BEAT THE DRUM

For those of you who like to catch fish and are not afraid to be a little different do I have an option for you!

I have long been intrigued by silver bass which is a member of the Drum family and no relation to a bass at all. This confusion becomes greater given the variety of names anglers use when referring to them. They include; Sheepshead, Sunfish, Red River Bass and finally the official common name of Freshwater Drum.

The nice thing about the freshwater drum of Manitoba is that they get big, fight very hard and though they are not the prettiest fish on the block, are pretty good to eat. They do, however, have a unique characteristic that sets them apart from other freshwater fish. This became evident one night in early June when I was fishing for catfish on the Red River north of Lockport with friend Stu McKay. It was a dead quiet evening and the only sound was this weird low pitched hum that sounded like cars on a highway in the distance. It was then Stu mentioned that believe it or not that sound was produced by the freshwater drum. Research has found that this sound is produced by the muscles of the throat vibrating against the air-inflated swim bladder, which in itself, allows the fish to control its buoyancy. Biologists also theorize that this species uses the drumming sound as kind of mating call.

Drum do spawn in the summer time when the water is at its warmest and their eggs float with the current, hatching in about a days time.

For those of you who have spent any time fishing Lake Winnipeg or Lake Manitoba and its tributaries you will likely have caught one of these fish whether you were trying to or not. Thats because drum are an aggressive predator, get quite large and are caught on techniques similar to those used to catch walleye. They do however like certain areas a little bit more than others including gravel bars, mudflats, and backwater current areas. When the season opens in May you will find them in a lot of the slackwater areas in the Red and Assiniboine Rivers and right up the tributaries like the Seine and Sturgeon creeks. Anglers fishing from shore will catch some nice drum on artificals but traditionally the biggest fish are caught on bait of some sort, especially a minnow, nightcrawler or crayfish fished on a slip sinker rig. How big do these fish get? If you look in the Manitoba Master Angler guide the all-time weight record in Manitoba came out of the Whitemud River back in 1956 at just over 11 kilograms. If you catch one over five kilograms you have accomplished something and to qualify for a Manitoba Master Angler Award you need to catch a drum that measures 65 centimetres or 26 inches. If you look also at the Manitoba Master Angler listings you will see the hotspots for the bigger fish. They include Lake Manitoba Narrows, the Fairford and Dauphin Rivers, the Waterhen and the Whitemud River. It's the Whitemud that I plan on heading next Sunday to try my luck at these impressive game fish. As mentioned, a tough fighter, they will give you everything they have and then some on your regular walleye fishing gear.

If you are also looking for fish to take home, believe it or not, freshwater drum are very edible.You can fillet them just like a walleye but since their flesh is very delicate and susceptible to overcooking a light batter works very well with this fish.

For more information on this and other game species in Manitoba go the Conservation/Fisheries website at www.gov.mb.ca/natres/fish/index.

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