Black Drum articles
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and cooking black drum!
Although they don't get much press, black drum are a dependable, great-tasting saltwater fish in the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. The chunky bottom-dwellers have often saved the day for anglers who have struck out looking for more sporting targets.
Captain Bobby White of Marker 39 SportsFishing Charters in Wilmington, NC prowls the Cape Fear waterways looking to put his clients on high profile fish like Spanish Mackerel, speckled trout or redfish. When they aren't cooperating, however, he turns to the dependable black drum.
"Black drum are closely related to redfish," says White. "They have a shorter and deeper body with more of an arched back, and they prefer to eat shellfish like shrimp and clams even more than redfish. Juvenile black drum have four to six vertical black stripes on them so some people mix them up with sheepshead. They lose the stripes when they get large."
Black drum hang around bridges, docks, piers, jetties, and anywhere shellfish congregate. They are caught almost exclusively with cut shrimp or similar shellfish baits on the bottom. They don't prefer fish but every once in awhile a hungry black drum will hit a live minnow or a bit of cut mullet meant for something else.
White goes to hard structure to target black drum for his customers.
"You have to put your bait where they can find it," he says, "so you won't be fishing high in the water column. Black drum love pilings and rocks and are commonly found near piers, bridges, and other man-made objects. They feed on the bottom using their chin barbells to find food."
White fishes year-round for black drum, which don't leave the inshore waterways.
"The bait I use depends on the season," says White. When the water is cool and the bait-stealing pinfish aren't a problem I typically use dead shrimp. When the water warms I prefer sand fiddler crabs, mud crabs, and sand fleas."
White says that black drum aren't usually targeted with lures.
"Artificial lures typically haven't been effective. However, there are now scented imitation peeler crabs that can work for black drum."
Fishing lore says that the shellfish-loving black drum won't eat fish, but White says they sometimes surprise trout or flounder anglers by doing so.
"It's not impossible to catch them with baitfish but it's rare," he says. "I've caught a few over the years with mud minnows."
Although most black drum encountered by anglers are the smaller size fish with the stripes black drum get huge, and giants roam the deep waters of the Cape Fear River.
"The state record is over 100 pounds and was caught here in 1998," says White. "Large ones that have lost their stripes aren't good to eat. They have a tendency to pick up parasites and their food value diminishes. All big ones should be released."
Smaller black drum, however, are great in the frying pan.
"Black drum with the stripes are one of my favorite fish to eat," says White. "The flesh is white, flaky and very mild. It is excellent in soups and stews, but I usually cook them up in the traditional southern-fried style."
Black drum bite softly for a strong fish, and are known to hit better at night than during the day.
