Battles with big back drum will ward off winter’s chill for Mississippi’s saltwater fishermen
When you’re a fishing guide, and Jack Frost decides he’s sick of the Canadian tundra and wants to spend some time on the beaches of the Gulf Coast, you’re probably going to get a couple of days off.
That happened to Kyle Johnson and Jeremy McHugh a couple of years ago.
Not wanting to take his clients out in 20-knot winds, McHugh decided to reschedule them, but he still wanted to fish. Johnson suggested that they go hit some of the inshore artificial reefs scattered along the Mississippi coast.
McHugh had some shrimp he had bought for the guide trip, so they toted that along and tied on Carolina rigs.
“We sat at one of those reefs, and banged out just as many black drum as we wanted,” Johnson said.
The fish were brutes, ranging up to 40 pounds, and they bit every shrimp dropped to them. The weather was terrible, but the fishing was awesome.
That’s a common story along the Mississippi coast during the winter, according to Johnson, who spends way too many hours attached by thin, braided line to big, ugly fish that weigh more than many children.
“It’s something fun to do, just to break the monotony of chasing big trout,” Johnson said. “That’s what I’m usually doing this time of year. Sometimes, I just want to get out and have a good time, and to me, catching anything big is a good time.
“I’m not really a trout snob. If I catch something big, it’s fun. It’s a pattern that’s productive all year, but especially in the winter.”
Black drum don’t really carry the clout of speckled trout, so many anglers ignore them, even though the best areas are often right under their noses, Johnson said.
“I’m actually catching them, usually, pretty close to where I like to catch trout,” he said. “I fish Gulfport Harbor a lot in the winter. In Gulfport Harbor, off the rocks and the rock jetties, they’ll be off just a little bit farther than the trout. The trout will be a lot closer to the rocks.
“It’s kind of like a win-win. If I’m targeting some big trout in the Harbor, and I’ve only got an hour or two to fish, I’ll give the trout 30 minutes or an hour, and if it’s not working out, it’s not a huge move to go catch a big black drum, just to have some fun.”
Making it even easier, Johnson doesn’t change his gear at all.
For trout, Johnson likes a medium- or medium-heavy rod threaded with 20-pound main line tied to a 20-pound fluorocarbon leader. The same outfit is perfect for black drum.
“A lot of people really go overboard with their setups for this,” Johnson said. “They’ll use 65-pound braid and 40-pound fluorocarbon, but you really don’t need it. These fish don’t have sharp teeth or anything like that.
“People will use that 65-pound braid, and they can’t cast it 5 feet. I’ve been spooled by big jacks, but never a big red or black drum.”
What Johnson does change when switching between trout and drum, however, is his bait.
“A chartreuse Gulp curlytail — I know it catches everything, but I’ll get a black drum every drop with that if I’m in the right spot,” he said. “It just drives them crazy.
“I’m usually in 10 to 15 feet of water across the board, whether I’m fishing Gulfport Harbor or the bridges, so I usually go with a 3/8-ounce jighead, and I just bump it off the bottom, really, really slowly,” he said. “If I’m in really heavy rocks, I’ll keep it up a foot or so, so I don’t get hung up.”
The best thing about the drum bite, particularly in January, is that it’s almost entirely impervious to the weather.
“Harsh January cold fronts slow just about everything down, but man, if you know where those things are, they’re going to bite,” he said. “I haven’t really had a black drum lockjaw deal. If you put something in front of their faces, they’re going to eat it. The ones I catch over here, not only are they long, they’re really fat. They eat all the time.”
That’s true even when the weather turns the water into mud-wrestling pits.
“Water clarity doesn’t matter,” Johnson said. “They don’t care about it at all. I’ve caught them in water with no visibility and hardly any salinity.”
That means black drum may be the perfect fish for what is otherwise one of the toughest fishing months of the year.
Target black drum, fish in solitude
Anglers who target black drum in January can have the fish almost to themselves, but the fish are gaining in popularity among professional fishermen, according to guide Kyle Johnson.
“There’s a couple of charter guides who will fish the bridges for them,” he said. “Black drum and sheepshead are getting more and more popular. Guides are realizing that they can still run trips in the winter. You’ve got those guys who just want to catch a big fish.”
Best of all, the hottest action is easy to reach, so guides don’t have to burn a tank of gas.
“It’s a short ride during the winter,” Johnson said. “You can launch right by a bridge, anchor as close to the bridge as you can, and drop dead shrimp, crab or curlytails. You’ll get one. There’s no doubt about it.”
Wise anglers will take any sure thing they can get in January.
Big black drum are fun, but not to eat
The value of the black drum guide Kyle Johnson catches this time of year is in the fight, not the food. Black drum longer than about 20 inches aren’t very palatable, and the 30-pounders Johnson regularly catches are downright disgusting.
“A lot of people have been killing the bigger ones, and they get them home and discover they’re full of worms, so they go to waste,” Johnson said. “That’s becoming a problem over here.”
There is no recreational size or bag limit on black drum in Mississippi waters, but Johnson would like to see that change.
“I don’t know exactly what the regulation should be, but maybe just one per angler over a certain size,” he said.
Places to find black drum
In addition to the black drum that regularly hang around Gulfport Harbor, the bridges and artificial reefs, there are also fish that inhabit the shallows, according to guide Kyle Johnson. He’s determined to catch one of those on a fly this year.
“There’s a couple spots over here like Fort Bayou and over in Bay St. Louis where I’ve seen them tailing, but I haven’t had my fly rod with me,” he said. “That’s something I’m going to do this year, just to knock it off the list. I’ve caught lots of fish on a fly, but not black drum.
“If you go to the back around the Dupont Power Plant, there’s some really clear water back there during the winter. You’ll see big bull reds there. There’s a spot back there called Grassy Point. It’s a well-known spot. There’s a lot of oyster beds back there, and it just filters that water out. It gets really clear.”
Also, the state’s inshore waters are loaded with artificial reefs that hold black drum, Johnson said.
The black drum stack up on them during the winter,” he said. “They’re all publicized on the (Mississippi Department of Marine Resources) website, all the coordinates. It’s nothing secret.
“The fish will be there until early spring. They hunker down there because there’s a good bait supply for them.”
For more information, visit dmr.ms.gov.
