PB 3.5kg drummer

[Central Coast Fisherman]

G’day all,

I have been fishing for drummer lately as the snapper fishing has been slow for me off the rocks this winter. A few weeks ago I tried a spot that you can only fish on low swell and a high tide. The swell needs to be low so your bait can stay in the wash without being sucked straight out and the tide needs to be high for the fish to come into the wash I’m fishing as there’s a shallow reef break in front of the hole that seems to keep the fish out on the lower tides. I use cabbage weed for drummer. 

I had a great 2 hour session and caught my PB drummer 58cm and 3.5kg and also my PB luderick 49cm. I was lucky that I hooked the drummer in close and muscled it in quickly before it had a chance to reef me. I fish a really tight drag (almost locked) and it still managed to take line twice during the fight. I ended up with 2 drummer and 5 luderick but released 2 luderick. 

The photos don’t do the drummer justice, this fish was a tank! The photo shows its 57cm but I can assure you it was 58cm but must of kicked when I was getting my phone out of my bag as its head is slightly over the start of the measure mat. 
 

Pretty stoked with these fish but now the hunt is on to crack one over 60cm. 
 

I tried again on the weekend, hooked 5 drummer and lost them all to either pulled hooks or reefing. That’s fishing though!
 

Cheers,

Phil 

 

 

[Yowie]

Nice pigs. Hard to pull out at that size, even half that and a lot reef you anyway. The big tail tells you why.

Also nice blackfish, nearing 50cm is a good fish.

[Ryder]

BOOM!! That’s a big pig. 

49cm Blackfish as well, you’ve got a great spot there.

 

[faker]

What size hooks were you using and leader line?

[wazatherfisherman]

Quality bag there Phil

[Bryant fish]

Great fish well done

[big Neil]

Great report Phil. They sure are strong fighters and landing them is never a guarantee. Cracker of a Blackfish at 49cms too. Enjoy your Summer on the rocks, keep the reports coming and keep safe. Quality!

bn

[Larkin]

Those are some big fish! Well done on your PB’s!

 

[noelm]

They may not have the glamour of a nice Snapper or similar, but they are equal to most other fish on the plate, Drummer are one of my favourite to eat. Nice catch and some effort to get them.

[Burger]

 Congratulations on the 2 PB’s!! 
That’s a cracking lud. 👍👏🏆

[bessell1955]

They are indeed solid fish! 

[The Rev]

21 hours ago, Yowie said:

Nice pigs. Hard to pull out at that size, even half that and a lot reef you anyway. The big tail tells you why.

Also nice blackfish, nearing 50cm is a good fish.

Awesome fish caught - well done 👍

How do the drummer taste when they are at big?
The Rev

[Yowie]

3 hours ago, The Rev said:

Awesome fish caught - well done 👍

How do the drummer taste when they are at big?
The Rev

Never eaten them at that size, though I find drummer and blackfish a little weedy in taste, so not my favourite fish. As for sports value, great fighters.

[noelm]

Big Drummer are great eating, I personally don’t find any “weedy” taste in Drummer, their diet has a lot more crabs and small prawns and so on, weed is only a small part of their eating habits (in my opinion) that said, it’s all personal taste, my wife doesn’t like “fishy” tasting fish, yet eats Trevally, which to me are very fishy. It’s often said “one of the best eating fish” when someone catches a certain species, but to me, almost all fresh fish is good, some different to others, but all still good. Getting off track a bit, I mostly eat Whiting, Blackfish, Blue Spot Flathead, Bream and Snapper about 1kg. Those are my “go to” but still eat plenty of other species too, from Marlin to Blue Eye and Hapuka to Kingfish and Tuna, they all have their appeal. Fish like Red Rockies and all the various Wrasse family, Sweep and so on get tossed back, but I have eaten them all at some time or another. I will never knowingly eat Shark, and never Leather Jackets.

[ireallylovefishies22]

Why not leatherjackets? They're one of my favorites. Easy to clean too.

[noelm]

15 minutes ago, ireallylovefishies22 said:

Why not leatherjackets? They're one of my favorites. Easy to clean too.

It’s a rather morbid story, if anyone really wants to know……..but also I have seen dozens of them with big sores and lice eating every piece of flesh under their skin, and they are still alive.

[jenno64]

That is an absolute tank, congrats on getting it out of the ocean! Must have been very deft rod and reel work as that close to the edge would have been a missile to the reef🙏🏻

nice fat fillets too😜

[Yowie]

13 hours ago, noelm said:

 I will never knowingly eat Shark

Quite often in the battered fish trade, especially in Victoria.

Was not into eating shark myself, and can taste it in the fish trade, though in recent years I have eaten gummy shark in the pubs and clubs of Victoria, battered or crumbed, and it is very tasty. It must be properly prepared before eating - catch, kill it, bleed it, remove head and gut, fillet and keep cool. 

[noelm]

3 minutes ago, Yowie said:

Quite often in the battered fish trade, especially in Victoria.

Was not into eating shark myself, and can taste it in the fish trade, though in recent years I have eaten gummy shark in the pubs and clubs of Victoria, battered or crumbed, and it is very tasty. It must be properly prepared before eating - catch, kill it, bleed it, remove head and gut, fillet and keep cool. 

It’s just a “thing” with me, having caught literally hundreds of them, and found some foul smelling crap in their guts, including one time, some kind of animal…….no thanks, never in a million years for me, my family eats them, but not me.

[Steve0]

Jackets may be easy to clean, but the gut content put me off, as well. Also, the last couple did not taste as sweet as remembered.  I found one stranded in a pool once and decided to try some filleted flesh as bait. Nothing touched it. Other bait taken from pools worked fine.  Maybe that tells us something 🤔

 

 

 

[JonD]

Wowsers, a couple of studs there.

 

[sashkello]

Leatherjackets are absolutely one of the best tasting fishes out there, and the ease of cleaning them makes it even better to target. I understand reactions to nasty stuff, but that can happen to any fish, and just a personal thing. Caught worm infested luderick once and now they are kind of icky for me... but working through it because they are so easy to catch and I like eating fish.

Drummer is far superior to luderick IMO. Soft tender taste. Smoked is to die for...