How many of you have fished for the  freshwater drum.  I have and thought that they put up a good fight.  We caught them on twister tails in a canal by the water control gates and in a bass bluegill lake.  We used mainly ultralights and got nice contests from them.  The biggest one I have caught was a 12lb on 4 lb test line.  A friend of mine was fishing for catfish one night and caught one that weighed 32.4 lbs, said it took him an hour to get it in, took picture and turned it loose.  It would have been a new state record if he would have taken to a certified scale.

We think they are good eating when filleted like a white bass.

My largest was just shy of 19 lb. Honestly when I landed it I thought i had hooked into a snag. I was fishing with those dead crawfish in a jar ( uncle josh ) and nothing was biting that day, my father in law and I was close to calling it quits when the bell on my rod tip dinged.

I don't personally target them, since I usually will catch them while fishing for catfish, suckers, and walleyes. So my sentiment is they're the enemy, not really. They can get huge and refuse to be pulled by a line. I've probably been line snapped and bait stolen by the indigenious sheepshead more times than any other fish. They deserve the respect they've earned from me. Plus they'll eat zebra mussels when they're really hungry, so I've heard.

Where are you catching the 10#+ drum? I catch them in a local river as by-catch but they are rarely over 4#. Tom

Posted By Pegsguy on 22 Jul 2010 09:42 AM
Where are you catching the 10#+ drum? I catch them in a local river as by-catch but they are rarely over 4#. Tom

they are plenty full here on the Monongahela River. here's a nice one my buddy jason lemaster caught last year, its almost 20# I certified it at my shop.

ive caught them over10lbs below the dam at carlyle lake in illinois

Never caught a drum? Do they hit bass lures?

All My experiences ( and I'm no pro nor claim to be ) But all the larger ones I have landed have been landed off of crawfish on a slip float or By Blown up night crawler also on a float. But I have caught them on canned corn, bread and other baits.

here's one from a few years ago.

This one's just at 2' ( the dang thing curled up as we snapped the pic )

I have caught them up to 5# on turbotail roadrunners when fishing for white bass, and on livers or crawlers for channels.

I have a 40 acre bass blugill lake about 2 miles down the road from my house and before to Game Commission drained it for renovation we would catch drum on plastic worms, curly tail jigs and crank baits. The water is clear so visibility was always pretty good. A freind of miine caiught one catfishing that wieghed 32.4 lbs on his electronic scale. If he would have brought it up to the hatchery he would have had a Nebraska record but he did not even think about it. He just wieghed it and released it.

  I got this 50+# Blackdrum down  the Texas-Gulf-Coast, Port Aransas, Tx. off the Roberts Pier took 1hr& 45mins. to land. On live Shrimp. Did CPR., L8r. James, "VATO LOCO"

nice ish james

Posted By jcampos sr on 19 Nov 2010 06:24 PM
  I got this 50+# Blackdrum down  the Texas-Gulf-Coast, Port Aransas, Tx. off the Roberts Pier took 1hr& 45mins. to land. On live Shrimp. Did CPR., L8r. James, "VATO LOCO"

Nice drum, man!