# Slot Black Drums



## troutless (Feb 17, 2006)

I have never targeted Slot Black Drums and have only caught a few in the surf in the four of five years of surf fishing. Where are they now in the bays or surf and maybe I'm not using the right bait. What is the bait of choice. Thanks for any fed back.


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## fishingcacher (Mar 29, 2008)

troutless said:


> I have never targeted Slot Black Drums and have only caught a few in the surf in the four of five years of surf fishing. Where are they now in the bays or surf and maybe I'm not using the right bait. What is the bait of choice. Thanks for any fed back.


I have caught more black drum in the summer than in the winter in the surf.


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## BretE (Jan 24, 2008)

Caught a pretty good size one on one of these last Wednesday.....Bastrop Bayou.....


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## bigfost (Oct 11, 2004)

Along the far upper coast, the best bait is still market shrimp. I don't target them, but have caught quite a few slots, and even BUs, just soaking shrimp, or shrimp flavored Fish Bites, in the first gut on my bait rod.

I take that back, I did target them many years ago. I fished the flats adjacent to the Sabine ship channel during the winter, and usually could wrangle between one and two dozen a trip.

However, I watched Big Lou give an unofficial seminar one late winter day on McFaddin beach on how to catch them. He had one of his tricked out 6500s on a 10 or 11 foot medium weight rod, and was lobbing shrimp from the sand. For those of you who know who Big Lou is, that means he was casting those baits about 150 yards out into the second gut.

He was catching one drum after another in the 5 to 10 pound class.


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## troutless (Feb 17, 2006)

Thanks for the input guys. Bigfost, I was reading on the Corpus board that several guys down there were catching them in the bay's there because the surf was messed up. And it look like they were filling their freezers them. I never thought about doing the same.


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## bigfost (Oct 11, 2004)

In thinking about it, there was another place I used to hammer them. Many years ago, before the partner bridge to the Rainbow bridge was built between Bridge City and Pt Arthur, there were canals that ran along highway 87. The surrounding marsh drained into those canals on the outgoing tide. I would fish those canals, at the drains, on an outgoing tide, and would catch about as many drum as I could stand. That was way before there was any size or number limit on black drum. I never caught any big ones, but I could just about fill an ice chest with drum up to about 4 pounds. The occasional red and flounder was lagniappe.

Like any fishing, not every drain held fish, but the ones that did were usually loaded with them.


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## caddis (Jan 22, 2012)

Troutless, if you're in the Corpus area, check out Capt. Noe Garza for a guide. Look at his pictures page. I think you'd learn more on the bays in a day with him then you'd spend on gas trying to learn.

Todd


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## bbgarcia (Mar 23, 2008)

I catch them year round when fishing the 1st and 2nd guts of the surf. It seems like I catch most of the keepers in the late winter and spring. I mainly use dead shrimp and also catch plenty of whiting, slot reds, pomps and croaker. Sometimes they'll hit cut bait and crab too.


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## skooter2 (May 3, 2011)

I've caught drum on everything I've thrown for redfish and whiting. I guess I've caught the most drum on shrimp and cut crab. 
At times you can see slot drum digging on top of the first bar at low tide. I caught 4 15 inch drum and 7 "bull whiting" a couple of weeks ago on ghost shrimp.


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## goodwood (Mar 30, 2009)

dead shrimp


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## justletmein (Feb 11, 2006)

We got into a mess of them out East. They would not touch Fish Bites or Mullet (cut or alive) but they ate up anything Gulp and hit Flies on the fly rods though.


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## SurfRunner (May 22, 2004)

Go to Fiesta or a seafood place and buy some fresh large or jumbo shrimp for bait.


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## [email protected] (Jan 14, 2005)

Big - Would you eat the fish caught between Bridge City and Pt Arthur today?


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## JFolm (Apr 22, 2012)

[email protected] said:


> Big - Would you eat the fish caught between Bridge City and Pt Arthur today?


I have. I'm still alive.


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## [email protected] (Jan 14, 2005)

Thanks for the information.


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## bigfost (Oct 11, 2004)

[email protected] said:


> Big - Would you eat the fish caught between Bridge City and Pt Arthur today?


Oscar, I don't see anything wrong with eating the fish from there. In fact, I have found after eating them for a few decades I can clean them faster with the extra arm I've grown.


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