I know, weird topic, but bear with me. My son loves to fish and he loves to catch new species and next on his list is the freshwater drum. He’s got most all of the MN sportfish/trout, and now he’s looking more at catching “rough” fish. I have no idea how to catch a drum and don’t know anyone that does. We would probably try for them on the St. Croix as I know they are in there.
Does anyone have any advice? Any chance we get any other species such as white bass when chasing drum?
Thanks,
WV
Following this closely….
JP
Get some nightcrawlers and hope to catch something else. Works everytime for me unfortunately.
Honestly just Santee rig a crawler on a circle hook I use 3/0 to 9/0. They are a underrated fish and fight good. Lots of fun to catch. You can catch them from downtown stillwater or by the Hudson dam. If you’re in a boat I have got em on blade baits. Just need to find them. On crawlers you’ll get everything from drum to suckers to turtles.
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Hop in my boat and go walleye fishing with me on lake Pepin. I catch them all over the place in the same ways I walleye fish. Trolling, jigging, rigging, bobbers.
They seem to be in and around current and on structure. I also catch a lot of them in the cannon river and it’s chain of lakes while panfishing. They love worms.
A very underrated fish. They fight like hell, and actually taste great if you bleed em and get them on ice right away
Agreed on the crawlers. Go soak some crawlers on the St. Croix and you will almost certainly catch a drum, and likely some other goodies, too.
Wow, quick replies, thanks guys.
I’ll be using my boat on the St. Croix. Any particular depth or structure I should be looking for?
They seem to prefer the color orange.
-J.
I have always found them much easier to find on shallow sand flats 5-15ft deep such as around the Kinnie Narrows area. Crawler on the bottom and it won’t be long.
Fish on the bottom like you do for catfish, just be sure to use worms. You can find drum in current and in slack water. Medium or medium/heavy tackle is appropriate. The less weight you can get away with the better. #4 or #6 baitholder with or without barbs should do it. Drum love worms. If you want to catch a giant drum, and they do get huge, I mean huge. Use a crawdad for bait. The huge ones love crawdads.
Crawler harness with crawler, bottom bouncer on a spinner rig trolled 1.5 to 2ish.
Guarantee 💯
Not familiar with the Croix but plenty on P4.
Best fighting fish on the river!
Head out on the Croix in the channel in front of Hudson (over on MN side). Fish from RR bridge to the I 94 bridge. Fish with a crawler on the bottom. If you make it 200 yds without catching one this time of year, you might as well go in and never fish again. 
I agree, act like you are walleye fishing with jig and nightcrawler, or i have had them hit a jiggin/ripped rap. Big ones on Pool 8!
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It’s all been said but any of the local rivers have them all over. I used to catch a lot on the upper end of pool 2. Caught a couple tonight on the low end on jig and crawler.
Same spots as the walleyes but drum seem to like a slow presentation and live bait. I’ve caught a few doozies on crank baits though. They can be aggressive when they want to be.
As EVRERYONE mentioned above, just go out walleye fishing on the rivers. I’m very poor at catching walleye on the st croix and mississippi, but I’m very good at catching drum while pretending to walleye fish. Vertical jigging near a wing dam around Prescott. They are super fun. Brought my dad out walleye fishing we ended up catching 10-12 drum, he fought one for several minutes that clocked in at 22″. They don’t seem to get tired and give up as easily as the eyes.
And if you plan to fillet them just study some videos on youtube. They are good if done properly (no gray meat)
I had one catfishing the MN once on like a 10″ creek chub. Only time i hoped a sheepshead wouldnt get off so I could weigh it but of course it did. I dont know what the state record is or even want to guess what it weighed but it was huge and fought like hell even on catfishing rig. Needed a better net man.
if you’re on the saint croix, bottom bouncer and either a lindy rig or slow death rig tipped with a worm and you’ll get plenty of them. Heck, a buddy of mine caught one on a jigging rap a few weeks ago.
All great advice. Like most of the others I can’t seem to not catch them if I’m fishing for walleye. Crawlers, bottom bouncer….pretty much guaranteed to find em. I will say slower speeds (1 mph or less) and a bit shallower water seem to attract them. But they sure aren’t picky.
I had one catfishing the MN once on like a 10″ creek chub. Only time i hoped a sheepshead wouldnt get off so I could weigh it but of course it did. I dont know what the state record is or even want to guess what it weighed but it was huge and fought like hell even on catfishing rig. Needed a better net man.
They surprise me sometimes. I’ve caught several in the 15-20lb range. Some on big live baits too. Even a live bullhead.
We caught a real nice one on P2 this past weekend on a big piece of frozen sucker.
The record is 35lbs!
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I had one catfishing the MN once on like a 10″ creek chub. Only time i hoped a sheepshead wouldnt get off so I could weigh it but of course it did. I dont know what the state record is or even want to guess what it weighed but it was huge and fought like hell even on catfishing rig. Needed a better net man.
I think I have a state record every time they get on. Then I remember it will take a 40 pounder to beat it.
And here I’m down on pepin this weekend hoping for anything but a drum lol . Should be pretty easy . Good luck on the quest .
You’ll have no issues on the Croix, but you mentioned white bass… If you can get on some of the Faribault/Shieldsville/Waterville area lakes (Cannon River System) you can catch drum and white bass. Cannon Lake comes to mind as an option with both.
It wasnst a record by no means but i would bet it had to 25-30lbs. 3Rivers it was by Belle Plaine in a spot ive seen you fish before. Was deep my whole life til a few years ago now its just a big sand bar.
Split shot and worm is good option for sheepshead.
Trolling cranks at 2 mph (slow for summer walleye).
Cut bait like you would for catfish works good too.
Anything 2mph or less right now will catch a sheep.
Just fish with any of the above and you’ll get your sheep.
If you want to catch them on a lake, French lake in Fairbault is full of them! Pretty much any weed line, and we have caught them on everything from drop shots/wacky rigs to crank baits.
There was a time there was a ton of them in lake Waconia. Use to catch a ton of them while chasing walleye out there. Not sure if they are still in Waconia or not. I doubt once they are in a lake that you could get rid of them.
Get some nightcrawlers and hope to catch something else. Works everytime for me unfortunately.
Yep, I could not agree more!! Crawlers or fatheads on any rig or jig this time of year. The guys offered some great spots to get them on the croix. If your fishing Pool 2 of the Mississippi let me know and I can point you in the right direction.
My friend’s nephew caught a 30″ drum on the Croix–it was in the Star Trib. I wish I would have seen it in person!
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I doubt once they are in a lake that you could get rid of them.
We have a place on the Norway/Games chain near New London, and there are a lot of them in there!
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