Black Drum Part I: Catching Drum on Jigs

fishing on a party boat
Tips for Fishing on Party Boats
July 21, 2020
black drum fish
Black Drum, Part II: Fishing With Bait
July 22, 2020

This black ate a GULP! Jerk Shad, hovered off the bottom.

Black drum may not be the prettiest fish in the world, but they certainly fight like a bulldog and their potential to get big certainly makes them an interesting target. Most folks who target them specifically do so with bait, however, so few die-hard light tackle enthusiasts focus on those big blacks. That’s a shame, because they can most certainly be caught on jigs (among other things). You want to aim for black drum on light tackle? These tips will help make it happen.

black drum on jig

This black ate a white GULP! Jerk Shad, hovered off the bottom.

  • Black drum find a lot of their food via smell, so choosing scented jigs helps – a lot. The black pictured above ate a GULP! Jerk Shad, and through the years GULP! jigs have probably produced nine out of 10 of the black drum I’ve caught on jigs.
  • These fish tend to slowly meander along the bottom and crunch on shellfish or scavenge other creatures they may find, as opposed to quickly swimming around or chasing after bait. As a result, fast jigging and retrieving isn’t always the most effective presentation. Instead, slowly vertical jigging, bouncing along the bottom, and hovering jigs just off bottom are usually better presentations. In all cases (unless you spot some rooting around in the shallows), keeping your jig at or near bottom is almost always the best move.
  • Once hooked, black drum will do their best to stay on bottom. And since you’ll often find them over structure like snaggy oyster shells or rocks covered in mussels or barnacles, that means your line is likely to get rubbed against plenty of sharp edges. As a result, using several feet of 30 pound fluorocarbon leader (which is very abrasion resistant) is in order.
  • Black drum tend to roam around in small schools or pods of three or more fish, and they often stick very close together. So when you hook one, other anglers onboard should get their jigs down to the bottom asap. Do so, and double- or triple-hook-ups are not uncommon.

When you do get a drum up to the boat, remember that larger ones often have worms in the meat and really aren’t the best eating fish in the world. As a general rule of thumb, those around 20 pounds and smaller are good table fare. But when you get a mammoth black, snapping off a few quick pics and releasing the fish is the smart, responsible move.

Loading

Comments are closed.