the fish. “Jig the bucktail anywhere near the school and the fish will pile on,” he explained. 

Hagerich stopped using the ubiquitous rubber curly tail jig on his bucktail. “It takes too much time to fix the tail after catching a fish,” he complained. Hagerich said it’s more important to cast again while the school is nearby. “Bucktail color doesn’t matter, either,” he added.

Big Red and Black Drum Mixed Together

On a recent trip, Hagerich found big redfish mixed in with a school of large black drum. The water on Diamond Shoals was crystal clear and Hagerich spotted a school of black drum in 20 feet of water.

“Black drum won’t bite so I drove around the school four times and didn’t make a cast,” he recalled. Another captain took a chance and pulled a redfish out of the black school. Hagerich chuckles and said, “The moral of the story is don’t believe your eyes.”

Wind, What Wind? When the wind blows, Hagerich fishes behind the islands. “The harder the wind blows, the fishing gets better,” he said.

Focusing his efforts on Hatteras Inlet, Hagerich finds breaking waves on a shallow shoal and anchors his boat. He casts a chunk of mullet on a fish-finder rig into the breakers and along the deeper slough. Fishing in the wind is no problem: “We fished three days in 30-knot winds last week,” he said.

Hagerich expects drum fishing to remain good through the summer and into fall. As the water warms, he turns his attention to slot and over-slot redfish on the grass beds and shallow flats.

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Saltwater restocking programs tug at the heartstrings of anglers and nonanglers alike. What’s not to love? You hatch and rear little cobia, flounder, redfish, salmon, snook, spotted seatrout, white seabass and other game-fish species. Then you release the juveniles to help bolster wild populations that have been reduced by factors such as habitat destruction, pollution, environmental catastrophe or overfishing. Hatchery fish integrate with native fish, reproduce, and fishery stocks rebound.

But do restocking programs really work? How does anyone know how many hatchery fish survive in the wild? Do they survive at all, and if so, do they reproduce? These are questions that hatchery managers and fishery biologists around the country strive to research, answer and document on an ongoing basis. It’s about economics as much it is science, for without evidence that saltwater-fishery-­enhancement efforts are effective, funding for such programs — though they tug at the heartstrings — might well be diverted or squashed altogether.

Prove It
“If you want to have hatcheries, you have to prove they work,” says Robert Vega, Ph.D., adjunct professor with the department of life sciences at Texas A&M University at Corpus Christi. He has specialized in marine-fish hatcheries and stock enhancement since 1983.

Vega points to examples of bygone federal programs in the 1940s to enhance cod, hake, summer flounder and winter flounder populations. “These were shut down by the feds because no one could prove they worked,” he notes.

Today, a number of saltwater-fish-hatchery and -enhancement programs exist in coastal areas around the United States. Restocking efforts are also underway in Australia, China, Japan and other countries.

In the United States, most programs rely on some form of public funding. In Texas, for example, the lion’s share of money comes from the federal Sport Fish Restoration Act, which taxes fishing tackle at wholesale.

In Southern California, a special fee for a marine enhancement stamp on annual saltwater-fishing licenses serves as one of the main funding tools for the white seabass hatchery and restocking program operated by the Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute.

Regulation of saltwater hatcheries usually falls under the auspices of state departments of natural resources (known in some states as departments of fish and wildlife). However, hatchery operations are often run by separate entities such as a university or nongovernmental institution. Nonprofit conservation groups such as state chapters of the Coastal Conversation Association can also play significant roles in providing financial support and volunteer assistance.

Sense of Urgency
Recent ecological disasters and mass-mortality events such as the influx of red tide in ­southwest Florida and algae blooms on the state’s east coast have lent even greater impetus for the need to restock affected fish populations. CCA Florida — working in conjunction with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and Duke Energy — has led the charge, most recently with the release of 16,000 juvenile red drum and 200 adults into the waters of Charlotte, Collier, Hillsborough, Lee, Manatee, Pasco and Sarasota counties earlier this year.

CCA Florida and Florida FWCC are also partnering with Sarasota-based Mote Marine Laboratory for a scheduled release of 5,000 hatchery-reared juvenile common snook along Florida’s southwest coast in May of this year with the goal of augmenting the number of young fish, whose numbers are down due to the adverse effects of red tide on snook-spawning aggregations.

Phillipi Creek Snook Release

Species Specific
Fishery managers have successfully hatched and reared a wide range of fish species in captivity. Hatchery programs on the Texas Gulf Coast, which began 40 years ago, raise red drum, spotted seatrout and southern flounder.

In southwest Florida, Mote Marine Laboratory has perfected techniques for spawning, hatching and raising common snook. “It is one of the most difficult species to rear in captivity,” says Ken Leber, Mote’s associate VP of research. “In the past 20 years, we have released 66,000 juvenile snook into the wild.”

At the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science in Florida, you can find ­experimental hatchery-research programs focused on cobia, goggle-eyes (scads), hogfish, mahi, pompano, red snapper, tunas and groupers.

However, the school’s experimental hatchery efforts are devoted to aquaculture, not restocking. That said, the lessons learned at the school can help optimize practices at other hatcheries focused on fisheries enhancement.

Pelagic fish pose the greatest challenges, says Ron Hoenig, manager of the school’s experimental hatchery program. “Mahi, for example, are very active and grow quickly, and this becomes an issue as the fish — ­especially brood stock — grow,” he explains. “They reach 25 to 30 pounds in six to 14 months, and at that point, the tank is just too small for them. Tuna are even more difficult to manage as a hatchery fish.”

Phillipi Creek Snook Release

Viable Young
By staying on the cutting edge of science, hatchery managers learn more every day. “The more we learn about the life history and optimal conditions required for each fish species, the more successful we become,” Vega explains.

“There are a lot of ­variables between species,” says Leber, who has 33 years of marine-stock-enhancement experience. “Each species is different when it comes to the best size for release, the best season to release, the best location, and the magnitude of the release.” It can take years of research to figure out all of this, he has discovered.

One constant, regardless of species, is the need to rear ­high-quality hatchery ­juveniles, Vega points out. “In the early days, hatcheries released fish when they were too small, but now we know that rearing species such as red drum to fingerling size or larger ­significantly increases survival rates.”

White seabass — a Pacific species of croaker that grows as large as 60 pounds or more — need to be reared to an even larger size, scientists believe. So, with the help of CCA California, a network of grow-out pens has been established in harbors and bays along the coast of Southern California. Fingerlings are transferred from the hatchery to the pens, where CCA volunteers feed and care for the fish until the white seabass reach about 9 inches, which is when they are released.

At Mote, snook are raised until they’re at least 10 months old before their release, so these fish are nearly a year old once introduced into the wild.

Measuring Success
Most people — anglers in particular — want to believe in the success of fishery-­enhancement efforts. And in the case of anadromous species such as king salmon, success is fairly self-evident and easy to document. The fish return as adults from the ocean to essentially the same place where they were released as part of their life cycle. This facilitates scientific surveys of survival rates.

Yet most saltwater-hatchery fish prove far less cooperative. Juveniles scatter with the tides with no regard for county, state or international boundaries, and no inclination to return to the release site. That renders the task of measuring long-term success not only problematic, but also expensive.

Fishery managers have figured out ingenious methods to measure the success of their restocking efforts. In the bays of Texas, for example, researchers capture red drum with gill nets and bag seines all along the coast, and then submit samples of fin clippings from fish in a predesignated slot size for DNA testing.

“Biologists have been doing genotyping to identify Texas hatchery red drum since the mid- to late 1990s,” says Shane Bonnot, executive director of CCA Texas. Back in a genetics laboratory, scientists look for a marker in the DNA sample that matches hatchery parents. Cost Analysis

Yet this methodology is not cheap. “To definitively measure success with DNA testing is pretty costly,” Bonnot explains. “To date, we have released 25 million red drum and seatrout, but the key to moving ahead is making sure everyone knows that it is working.”

The percentage of hatchery redfish in the Texas surveys has varied widely, says Bonnot. “There has also been some disagreement over limiting the sample fish to a certain slot size,” he admits. “This is primarily to cut costs.” Since the DNA testing is so expensive, limiting the number of samples helps keep down the budget.

“Returns have ranged from 1 to 17 percent from year to year,” Bonnot reveals, noting that the goal is 4 percent, which, on average, the program appears to be exceeding. “If 4 percent of the hatchery fish are surviving, the program is at break-even. That means it’s paying for itself in terms of the economic value of a red drum.”

Another benefit of DNA testing could be the ability to determine if hatchery fish are reproducing by looking for familial genetic markers, though no such study has yet taken place.

MAP Almaco Jack Tagging

Forms of Identity
Some fishery managers employ less-costly means of identifying hatchery fish. In California, for example, juvenile white seabass receive tiny coded wire tags at the hatchery. These are implanted into tissue in the fish’s forehead, and can be scanned with an electronic wand to identify the croaker as a hatchery fish.

Though some netting surveys have occurred, most of the fish scanned for tags are those captured by sport and commercial fishermen. The program relies on fishermen turning in heads of fish to collection stations for ­eventual scanning.

In Texas, the southern flounder restocking program, which began in 2006, has employed a special nontoxic but indelible dye on the tail to ­identify hatchery fish, Bonnot says.

Mote uses passive integrated transponder tags for hatchery snook, allowing ­scientists to more easily monitor and track fish. “The smallest tags are about 12 millimeters long and look like small pills,” says Ryan Schloesser, staff scientist for Mote’s Fisheries Ecology and Enhancement Program.

“The PIT tags are inserted inside the animal’s abdominal cavity, and these trigger a series of strategically placed sensors in the water when a fish swims by,” Schloesser explains. To date, 1,100 snook have been implanted with the tags, and Mote has documented more than 100,000 pings over a 12-month period.

“This survey technique has indicated survival rates of 10 to 20 percent during the juveniles’ first year in the wild, and in the marine-hatchery field, that’s pretty impressive,” Leber notes.

Under Scrutiny
Based on the emotional chord that fishery-enhancement efforts strike with the public, these programs almost always receive praise in the mainstream press and elsewhere. However, the Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute white seabass hatchery in Carlsbad, California, recently has come under criticism.

The Ocean Resources Enhancement and Hatchery Program was established with the goal of researching the feasibility of replenishing overfished stocks of the magnificent silvery croakers. Ongoing releases of hatchery white seabass has been taking place since 1986.

Read Next: Hubbs-Seaworld Receives Prestigious IGFA Award

Then in 1990, California voters passed Proposition 132, which banned the use in state waters of the commercial gill nets that had fairly decimated white seabass populations. Slowly, populations of white seabass rebounded, and many credit the hatchery program, as well as the gill-net ban. Capable of producing 350,000 juvenile white seabass annually, the hatchery has released well in excess of 2 million white seabass so far.

But an external evaluation of the program by a committee of scientists that began about five years ago indicates that less than 1 percent of the white seabass caught off Southern California emanate from the Carlsbad hatchery.

Differing Explanations
One scientist with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Mark Okihiro, has been particularly vocal in his criticism of the program. “The total number of adult hatchery fish (28 inches or more in length) caught by fishermen for the entire life of the OREHP release program (1986-2013) is only 180,” Okihiro wrote in May 2014. He blames poor survival rates on the prevalence of deformities due to less-than-stringent hatchery practices.

Mark Drawbridge, senior research scientist and head of the sustainable fisheries program for HSWRI, acknowledges the low return rate but points to another ­explanation: “Fish surveys from Santa Catalina Island (one of the best fishing areas for white seabass in SoCal) were excluded from the evaluation.”

The report contains a long-winded discussion about the reasons behind this geographic exclusion, but also acknowledges that “a higher proportion of fish was recaptured at Catalina compared [with] releases along the continental coast.” This lends credence to Drawbridge’s explanation, and for many, calls into question the validity of the evaluation.

That said, Drawbridge emphasizes that this is a research program and that HSWRI is open to changes. “We could continue to focus on white seabass or shift to another species,” he says. “Or we could discontinue the program altogether.” Those decisions eventually will be made by the California Fish and Game Commission, which controls funding for the program.

In the meantime, OREHP staff and volunteers from CCA California have already been out collecting California halibut to serve as brood stock in case the HSWRI needs to switch to a species that lends itself better to hatchery and restocking efforts.

The post Measuring the Success of Fishery Enhancement Programs appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) senior agent Norman Deroche pulled over a white F-250 at 6:48 a.m. on La. Hwy. 1 in Fourchon. In the truck bed, he found 25 overslot reds. Each drum measured between 28 and 40 inches long, all outside the state’s 16- to 27-inch slot limit.

Donisote Santos, 53, of Chalmette, Jose Goronci, 43, of Metairie, and Jose DiSalva, 49, of Kenner, were cited with possession-limit violations and taking red drum in excess of 27 inches.

Louisiana fisheries received the tip from an alert angler who claimed that three males were fishing over the limit for red drum at the Caminada Pass Bridge. A licensed Louisiana fisherman can keep one red drum in excess of 27 inches per day and possess two red drum in excess of 27 inches if fishing for multiple days. Since DiSalva did not have a fishing license, this put the other two men 21 fish over the limit.

According to LDWF, taking more than the limit of red drum brings a $400 to $950 fine and up to 120 days in jail. Possessing red drum above the limit in excess of 27 inches is a $100 to $350 fine and up to 60 days in jail. In addition, red drum carry a $150 fine for each fish over the limit. Failure to have a saltwater license is a $50 fine and up to 15 days in jail. The men could also face civil restitution of $555 for the replacement value of the red drum taken.

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