Sandy Hook Reef, 86 LB Drum

[RussH]

I'm surprised the line didn't snap, or the pole didn't snap or any combination. Must have had a lot of patience bringing that bad boy in. I also wonder what that tastes like. Is it a darker meat when cut open, or on the white side like a black fish?

[tombanjo]

Originally Posted by RussH

I'm surprised the line didn't snap, or the pole didn't snap or any combination. Must have had a lot of patience bringing that bad boy in. I also wonder what that tastes like. Is it a darker meat when cut open, or on the white side like a black fish?

There's no shortage of opinions on a fishing boat and most said it wouldn't taste good. The poor mate was already hacking his way through one so I took a hunk and gave it a try. I cut it into cubes, lightly coated it in pan searing flour and wokked it up in basil, garlic & oil with some veggies. It was great. Had a firm texture similar to monk fish with plenty of flavor. Would love to catch another and freeze some. It was a welcome departure from my usual fish eating.

[LeftyReeler]

JMURR "Drum Parm" - think the recipe is up on the board already, never had it prob never wil but if Murr says its good well....

Nice fish tho must have been fun swinging that thing up on the scale

[giantfan]

Originally Posted by RussH

I'm surprised the line didn't snap, or the pole didn't snap or any combination. Must have had a lot of patience bringing that bad boy in. I also wonder what that tastes like. Is it a darker meat when cut open, or on the white side like a black fish?

I didn't catch the fish and it wasn't on my equipment, but I can tell you that it was on a black fish rod so it wasn't as light as you would think and I'm pretty sure Dave uses 65lb braid on his black fish stuff. It took around 15-20 min to get him in the boat.

I never saw the meat so I can't comment on that. After they took the fish to the scale it went right to the cleaning station and I was washing the boat. I can say that from the boat I did see a sawzall being used at the fillet table

[O'Connor]

nice fish! Congrats


In all honesty black drum are the worst tasting fish I have ever had. I had to spit it out each time I chewed it. I tried drum parm, baked, fried, grilled with all the toppings etc. You can put all the parm and sauce in the world on a piece of chit, but at the end of the day it is still a piece of chit...that is how I feel about eating them. I will never kill another one simply because they are a huge pain in the ass to clean and they taste like hell. Believe it or not though I gave some of the scales to a friend and he uses them as guitar picks.

[Reelron]

I think it is all about how you treat the fish. One problm being that with a fish that big it's kind of diffacult to keep it iced down before you get in & cut it. Also not much meat after cutting maybe 30-40%? It may depend on what they have been eating before bing caught. Saw one cut and the meat was kind of splotchy gray with Blck areas. Another had more white meat.

I took some home and cooked it in the Parm. It was good. Wife even said it tastes like chicken. But I think she says that about everything I cook. (She is just happy when she doesn't have to cook.)

I do a Cape May trip, with a few friends, every spring and it is about 90% C & R now as most have taken some meat home and really didn't like it much.


Still a great catch!