Drum

[Josh Smith]

Hello,

 

Today I took my boy out for what will likely be his last fishing trip of the season.  The lake looks like it turned over and there was definitely nothing biting.

 

On the way home we stopped at the Wabash River, a really rocky portion.  I was hoping for some smallmouth and actually got my hopes up when the first of these hit my 3/4oz football head crawdad-lookin' jig:

 

 

 

I wasn't sure they were drum at first as I've not caught once since I was a teenager.  Still, I was pretty sure and I recall hearing they're good to eat.  The only thing that kept me from keeping them was that I wasn't sure about that stretch of river.

 

Couple things that made me wonder initially if they were indeed drum:

 

1.  I'd never heard of drum hitting artificials, just live bait when folks catfish.

 

2.  Neither of them "talked" to me.

 

They were fun fights, though.  I had my drag set for 2-3lb smallmouth, and they peeled that quite quickly.  I had to tighten it up so my braid wouldn't get cut by the rocks I was fishing in.

 

The second one was even larger, and it took a while to fight it in.  It handled my MH/F rod with Ambassadeur 5500c3 about like a 2lb bass handles ultralight tackle. 

 

A funny thing I noticed was that both fish were hooked by the lower lip.  I rarely see that with bass and football jigs.  It appears that these critters were approaching away from the craw trailer's claws.  Interesting, I thought.

 

Not the bass I was after; still an OK day with drum.  If I find that this portion of the Wabash is free of pollutants, I might just go back and catch those drum and a couple catfish for food, see if the drum really do taste like cod as I've heard.

 

Regards,

 

Josh

[Scott F]

They are indeed drum. I've caught quite a few and never caught one on live bait. I've gotten them on blade baits, crankbaits, hollow body swim baits, jerkbaits and lipless cranks. I don't know what they taste like, I've never eaten one.

[slonezp]

Catch them all the time on crans and jigs

[Big C]

It's a drum alright.  Just not sure what kind, a snare or an oil drum.

[Tim Kelly]

Love drum. Great fun fish to catch. Tubes, craws, cranks, they love 'em!

[WIGuide]

As have already been stated, they are drum. The natural lakes around me don't have them, but the Mississippi and Lake Michigan do too. People catch them all the time on artificials.  I don't know how many the guys from my club caught over on Sturgeon Bay when we were practicing for state, but it seemed like just about everyone caught one. 

[gulfcaptain]

Caught them when I was a teenager in Oklahoma.  And if I recall correctly they were pretty good to eat.  We would catch them while fishing for white bass or as we called them "sandbass"  on jigs and grubs.

[Josh Smith]

Caught them when I was a teenager in Oklahoma.  And if I recall correctly they were pretty good to eat.  We would catch them while fishing for white bass or as we called them "sandbass"  on jigs and grubs.

 

As I understand, they're very closely related to Redfish.  Is this correct?

 

Regards,

 

Josh

[Fisher-O-men]

Out here we catch a fish that looks a lot like that, only we catch them in the salt.  Croakers, Yellow finned and Spot finned.  Both very good eating.

[gulfcaptain]

As I understand, they're very closely related to Redfish.  Is this correct?

 

Regards,

 

Josh

Yes Redfish are in the drum family as are Speckled Sea Trout.  I believe the freshwater drums are almost like redfish in terms of size to eat.  You want to eat the smaller ones.  The bigger they get the more "gritty" the meat becomes.  I thought a 25lb red would be great to eat since they are in the same family as the White Sea Bass of the West Coast.  Boy was I wrong.  So I wouldn't try eating any freshwater drum over say 8lbs.

 

Out here we catch a fish that looks a lot like that, only we catch them in the salt.  Croakers, Yellow finned and Spot finned.  Both very good eating.

And you forgot the White Sea Bass, all good eating.

[Bluebasser86]

I've always said if I could just catch a drum on topwater, I could stop fishing, there would be nothing else to accomplish after that. I've caught drum on about everything from jigs and plastics to spinnerbaits and cranks. I catch a ton of them and catfish on my bladed jigs. This one really disappointed me in a tournament last Saturday. I call them dorkfish, like the Bill Engvall skit. 

 

[Catt]

Ever though they are salt water fish, Drum like the ones you along with Red Fish can live in fresh water. I can not think of the lake's name but it's located in central Texas & it's stocked with Red Fish.

Toledo Bend is stocked with salt water Stripped Bass

[gardnerjigman]

I'd have to be pretty hungry to eat a drum...

[Josh Smith]

Jim, why?

[gardnerjigman]

I compare them to eating a possom. You could eat it, but why would you? Way better options out there. They stink enough fresh out of the water. All the drum I catch get eaten though.... By coons.

[Josh Smith]

Jig, I guess I never noticed any smell. I've never considered them any which way until I looked them up and found they are related to Redfish, etc.

Josh

[Bluebasser86]

My uncle eats them and swears they're better than crappie or walleye. It makes sense since they mostly eat crustaceans and mollusks and not trash. They have a white, flaky fillet just like the popular food fish too.

[Catch 22]

My uncle eats them and swears they're better than crappie or walleye. It makes sense since they mostly eat crustaceans and mollusks and not trash. They have a white, flaky fillet just like the popular food fish too.

True imo too.Such is the case with salt critters such as tog,sheeps,triggers.