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Fisherboy0301

Freshwater drum

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Yeah I'm not sure why they are called that, like how did the bowfin get the name dogfish? That too is a saltwater fish nothing like a bowfin.

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It's just a slang term for them or what locals call them. Bowfins are called dogfish, grindles and cypress trout by a lot of the old timers. Same thing goes for bass, some folks call them green trout.

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I have only caught a few small drum and always on small beetle spins on UL. I have never eaten them but I do know that some of the good ole boys down here in TN do eat them. At least the smaller ones. A true sheepshead is a salty but some folks do call them sheepshead in some parts of the country. Just like me. The only sunfish that I don't call bluegill are rockbass or also known as goggleyes and crappie. Bass, bluegill, rockbass, and crappie are all in the same sunfish family. Carp are minnows but you never hear of a carp being reffered to as a minnow. fish names are just crazy. Most of the fishermen in America think of bass as a sport fish. Go to Maine any you will find that bass are considered as a trash fish by many. It is all a matter of perspective.

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+1 here in MN, freshwater drum are referred to as sheepshead, some of the locals shorten it to just "sheepies". I was confused when I moved here from TX, but there you have it with local terminology. Same with the post earlier mentioning dogfish.. bowfin in some places, small shark species in others.

 

I've yet to catch a sheepie on a fly, but sometimes I can't keep 'em off my cut bait when going after catfish. I've tossed flies after catching a half dozen in a short period of time to no avail, but it was pretty murky water in the 'sippi.

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I caught a small sheepshead by accident once when salmon fishing one of the Lake Ontario tribes of all things. It is the one and only time I have even seen one much less caught one. I have never seen anyone else catch one either.

 

Steve

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I hooked a pretty big one fishing a nymph near the end of the Metawee River in Whitehall, NY. I didn't know WHAT I had on for a long time. I was pretty surprised to see it was what the folks around here call a sheephead.

 

I was bass fishing out of my boat in the Poultney River last week and caught one on a spinnerbait! You never know when one of those things is going to show up.....

 

Tight lines,

Bob

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In the great lakes area, everyone calls freshwater drum sheephead, or just sheep. Gasperwhatever is a southern and Texas name for them. The saltwater fish known as a sheephead is totally different, well it has fins and gills, but that's about where the similarity ends.

 

Just goes to show that common names for animals of any type are pretty much useless unless you are talking to someone raised in the same place as you were.

 

Silkhdh you've seen fish that are double the known maximum size for freshwater drum... my suspicion is that you saw some very large buffalo.. bigmouth buffalo are known to exceed 4.5 feet and 70+ pounds. It would be easy to be mistaken, they can look very similar in the water.

 

I've caught freshwater drum in Lake Erie on chartreuse and white clousers, and also clousers tied with fox squirrel tail. I've caught a few over 10 pounds, and seen some bigger.

 

It has always sort of surprised me that fly fishermen have recently made such a huge deal of carp, when freshwater drum are all but ignored. They're a lot like a freshwater version of redfish, and they hit flies and lures as well as bait, just like redfish, and they fight every bit as hard or harder than a carp of equal size.

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JS,

This is a pic of a RED DRUM. I am only using this for size referace purposes only. I already know this is not a freshwater drum. OK. Record freshwater drum

are recorded at 55 lbs. Texas trotline record was 55 lbs. Arkansas 45lb., Iowa 46lb., Missouri 40lb., Alabama 41lb. This is a around 50 lb. red drum. So this is as close to a size comparison I can get. This is the size of fresh water drum I was seeing. I saw drum. Not carp. I will say that water magnifies size. So maybe my quote "close to five feet" Might be off. You got to admit. This pic shows a four foot plus range fish. If his middle finger to knuckle is 5" long the this fish is over four feet. Freshwater Drum this big do exist. PERIOD! I saw fish that were over four feet. Maybe the water magnified them. Ok, I can deal with that. I saw four foot fish that were magnified to be bigger, or I saw fish bigger than that. None the less I saw drum.

They do too get that big. Don't care what anyone says. The records are close to 50 lbs. This fish is around 50lbs. This fish is over four feet. I know you are a common sense, science minded, intelligent dude. I read your comments all the time and always agree with what you say. What more can I do to prove it other than catch one myself. Other people have. The records prove that.

post-19822-0-01502600-1405439955_thumb.jpg

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JS.

This is close to 4 ft. If his arm (from fist to elbow) is 18" then this is close to 4 foot. Under 4 foot but close. I estimate around 45". Suppose to be 45lbs. Alabama record. Doesn't look like 45lbs. to me but I didn't write the comment or take this picture so I can't prove it to be false. The smaller fish was 30lbs. and already 38" lg. This is what the article read. There was also a dead drum found at Marion Reservoir here in Kansas earlier this year that was estimated at 50" lg. Weight unknown. It was pretty decayed from what I was told. My own brother who is age 54 and fished for most of his life got to see this fish. Marion reservoir is only about 10 miles from the lake where I saw the huge drum. So, If I said "close to five feet", lets say 4 and 1/2 feet or 54"... half would be 27" or 2 feet 3 inches.. Here are two fish the clearly go way past that. Your "double the known maximum size of fish" comment is inaccurate. The only thing I've ever seen you write that was though. Keep in mind the Kansas state record for striped bass is 43 lbs. Biologists have netted them over 50lbs. here. The record caught fish isn't always the biggest one out there. I will say I also agree with the overlooked drum fishing. We actually call them "fresh water redfish" some times. We call Carp "fresh water bone fish". By we, I mean other fly fishermen. They will pull as good as anything.

 

I have reexamined this big fish and will renege on my original length estimate. is around 40" lg.

post-19822-0-28420000-1405443996_thumb.jpg

post-19822-0-03252600-1405444105_thumb.jpg

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JS.

 

This is close to 4 ft. If his arm (from fist to elbow) is 18" then this is close to 4 foot. Suppose to be 45lbs. Alabama record. Doesn't look like 45lbs. to me but I didn't write the comment or take this picture so I can't prove it to be false. The smaller fish was 30lbs. and already 38" lg. This is what the article read. There was also a dead drum found at Marion Reservoir here in Kansas earlier this year that was estimated at 50" lg. My own brother who is age 54 and fished for most of his life got to see this fish. Marion reservoir is only about 10 miles from the lake where I saw the huge drum. So, If I said close to five feet, lets say 4 and 1/2 feet or 54"... half would be 27" or 2 feet 3 inches.. Here are two fish the clearly go way past that. Your "double the known maximum size of fish" comment is inaccurate. The only thing I've ever seen you write that was though. Keep in mind the Kansas state record for striper bass is 43 lbs. Biologists have netted them over 50lbs. here. The record caught fish isn't always the biggest one out there. I will say I also agree with the overlooked drum fishing. We actually call them "fresh water redfish" some times. We call Carp "fresh water bone fish". By we, I mean other fly fishermen. They will pull as good as anything.

I believe you saw a five footer! The world record is a little over 50lbs, and if a 45lber is 50in. then I could see a five footer being out there!

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I said "close to five foot" Not five foot...In fisherman that translates to 2' 9" LOL..

Right guys. LOL

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