Redfish vs. Black Drum

The smaller drums typically have stripes and are very good to eat; the larger ones are all black and typically have worms.

Those big drum hug the bottom a lot more and seem to congregate in deeper holes. Just a theory.

LSU AgCenter Fact Sheet - Spaghetti Worms

The spaghetti worms we see in these fish are really parasitic tapeworms of sharks, who are just using the trout or drum as an intermediate host. The cycle begins with eggs produced by an eight-inch long adult worm which lives in a shark's intestine. After being passed into seawater, the egg hatches into a tiny swimming larva called a coracidium. If this larva is eaten within two days by a small marine crustacean like a copepod, it develops into another stage called a procercoid.

At this stage some uncertainty exists as to what happens. The copepod may be eaten by a trout, passing the larval worm on the trout. However, since small animals like copepods are seldom eaten by larger trout and since very few trout under ten inches long have spaghetti worms, another host is suspected. More than likely, a small bait fish like an anchovy eats the copepod and it in turn is eaten by the larger trout. In any case, once the larval worm is in the trout's digestive tract, it tunnels its way into the trout's flesh where it may live for several years. The life cycle is completed when a shark eats the trout and serves as host for the adult worm.

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we kept a bunch of 17-20” 

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My slot is 16-18 inch. I don't keep any bigger than that. And if I'm doing good on trout I don't keep any drum. I keep drum on a slow day. The small ones are great table fare.