A drum saves the day

I never go fishing unless I sincerely believe I will catch fish. I have faith in my mountain of gear, and believe thinking positively leads to success.

    I always diagram a plan of attack the night before, and stick to it religiously if it’s working.  It always target one species of fish, and rarely switch to another in the same day. Perhaps that approach is a bit stubborn, but I just don’t like to admit defeat at the hands of a bass, walleye, coho, musky or bluegill.

    And though I don’t like to abandon my game plan, I don’t like getting skunked even more. That’s why I have nothing but praise for Indiana’s rough fish.  

    They are hated by most sport fishermen, but have saved the day on numerous occasions when I would have otherwise been skunked. I don’t want to catch junk fish when I’m fishing for walleye or bass, but welcome them at the end of the day.

    There are several types of rough fish in Indiana. Many of them are so devalued, they have no possession limit. Those include: suckers, carp, gar, bowfin, buffalo and shad. And then there is my favorite, the freshwater drum.

    Also known as sheepshead, the freshwater drum is plentiful in several Indiana lakes and rivers. They are a silver, humpbacked fish that are known for the grunting sounds the males make to attract mates.

    These peculiar fish also have stone-like objects in their ear. The stones help the fish sense when it’s oriented vertically in water too cloudy to see clearly. The stones can be as large as an inch in diameter, and have been used through the ages as currency, good luck charms and jewelry.

    A typical drum weighs around 2 pounds, and anything over 10 pounds is a real trophy. The Indiana state record was a freakish 30-pound fish, caught in the White River in 1963.

    Some folks believe the drum is good to eat. I suspect they are the same people who routinely send me carp and sucker recipes, which I also don’t find particularly palatable.  

    Even still, the drum has great commercial value across the country. Commercial fishermen in the Mississippi River alone harvest about 300,000 pounds of the grunters every year.

    Drums are not as finicky as several other rough fish, and are therefore a lot easier to catch on hook and line. They can be caught on live bait while drifting for walleyes, and crank baits when casting for bass.

    While trolling Freeman Lake for white bass last week, I also found they are also a sucker for a slowly trolled Husky Jerk.

    Though we hadn’t been skunked in our quest for crappies and white bass, a friend and I were only a couple small fish over the threshold.

    “It’s time to forget the plan and take whatever the lake gives us,” I said to my fishing companion.

    He agreed, and we both switched lures to our favorite multi-purpose presentation. He tied on a very small Rattle Trap, and I clipped on a chrome and black Husky Jerk.

    We had been trolling deep, open water, but moved to a shallower flat after changing lures.  While crappies and whites might still be found on the flat, we hoped other species would be there as well. Not surprisingly, the first fish was a drum.  

    Drum eat crayfish, clams, snails and small fish. They search for their forage at or near the bottom, using their nose to flip stones over in search of food.

    By dragging our lures in shallow water, we placed them close to the bottom, and right in the strike zone of any feeding sheepshead.  My friend knew this, but was still hoping to catch anything but a drum.

    Upon seeing my first fish off the flat was a drum, he sarcastically congratulated me. He then pulled his line out of the water and decided it was time to go home.  

    Since he caught all the crappies and white bass that morning, he had nothing to prove. I, on the other hand, was elated to land the 2-pound rough fish. It wasn’t what I hoped to catch when I devised a strategy the night before, but it was still better than nothing.