# Second Time Fishing the Ohio, Big Drum



## PolymerStew (Feb 17, 2009)

I moved from Cleveland to Pittsburgh a few months back. Finally brought my boat down here a couple weeks ago. Yesterday was my second time fishing the Ohio river. Water temp was about 54 degrees, water greenish with visibility of about 1-2 ft.

I was vertical jigging over deep water holes, 25-30 ft, in areas with some bottom cover looking for walleye. I was marking fish around the slopes at the head and tails of the holes. Turns out they were drum. Never did manage to find walleye, but I was having fun catching drum. 

I was fishing a grub on a 3/8 oz jighead on light spinning tackle, 8 lb line. It was adequate for the small/medium drum I was catching, but then I hooked into something big that was running the line way down. I had to start chasing with the trolling motor to avoid having all the line run off the spool. I was figuring I had hooked into a big catfish since they should be wintering in the deep holes. When I finally got the fish near the surface I saw the biggest drum I've ever caught. The whole fish wouldn't even fit in the net. It was 34" and weighed 18 lb 12 oz. 

Unfortunately I don't think the fish survived when I released it. I don't know if it was exhaustion from the fight or the pressure difference from coming to the surface from 30 ft, but the fish would dive down 3-4 ft then float back to the surface on its side. I held it in the water for about 10 min trying to wait for it to revive, but it didn't seem to be able to swim away. I didn't have anything to vent it so I finally had to give up.


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## Daveo76 (Apr 14, 2004)

WOW, great job!!!


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## fishingood (Apr 2, 2015)

Awesome fish


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## sherman51 (Apr 12, 2011)

that is a nice drum. you have to give them credit for being a hard fighting fish. they can be fun to catch on lite tackle. I once caught a 14 pounder on 4 pound line while drifting the western basin on erie. thought I had hooked into the loch ness monster, LOL.
sherman


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## Gottagofishn (Nov 18, 2009)

Nice fish! That is yet another reason I love to fish the Ohio!


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## david tennant (Mar 17, 2016)

They taste great! A firm white meat that reminds you of seafood. Give them a try sometime.


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## Skip2myalou (Apr 2, 2013)

Agree with Dave. They will surprise you if you try them.


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## PolymerStew (Feb 17, 2009)

david tennant said:


> They taste great! A firm white meat that reminds you of seafood. Give them a try sometime.


I wish I could eat fish; it's just catch and release fishing for me because of allergies. 

Anyone ever tried using a fish descender to release fish caught in deeper water? I think the fish would have had a better chance of survival if I'd been able to get it back to the bottom rather than release it at the surface. I didn't seem to be able to dive.


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## fisherboy (Sep 17, 2012)

Skip2myalou said:


> Agree with Dave. They will surprise you if you try them .


I don't keep any but they are not that bad. It's a shame what they do them in the Maumee & Lake Erie. & Yes I have eaten some in the past.


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## Skip2myalou (Apr 2, 2013)

If he was taking line and fighting that hard (as I'm sure he was! Those big drum fight hard!) I doubt you brought him up to fast. Big drum just seem to have a way of fighting until they have nothing left. Most seem to die, I don't think there is anything more you could have done.


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## BMustang (Jul 27, 2004)

That fish fulfilled his destiny when you caught him.
Congrats!


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## Mean Morone (Apr 12, 2004)

That is a true Ohio River beast! My buddy and I target them every year and we have never caught one over 11 or 12 lb. On a good day we will catch 30 or more in the 2-8 lb range. Way to go!


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## Mean Morone (Apr 12, 2004)

Oh I forgot to mention that they are edible, but not worth the effort in my opinion. Very strong fishy taste. And as far as them not going back, in a day of fishing we will have 2 or 3 that wont go back. It's not only the big ones that sometimes fail to go back, but smaller ones will do the same thing. We usually fish water in the 20 to 30 foot range but have caught them as deep as 50 feet. I think some of them just can't release air from their bladders and just cant get back down. I caught a big striped bass from Lake Cumberland one winter and it was strong when I released it. Problem was it could only get down 4 or 5 feet before floating back to the surface. We continued fishing and I kept an eye on that fish as it wallowed on the surface. After about 30 minutes it was able to get down and stay down. I don't know if the drum we release and float ever recover like that striped bass did, but I think it depends on the water temps and air temps. I wish I knew how to stick them to release the air so they can get back down, maybe someone could enlighten us.


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## PolymerStew (Feb 17, 2009)

Mean Morone said:


> I think some of them just can't release air from their bladders and just cant get back down. I caught a big striped bass from Lake Cumberland one winter and it was strong when I released it. Problem was it could only get down 4 or 5 feet before floating back to the surface. We continued fishing and I kept an eye on that fish as it wallowed on the surface. After about 30 minutes it was able to get down and stay down. I don't know if the drum we release and float ever recover like that striped bass did, but I think it depends on the water temps and air temps. I wish I knew how to stick them to release the air so they can get back down, maybe someone could enlighten us.


I was looking into how to vent fish last week after releasing that drum. From what I've read, they seem to recommend using a fish descending device to release the fish at depth rather than venting now. 

This page has instructions for making a DIY fish descender. I'm going to try making one to use if I catch a fish that is suffering barotrauma again. I figure I'll use the weight from my lure retriever to weight it. Although for that drum I probably would have needed to use my anchor to achieve 8 oz per lb of fish. 
http://www.seagrant.umn.edu/newsletter/2013/05/let_em_down_easy_returning_a_fish_to_deep_water.html


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## Mean Morone (Apr 12, 2004)

PolymerStew said:


> I was looking into how to vent fish last week after releasing that drum. From what I've read, they seem to recommend using a fish descending device to release the fish at depth rather than venting now.
> 
> This page has instructions for making a DIY fish descender. I'm going to try making one to use if I catch a fish that is suffering barotrauma again. I figure I'll use the weight from my lure retriever to weight it. Although for that drum I probably would have needed to use my anchor to achieve 8 oz per lb of fish.
> http://www.seagrant.umn.edu/newsletter/2013/05/let_em_down_easy_returning_a_fish_to_deep_water.html


I saw a similar technique just that instead of having an inverted hook, they had a small length of line that was very lite line with a hook attached coming off of a three way swivel. When they got the fish to the bottom, they would jerk hard and break the lite line. The fish got to keep the hook.


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## Snyd (May 5, 2004)

Nice fish - Several years ago I used to fish the Racine Pool for drum - My father n law made silver buddies that we used - Man did we hook into some monster over the years and wow when you get a hold of one 15lbs or over they sure can run with the line. Hoping to get back this spring and catch some big females.


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## lawrence tracey (Jul 15, 2015)

I think drum are an underused fish.. ive kept em... not bad .. different .. not bad actually. In Florida
they are a target fish.


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## buckeyebowman (Feb 24, 2012)

lawrence tracey said:


> I think drum are an underused fish.. ive kept em... not bad .. different .. not bad actually. In Florida
> they are a target fish.


Can't be sure, but I think the ones in Florida are red drum. If anyone's interested drop Doboy a PM. I once read a post from him saying to clean a freshwater drum, cut into 1" chunks and boil in 7Up. Dip chunks in drawn garlic butter and enjoy! Poor man's lobster! I don't know the fine points of the preparation, or even if there are any fine points. But it sounds good and I definitely intend to try it.


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## Doboy (Oct 13, 2008)

buckeyebowman said:


> Can't be sure, but I think the ones in Florida are red drum. If anyone's interested drop Doboy a PM. I once read a post from him saying to clean a freshwater drum, cut into 1" chunks and boil in 7Up. Dip chunks in drawn garlic butter and enjoy! Poor man's lobster! I don't know the fine points of the preparation, or even if there are any fine points. But it sounds good and I definitely intend to try it.



Yep Gary,,, what I said.
I took a gob of Erie drum down to the NC OBX. We cooked/ boiled it up, along with all of the other species that we caught that amazing year/ day,,,, Everyone tried it,,,,, & that 'Poor-man's-lobster' was the first to go!
Dipped in Garlic butter, & or shrimp sauce.
*BUT,,, WE WERE VERY HUNGRY, after a hard day of fish'n! ;>)

& my Erie friends,,,, the one's that can actually eat baked & smoked steelies,,,, say that the drum are much better! 
NO KIDDING!!!  *


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## buckeyebowman (Feb 24, 2012)

It's been said that hunger is the best sauce! 

I've had steelhead and enjoyed it, much like the "stocker" trout that go in at the club. I much prefer those baked, broiled, or grilled. Definitely not fried! 

I guess everybody has a fish they turn their nose up at. Mine is pike. And yes, I've tried it! It's OK, but falls short of a lot of other fish.


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