Dauphin Island, off the beach

[Crow]

The "Snowbird Fishing Club" has had several good days of whiting fishing...enough for a couple fish fries, anyway. Today, I hooked up with a 40 inch Black Drum, which arelots of fun to catch on light spinning tackle, but always get released, as they are almost always full of worms.

[JasonGotaProblem]

I hear the smaller ones are good eating, never tried one though.

[Gobi King]

Nice, looks like the entire camp ground will have protein for dinner.
:-)

[Breadfan]

I hear the smaller ones are good eating, never tried one though.

They are not quite as good as Red Drum, but they are good. I catch them on Little Talbot Island near Jacksonville Florida, most are around 3-6 pounds. If you target them you can do very well. I'm normally Pompano fishing and I they are good bycatch!

[Breadfan]

The "Snowbird Fishing Club" has had several good days of whiting fishing...enough for a couple fish fries, anyway. Today, I hooked up with a 40 inch Black Drum, which arelots of fun to catch on light spinning tackle, but always get released, as they are almost always full of worms.

Nice fish!

[handi2]

Whiting are excellent to eat. They have clean white meat.

[oc1]

Nice drumfish.  They are bulldogs.  But, I wouldn't eat it either when there are whiting to be had.

[thorhammer]

Smaller BD are tasty- they eat the same stuff as pomps, whiting, croakers. Whiting, or sea mullet as we call them, are prized- there is a whole club called the Mulletteers that will stand in freezing water for these guys.

[Ron Jones]

Sea mullet is funny, I've snagged a bunch of mulet, always in salt water. Haven't seen mullet in fresh water.

The Man

[Maxed Out]

 For several years the IGFA world record red drum was caught with a long beach 65. I think it weighed 90#

[Crow]

    Any of the black drum we get that still have the "black and white" stripes....they call them "puppy drum", here...are pretty tasty, and "worm free', but when they lose their stripes, and get to be above the 5-6 pound range......usually wormy. I do like catching the larger ones, though.....a good fight.....not "fast", like a red drum, just a sustained , slow, HARD pull. The downside to getting them on lighter tackle, is it REALLY wears them out, and it takes some time to get them "refreshed", so they will "swim away, to fight another day".
     By the way, Shibs, it was on the news, yesterday, that Cedar Point Pier has been sold to Mobile County.....$2.1 mil....for now, all the "rates and rules" will remain unchanged.

[oc1]

Sea mullet is funny, I've snagged a bunch of mulet, always in salt water. Haven't seen mullet in fresh water.

The Man

Oh contraire.  Striped mullet can be found above the saltwater line in just about every estuary.  They even recruit into tidal freshwater impoundments such as abandoned rice fields.  To me, "mullet" can be a derogatory term and whiting deserve better.  Their other name is kingfish.  There are Southern Kingfish with faint bars and Gulf Kingfish that are bright silver.  Yankees have Northern Kingfish that they call Sea Mullet.  The silver ones stay in the surf and don't venture into areas with soft bottoms very often.

The truth is that almost all fish have worms and that includes red drum, puppy drum, whiting and mullet.  It's just a matter of degrees.  Read Robin Overstreet's book Marine Maladies? Worms, Germs, and Other Symbionts.  It is available as a *.pdf file on line.  He did most of his work right there around Gulf Shores.

[Gobi King]

    Any of the black drum we get that still have the "black and white" stripes....they call them "puppy drum", here...are pretty tasty, and "worm free', but when they lose their stripes, and get to be above the 5-6 pound range......usually wormy. I do like catching the larger ones, though.....a good fight.....not "fast", like a red drum, just a sustained , slow, HARD pull. The downside to getting them on lighter tackle, is it REALLY wears them out, and it takes some time to get them "refreshed", so they will "swim away, to fight another day".
     By the way, Shibs, it was on the news, yesterday, that Cedar Point Pier has been sold to Mobile County.....$2.1 mil....for now, all the "rates and rules" will remain unchanged.

Wow, they finally sold the pier, I hope Mobile Co spruces it up and keeps it open for the public to fish.

[thorhammer]

Sea mullet is funny, I've snagged a bunch of mulet, always in salt water. Haven't seen mullet in fresh water.

The Man

Oh contraire.  Striped mullet can be found above the saltwater line in just about every estuary.  They even recruit into tidal freshwater impoundments such as abandoned rice fields.  To me, "mullet" can be a derogatory term and whiting deserve better.  Their other name is kingfish.  There are Southern Kingfish with faint bars and Gulf Kingfish that are bright silver.  Yankees have Northern Kingfish that they call Sea Mullet.  The silver ones stay in the surf and don't venture into areas with soft bottoms very often.



Yeah, striped mullet or jumping mullet are entirely different- like our yellowtail is a snapper and the Left Coast is a jack. The Virgina Mullet, or sea mullet, is also found up in brackish water- one of the best mullet bites we have is up teh Cape Fear river in late winter. Striped mullet can way towards fresh water, as can menhaden. I think the monikers are regional- a Southerner never calls a whiting or sea mullet a kingfish, because down here that's  a kin mackeral. Something different altogether.

Ted, I think you meant black drum. The currrent red WR was on a daiwa spinner and i think the one before that was a trusty Squidder- both from the surf in OBX, and the 65 might be the last reel you's try to cast a hundred yards lol.

The truth is that almost all fish have worms and that includes red drum, puppy drum, whiting and mullet.  It's just a matter of degrees.  Read Robin Overstreet's book Marine Maladies? Worms, Germs, and Other Symbionts.  It is available as a *.pdf file on line.  He did most of his work right there around Gulf Shores.

[Maxed Out]

 Penn 50th anniversary catalog shows world record red drum caught off NC in 1973. It was 90# and caught with long beach 65. The record black drum at that time(111#) was caught with a 140 squidder