We watched the tips of our surf rods breathe with the ebb and flow of the waves against the shorebreak. Some people often mistake these movements for a hit from a fish. As you gain more experience as a surf
fisherman, you learn to recognize when the rhythmic movements of the set poles are more or less in concert with the prevailing surf, and all is well with your set. Sometimes it is an odd yank, or a pole may go completely
slack. In this case, as we watched the poles load and release with each wave, on the next outflow the tension instead just steadily increased and the pole began to bend deep towards the horizon.
I sprang into action out of my meditation and ran to pick it up. The fish wasn’t fast, but it was strong and heavy. I didn’t know what I had at first, but as the fight progressed, the swim of it and the headshakes indicated some sort of large ray-finned fish and not a ray. They are dogged fighters, having the capability of putting up long battles. I began to see the silver sides of the fish and the darker margins on the fins in the waves. I knew what I had then. A prized catch for me, especially on a beautiful winter day at the beach.
It’s black drum season here on the Western Gulf Coast. Just about anywhere you can find a shore to fish should have a few drum lurking around, feeling the sand and mud flats for ghost shrimp and scallops. Black
drum love to eat any mollusks or crustaceans. They have special pharyngeal adaptations that allow them to utilize food sources unavailable to other fish. Similar to a moray eel, like some alien predator, they are equipped with a second set of jaws. Black drum have the second largest durophagous jaws in the world, behind a Pacific giant Wrasse, of all things. It simply means the black drum can crush just about any shell they want to with their teeth. Oysters and clams are usually pretty safe in their armor from most fish except the black drum. They gobble them up without abandon.
Drum will pick up shrimp and cut-bait, but if you really want to target the larger fish, use half of a blue crab for bait, put it on the bottom and wait. If there are any large drum around, they won’t take forever to
find it. The big uglies have keen senses and zero in on crab or shrimp like a dog after its food. Big drum are always better to release as they tend to gather a lot of parasites throughout their long lives and the meat
becomes tough as their connective tissues continually develop.
For a good eater stick to the smaller ones. Eighteen to 20 inches is perfect. The smaller puppy drum are some of the better-eating fish in the bay, comparable to snapper or flounder. It is mild, lean and flaky fish that
can be grilled, baked, sauteed or fried. Cleaning them can be a bit of a challenge as the skeletal structure is heavier than other fish and requires some adjustments in filleting techniques. I find a sharp and flexible fish
fillet knife to be the key, so the blade undulates with the structures to get the best-looking fillets off them. Side by side on a platter, they are as good as any other local fish in my opinion. Seasons greetings and best
fishes, everyone!