So from what I’m reading, it’s very important to put drum on ice immediately after you catch them because they die quickly on a stringer or in a basket.

They’re fun enough to catch. They don’t jump out of the water like a bass but they get big and pull hard. They must eat damm near anything. I’ve caught them on bitsy bugs, live crayfish, shiners, nightcrawlers… Maybe I’ll take one home and grill it sometime.

I caught a drum in the yough river with a power grub on a jighead!
 

Went up yesterday. We stayed inclose again and flat lined plugs. Seems like anything with some purple is the preferred flavor right now. 20-25FOW. Boxed 8 nice ones. 1 snipe, a few sheepies and 1 huge cat. Fished from 7 to 1ish.

Did you keep those sheepies?  
 
What is a snipe?

A snipe is a throwback walleye. Just a name one of the "old" guys I know calls them.

come on Pens...you are supposed to be the guinea pig for taste testing the sheepy...
 
Pork, slot size black drum are really good.  The really big ones, like 40+ pounders, are fun to catch on light tackle but too big to keep, at least they were, in TX.  They are filled with worms when they are that size anyways, as are the bull reds.  
 
Most of the legal black drum I caught ended up as shark bait though...either whole live or fresh dead chunks.

Eyes,
I have only caught slot black drum myself, never had the chance to reel in a monster.  I thought they were really good eating and fought rather well.  Although most that I have caught were pretty close in grabbing sand fleas in the first trough and not much room to run.  They do have a pretty big head to them, so even larger slot black drum seem to have relatively smaller amount of meat than I was expecting them to have.  Once trimmed, the meat is as white as any other that I have had.  I had read that about the bigger ones being worms and mushy meat.  I have not heard that of reds, but isn't surprising that any larger fish that hangs out in the shallows would end up getting them from exposure and the amount the bigger ones eat.  I have read that pelagic or epipelagic fish make for the best sushi, since they are less likely to have parasites.  Makes sense to me.  I'm just fine releasing a bull red to make more puppies to go with some hush puppies!

I have a friend who swears cooking smaller Sheepies on the grille are great eating. He claims ones under 20 " are his choice anything larger forget it. He says they have a slight shrimp / lobster taste . I'd say icing fish down fast is always a plus on any species you plan on eating. Problem is getting drum around 20" or less is a challenge on Erie . They are scrappy fighters when hooked and Erie has some monsters . I've never tried them personally .  

Porktown
Eyes,
I have only caught slot black drum myself, never had the chance to reel in a monster.  I thought they were really good eating and fought rather well.  Although most that I have caught were pretty close in grabbing sand fleas in the first trough and not much room to run.  They do have a pretty big head to them, so even larger slot black drum seem to have relatively smaller amount of meat than I was expecting them to have.  Once trimmed, the meat is as white as any other that I have had.  I had read that about the bigger ones being worms and mushy meat.  I have not heard that of reds, but isn't surprising that any larger fish that hangs out in the shallows would end up getting them from exposure and the amount the bigger ones eat.  I have read that pelagic or epipelagic fish make for the best sushi, since they are less likely to have parasites.  Makes sense to me.  I'm just fine releasing a bull red to make more puppies to go with some hush puppies!

Even nice sized speckled trout had some worms...I would try to dig out the ones I saw while filleting them and the slot reds but, you can't get them all.  It all cooks up the same and just adds to the protein content!  Just couldn't mention it to the wife or she likely wouldn't have eaten any of them......  
 
Even some of the bigger offshore fish had worms...especially larger amberjack... 

Any recommendations for a good braided line?