Caught This Not Too Long Ago, What Is It??

[BassFisherman_]

The Fish Im Asking Of Is The Big One, I've Heard People Say It Looks Like A Drum, I'm Not Sure So I'm Asking Y'all!  

[Team9nine]

Not the best pic but yeah, I'm going with drum, also.

[Darren.]

Welcome aboard!

 

Your lower profile pic is too large and messing

with your post layout, FYI.

[Scott F]

Yup, the big one is a sheepshead also known as a drum.

[LionHeart]

Good Ole' drum fish.  

[Bluebasser86]

One of my favorite fish to hate catching. Drum fight hard, but are disappointing when you see them if you're not sure what you've got. Did you eat it? I know people that love eating them and a bunch that wouldn't even consider trying one.

[Steveo-1969]

IMO you shouldn't keep a fish if you don't know what kind of fish it is.  In this case there probably isn't a bag limit/size limit/closed season on freshwater drum (sheepshead) but the next unknown fish you catch might be illegal to keep.

[Ratherbfishing]

It's a drum with a crappie growing out of its back.  :  )

[Fishingmickey]

Two fish covered with drum dookie...

[scaleface]

I  hate catching drum  in   a  tourney .  A couple of times I thought I had big bass won , then comes the rug pull .

[corn-on-the-rob]

As a drum (always call them sheephead) catching machine, I can confirm.

 

I would not eat one unless there was some grossly significant reward to do so. Pretty gross in general, and they eat EVERYTHING. I always imagine them just following each other around eating each other's crap. Also have heard that their texture is closer to shrimp than what you would expect fish fillet.

 

Fun to catch when you can't catch a bass, but no fun when all you want to do is catch a bass.

 

I have had days on erie where I catch 4 bass, and 30 sheaphead. My record is 76 in a 10 hour day (kept count with a clicker), that day I caught 15-20ish smallmouth, so my arms were tired as most of the drum were in the 3 to 8lb range. While there are tons of sheephead, there is something I do specifically that makes me catch waaay more than anyone else. There could be 4 people in my boat with identical setups, I will catch more sheephead, it sucks.

 

Also, record is 4 casts in a row, hit that multiple times, can't break to the 5th!

 

Here is my PB, 13.5 lbs on the scale:

 

 

EDIT: Yes, my sunglasses broke.

[Bluebasser86]

Large drum are actually almost exclusively fish eaters, along with some craws and clams. I think it probably varies by body of water, but lots of folks around here eat them and some claim them to be right up there with walleye and crappie. I don't eat fish, so I can't confirm yes or no. I've used them for cut bait plenty of times, and they do have a white, firm feeling fillet. Closely related to redfish and black drum of the ocean, both popular food fish, so thinking they could be decent to eat isn't really that crazy.

 

I've got a reputation of being able to catch a drum out of mud puddle. Several times I've caught them in lakes that "Don't have any drum", and I even took a run at the state record not that long ago.

If I could just catch one on topwater, I feel I'd have little left to accomplish in my fishing career. 

[Sam]

If it has teeth it is a Sheepshead.
 

No teeth it is a drum.

[Bluebasser86]

42 minutes ago, Sam said:

If it has teeth it is a Sheepshead.
 

No teeth it is a drum.

Actual sheepshead are saltwater fish and look a bit different than a freshwater drum, also frequently called a sheepshead.

They do have a pretty nice grill though.

 

Drum do have crusher type "teeth", but they're located at the back of their throat for dealing with craws and clams.

[Sam]

5 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

Actual sheepshead are saltwater fish and look a bit different than a freshwater drum, also frequently called a sheepshead.

They do have a pretty nice grill though.

 

Drum do have crusher type "teeth", but they're located at the back of their throat for dealing with craws and clams.

100% correct!

 

Thanks for the pics.

 

And they both taste great!  

[Czorn]

It's a goober fish!! That's what we call them or gasper goo. They will destroy a dropshot.

[TnRiver46]

I’m also guilty of catching a bunch of drum on accident, my buddies love to make fun of me about it. I ate a small one, maybe 1lb and it was decent. 

[Airman4754]

We were on Wheeler last weekend and the square bill bite was awesome. The guy I was with had a 5.5 and a 2.7 in the boat already and I had one stretcher. Then it hit. I thought I had a giant, and I did, but it was a drum. 

 

They will disappoint you like no other.

[soflabasser]

On 2/17/2018 at 8:12 PM, BassFisherman_ said:

The Fish Im Asking Of Is The Big One, I've Heard People Say It Looks Like A Drum, I'm Not Sure So I'm Asking Y'all!  

 The biggest fish in the picture is a freshwater drum. 

[Florida Cracker2]

Learn something new every day.

I catch a lot of drum and sheapshead, but the saltwater variety.