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Thursday, May 17, 2007

'That's the biggest drum I've ever seen in my life'

By Bill Cochran

When 81-year-old Betty Drummond Hall hands out awards in the Black Drum World Championship set for May 19 and 20 in Cape Charles, she only can hope that the trophies will be nicer than the one she received in 1973.

That was the year that Hall landed a barrel-chested, 111-pound black drum that was an International Game Fish Association all-tackle world-record.

It happened on a Sunday afternoon, after Hall and her husband, Charles, returned from church and checked by radio on some buddies fishing for drum off Cape Charles.

“They are really catching fish. You’d better come on,” is the message Betty Hall recalls hearing.

The couple, along with their son-in-law, Donnie Downing, climbed aboard the family cruiser and headed west from Kings Creek Marina.

They baited with sea clams in the area of C-10 Buoy and before long Betty Hall was hooked up with a fish that weighed more than she did.

There were no flashy leaps or long, reel-sizzling runs. The fish simply went deep, directly under the boat, and slugged it out like a back-alley brawler.

Hall held tight and brought the giant fish to the boat in about 30 minutes.

“That is the biggest drum I’ve ever seen in my life,” she remembers her husband saying. Charles Hall was an avid drum fisherman who died in 2003.

Betty Hall wanted to head for shore to weigh the fish, but Charles Hall said, “No way. Not till Donnie and I catch one.”

They each caught one in the 60- to 80-pound class, “but they looked small compared to my fish,” Betty Hall said. “We weighed it at three different places before we were satisfied we got the right weight.”

The authorized weight of 111 pounds was verified by Claude Rogers, then the director of the Virginia Saltwater Fishing Tournament.

It was an all-tackle world-record until 1975 when a 113-pound, 1-ounce Delaware Bay drum was landed by Gerald Townsend. Hall’s catch remains the woman’s world record and the biggest ever recorded from the Chesapeake Bay.

As for that dinky trophy sent to her by IGFA, she remains miffed about it. It was modest in size, and atop it was a plastic blue marlin. The upcoming Black Drum World Championship is offering a 2007 Ford pickup truck to anyone catching a world record and $3,000 for the biggest fish.

When Hall made her catch, Cape Charles was billed as the World Capital of Black Drum Fishing. It was a title difficult to refute, considering the hundreds of black drum that arrived to spawn and feed just off Cape Charles each April through early June. It was an opportunity for anglers to catch a big fish without taking a lengthy and expensive boat ride.

The fishing was so popular that finding a motel room on the south end of the Eastern Shore became a chore. Fishing guides were even tougher to come by.

Wheelbarrows were positioned at the docks of Kings Creek Marina to haul the catch to the scales. Never mind that the black drum wasn’t a particularly handsome fish. What counted was that they were big, plentiful and close in. A 12-fish limit would fill the back of a pickup. The fish were so big that a garden hoe often was used to scale them.

Too many were caught. The population declined or changed behavioral patterns, probably both. Before long, the world no longer came to Cape Charles to catch black drum.

Then limits were adjusted, settling on one per day. Catch-and-release was championed; in fact, it has become so mainstream that last year of the 145 drum registered in the Virginia Saltwater Fishing Tournament only two were weighed. The rest were released. Some anglers aren’t happy that the upcoming championship involves keeping fish, but they will get good use as food.

The population has been rebuilding or at least taking a turn back toward the traditions of the 1970s.

A major change also has taken place at King’s Creek Marina. Its weathered docks and buildings are gone, replaced by a posh facility called Bay Creek Marina. The new docks are made of Brazilian walnut and there are slips for craft up to 70 feet. The resort features a restaurant, shops, an art gallery, waterfront homes and in the distance are Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus signature golf courses.

This month, the marina is host of the championship sponsored by the Eastern Shore of Virginia Chamber of Commerce. More details are available on esvachamber.org.

Handing out the trophies will be Betty Hall, who calls here assignment “quite an honor.” It has been bringing her more attention than when she caught her world record and received that toy trophy.

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