Ask a Lake Erie fishing graybeard for their best recipe for preparing freshwater drum or sheepshead, and their response will likely be some variation of the following: 

Remove the fillets and be careful to cut away any dark sections of meat, then soak the fillets in milk for an hour or so to reduce the fishy taste, pat the fillets dry and place the fillets on cedar planks over a hot grill and sprinkle with lemon juice. Brush with melted butter every few minutes, turning the fish once. After about 10 minutes, toss the fish in the trash and eat the cedar plank.

That is the plight of the lowly sheepshead. It is the butt of every bad Lake Erie fishing joke, cursed by nearly every walleye angler, and considered more of a scourge than some of the invasive species that threaten the lake. The sheepshead appears to have been cast off from its family and sentenced to live a lonely and disrespected life in freshwater. Its prominent Sciaenidae family members — red drum, Atlantic croaker, weakfish, spotted seatrout, and the white seabass – all live in the ocean.

The fish in this large family are regularly referred to as drums or croakers since they make a repetitive drumming or throbbing sound. They are also called grunts, and a litany of other less-repeatable names. Sheepshead are lumped into the “forage fish” category by the state, the same ranks as common carp, gar, Asian carp, suckers, and goldfish. These non-sportfish species can be taken legally by any method except by the use of explosives, poisons, firearms, electricity, chemicals, and nets.

Despite their tendency to provide anglers with a robust fight, sheepshead are regularly cursed when they smack a walleye trolling rig. They are classified by many as “junk fish”, with their only redeeming value being their “lucky stone”, which is their unique pure white otolith or ear bone that native peoples used to make jewelry.

While there are a few voices in the wilderness that contend that properly prepared sheepshead makes decent table fare, the only redeeming value of the species for many Lake Erie walleye anglers is the fact that freshwater drum dine on the prolific and invasive zebra mussels, which have been detrimental to the lake's food web. Sheepshead have powerful sets of teeth located in their pharynx and they use these to crack open zebra mussel shells and feed on the mollusk’s body.

The Ohio state record sheepshead is a 23 1/2-pound monster that stretched 37 1/8 inches and was caught by James S. Williams of Fremont in the Sandusky River in July of 2001.

■ A record pink: An angler from Madison, near the Lake Erie shoreline east of Cleveland, has caught the new state record pink salmon. Anthony Hyvarinen was trolling for walleye about eight miles offshore from Geneva on Aug. 17 when the salmon hit the purple spoon he was using. The fish weighed 4.14 pounds and measured 22.44 inches long and 13 inches in girth. The Hyvarinen salmon replaces the previous state record fish of 3.06 pounds that was caught in Conneaut Creek by Andy Janoski in September of 2004. Hyvarinen's record catch was inspected and the species verified by Ohio Division of Wildlife fisheries biologist Carey Knight from the Fairport Fisheries Unit. Pink salmon have not been stocked in Lake Erie, or elsewhere in the Great Lakes, but some of the fish escaped from a hatchery in the northern Great Lakes in the 1950s and they have spread and established small populations in Lakes Superior, Michigan and Huron. Pink salmon remain fairly rare in Lake Erie. 

Note: Ohio’s record fish are determined on the basis of weight only and are certified by the Outdoor Writers of Ohio State Record Fish Committee. Blade outdoors editor Matt Markey serves on the record fish committee.

■ Lake Erie/perch: The fall perch bite, while elusive for some, has been steady for anglers willing to make multiple moves to locate schools of actively feeding fish. Prior to the storms and high winds of Wednesday, reports of full and partial limits have been coming in from around the Toledo water intake and the “D” can of the Camp Perry firing range, where large schools of fish have been marked. The best results have come from using crappie rigs tipped with golden shiners.

■ Lake Erie/walleye: The experts at Netcraft report that the traditional summer holes are providing excellent results for walleye anglers. The best action has been found east of Kelleys Island to the Canadian border for anglers trolling crankbaits 30 to 50 feet back with two-ounce weights. Spoons pulled behind Dipsy Divers 40 to 45 feet back on the zero setting have also been producing bites. 

First Published September 22, 2021, 5:37 p.m.