Drum

[musky hunter]

Thanks guys for all the carp tips, but what about drum? I caught one last year on the St. Louis river, about 5 lbs. Lost what I think was another and substantially larger, about five minutes later. Haven't had another sheephead bite since. How do you catch these guys? What do they normally feed on? I've also caught small ones in the Mississippi near Coon Rapids dam on worms. Seems these would make great pre-season fun if only I knew more about them.

[Guest]

I have caught many on lake Minnewaska out of Starbuck. Have had them up to 8lbs. Catch them fishing for walleyes. Lindy rigs, bottom bouncers with spinners. Many a time my I thought I was bringing in a large white tip only to have my bubble burst with a large croaker on the end my line. Personally I would not target them. Be my guest. Fish them till there ain't no more. please!!!

[vern]

I've also caught a lot of them at the Coon Rapids Dam. It's hard to keep them off the line if you're fishing with crawlers. The Minnesota River is loaded with them too. I think that a small piece of nightcrawler fished on the bottom is the best way to catch sheepshead. I have caught a few fishing cut-bait for cats. They can be kind of tough to hook because they just peck at your bait. Kind of a bait-robbing nuisance if you are not targeting them. The biggest sheepshead I've seen were at the Lockport Dam on the Red River in Selkirk, Manitoba. We caught a few monsters while fishing for cats. They called them silver bass up there. They seemed to be popular with the locals. Vern

[perchpro]

i catch tons of those nasty things on rush lake. i keep catching them when i am fishing for eyes. minnows are what they are biting on. please catch them all!

[musky hunter]

Just to stir up the pot: I was down in Green Bay for primarily for business last week, but my fishing gear made it's way into the car. The warm spell there ruined the Fox River walleye run. You just about couldn't catch a walleye, but I tried. Saving the day was a catch of carp and drum. Got several of each in the 10 lb. class. The carp were foul hooked but the drum could be caught on a minnow and jig suspended in 15' over 25' of water. (yes, I did manage to get one 24" walleye)

[Crawlerman]

They are VERY common along the Missisppi and St. Croix rivers-- like bullheads and panfish-- perhaps even more so. Crawler or worms on the bottom ANYWHERE along the river will get you results-- if you can't catch cats or Carp your almost guanteed a dozen sheephead. Watch out though-- they are notorius for nibbling-- and have a habit of swallowing even the biggest catfish hooks (They've swallowed 2/0's on me! And were only talking pound and a halfers!)

Myself-- I'd much rather hook a large carp-- they put up a lot better battle. I've heard of sheephead getting up to 20 lbs-- but usually you just catch the lil buggers