How to catch Black drum

Black drum feed in 48–78°F water and bite best at 54–70°F. Fish Scouter's season calendar follows them in 19 waters; in October they are at their peak in The Southern Outer Banks & Cape Fear, The Outer Banks.

20 pts · trophy at 36"Feeds 48–78°FBest 54–70°FOut of season nowBridgeDock / pilingsGrass flatChannel edge

About

The black drum: a redfish's ugly cousin, barred as a juvenile, a hundred pounds as an adult, grunting under the bridges. Winter fish; the small ones eat well.

How to fish it

Bridges, docks and oyster bars in the cold; a crab or clam on the bottom, and wait. They root — the bite is slow. The big ones are catch-and-release worthy.

What it eats

blue crab halvesclamslive shrimp on the bottom

Live bait for it

Blue crabsWhole and small for permit and tarpon; halved or quartered on the bottom for black drum, redfish and cobia.

Live shrimpUnder a popping cork or free-lined, hooked under the horn on a #1 to 2/0 circle hook; on a jig head for the bottom. The universal inshore bait.