Name/Relations || Range/Sizes || Habitat & Habits || Notes
Common Name:
Freshwater Drum
Other Common Names:
silver perch, perch
Scientific name:
Aplodinotus grunniens
Family: Sciaenidae
(Drums)
Related Species:
red drum, black drum, weakfish
| Range: North America including the entire Mississippi River system and basin; Great Lakes and tributaries including St. Lawrence Seaway and tributaries, rivers and basin feeding the Gulf of Mexico including the Rio Grande and tributaries to Central America, and tributaries of the lower Hudson bay. |
Sizes:
Possible to 60lbs, commonly 1lb-10lbs.
Habitat: Moderate to Large rivers, lakes, and resevoirs. Areas of moderate to light current in rivers, where they will hug the sides and bottom. Will head to deeper water in lakes from 10 feet to 180 feet or more. Extremely robust and tolerant of a wide range of salinities, temperatures, and turbidities.
Spawning Habits:
Feeding Habits: Omnivorous. Prefers molluscs, insects, worms, crusteceans, but will also eat live and dead fishes. Usually searches the bottom or nudges in silt, in small to large schools, sand, sand mud, especially in areas with current, looking for eatible items or to dislodge and flush minnows, nymphs, and crayfish. It will eat entire live mussels and snails, crushing the shells in a gizzard. It will also pursue schools of minnows into shallow flats.
Notes:
While sometimes reguarded as a pest, the freshwater drum is both very edible
and an interesting gamefish. It readily takes many baits and
will also take smaller plugs, spinners, and jigs if fished slowly near
the bottom in drum feeding areas. Many drums caught are small and
called 'toy' drum, but these fish do get very large. The larger drums
are often caught by anglers pursuing catfish or carp with worms, minnows,
or cut shad. Look below dams with generators and strong current for
the best shots at large drums.