black drum fishing

Where oh where have all the redfish gone?! It seems as if all of our redfish have mutated into black drum! I’d be lying if I wasn’t a little concerned about this lack of redfish. Although, winter usually isn’t the best for redfishing, this year has been exceptionally slow, which is why I press harder and harder in encouraging everyone to catch and release!

Enough of the bad and on to the good — the drum bite has been flat out on fire. Every river from the Banana, Indian, and Mosquito lagoon has been more than plentiful with large black drum that have been chewing just about every crustacean you can put on a hook. Those in search of a hard fight and some cool photos should focus their attention to the bridges throwing 1/4 oz Mission Fishin jig-heads tipped with everything from 1/4 blue crab chunks, dead shrimp, live shrimp, sand fleas, clams, and artificial baits such as Gulp and Fishbites! Fish these baits tight to fenders and bridge pilings for best results. It may take a few attempts to find where the fish are sitting but once you do it’s game on! Have a little patience and really put in the work trying every inch of the bridge until you get a bite.

There has also been plenty of fish on the flats in 2.5 feet of water on the clear, calm, and sunny days. The fish on the flats are in search of the same baits and can be seen in every lagoon, look for large sandbars such as tiger shoals, and whale tail in Mosquito Lagoon. Most fish will be sitting on the edge of these bars where the water starts to drop off.