black drum

Winter is almost here and the flats are coming alive! We have had one heck of a year, great fishing, mostly clean water, and even some grass growth throughout sections of the lagoon.

The past week I spent most my days in the river with all the windy weather, large black mullet schools were holding some large breeder redfish and even some solid snook, but the best bite was on several large schools of black drum. Winter can be a challenging time of year but our black drum always seem to make for great fun and this week was no other. Anglers can find these fish on shallow flats with large Sandbars close by. These fish will push up shallow as the sun creeps up and begins to warm the water. Other situations are around bridge pilings and residential docks. The worse looking structure, the better, as they are home to all sorts of organisms these black drum thrive on.

My favorite baits this time of year are gulp shrimp and even fly fishing with shrimp and crab patterns. The key with artificial is to be incredibly slow. Instead of a twitching retrieve, a slow drag is a much better presentation. Anglers can also find a great bite using half a blue crab, large live or dead shrimp, and even sandfleas and squid — the more funk the better. Don’t be shy about using that half rotted shrimp that slipped from your livewell because black drum feed primarily by sense of smell and hardly ever turn down a dead bait.

As the cooler weather continues to arrive we will more than likely see more and more drum invading the flats making for some awesome fishing.