black drum good to eat?

[fisher4life]

Caught mine and my sons first black drum friday night.I never cleaned or eatn one soninwas wondering if they were any good to eat and how hard they are to clean.I cleaned a fresh water drum before and it was full of bones are black drum the same way.I let all the fish go because I didnt want to experiment on a fish and end up wasting it.

[M T Stringer]

Black drum are great eating. Not the big ones, but the 18-25" range are easy to clean and cook up nicely.

[AcousticTennis]

Black drum are delicious fried! Easy to clean just flick off scales behind the head so its easier to cut through and follow the bckbone with the knife

[spots]

Yes they are excellent. They fry up great but blackened is just the death.

[redman101]

Good eating!

[lptxguy]

If I season a red and a black drum and leave them on the half shell you can't tell the difference in taste when I pull them off the smoker. However I personally won't keep a black drum over 2' they tend to get wormy.

[cliftonio]

Back drum are great! I stick with the smaller end of the slot.

[thrasher]

Black drum are great eating. Not the big ones, but the 18-25" range are easy to clean and cook up nicely.

x2!!

The smaller ones are excellent eatin'. Personally, I like the 14" to 22" range.

[Milkjug]

If I season a red and a black drum and leave them on the half shell you can't tell the difference in taste when I pull them off the smoker.

x2, you cook them any way and they taste the same. Meat even has the exact same look and texture when you clean it. Also, both have throats worth keeping.

I think fish snobs turn their noses up to them because they don't hit artis regularly.

Drum run is only ~2 months away. Big uglies in the channel get all the attention, but what many folks don't take advantage of is the the slot fish that are all over the beachfront and jetties at the same time.

[heyimtrying]

The last drum I caught was made into fish soup...best soup I ever had.
My wife and brother in law told me how to do it mmm mm mmm

[WlongTX]

Pretty much like everyone else is saying, keep the ones in the lower range, better eating. Last one I caught I cut it into strips/chunks, dropped it in a beer batter and fried them up. Once its fried to a golden brown color take it and put it into a flour tortilla with some lettuce strips and a spicy chipotle mayo. Delicious!

[fisher4life]

I will have to try them next time.do they have a lot of bones in them like freshwater drum or are they more like reds.I have a young son and a picky wife so cant feed them a lot of bones.I would eat them if it was me but got to keep the wife happy.I just hate wasting fish.