Sheephead (drum)

[Kurt Paulsen]

The fishing has been pretty bad around here lately, but i finally connected with some Drum last night. I guess when the fishing is bad everywhere else, you can always connect with something at the dam with a nightcrawler. Its been awhile since I ate sheephead. They are VERY good lightly breaded with lots of garlic and onion powder. I would highly recommend them if you are looking for a meal!

[Ralph Wiggum]

I'll second that. I'd never tried it till this summer, and it is good.

How big were the ones that you had? I ate a pretty small one.

[Maashkinoozhe]

I'll third that. The drummies I've had were all pretty good. I have friends who won't touch 'em because of 2nd hand info that they taste muddy. I read up about it, and drums can take on a muddy flavor if exposed to certain algae, but then again, so can a walleye or crappie swimming in the same water. Do any of you guys keep the otoliths (ear stones)? Pretty cool.

Dave D.

[Ralph Wiggum]

I've never tried getting the otoliths out. How do you go about it? Any special technique?

[Kurt Paulsen]

I've never dug around for them either. I usually eat smaller ones since I get them from the river and big fish mean big toxins.

[mnheadshot]

Just cut a slit across the head behind the eyes and pull it open. The stones should be right there.

[Maashkinoozhe]

There's a bulb-like capsule made of thin bone (behind?) the skull. You should be able to pop it open with a needle nose or a fillet knife(be careful with the knife, of course). There are two otoliths inside (there's a left and right otolith in the one capsule, if I recall right) sitting in an oily fluid. Apparently they were considered good luck in the old days. All fish have otoliths, as far as I know, but drums' otoliths are a lot bigger than the rest. The bigger the drum the bigger the otolith. They are made of calcium carbonate deposits. Next time you fillet a drum, open it up! It's kind of like the Toy Surprise in Cracker Jacks!!

Dave D.

[Roughfisher]

Interesting Factiod - if you take a slice out of a drum otolith and put it under a microscope, you can see growth rings that mark each year. Drum grow faster when summer temps are higher, which makes the growth rings farther apart. They also grow very slowly and live a very long time (70+ years) so you get a record of how hot the summers were throughout the life of the drum. By looking at drum otoliths collected from ancient Native American campsites, scientists can reconstruct the summertime temps going back for thousands of years.

[Maashkinoozhe]

Hey!! Maybe I'll do that! I just happen to have impulsively bought a dissecting scope for an aquatic insects class I took. I'll have to take a look at the otoliths under the scope. I need a special extension to take camera shots, though. Uhh... does slicing a drum otolith bring seven years bad luck, though?

Dave D.

[Maashkinoozhe]

Otolith Pic for the curious - This is from a sheephead the size of a decent crappie.

[Roughfisher]

Awesome pic, Maashk. Slicing the otoliths might be difficult; I think the biologists do it with a paper-thin bandsaw blade. You need an extremely thin slice to see the rings.

[Maashkinoozhe]

Thanks, Roughfisher. I was wondering what I'd need to cut one. They are as hard as pebbles. If I fractured it, I'd get an uneven surface. Maybe I'll contact some guys I know at the U.