In 1848 William Elliott wrote about catching big Drum in Port Royal Sound. Caught over 12 like these with Miles Altman off Hilton Head yesterday while fishing for sheephead. All were released.
Always wondered if there were any left. Now we know.
Nice
I DONT HAVE A BOAT
BUT LOVE TO FISH> HINT
Dang, what a drum [:0][:0]I know that 2nd. guy 
Capt. Larry Teuton
Swamp Worshiper
Great job! Didn’t know there was any that size left! Haven’t seen one that size in 30 plus years.
If there’s 1 left, Capt. Herb knows where to find it:wink:
Capt. Larry Teuton
Swamp Worshiper
Great catch Capt. Must have been 50 years old!
quote:
Originally posted by longlinerIn 1848 William Elliott wrote about catching big Drum in Port Royal Sound. Caught over 12 like these with Miles Altman off Hilton Head yesterday while fishing for sheephead. All were released.
Always wondered if there were any left. Now we know.
Capt Miles Altman, with his young gun captains of Phantom charters out of Shelter Cove Marina Hilton Head, and myself went after sheepshead at a nearshore reef. We only had clams and mussels for bait. The drum liked em but the sheepys didn’t want anything to do with that bait. We were at a well known sheepy spot. Think the big drum scared off the sheeeps?
They must have been a big school of these old guys done there. We caught over 12 and released all live. Caught on relatively light tackle in 40 ft of water. We left em biting. Didn’t want to stress out these geriatrics as they stressed us.
These old fellers were bigger than Bull Reds that are caught in the area.
Saw a guy years ago scaleing one with a maddoc!
Great CAtches! Largest black drum I have seen since running a drum line baited with crab in port royal sound many years ago. Thanks very much for posting photos.
Miss Libby 2
26’ World Cat
Big uglies. The little ones taste pretty good.
If you’re lucky enough to be fishing, you’re lucky enough.
This is Black Drum spawning season. It is cool how the ecosystem is partitioned with similar species (Family Sciaenidae)spawning in similar habitat at different times of the year. e.g.: Red drum late summer/fall; Croaker late fall/winter; black drum late winter/spring and spotted sea trout late spring/early summer. As a result their respective larvae and juveniles don’t directly compete.
How long do the drum stay in? What do you use for bait? Crab or shrimp?
Action Craft 1820
175 Opti
That is a stud drum. Nice catch. I remember the first one I ever saw. We were catching triggerfish under old gov pier in MI and a guy next to us almost went for a swim when one hit is bait. I had never seen one that big. I think his got released in some Crisco.
I like the small ones.
J Ford