Dam area - July 3

[kjackson]

My son caught a nice drum in Beaver that we decided to fillet to see what it was like. It was not a walleye, but it was pretty good.  I think the texture of the meat would be perfect for some things.

[Quillback]

I might have to keep one sometime.  I have heard if you ice them down right away, they come out OK.  

[shark bait]

On 7/3/2018 at 7:39 PM, Terrierman said:

I still don't get how redfish are so sought after and their freshwater brethren are considered by many to be trash fish.

Drum actually are great fish for ceviche if you know what that is. In the jungles of Peru we ate that a lot.

[Quillback]

I have made ceviche before when I lived in Washington state, but I can't remember what fish I used, probably salmon.  It was OK, but never have made it since then.  It wasn't that hard to make, just time consuming.  Bet it would be good for striper too, I'm not real fond of eating striper, but it should work well for ceviche.

[Notropis]

This discussion takes me way back to my childhood, camping out with extended family group on the Saline River in lower Arkansas. We would camp for several days while fishing with limb lines as well as rods and reels in an attempt to have a fresh fish fry on the banks of the river. We would always catch a few drums along with catfish and other species and I remember how we kids were usually served the drum while the adults ate the other fish. They seemed pretty good to me especially if served while hot. 

Later as an adult I would fish the back waters of the Arkansas River for bass in the summer. When the bass weren't biting, we would motor out to the main river and troll crankbaits around the wing dams and catch drum until our wrists were sore.  Some were fairly big, up to 15 pounds. It was great fun even though we rarely kept any.