How heavy is a 43" black drum?

[thill]

Caught several big black drum while jigging BKD's and BA's for stripers. VERY strong fish!

Didn't have a net, so had to grab them by the tail and lift. Man, were they heavy! Didn't have a camera, so tried using the phone, but not enough light

How much does a 41-43" black drum weigh? They were broad and deep and seemed to have full bellies. Aggresive fish!

Thanks.

-TH

[L HOLMES]

Depends on girth but 45 to 50 pounds fo a 43 inch Black Drum isnt unrealistic. Glad you got out Tony. That wind really came up in the evening.

[thill]

Larry,
They felt like they were about 50#, so that helps confirm it. They were very fat. There were sponge crabs all around, so I know what they were eating! Can't believe how many there were and how aggressive they were. After catching a couple apiece, we tried to run from them, but ended up finding them again in the next spot we ran to. Those fish can take over an evening of fishing! It took a good half hour apiece to land those things. But on the good side, we lost the tide, but it turned around in only a few minutes, and the catching resumed right where it left off. Fished both nights until about 3AM then called it. Awesome two days of fishing.

-TH

[Finfever21]

Tony congrats on the drum sounds like you had a blast....

[thill]

Finfever21,

It was a great time. The best part, is that Daryl, my guest, caught his biggest fish EVER in the form of a big black that grabbed his jig. I bet he's still grinning even now!

-TH

[rla69]

where were you jigging when you caught the drum? We caught one two weeks ago on the shoal drifting a jig ..Most seem to use live bait but i'm not into sitting for hours watching my rods. The one we caught was forty inches and weighed thirty five pounds.

[South Paw]

Nice fish! I hope you practice catch and release. For you newbies, Catch & Release is not a conservation motion that happens right before the local Marine Police pulls over a boat that has caught it's limit.

Good Fishin

[thill]

rla69,
I've rarely fished for them, but they were grabbing our jigs like crazy. Did your 35# fish seem like one of the leaner, sleeker drum? We caught both kinds, and it was interesting that the thinner fish were kind of built like a pirhana. But they seemed hungrier, hit the lure harder, swam a LOT faster and give a much more fun fight. The bigger, football-looking fish just sat on the bottom and slowly swam in circles. Not nearly as much fun to catch.

As far as location, actually the question is more like where WEREN'T they? I don't want to burn a friends spots, but I will say that everywhere we found them was in shallow water surrounded by deeper water, and it's not a big secret that drum are in the area. The fact that we found them is several areas on BOTH tides tells me that they are swarming all over right now. Hope that is helpful.


South Paw,
I release most fish I catch. My question is, what would you DO with a big drum, if you killed one?!?? I killed a 15# black drum back when I was about 14, and it totally freaked me out when I opened it up and it was full of worms. No chance I'd kill a big drum unless my family was starving AND desparate.

-TH

[South Paw]

If the drum is full of worms you can still find good meat on the shoulders. You just gotta look. I know the worms don't look appetizing...

Good Fishin

[Salmo trutta]

Wow. That's interesting about them hitting jigs like that. Were you in your 14' boat too?

Last year there was a lot of video about people sight casting for them around the islands but once you saw the whole video when they landed the fish, the hook of the bucktail was always in the side of the head, the belly but never in the mouth. I must have seen quite a few videos posted on here and not one fish actually hit the jig, they were "Force fed" in the a$$ or somewhere other than the mouth.

but by the sounds of it you were getting solid takes. That sounds like a lot of fun. Were you making contact with the bottom the whole time while jigging for them? Was the take similar to a striper as they suck it in on the drop of the jiggin action?

Thanks for the report.