Was up Arthur last week. 

Lost my Anchor by the cabins. Knot must have came loose.
Spent the rest of the day throwing topwater and texas rigs without a sniff. 

I think yinz are right. The lake is just too pressured. Will need to go to greener pastures to even catch something it seems. I go up, go through the whole putting the boat in and just hear in the back of my head "Why are you even doing this? You'll catch a single fish, maybe?"

Got a few on flatline plugs in 22-24FOW. Did best in 41-46FOW. Dipsey n meat. Black n Purple beads with a black Willow Leaf took almost all of em out there. We got off just in the nick-o-time today. As I put the straps on, it let loose. Poured the whole way back to 79@Mkean. It was flat flat and hot AF, until those clouds moved in. Looks to be 1 to 3s for the next few days so I'm gonna havta bide my time. Good luck if yer going out. 👍

Oh ya almost forgot. Boated some "World Class" sheepies. I swear that one was crowding 20lbs. Ugh do they pull. They chased us out of the inclose fishing after a while. Thankfully we got away from them out in those 40s...

pensfan1
Oh ya almost forgot. Boated some "World Class" sheepies. I swear that one was crowding 20lbs. Ugh do they pull. They chased us out of the inclose fishing after a while. Thankfully we got away from them out in those 40s...

Obviously not what you are after, but sounds like fun.  I caught a hog in the Allegheny before that was in that range.  Rarely did we get them over 4-5lb.  This one was on steroids.  Right below Lock 3 during one of the shad blooms where bait was everywhere.  He must have been one of the drum that looked forward to that time of year.  He was a blast on light gear.  For being a "trash" fish, still one of my more memorable catches at Lock 3, fishing there pretty hard for 4-5 years.
 

DeadGator401
I go up, go through the whole putting the boat in and just hear in the back of my head "Why are you even doing this? You'll catch a single fish, maybe?"

Ha, ha.  I have had that same exact thought any time that I fish Arthur in the summer.  I do have a few dog days of summer spots that will provide small fish that I often hit up to save a trip.  With how bad this past spring was for me, I am not even confident those dog day saving spots will be holding much.  Last fall wasn't much to write home about either.  Hopefully people get back to their regular hobbies and things rebound. 

Pensfan1... glad to hear you got your walleye.
The sheep head may be considered "trash fish" by many but they are part of the natural eco system and have a role to do. To me they are a blast to catch, they fight like crazy and they have my respect, so they go back (hopefully) unharmed.

I think guys should start eating them, the bigger the better. 🤔 I hear they make a fantastic stew😄.

Seriously though, FL2 does have a point. I've never caught an AmberJack, but they do call them reef donkeys. I'd suspect a big sheepie pulls just as hard. They fights to almost exhaustion and are pretty hardy to be released after the battle. I took a Greenhorn yesterday. Guy I've know since we were kids. Not the best fisherman, but a great dude nonetheless. I weasled him into reeling in the first few, after that he wanted no parts of it.

Deep South loves eating their gaspergou…. I bet they are actually pretty good. Red drum and black drum (not big ones) are both good eating. Same family, should be relatively similar taste.

Got into the smallies today near Van Meter before the rain hit. Snagged a couple on the Irisheyeball woolly bugger special. It’s so goddamm much fun wet wading for these things on a 90 degree summer day.

I’ve heard drum referred to as “poor mans lobster”. I’d bet it’s not too bad breaded and deep fried.

Never killed and ate a drum. Catch 'em in the river a lot on jigs, harnesses,  and Scatter Raps when trolling for walleyes. They're tough to unhook off a rap. Even though they're pretty good size, their mouth is small. They'll nail a Rap straight down to nearly the bill. Tough gettin' them unhooked that deep. I've even had to go in through the gill plate to get the back treble out. (Careful of the gills for release).
I'd like to hear from somebody that has actually eaten them. Wonder how they'd be in a chowder or fish taco?

https://www.louisianasportsman.com/fishing/freshwater-fishing/if-you-knew-the-gou-as-i-do/