Freshwater Drum

Live baits including nightcrawlers, crayfish, shiners, and alewife when available. Effective artificials include tube jigs (brown, olive, smoke colors in 4-5 inches to imitate gobies), blade baits, jerkbaits, spoons (gold in overcast conditions, silver on bright days), and walleye jigs.

Effective patterns include Clouser Minnows (chartreuse/white, olive/white, brown/white), Woolly Buggers in natural colors (black, olive, brown) with flash in sizes #6-#2, Muddler Minnows, and black beadhead stonefly nymphs in sizes #10-#6.

Peak drum activity occurs in early summer (late June through July) in west Michigan waters. They spawn in open water during May-June when temperatures reach 65-68°F, making this period less productive for angling. Summer finds drum in deeper lake areas but also near shallow river mouths.

For fly fishing, when targeting drum in rivers, fish deep holes at current edges with weighted nymphs or Woolly Buggers dead-drifted or slowly retrieved near bottom. For sight fishing, cast weighted flies upstream to sink before reaching cruising fish. Bottom fishing and bobber fishing with live bait work well.

Dr.um are benthic feeders with heavy pharyngeal teeth that feed opportunistically on zebra mussels, crayfish, mollusks, aquatic insect larvae (especially mayflies and dipterans), and small fish like alewife and round gobies.