My step father has been doing a yearly surf fishing trip for 30+ years now with friends from college and his son and son's friends, and I have gone to the last handful of them.

Whoever catches the largest fish during the week takes home the trophy for the next year. And then when everyone reconvenes the following year the trophy is brought back and is up for grabs again. Most years the winning fish is a red drum, also known as a redfish. These fish are a beautiful copper color with a silvery belly and at least one black dot right before their tail. This was another fish that had been on my list. And a client of mine who had bought a mackerel previously reached out asking if I would make a metal fish sculpture for her husband's birthday. We agreed on a red drum!

Even though the blues and purple heat patinas are striking and gorgeous, I loved having a project that was more in the subtle coppers and silvers to really show off the beauty of the metal in a different way. This red drum sculpture was brought to life with hand-ground scales covering the whole body! I loved how this one turned out!

I also created a full scene version of this fish. See my Red Drum Scene.

This red drum sculpture is wall hanging, made entirely of stainless steel, colored using only heat patinas, and is safe to be kept outdoors!