210 
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES 
Although caught sometimes with hook and line and crawfish bait (Forbes and 
Richardson, 1908), it is primarily a market fish. In 1922 more than 5,000,000 
pounds were marketed from the Mississippi River and tributaries, including the 
connecting Atchafalaya, and about 2,500,000 from the Great Lakes, mostly from 
Lake Erie, with a small quantity from Lake Huron and a much smaller amount from 
Lake Michigan. 
As to the qualities of the fish as food there are diverse opinions. Following are 
some of the testimonials: Wagner (1908), Lake Pepin: “Decidedly mediocre in 
quality.” Meek (Iowa): “A food fish of inferior quality.” Woolman (1892), 
Kentucky: “A much valued food fish.” Evermann (1902), Ohio River, Louisville, 
Ky. : “This fish is highly prized and meets with a ready sale.” Garman (1890), 
Mississippi River, Quincy, 111.: “It is considered one of the best of foodfishes.” 
Jordan (1884): The flesh often has “a disagreeable sharklike odor, particularly in 
the Great Lakes, where it is never eaten. ” The flesh of partly grown fish is better, 
he says, than that of the adults. Forbes and Richardson (1908): “Thirty years ago 
the sheepshead was universally rejected by Illinois fishermen as worthless, but at the 
present time all except the largest ones are commonly dressed and sold. * * * It 
becomes tough and strong with age, but is at its best when weighing from three 
quarters of a pound to 3 pounds.” Patterson (fish dealer of Dallas City, 111.): “The 
perch (sheepshead) is a fine fish in Lake Pepin, but not in the Great Lakes, where it is 
tough; here it is soft and flaky.” 
The inference from these reports is that the quality of the drum as a food fish 
varies with its size and, perhaps, with the locality where it feeds; that only the 
smaller fish are good, and that those from Lake Keokuk (where the larger sizes are 
not yet common) are estimable fish. 
Information obtained in Wisconsin and Minnesota indicates that drumfish from 
inland lakes are almost invariably poor and often worthless as food fish. They are 
said to be thin and high-backed. Thousands of pounds taken in the seines of con- 
tract fishermen are not infrequently hauled away and buried. Those from the river 
are usually good, and sheepshead from Lake Keokuk are considered particularly good. 
Very large drumfish, wherever found, are said to be quite inferior in quality. 
The drum is unusually variable as to size. We have the authority of Jordan 
(1884) and of Forbes and Richardson (1908) that specimens of 50 or 60 pounds are not 
unusual; yet in the Mississippi it is not ordinarily a large fish. Garman found the 
largest at Quincy to be about a pound in weight. In Iowa, said Meek, it attained a 
length of 2 feet or more. Evermann and Kendall mention specimens from Lake 
Champlain that were, respectively, 28 inches long and 12.5 pounds in weight, and 19 
inches long and 3.75 pounds in weight. Apparently drum 50 pounds in weight have a 
length of approximately 4 feet. About Keokuk it is uncommon to find drumfish 
weighing more than 2 pounds. One was seen on May 23, 1915, weighing 6.5 pounds 
dressed, and Stringham was informed of a specimen in the market on June 11 weighing 
7.5 pounds dressed. 
One to two pounds is the usual weight of drumfish at Fairport; less frequently 
examples 10 to 15 pounds in weight are found. At Lynxville it was said that most of 
the drumfish were 2 to 4 pounds in weight; that some of 15 to 35 pounds were taken ; 
and, strangely enough, that drumfish between 4 and 15 pounds were extremely rare. 
Regarding the natural history of the drum, more is known of its feeding than of 
its breeding habits. It is a fish of the larger rivers and the Great Lakes, not commonly 
found in the smaller streams. Jordan (1884) says: “It is apparently not at all 
