# Black Drum Flies??



## Bonecracker (Mar 29, 2007)

All my favorite tarpon spots were taken on Saturday so I had to find something else to do!! Ended up finding a lot of 20-40lb Black Drum feeding along some large oyster bars and the wife caught a few on gulp. Want to go back with the 9 or 10wt and give it a go on the BD. Any fly suggestions??


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## ifsteve (Jul 1, 2010)

Dollar size crab patterns. I like the Puglisi crab pattern.


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## lemaymiami (Feb 9, 2007)

Up in the rivers that drain out into the Gulf (Everglades) we use the same big, black fly that we use for tarpon (it's six to seven inches long, on a 4/0 hook...). Place the fly right in front of that big drum and don't strip it at all -just wiggle it a bit like it was a big earthworm and watch as the drum (20 to 40lbs where we are) finally decides to eat it. No, it's not conventional fly fishing -but it does work.... We went to this routine after they ignored pretty much every shrimp or crab fly that we used for several years... where we stripped and stripped and barely even got a follow or two (go figure...).




The big black drum that we target are in the same small rivers that we hunt giant tarpon in... The tarpon are in the middle and the drum are along the edges in and out of mangrove cover...


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## Backwater (Dec 14, 2014)

ifsteve said:


> Dollar size crab patterns. I like the Puglisi crab pattern.


Definitely crab patterns, though I think a dollar size crab would be a bear to throw on a 9 or 10wt. I'd definitely stick with the 10wt since you'll need all the muscle you can dish out to get them to the boat.

Send me a PM and I'll send you a couple of drum candy.


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## Bonecracker (Mar 29, 2007)

Mmmm! Drum Candy sounds addicting!!


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## coconutgroves (Sep 23, 2013)

I think they key in on action over size, but smaller is better, fished permit style. Put it on their head, just a twitch of movement. They like it slow, nearly a stand still. The big ones are harder to catch than the average ones.

One day I was poling a flat and came across 6 HUGE black drums just suspended off the side of the flat. Massive creatures - each one was 30 pounds plus. Never seen large ones grouped together like that - only solos. Had one inspect the fly but didn't eat - my buddy on the bow couldn't believe what we saw. That was some Nat Geo stuff for sure.


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## BrownDog (Jun 22, 2019)

Going to resurrect this with a new question. 

I have some flooded flats loaded with black drum. I can watch and hear them slurping snails off the grass as I slowly work along the flat.
So far I have tried my regular redfish patterns, small clousers, and small gurglers with no interest. Any suggestions?


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## MatthewAbbott (Feb 25, 2017)

BrownDog said:


> Going to resurrect this with a new question.
> 
> I have some flooded flats loaded with black drum. I can watch and hear them slurping snails off the grass as I slowly work along the flat.
> So far I have tried my regular redfish patterns, small clousers, and small gurglers with no interest. Any suggestions?


Man when fish get on snails it sucks. On super highs around me when the reds and sheepies start eating them it’s hard to turn them off anything else. It is cool to see big sheeps rolling on their sides slurping them off the grass blades. So freaking lazy... hate those guys. Lol


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## Capt. Moose (Dec 12, 2015)

Good stuff @lemaymiami


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## lemaymiami (Feb 9, 2007)

Share your frustration about big drum... We've never had much luck with flies on them - with the exception of what I posted above.... up in rivers where the big fish seem to be just hanging out... 

One day when we were up a river working big tarpon (with our usual big black fly - about seven inches long on a 4/0 hook....) one of those drum came ghosting by and on an impulse I asked my angler to just dangle that fly in front of the drum -no stripping or any movement at all ... It eased up an inch or two then just sucked it in like it was a big worm of some kind... 

Since then it's become my go to way of fishing the big ones - but only in the right circumstances... We're still not doing well on big ones tailing up along the coast of the 'glades at all.... I suspect that in those places the fish just don't see the fly at all...


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