Have any of you good folks ever eaten freshwater drum?


I have had more than a few people tell me I am missing out on some good eating by always throwing them back. I sure have thrown a bunch of them back over the years. If they make good table fare I think I might give them a try next time I catch one.

Can you fillet them or are they choke full of bones ?

A Gasper Goo is excellent table fare that fillets up very nicely.The flesh is firm and can be prepared several ways.Blackend,Grilled,Baked & even Fried. The smaller one`s are the best eaters.

Fishbonz,
Thanks for the reply. That is exactly what several fisherman have told me. I have heard they have a real nice white meat.
I grew up appreciating the great outdoors. I feel like I was very blessed to have folks in my life that taught me to fish and hunt and to value wildlife.
But I also learned some bad lessons too. It took this forum or more specifically some of the fisherman on this forum to appreciate the hard fought battle of carp fishing, fishing just for the fun of it and enjoying a fight from a local fish few other fish can match in brute strength.
And somewhere along the way I learned drum were trash fish that had no value on the dinner table. But over the years I have come across some fisherman that have told me I was mistaken, freshwater drum are excellent table fare.
The last one I caught an older fellow stopped me right before I was about to throw one back and asked if he could have it to take home. He told me the same thing you just stated, they are great eating with the smaller ones being the best to keep.
Thank You, Fishbonz.
Very cool screen name by the way

Them small pumpkin seed drum will filet out and you won't be able to tell them from sand bass.
They are good up to about 1 lb. I don't mess with them bigger than that.

freshwater drum is excellent eating, a few of my friends think I'm crazy, LoL.
very firm white flesh, less red meat than sb's or hybrids
Only thing is the side bones.
They seem to best under 3-4#

Years ago a group of us camped and fished the Rio Grande above Lake Amistad. The idea was to have fried fish for one meal. All we caught were drum and since a quick trip to the nearest grocery store was not an option, we decided to see how fried drum tasted. It was one of the best fish fry I have ever had. I refer to them as the poor mans crappie.

Ok I'll be the contrarian. I've filleted quite a few of them, as people have told em in the past they are good to eat. The meat is tough and very fishy. The best use for them in my opinion is to bury them under tomato plants.

We use to fish a small pay lake in Ky. (whopping $2). Back in the 70's at noon the caretaker of the lake would have lunch fixed for us to sample all the different kinds of fish he had caught on his drop lines, trotlines and rod/reel. He would have about 25 paper plates on the table with a few pieces of ever fish imaginable. We would just go down the line sampling and guessing what each might be. He would have it written on the bottom of the paper plates, to see if we guessed righ.
- some baked
- some fried
- some made into like tuna salad (Pressure cooked Carp), delirious.
- some grilled
- some wrapped in alum. foil with a pat of butter and squeeze of lemon (Gar, just great).

What a feast. They were all excellent and I remember the Drum being at the top. The best of all was the Fresh Water Ell. It is white flakes and a rare delicacy.

Fishin' Nut

Pkfishin, your input was greatly appreciated. That is what makes for a great discussion on a forum like this, it is good to get varying opinions on a subject to consider all sides of a topic.

When I read PK's comments the first thing I thought of were of eating rainbow trout. I had the good fortune to eat my first rainbow that I caught fresh from Lake San Crystobal in Lake City Colorado. Those trout were some of the best eating fish I have ever eaten.
Fast forward many years later and I ate the trout I caught fresh that were stocked by the TPWD and the TRWD here in Fort Worth. I did not even recognize the fact these were the same fish I so enjoyed years earlier. The trout I caught in Fort Worth were muddy tasting. Not good at all. I concluded that my previous enjoyment so many years earlier must have been marred by the sheer excitement of being in Colorado and a lot of ketchup. Because there was just no way those were the same species of fish. But I learned the food they eat, water quality, and the time of year can all be contributing factors to the quality of taste of a fish.

But more likely it just comes down to a matter of personal taste. No one side is right or wrong. I simply have to try it myself to decide. So the next time I catch a small drum I am going to fry one up and see for myself if I like them. I am hoping I will because that will be a whole new fish to target when I get fish hungry and the crappie are not cooperating.
Mr. Harper, what a cool story. That had to have been a blast. I have never heard of anything like that before, thanks for sharing.


Thanks everyone

The best way I have found to prepare freshwater drum is to get some of those cedar planks from a specialty grocery stores. Soak the plank overnight, place the drum filet on the plank and bake at 350 degrees for two hours. Take it out of the oven and throw the drum away and eat the board!

When we catch them they go in the fryer. I dare anyone to be able to tell the difference when we are eating crappie.

Those Rocky Mountain Trout are awesome. I caught a limit of Rainbows off the Cimeron River a few years ago and those fish were delicious. That said, It may not be always the water because I've eaten Drum from Ozark streams and found it to be sub par.

Lol...what side with that plank

Throw a big one in your livewell for a few hours and smell it nasty slimey suckers.

they are ok fried...best used for cut bait.