Eating Drummer

[Drunkenfisho]

Hey guys, quick question for the drummer fishos...

When cleaning drummer the other day I noticed the black skin inside the belly, and friends tell me it must be removed.

I was wondering if this was correct as everytime I've eaten drummer it's been fillets of those I didn't clean.

Thanks everyone

[Dee Why Jim]

Conventional wisdom is that, similar to Luderick, this lining has a weedy taste.  Easy to remove with a bit of hessian or other rough cloth.  Caught and ate a couple of drummer caught recently at Little Bluefish - they are an excellent table fish in my opinion

[noelm]

I always fillet and skin Drummer, so the black belly lining gets cut away, but when we used to spear them and cook them on the rocks years ago, we would only gut them, never really noticed any bad taste.

[Drunkenfisho]

Just now, noelm said:

I always fillet and skin Drummer, so the black belly lining gets cut away, but when we used to spear them and cook them on the rocks years ago, we would only gut them, never really noticed any bad taste.

Thanks, got 1 mid 30s this morning and it was choc full of weed, thanks for the tips in my drummer spots post too.

[noelm]

Depends on the time of year, sometimes they are full of crabs and prawns, other times funny looking Worms and small shellfish.

[Drunkenfisho]

4 hours ago, noelm said:

Depends on the time of year, sometimes they are full of crabs and prawns, other times funny looking Worms and small shellfish.

My mate got 1 with a pilly in it once🤣

[campr]

The black lining can cause an iodine taste to flesh if left in.  Like blackfish, most fishos filet and skin drummer añd remove the whole ribcage when filleting.  Ron