Black drum make a great September target along Mississippi’s Gulf coast, especially if you want to battle a huge, strong fish.
Not everyone can afford to buy a big boat or hire a charter captain to take them on an exciting offshore adventure, but even anglers without boats can experience thrilling, tackle-busting action from one of the largest fish in inshore waters without breaking the budget.
Often ignored or even scorned by anglers, black drum can reach and exceed 100 pounds. Mississippi’s state-record drum is a 70-pound, 5-ounce fish. Mississippi anglers frequently catch drum in the 20- to 45-pound range and some bigger ones.
“Drum are great fighting fish and easy to catch,” said Kyle Johnson with Coastal Waters Outfitters out of Point Cadet Marina in Biloxi. “People can catch really big fish in inshore waters or even off the dock. They are great for children. Catching a huge drum is something a child will never forget.”
Anglers typically catch drum while targeting redfish, speckled trout, flounder or other species, but drum offer outstanding opportunities to battle monsters. Many people catch large drum from shore or docks. Anglers regularly see enormous drum swimming around marinas, particularly near fish cleaning stations. Jetties and seawalls also make fantastic places to look for colossal fish. Several artificial reefs sit within easy paddling distance for kayak anglers.
“Drum hang around any type of structure, like concrete or wood docks and bridge pilings,” Johnson said. “The piers behind the Palace Casino in Biloxi are good places to catch big black drum. At night, people usually have a better chance of catching big drum.
“For people with boats, the Bay St. Louis bridge and the Highway 90 bridge to Ocean Springs are great places to fish for drum. Katrina Reef is a super spot right outside the pass into the bay. The rocks outside the Beau Rivage are also very good places to fish for drum.”
Related to red drum, aka redfish, black drum eat very similar forage but tend to like dead things more than live ones. Black drum scour the bottom looking for any morsels they can suck up, particularly crabs, shrimp and clams.
“Black drum have several great big, fleshy, barbels hanging from the underside of the lower jaw and are predominantly bottom-feeders with no great preference for any particular foodstuff,” said Dr. Bob Shipp, a marine biologist and author of Dr. Bob Shipp’s Guide to Fishes of the Gulf of Mexico. “Although they graze on (the) bottom, shelled animals are a main feeding strategy. Drum are especially proficient at digesting thick-shelled animals like clams and crabs by using a set of heavy, crushing teeth that are borne on the bones that support the gills.”
Drum sometimes hit jigs tipped with soft-plastic trailers that resemble shrimp or crabs. They also hit spoons, spinnerbaits and other lures that tempt speckled trout or redfish. Some anglers fish for them with flies or streamers that resemble shrimp, crabs or minnows.
“We catch black drum all the time when we’re targeting trout,” Johnson said. “We’ll catch them on hard baits like a MirrOlure MirrOdine, but we catch more on soft plastics if we’re working something like a paddletail in shallow water. Sometimes, they pick it up. We call them ‘big uglies’ when we’re fishing for speckled trout and a drum grabs the bait.”
For people who like to throw lures, try Gulp! baits shaped like shrimp, crabs or minnows threaded on a jighead. Made of natural foods, but in the shape of a lure, Gulp! baits give off a scent. Drum normally follow a scent trail to find food, rather than responding to motion.
“At times, a Gulp! works wonders on days when we can’t find good bait,” Johnson said. “They have a great scent to them, (and) drum like a lot of scent. When fishing with a Gulp! I use a heavier jighead. Normally, I use a 1/4-ounce jighead, but for drum, I like a 3/8-ounce or heavier. I work it slowly along the bottom, just kind of bouncing it. I make a couple quick pops here and there and let it sit. Black drum are pretty lazy. People don’t really have to work a bait crazy to catch them. They’re looking for an easy meal.”
When targeting “big uglies,” most people use live or fresh shrimp for bait. Drum might also hit frozen shrimp, squid and small baitfish such as mullets, cocahoe minnows, pogies or small live croakers. Fish chunks or strips can also attract attention, but the big fish salivate over crabs. Fiddler crabs also make excellent drum baits.
“People can catch a lot of drum with live or dead shrimp, but the problem with shrimp is it attracts everything else too,” Johnson said. “We catch a lot of catfish, croaker and pinfish with shrimp. Instead of shrimp, I normally use blue crab, which is a drum’s absolute favorite food.”
Half of a blue crab cracked open and oozing juice often proves too tempting to resist for any drum moving through an area. Anglers can also quarter the crab to make more baits. When fishing with half a crab, remove the top shell and break the remaining body into two nearly equal pieces. Remove one of the legs from one piece. Run a hook through the meaty part of the crab chunk so that the point comes out of the leg hole.
Giant drum habitually drop into deep holes, particularly during temperature extremes. For tempting big drum in deep water, fish a whole crab on a Carolina rig. Keep the top shell attached, but crack it to let the juices ooze out. Drum might also hit a small, live crab hooked through the back near the rounded swimmer fin.
“I like to use a Carolina rig with a 1-ounce weight,” Johnson said. “That keeps the bait where it should be, and people can feel the bite a little better. For drum, I use a shorter leader, about a foot long. I usually use 20- to 30-pound monofilament for the leader and 20-pound Fins Windtamer braid for the main line. I’ve caught some massive fish on that 20-pound braid. I get all the castability of a smaller braid without worrying about breaking it.”
Sometimes, hot action comes in spurts as a school of drum moves through an area. Many anglers fish multiple rods at different depths with various baits to see what works best. The baits might sit on the bottom for a long time when suddenly, every reel starts screaming.
“Black drum hit baits in different ways,” Johnson said. “Sometimes, they absolutely slam it and run hard. Sometimes, there’s just a quick thump or they just sit there with the bait in their mouths. People think they hooked a snag, but then the snag starts running.”
Drum also prowl inland waters like the marshes between Waveland and the Louisiana border, Bay St. Louis, Biloxi Bay and the Pascagoula River delta. When fishing shallow, marshy shorelines, use popping corks baited with live or dead shrimp, crab pieces, live minnows or fiddler crabs. Set the cork so the bait hangs just off the bottom and drifts along the shoreline with the tide or wind current.
“September is the perfect time of year to fish for big black drum, but everything depends upon the weather” Johnson said. “The great thing about drum is they’re in the bay systems. I mainly target broken-down piers in the Back Bay. We might pull up to a spot and catch four or five drum and then move to another spot. In October and November, we see big schools of giant black drum tailing on the flats in the shallows around the islands. They are digging for crabs.”
Many people probably avoid drum because they don’t think such ugly creatures could taste good on a plate. Larger drum commonly carry white, wormy parasites that look hideous, but they don’t affect the taste of the fish; the worms disappear in the cooking process. Smaller “puppy” drum taste delicious, very similar to redfish. In fact, many people have probably eaten drum without realizing it if they have ever ordered a redfish dish in a restaurant.
“Smaller drum taste great,” Johnson said. “As far as eating quality, there’s not much difference between a puppy drum and redfish of similar size. I think someone could put sheepshead, redfish and puppy drum fillets next to each other, and it would difficult to tell the difference in taste. When I’m specifically fishing for puppy drum to eat, I use live shrimp on a Carolina rig. I like to conserve the big ones. I want to get it in the boat as quickly as possible, take a picture and get it back in the water so that big fish swims off healthy to fight another day.”
While most anglers catch drum by accident, the huge fish can provide outstanding, rod-bending sport, particularly on days when redfish and trout won’t cooperate. Any cast could produce the catch of a lifetime, often for little cash investment.
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