I am curious to hear from the drum fishermen out there. What is your favorite bait for catching freshwater drum?

Hard to beat crawfish

Minnows near the bottom. And Ned Rigs

I catch them most of the time on minnows, cut bait and earthworms.

We've been catching them on our handtied jigs.



Just bouncing them on the bottum.

Pot licker, do you guys ever keep any for the table. They are pretty good eats.

No sir just catch and release. Im spoiled and only eat crappie.

I accidentally catch them on jigging spoons and shad, but if you want to target them I suggest crawfish.

Thanks for the replies. I will give crawfish a try. I catch them every once in a while while fishing for white bass and crappie, but I would like to target them. I think they are the best tasting fish in fresh water. Crappie is a little to mushy for me. I prefer firm meat like you get from catfish bellies.

Definitely Ned Rigs

I do not target Drum but have caught plenty over the years. I have caught all of them of Night Crawlers.

+1. When I try to catch walleye, always catch drum on nightcrawlers on a jighead.

I catch lots on crankbaits and spinners when I’m chasing bass. Like yesterday. They were all over a Mepps #3 Comet Mino on the Colorado River. Not sure why the crummy photos are upside down. Maybe coz my phone was made in China?

Never actually tried to catch one, but every single one I've ever caught has been while crappie fishing, on a minnow.

I’d like to try crawfish too- the zebra mussel invasion of Austin seems to have increased the goo numbers as I see them eating them off the lifts at the dock. Well that’s my theory anyway- have caught quite a few on night crawlers but that’s just cause I didn’t know what else to use.

I still say freshwater drum is possibly the prettiest fish in our Texas waters. Like others have said, worming on the bottom for these beauties can be deadly. And if you enjoy eating fish, you owe it to yourself to harvest a few of these for the table. Nice firm texture absolutely great on the grill. I grill em skin side down basting the fillet with olive oil, butter, garlic, and a hint of lime & lemon juice. Here's a couple of videos how to clean em.

Second the taste of them. I’ve cooked them blackened and they’re as good or better than redfish.

We catch them on spoons. Been catching a lot the last few years. Tried to eat one and it wasn’t great. We are eating white and yellow bass and crappie. Will giving drum another chance.

I used to catch a lot of them on shrimp. They are in the same family as salt water drum and make for some good eating.