It only takes one hookup with a Great Lakes drum to turn one man’s trash into your treasure. (Matt Redmond photo)
February 13, 2025
By Matt Redmond
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In stark contrast to their less-than esteemed reputation throughout the Great Lakes, freshwater drum boast impressive size, power, and eagerness to eat flies. These qualities, combined with a vast distribution that extends south from Hudson Bay to Guatemala and east from the Rocky Mountains to the Appalachian range, makes the drum a compelling and ultra-accessible sport fish. Known by many names like croaker, gaspergou (aka Gasper goo) , grey bass, and sheepshead, drum have historically been overlooked in favor of the more glamorous species of the Great Lakes and their connecting waters. In recent years, however, they’ve received increasing attention from the fly-fishing community, generating an undercurrent of appreciation for these cousins of the prized saltwater redfish. This is no surprise to anyone who’s done battle with these brutes and experienced the powerful, deep runs that drum.
Great Lakes drum average between 3 and 5 pounds, with 10-plus pound specimens not uncommon. Prepared anglers use 9 or 10-foot rods in weights of 7, 8, or 9 to target these big, feisty fish. In addition to their size and strength, they can be found in large numbers, making for epic, action-packed days on the water. Another enticing characteristic of the drum is that they can be successfully targeted in a wide range of environments. Whether you prefer casting full-sinking lines on the main lakes, sight-fishing crystal clear flats and bays, bombing flies from breakwalls, or prowling the lower stretches of tributaries, freshwater drum are at your fingertips.
Drum will occasionally suspend high and chase baitfish, but they typically feed on the bottom, as their downturned mouths would suggest. (Matt Redmond photo) Drums in the Deep Drum will occasionally suspend high and chase baitfish, but they typically feed on the bottom, as their downturned mouths would suggest. Historically, delivering flies to these fish has been a challenge, but modern lines have made deep-water fishing more practical and effective. In my experience, it's not overly difficult under most circumstances to find success in depths up to 30 feet using fast-sinking lines, long leaders, and weighted flies.
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Fly fishing in big water can be intimidating at first, but concentrating on small, high-percentage areas can increase your odds of hooking up. Casting tungsten-coated lines and counting them down over structures like rock piles, humps, ledges, or transitions on lake bottoms is a great way to connect, as these places hold baitfish and attract predators. This can be done on a drift or from an anchored position. Once down, flies can be stripped back to the boat or snap-jigged along the bottom by stripping and releasing line at various cadences. Presentations that incorporate vertical displacement or “popping” actions tend to be the most consistently successful as they resemble the movements of round gobies–a top prey item. The ideal setup for this includes a heavily weighted fly fished on a slow-to-moderate density sinking line like the Scientific Anglers Sonar Titan Hover S2/S4 with a 12- to 15-foot fluorocarbon leader.
Adding slack to the fly in between long, steady strips will pick the fly up and drop it back to the bottom. Many eats will occur immediately following the drop. When this happens, give it a hard strip set, and hold on tight. Crawling the fly slowly along the bottom with very small, sharp strips is another highly effective retrieve. These tactics make it possible and even common for anglers to notch double-digit days that leave the arms sore the following day. Indeed, fighting these big fish in deep water is not unlike saltwater fishing at times, making properly-adjusted drags and sound knots a necessity.
Employing carp tactics like leading the fish, drag and drop, and matching the retrieve to each fish’s body language are important for coaxing freshwater drum to eat. (Matt Redmond photo) Shallow Water Shallow harbors, bays, and flats are also prime habitats for freshwater drum that offer anglers a different experience. Kayaks and small vessels excel in these environments and can provide sight fishing opportunities in the late spring, summer, and early fall. Casting emerald shiner imitations to breakwalls can turn up plenty of drum alongside smallmouth bass, largemouth bass, northern pike, walleye, and catfish. Picking apart weed edges with vertical presentations or “dapping” will also elicit fierce strikes. Floating lines are often the ticket in these environments, but lines with intermediate heads like the Scientific Anglers Sonar Titan Jungle Tropical Clear Tip can also be of service at times.
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Dave Hurley, owner and operator of Skinny Water Safari guide service , poles customers through the vast flats of Michigan’s Lake St. Clair, targeting drum, smallmouth bass, largemouth bass, carp, bowfin, and musky. His salt water-esque program involves visually locating fish from an elevated casting platform, sight casting to them, and (if all goes well) watching them eat the fly.
Drum tend to be the wariest, and thus the most difficult flats fish to catch, so employing carp tactics like leading the fish, drag and drop, and matching the retrieve to each fish’s body language are important for coaxing them to eat . This makes for some of the most exciting fishing I’ve experienced in the region. As a bonus, if you give it a try, you’ll likely be the only boat doing it on any given day.
For those without vessels, wading shallow bays and the lower stretches of tributaries can also be effective. Pennsylvania’s Presque Isle Bay and its sub-bays are excellent places to walk and wade for drum as well as smallmouth bass, largemouth bass, bowfin, carp, perch, and northern pike. When properly timed and equipped, wade anglers can have just as much success as the dozens of bass boats that cruise only a few dozen yards further out. Walking and wading rivers can also provide opportunities, especially in the spring and summer, when it’s not uncommon to find drum mixed in with feeding carp in silty back eddies. Swinging and popping bottom-oriented flies is the best way find drum in the rivers.
Shoreline Fishing For those wishing to keep things simple, drum are effectively caught from the many breakwalls and jetties that guard the Great Lakes shoreline in the summer and early fall, with peak fishing in July and August. This time of year, one can spot groups of fish roaming along rock piles and drop-offs feeding on baitfish and mussels. It’s not uncommon to see dozens of fish along Lake Erie’s breakwalls on clear water days in late July and August. The main keys to success here are to fish clear water, keep the fly in the zone for as much of the retrieve as possible, and cover as much water as possible by frequently re-locating along the shoreline
Many breakwalls are essentially huge slabs of stacked rock in a pyramid-type shape, with “steps” that descend deeper as they march away from the surface. Fast-sinking single-density lines tend to drape themselves over these steps and drag flies into their edges, resulting in frequent hang-ups. Multi-density lines with short, fast-sinking shooting heads of 30 or so feet and slower-sinking running lines get the flies down without this issue. The Sonar Sink 25 Cold line from Scientific Anglers is an excellent choice in these areas. Fishing a slower-sinking line like the Scientific Anglers Sonar Stillwater Full Intermediate , with a long leader and heavy fly can also alleviate this issue.
Fly fishing in big water can be intimidating at first, but concentrating on small, high-percentage areas can increase your odds of hooking up. (Matt Redmond photo) Flies Fishing the bottom is essential in just about every Great Lakes environment when targeting freshwater drum. Weighted flies that incorporate lead or tungsten allow anglers to get deep quickly and achieve the up-and-down action that consistently triggers strikes. Sparse flies tied in a hook-up orientation with water-shedding materials sink fast, assist with casting, and snag less frequently. In general, baitfish, crayfish, sculpin, and goby imitations in sizes 2 to 10 do well in orange, tan, dark brown, purple, chartreuse, olive, grey, or white when tied on short-shanked hooks. Clouser’s Deep Minnow , Darkes’ Depth Charge, my Faux Craw, Hurley’s Flats Jordan, and Kraft’s Kreelex Minnow have all been productive for me over the years.
Treasure The freshwater drum, historically (and still widely) regarded as a “trash fish,” is starting to get the recognition it deserves, especially in the fly-fishing community. They’re a lot of fun to catch and a handful of forward-thinking guides and anglers are developing incredible programs to target them. Their range and accessibility mean we can catch them in a variety of settings with an array of challenging and exciting tactics. It just takes one hookup with a Great Lakes drum to turn one man’s trash into your treasure.
Matt Redmond is a guide, writer, and fly tier from Cleveland, Ohio. He owns and operates Northeast Ohio Angling LLC and has over a decade of experience fishing throughout the Great Lakes and their connecting waters for a variety of warm- and coldwater species.
