# A Huge Black Drum Cruisin...



## devinsdad (Mar 31, 2010)

Wanting to kill a little time and see if any unsuspecting mullet might be wanting to Kamikaze themselves in a hot grease bath, my son and I decided to do a little scouting.
We stopped at the 17th Ave boatramp just to see if anything was close. As we were walking along the rocky part of the shoreline just south of the trestle, we saw a huge black drum just cruising the edge of the rocks in about 1' of water. We followed him as he made the little curve going west towards one of the 2 ramps. After much begging from my 12 year-old son, I decided to get my 8' baitnet out of the car and see what would happen if I threw my net over him. Against my better judgement because he must have weighed 20-30lbs and was still along the edge of all those rocks.
I was surely succombing to peer pressure and decided a quick cast could allow for a look, feel and release. Nope.
Covering up the drum was the easy part because I was only about 10' away and the water was very shallow. I know I had him because I felt a huge, but quick pull and then nothing. Then I had to wade out, untangle my net from numerous rocks covered with oyster shells and barnacles and tell my son we didn't keep him in the net.
Now I have to hang up my net and start sewing many small holes and one very large hole.


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## Duff (Jul 22, 2010)

I usually go to lunch at wayside and I swear that drum hangs around there everyday. I've seen him twice a week some weeks since April.


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## a (Oct 2, 2007)

cast my shrimp fly at 3 of them for an hour yesterday....throwing a net over one never would have occured to me:thumbsup:


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## Redneckracoon (Jun 8, 2011)

black drum sounds fun on a fly...


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## Kim (Aug 5, 2008)

We saw one at Baytown yesterday that was big enough to have it's own Remora attached to it.


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## todd in the bay (Oct 3, 2007)

Devinsdad! Sounds familiar! I'll never forget that, Jose, here knew the Wize old fish of the Bay has been known to lurk....He just threw it over him from up on the trestle, I was down below unsuspecting, at the waters edge. He pulled up and out that Beast of Mr Black Drum.
glad to hear from your trip!


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## todd in the bay (Oct 3, 2007)

ThAT'S WHAT i'M tALKIN ABOUT!


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## devinsdad (Mar 31, 2010)

Im devinsdads son and wow that is one big drum.I was dissapointed that we didn't catch the drum  But im glad you caught it I wanted to ask you did you turn him loose or did you keep him? Either way im glad you caught it!!!!!!!


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## HunterSal (Apr 12, 2011)




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## HunterSal (Apr 12, 2011)

My son Caught that baby at the fairhope pier....I think its a big freshwater drum though


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## devinsdad (Mar 31, 2010)

dude thats awesome !!!!!!!


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## inshorefisher (Nov 13, 2007)

I see those drums every day at the marina i work at. they seem to come in this time of year. We have probly five around are docks right now


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## todd in the bay (Oct 3, 2007)

If it's legal and Edible, we eat our catch. This is our friend Jose and his son, who was very proud of his Dad, but not at all surprised at his Dad.


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## todd in the bay (Oct 3, 2007)

freshwater drum? Didn't you say it hailed from Faihope pier?


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## driver (Sep 24, 2009)

nice drum i cought one a little smaller under navy bvd bridge on shrimp


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## Ruger7mmmag (Jun 3, 2011)

Just curious, how do you guys cook your drum? I love to fight them, but not such a huge fan of eating them. We catch them pretty regular here in Mobile while flounder fishing, often as big as the cooler. To me they have such a strong taste so the only way I've found to eat them is after getting out the worms we marinate them with Italian seasoning, then cover them in parmasean cheese, some old bay, butter and lemon and lay the filets on the grill with the skin/scales still on. The other way is to fry them, but when I do this, i make sure to remove ALL RED from the filet. If you leave that red in, it's just too strong tasting for me.


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## Seatmech86 (Mar 8, 2011)

Buttermilk is the answer my friend, if you frying or grilling. The bigger the fillets the longer they sit. My wife and I got this from some old cogger fishing the dock next to us back in South Carolina and it has yet to fail us with any fish.


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## Ruger7mmmag (Jun 3, 2011)

Have to try that. For a filet off a say 30" drum, how long would you let it sit? Overnight? 30 minutes?


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## Seatmech86 (Mar 8, 2011)

Last fish we did was a 26" Red for 30min with whole fillets and it came out fine. It has something to do with the buttermilk allowing the oil containing the bad taste to float on top of the buttermilk.


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## Seatmech86 (Mar 8, 2011)

By the way, I got side tracked there is a huge Drum doing the same thing by the NAS Bayou Grande Marina in about a foot of water south of the docks by the wall. I've seen the same one on two different occaisions this week. He's got some battle scars on his back that look like they came from a prop.


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## Amarillo Palmira (Jan 2, 2010)

I saw an enormous one over by Garcon Point bridge on Friday. Threw everything at him, but he wouldn't take. The freelined DOA shirmp would have been a good idea. Too bad I didn't have any GULP crabs. One of those freelined would have probably done the trick, also. You gotta be prepared for a very very long fight if you catch one on a spinning rod with light line....


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## Ruger7mmmag (Jun 3, 2011)

I've tried the Gulp crabs quite a bit in areas where we slay reds and drums and have never caught anything off of them. I was wondering if anyone else had ever had any luck with them.


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## Amarillo Palmira (Jan 2, 2010)

I was fishing with a friend of mine and he slayed bass on them outside of the mouth of the East River in Navarre.


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## Seatmech86 (Mar 8, 2011)

Seatmech86 said:


> By the way, I got side tracked there is a huge Drum doing the same thing by the NAS Bayou Grande Marina in about a foot of water south of the docks by the wall. I've seen the same one on two different occaisions this week. He's got some battle scars on his back that look like they came from a prop.


Not the best picture in the world but I did finally get a picture of that booger and I think he learned how to eat by watching the sheephead. If I had been able to get my camera out quick enough I would have gotten a good side profile while he was cocked to the side munchin on the oyster beds.


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## hogdogs (Apr 19, 2010)

I am game if anyone wants to learn to target the huge (30-100+ pounds) ones. I am not a pro by any stretch but I have gotten some good schoolin' with lots of practice. My boat or yours... I will supply the gear to make the rigs and my own rods/reels...

You supply the bait and fuel...:thumbup:

Brent


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## Seatmech86 (Mar 8, 2011)

Got a better picture this morning.


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