[MikeLove]

Got out early this morning about an hour before work and drove 3 miles down to the local river and was going to get a fix with my fly road as has been too hot to fish in the evening. I laid a popper out there which has been working on the ponds and I noticed fish holding on the river bottom as it was pretty shallow and clear. Changed to a baby crawfish pattern and on the third cast got picked up by what turned out to be a nice size drum. Never caught a drum before. How bout the rest of ya? It really bent my rod and gave me the pickmeup I needed to go on to work...

[BigCliff]

That is a nice drum Mike, and yeah, they sure pull hard. I have caught them on the Pedernales and the Brazos, and was suprised both times. I was especially suprised by the one on the Ped, as it looked exactly like a larger version of the croakers that get used as bait on the coast.

[Jakeway]

Nice drum...I know how it feels!

[kayakcruser]

just curieous are there any of those in michigan???? looks like fun!!

[BigCliff]

I would be suprised if there are none in Michigan, though it might be a bit cold for them up there. The thing that might make it tough to know if there are any is the fact that species of Drum tend to be a magnet for localized nicknames. The Red Drum alone is known as a Channel Bass, Red Drum, Redfish, or just a Red depending on where you are standing. A common Texas name for our freshwater drum is a Gasper Goo. I wouldn't be suprised if there are some strange and amusing titles for Drum in other states as well. Here's some more info on the critter http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gasper_goo

[Flyfisher for men]

As BigCliff mentioned, there are a lot of regional names. My Michigan relatives call them sheephead/sheepshead. I caught one out of Lake Erie and they should be in at least some of the inland lakes. If you know any walleye fisherman, they'd know as they pick them up a lot when bouncing lures off the bottom.

We have a lot of them in Kansas, and I hope to get a chance to go after one with a fly rod. They feed on crayfish, worms, mollusks, etc. Before I took up flyfishing, I caught a lot of them using lead head jigs and live crayfish and worms. They HAMMER crayfish.

That experience and my reading suggest a crayfish imitation or a woolly bugger or other streamer that you could plausibly imitate a crayfish with would do the trick. I'm guessing a large nymph might be appetizing. Personally, I'd go with a brown bead head woolly bugger. In any case, get it down, because they feed on the bottom. These fish are also very strong and can get 20+ lbs, so be sure to have a stout leader.

My experience with them has been in tailwaters of Kansas reservoirs primarily. They seem to like positioning just off fast-moving current where there a lot of swirls and eddies. Countless numbers of times I've seen them school up where the water discharges into the spillway, often only a foot or two deep. They'll be literally packed in there along with carp and buffalo. Run a jig through there and they smack it.