Black Drum

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lahai1dj
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Location: Houston Heights, TX

Black Drum

Post by lahai1dj »

First, I appreciate the TKF community. Four months ago, I had never caught a fish in salt water (without a guide), now I'm confidently filling the freezer with trout and redfish each time I hit the water. One fish I haven't yet caught is black drum so I've resolved to catch this species before the end of the year. I've been primarily in Galveston bay and the secondary bays (Jones Bay, Moses Lake, Clear Lake Channel, etc) and I have fished with live shrimp on the bottom. A few questions:

* are black drum not in the bays this time of year?
* are black drum rare catches in the Galveston area?
* do black drum have a significantly different diet and habitat as red drum?

Thanks!
texnomad
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Re: Black Drum

Post by texnomad »

I used to catch black drum year round in the jetties area. They were regular catches over near San Luis Pass too. All my big ugly catches were on fresh dead shrimp on the bottom, think fish finder rig. They do like mud bottoms.
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Mythman
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Re: Black Drum

Post by Mythman »

Many, many black drum (called "Big Uglies" in this area) migrate from the bays to the Gulf each fall/winter and then return to the bays in the Spring. No matter where they are they can be caught with live or fresh dead blue crabs, crawfish and shrimp.

We use to catch a ton of them each Spring on the Houston Ship Channel as they migrated back from the Gulf into the bays.
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MobyYack
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Re: Black Drum

Post by MobyYack »

texnomad wrote:I used to catch black drum year round in the jetties area. They were regular catches over near San Luis Pass too. All my big ugly catches were on fresh dead shrimp on the bottom, think fish finder rig. They do like mud bottoms.
x2...especially the jetty part....also try bridge pilings where sheepheads hang out as ive had experience with these two groups in the same area a lot
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