# Black Drum



## Devin1128 (Aug 8, 2015)

Hey guys! I just recently had a chance to fish a school of black drum with fish ranging from 10 to maybe 40 pounds. We had lots of really good shots with perfect presentation at several points I was able to touch these fish with the rod tip but no eats I was throwing black and black and purple , slow strips short ticks no luck . Any tips or suggestions would be greatly appreciated .


----------



## Backwater (Dec 14, 2014)

Devin, are you tying your own flies?


----------



## Devin1128 (Aug 8, 2015)

Yes sir I will post a few pics this afternoon shrimp and crab patterns medium and large bead chain and some x small lead as well basically my redfish patterns that work .


----------



## ifsteve (Jul 1, 2010)

I have had my best luck with blackies using Puglisi crab patterns.


----------



## Backwater (Dec 14, 2014)

Hummm.... Try tying up that middle crab pattern that you are holding 3 flies in one hand (2nd pic from the top), in a natural tan/brown, with blue or purple highlights and a tan barred/grizzly type bunny tail or tan/brown grizzly hackles out the back. Throw in longer brown/tan legs, tipped in a blue sharpie. Make the shell a little larger/ bulkier. Use black chrome/black nickel hooks (not anything shiney silver). Wider gap hooks, like something in a 3/0 tarpon hook or 3X - 3/0 bass worm hook. Then try that fly as an alternative, let it completely sink just in front of them and bump dredge the crab in the mud when you get it in front of them.

I've caught them in black with purple or blue highlights, but I seem to have better luck with more natural colors (tans/browns/olives). Though, if you look at a rock or baby stone crab, they are black. Contrast against the bottom plays a part if they can see it or not. But also "feeling the fly push" is also another sense they can rely on, when there is no scent involved for a black drum. That's why I try to bulk up the shell some to push more water. Also, depending on water depth, I'll normally use an intermediate line, even tho the fly is weight, to keep the fly dredging the bottom, which is what they will also be looking for. So good weed guards are a must!


----------



## Finn Maccumhail (Apr 9, 2010)

Drum can be really finicky. I've had days when they'd eat anything you put in front of them even if the reds weren't eating. But I've had days where I've wiped their nose with every fly in the box and they just ignored it. 

I've had my best luck with smallish, black crab patterns. And you've got to damn near smack them between the eyes with your cast.


----------



## Devin1128 (Aug 8, 2015)

Thank you for all the advice , I'm gonna get back to vice and try what you guys have suggested. Hopefully I'll get to post some pics on here with good results . Thanks again


----------



## Rick hambric (Jun 24, 2017)

My mixed up Avalon. I use gray magnum rabbit for the side wings. They take a blue sharpie very well.


----------



## Padre (Jul 29, 2016)

We catch Black drum up here around Destin year round mainly in deep water around bridges, etc. But in the late fall, right before they spawn, they move into the harbor and they are big, some around 30 pounds. And they will not eat either. You can throw everything at them and they ignore it.


----------



## WillW (Dec 6, 2012)

I think the presentation & feed is key more than fly pattern. Long intersect point, let it sit until they are very close, & then small strips until they nose down on the fly. If you strip with some vigor, likely you won't set the hook. Slow strip set & let eating the fly be "their idea". Hope that makes sense. Between a buddy & I, we fed close to a dozen wkend before last. Had a half dozen that we strip set hard on but the end result there was some tension at first then slack line.


----------



## FlyBy (Jul 12, 2013)

I got this one last January. The fly is not weighted and sinks very slowly, but the fish were in a school cruising near the surface. I'll be back at the Space Coast next month for a week and hope to find some tailers.


----------



## rakeel (Apr 9, 2014)

A lot of good info already posted but I'll just add my two cents specifically for big black drum. Big black drum can be very finicky and I have a theory on this. A lot of the times I see big black drum, it's on a slightly deeper flat and it's usually muddy so I don't see them until they're pretty close. I'll make multiple good casts and presentation and get denied. I'll do this until I give up or they get sick of me and blow out. My theory is, drum can detect you a lot easier and from further out than a redfish can. They do this with the barbels on their chin









I think these tip them off to your presence early on and puts them on alert but since they haven't necessarily seen you (and they may not have great eyesight), they don't blow out. I think even when big black drum see you they just don't care enough to expend the energy to blow out of there. However, since they're on alert they don't necessarily want to eat either which is why they will refuse your flies over and over again. I've noticed success with black drum, specifically big ones, is stealth. You have to be stealthier around them than with redfish and you have to make long casts, which can be tough when visibility sucks. Other than that, dark flies that you can fish low and slow on or near the bottom.


----------



## EvanHammer (Aug 14, 2015)

Interesting idea about them being more sensitive than reds but I've always thought they just didn't react to flies well since there is no scent. I think most drum feed more by scent than sight and the bigger they get the cloudier their eyes seem to get.

I think it's a numbers game - you just have to throw at enough to find the ones that will eat. Some days it seems like you throw at dozens and dozens and one in 25 eats. Other days it seems like none of them will eat and then something changes and they start eating.

I like that avalon above for cruising fish. Sometimes we switch to big gold flies and/or rattle flies if the big ones are refusing to eat. Danny Ayo used to spray crab flies with scent to get them to eat.


----------



## Devin1128 (Aug 8, 2015)

It was kind of windy that afternoon and keeping the boat out away from the schools was hard , the water was very cloudy and several times we were rite on top of them before we new they were there , but they didn't blow out until about 4 passes later .


----------



## bonehead (Dec 9, 2016)

Try putting on a rattle onto the fly, I have never used them but heard that turns them on.

Good luck with the hunt, I think we all know how it feels to be obsessed with catching a specific species.


----------



## Bonecracker (Mar 29, 2007)

I like black like crab flies with a rattle in the body and ora





















nge arms/pincher!


----------

