15 of 103worth the trip today
Best right now at Venice, Louisiana. Water is inside the 65–85° range red drum like at 63 of the 96 spots with a live reading.
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Also called channel bass, redfish, or (as juveniles) puppy drum. Works shallow flats, marsh edges, oyster bars, and the surf from the mid-Atlantic through the Gulf. Big "bull reds" cruise the surf and passes in fall.
Around the Chesapeake. A summer and fall target around the lower Bay shoals and the Eastern Shore coastal bays.
Sciaenops ocellatus, family Sciaenidae.
All 103 spots with red drum in season, scored for red drum, best first.
74° water · 15 mph wind · incoming tide
74° water · 15 mph wind · outgoing tide
74° water · 10 mph wind · outgoing tide
72° water · 15 mph wind · outgoing tide
74° water · 15 mph wind · incoming tide
69° water · 15 mph wind · outgoing tide
66° water · 13 mph wind · incoming tide
67° water · 12 mph wind · incoming tide
67° water · 15 mph wind · incoming tide
67° water · 12 mph wind · incoming tide
80° water · 10 mph wind · outgoing tide
75° water · 24 mph wind · outgoing tide
59° water · 9 mph wind · incoming tide
59° water · 7 mph wind · incoming tide
60° water · 5 mph wind · incoming tide
60° water · 6 mph wind · incoming tide
60° water · 5 mph wind · incoming tide
59° water · 7 mph wind · incoming tide
59° water · 8 mph wind · incoming tide
60° water · 5 mph wind · incoming tide
72° water · 5 mph wind · outgoing tide
73° water · 15 mph wind · outgoing tide
66° water · 14 mph wind · incoming tide
66° water · 13 mph wind · incoming tide
67° water · 13 mph wind · incoming tide
67° water · 13 mph wind · incoming tide
67° water · 13 mph wind · incoming tide
67° water · 15 mph wind · incoming tide
67° water · 13 mph wind · incoming tide
73° water · 18 mph wind · incoming tide
71° water · 15 mph wind · low slack tide
77° water · 13 mph wind · outgoing tide
77° water · 14 mph wind · outgoing tide
59° water · 7 mph wind · incoming tide
66° water · 17 mph wind · incoming tide
69° water · 15 mph wind · outgoing tide
70° water · 10 mph wind · low slack tide
69° water · 10 mph wind · low slack tide
69° water · 15 mph wind · outgoing tide
69° water · 15 mph wind · outgoing tide
76° water · 14 mph wind · outgoing tide
66° water · 15 mph wind · incoming tide
68° water · 16 mph wind · incoming tide
15 mph wind · outgoing tide
70° water · 22 mph wind · incoming tide
63° water · 12 mph wind · incoming tide
69° water · 15 mph wind · outgoing tide
79° water · 10 mph wind · outgoing tide
74° water · 24 mph wind · outgoing tide
76° water · 23 mph wind · low slack tide
74° water · 24 mph wind · outgoing tide
65° water · 17 mph wind · incoming tide
60° water · 10 mph wind · incoming tide
64° water · 5 mph wind · outgoing tide
64° water · 6 mph wind · outgoing tide
61° water · 7 mph wind · outgoing tide
61° water · 5 mph wind · outgoing tide
60° water · 8 mph wind · outgoing tide
61° water · 5 mph wind · outgoing tide
61° water · 5 mph wind · outgoing tide
20 mph wind · incoming tide
75° water · 26 mph wind · outgoing tide
67° water · 21 mph wind · incoming tide
76° water · 25 mph wind · incoming tide
63° water · 10 mph wind · incoming tide
64° water · 20 mph wind · incoming tide
64° water · 21 mph wind · incoming tide
70° water · 20 mph wind · outgoing tide
22 mph wind · incoming tide
75° water · 25 mph wind · incoming tide
79° water · 10 mph wind · outgoing tide
75° water · 25 mph wind · outgoing tide
63° water · 10 mph wind · incoming tide
64° water · 17 mph wind · incoming tide
64° water · 16 mph wind · incoming tide
64° water · 17 mph wind · incoming tide
75° water · 25 mph wind · incoming tide
25 mph wind · incoming tide
25 mph wind · incoming tide
68° water · 25 mph wind · incoming tide
74° water · 28 mph wind · incoming tide
25 mph wind · incoming tide
Red drum feed from about 65° to 85°F and best near 75°. Each pin is one spot’s water right now, from NOAA and USGS gauges; 63 of 96 are inside the range.
Scored against their own temperature range and tide preference first, then wind, weather and warnings. Solunar periods only break ties. How the score works
The Maryland, Delaware and Virginia months are the Chesapeake-region season. Everywhere else it is carried over by water temperature: a month counts at a spot when its usual water is in the range that marks the mid-Atlantic season (63°F and warmer), from the spot’s own gauge where it has one and an estimate from air temperature where it doesn’t. Each state lists the months that hold at half or more of its spots. Where the water temperatures come from.
Rules change, and they differ by state and often by water. Each spot page shows the limits for its own water. Red drum are fished at spots in 11 states: Alabama, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia.
These waters set limits for red drum that differ from the rest of their state.
2 state agencies named red drum in their latest reports, newest first, linked to the source.
The Ocean City area had to shake off another rainy and windy weekend, that is three in a row. The weather turned around yesterday, and sunny and warm temperatures are instore for the rest of the week.
Atlantic Ocean and Coastal Bays
6 species named: bluefish, flounder, red drum, sheepshead, striped bass, tautog
Read at Maryland DNR6 species named: largemouth bass, red drum, sheepshead, striped bass, white perch, yellow perch
Read at Delaware DNRECSpecies people target at the same spots as red drum, and how they’re doing today.
Spotted seatroutCynoscion nebulosus51 of 118 spots worth the trip
Best now at Venice, LA100
Bites in 60–85° water
BluefishPomatomus saltatrix69 of 127 spots worth the trip
Best now at Sandy Hook, NJ98
Bites in 60–80° water
SheepsheadArchosargus probatocephalus16 of 65 spots worth the trip
Best now at Cape Henlopen, DE90
Bites in 60–82° water
Summer flounderParalichthys dentatus32 of 88 spots worth the trip
Best now at Kent Narrows, MD100
Bites in 58–75° water
Press / anywhere to search. Towns list the closest spots.