Old Trick For Puppy Drum

Recently I went fishing with a buddy on a blustery evening, with winds strong enough that we knew we’d be staying in protected backwaters. There were lots of little puppy drum around and we were fishing for fun rather than to load the cooler, so that was just fine. I started out with one of my favorite offerings for the pups, a green and white spinnerbait with gold blades. When he came walking down the dock I expected to see something similar, but nope – instead, he had a small green and black bucktail tied to the end of the line. He also had a bucket of small live shrimp he’d netted up. He was going to try the classic bucktail/shrimp combo. And boy, did it work.

A mix of small reds and specks chewed the heck out of him, and while I did catch plenty of puppy drum (the specks didn’t seem to like the spinnerbait quite so much), I think he may have out-caught me two-to-one using this old-school method. Here’s how it goes:

• Target an area where marsh drains on a falling tide, near weed bed edges, or where a flat falls off into a channel. Drum like to feed there.k
• Use light gear (10 pound class is about right) and small bucktails of just a quarter or even an eighth of an ounce (for pups; up-size for larger fish as necessary).
• Hook a live shrimp through the head, in through the bottom and out through the top, right between the eyes.
• If you have large or dead shrimp, rip off the tail and insert the hook into the meat, then out through the bottom shell.
• Cast out, and let it sink to the bottom.
• Let it sit for a minute or two as you maintain minimal tension on the line.
• Lift your rod tip gently but quickly, pulling the bucktail a foot or so off the bottom and towards your boat. Then allow it to free-fall back to bottom and let it sit for a few more seconds.
• Hop it along bottom until it’s back to the boat, then reel up and re-cast.
• When you feel a take, drop your rod tip back towards the fish so it has a second or two to get the entire shrimp and bucktail into its mouth, before setting the hook.

Will you catch more fish using this technique than you would casting lures? Maybe sometimes, maybe sometimes not. But one thing is for sure: on some days, fishing old-school is the ticket.