Freshwater drum an interesting Manitoba fish

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 09/06/2018 (2839 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Early summer is one of the best times to catch Manitoba’s most interesting fish. With that in mind I picked up friend Jim Price from his house in Portage la Prairie early this week and headed up to the government boat launch on the Whitemud River.

Jim was without a boat, having bashed his motor on a rock a week earlier in the low water conditions while trying to get out to the main lake. His lower unit was taking on water, a condition that will require fixing.

With a ton of rainfall, combined with several days of north wind, the water level in the Whitemud had returned to normal levels, which made this journey a lot safer. Price had also assured me the walleye fishing out in the lake had been spectacular for the last couple of weeks. He did mention he hadn’t been out in the week because of the boat damage, but friends had still caught lots of fish.

After launching, we slowly motored out to the mouth, into the lake. While the wind was blowing from the northeast, it was a manageable strength to be able to fish. There were four boats already out, but as we started trolling with small crankbaits, all of them made their way back to the river. We hoped that wasn’t a bad sign.

We started trolling a big sand point that extended two kilometres out in the lake before it dropped off into deeper water. This had been the hotspot for walleye previously. But, on this day, it was overrun by the mighty freshwater drum. My second fish turned out to be the biggest drum of the day, at about 21/2 kilograms, but the average was around 11/2 kg — a fun day in any anglers’ book.

Price said the water clarity had diminished considerably in the past week as the north wind had churned up mud and sediment. In my 40 years of fishing, this usually turns the walleye bite down to zero, which is what happened on this occasion. We did get one bonus fish, a huge carp that bit my black jig and black paddle tail. Talk about a challenge on a light spinning rod.

Many anglers target freshwater drum in May and June as they move in and out of rivers that surround Lake Manitoba and Lake Winnipeg.

Scott Forbes, who is an ecologist at the University of Winnipeg, says drum have a remarkable life history. They grow quickly for their first decade and a half, reaching a length of 50 to 60 centimetres. At this point, they have outgrown all their natural predators and growth slows down. They may take a half-century or longer to grow another 25 cm.

Drum more than 80 cm in length are 70 to 100 years old, rivalling sturgeon as our oldest fish. But Forbes says this is just one reason why drum are our most interesting fish. Their name derives from the sound male drum make during the breeding season to attract females. Sonic muscles vibrate against their swim bladder to produce a grunting sound.

When drum are breeding in June, they can be easily heard at dusk on quiet lakes. They are unique in being the only exclusively freshwater species in a family of saltwater fish found across the world. Black drum in Texas and Australian mulloway are members of the same family.

The freshwater drum is found from the mouth of the Nelson River on the Hudson Bay coast all the way south to Guatemala. No other freshwater fish ranges as widely in North America.

In my travels, one other really great place I found for drum are the east and west Waterhen rivers. Last fall, we had great success for both numbers and size. My friends from Saskatchewan, who had never caught one before, had a blast with these hard-fighting game fish.

Anglers Notes: Extensive rainfall has greatly diminished fears of a prolonged drought in Manitoba. Huge amounts of rain, especially in the southeastern section, have raised water levels dramatically. Rising water tends to spread fish out, which makes covering water more important than ever. Trolling with bottom bouncers and spinners is a great technique to use any time of year, but really comes into its own when trying to find fish spread out in shallow water.

The ninth annual Buckeyes Fishing for a Cure derby was held on June 1. Forty-two Miles Mac students participated, and a total of 273 fish were caught, measured and released on this blustery day. Of the 273 fish, six qualified as Manitoba master angler fish. The species caught included freshwater drum, channel catfish, goldeye, carp, sauger, walleye, sucker, white bass, northern pike, and bullhead. More than $1,300 was raised by the students at this special event where 100 per cent of the money is donated to the Kidfish Ice Derby foundation (Children’s Hospital and Cancer Care Manitoba), the Lake Winnipeg foundation and another charity of their choice.