fished the Canal today with mystery fish

[Blackfish Doug]

I fished the canal today with my buddy Mike Gasparo he never fished the canal before. I had to get my weekly fix of fishing even if it was from land. I couldn't get green crabs I should have went to Brielle they had them so we fished with clams I wish we had crabs. We were catching tiny Sea Bass & those tiny sized toad fish that resemble Monk fish. When all of a sudden I get this nice hit I reel in this fish at first I thought it was a Sheepshead but I knew it wasn't. I sent out a few texts with a picture a few of my friends said it was a Black Drum. The person in the tackle shop thought it was a Croaker but he said if it was it was one of the biggest ones he has ever seen. The fish was making that croaking sound when I handled it so maybe he's right I will leave it up to you experts. I did land a small blackfish the only one we got if we had crabs I know we would have had more. I did have a few good hits that felt like blackfish but our clams were soft & mushy one hit & your bait was gone. I weighed the fish when I got home it weighed 2lbs 8ozs. a nice sized fish for the canal.