Leader will range for 50-80 pounds.  Don’t make it too long as you will need to be able to cast it out away from the boat to stagger your spread of baits.  For added insurance, you can use a longer length of shock leader from your mainline to through the sinker slide to the barrel swivel, before attaching the shorter leader.  Attach you hook of choice, from 7/0-9/0 again depending on bait size.  Some anglers prefer to use standard j-hooks when using hard crabs.  Circle hooks should be used on softer baits and whenever possible to help prevent the fish from gut hooking.  The preferred bait for Drum is crab.  You want to remove the top of the shell and cut the crab into two pieces.  Run the hook through a leg hole and then into the meat of the crab.  A trick to help with spinning is to take a rubber band and wrap the legs along the shank of the hook.  You can also use fresh chunks of menhaden or spot.  Set you baits, remembering to stagger them behind the boat.  There’s no need to hold the rod the entire time.  Set the reel in gear with very little drag.  Make sure your clicker is on and holster the rod and wait for that run off.  You must know what hooks are on what rods as the setting will be different for each.  If a circle hook, reel down and lift slowly to set the hook after letting the fish eat for a moment.  J-hooks will require a standard hook-set.  Drum can be light hitters so pay attention to the spread.  Once hooked, tighten the drag slowly to Strike and enjoy the fight. Because this species is at the northern edge of its range here, severe winters can kill those juveniles, wiping out whole year classes. Snakehead Sightings Halt Conowingo Fish Lift, Study: Mercury Widespread in Chesapeake Headwaters Fish, Angler Breaks Record for Fish He Couldn't Identify, Study: Fish Populations Drop Since Snakehead Invasion, Endangered "Dinosaur Fish" Washes up in Virginia Beach, Historic Oyster House Site Revitalization on Nanticoke River Underway, VIDEO: Oyster Shuck-a-Thon Record Attempt, Hunters, Lab Puppy Rescued from Water on Upper Bay, James River Tree Planting Effort Expands to $2.7 Million; Volunteers Needed. Specks are beautiful, highly soughtafter sport fish that feed heavily on small fish, crabs, and shrimp. Red drum can live up to 60 years. The best place to hook a striped bass is in the Chesapeake Bay, especially around the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, where the biggest stripers are usually caught. The centers for the fishery are off of Cape Charles and over the Stone Rock at the mouth of the Choptank River, but they can surprise anglers virtually anywhere. While you can fish for stripers in Virginia on a catch-and-release basis year-round, the season for keeping them (two per person over 20 inches, one of which may be over 28 inches) in Chesapeake Bay is from May 16 to June 15, and from Oct. 4 through Dec. 31. Young specks spend their first summer in Bay tributaries where they turn up around grass beds at least as far up as Annapolis. Permanent link to this article: https://vbsf.net/articles/red-and-black-drum/, https://vbsf.net/articles/red-and-black-drum/, Atlantic Swordfish Fishing Off Virginia Beach, Deep Dropping for Tilefish Grouper Large Sea Bass Off Virginia Beach, Red Drum and Black Drum On The Chesapeake Bay, Spadefish Virginia’s version of an Angel Fish, Surf Fishing In Virginia And North Carolina, Virginia Beach Deep Sea Fishing Information. They spawn in the lower Bay and offshore in late spring, and they feed here through summer and fall before mostly moving offshore. Retired watermen would walk down to see the catches and trade produce from their vegetable gardens. They are powerful fighters, though not known for speed, and  they are good choices for release,  since the meat of the large specimens can be coarse and wormy. HOW:  Puppy Drum can be taken on a multitude of lures, bucktails, or spoons along the marshes, oyster beds, jetties, or pilings.  Top water plugs and artificial and live crabs or shrimp are also deadly on Drum.  Here light spinning or casting tackle can be used to cast into the grasses and beds.  Many recommend a length of Fluorocarbon to be tied to your main line.  Drum aren’t toothy critters, but the areas where you find them can be unforgiving.  20-30 pound should be sufficient.  Work quietly along the banks as Drum are easily spooked. Sciaenidae: the Chesapeake’s best-loved family. The most popular time for Drum fishing spans from mid-May through the end of June.  This is when anglers hit the shoals around the CBBT, the Inner Middle Grounds, Latimer Shoals, and the Middle Grounds, or the shoals off Fisherman’s Island.  These are hot spots for night time Drum fishing.  Drum seem to feed more from dusk to dawn, though they can be taken during the day. A red drum can live as long as  fifty years. There are plenty of big channel bass lurking throughout the lower Chesapeake Bay and along the coasts of Virginia and North Carolina. Red drum caught in the lower Chesapeake Bay. We would clamp our five-horse Johnson outboard onto our 15-foot skiff and chug to the oyster grounds out front to catch them. We miss ‘em a lot. Chesapeake Bay Fishing Calendar. Nov 28, 2020 Deltaville . Chesapeake Bay Charter Fishing At Captain Hogg’s Charter Service, we offer a wide variety of fishing charters based on the type of experience you are interested in. Successful fishing for slot-size red drum (fish between 18- and 27-inches long) is completely dependent on the success of spawning … Black drum in the Chesapeake Bay region spawn at the mouth of the Bay and seaside inlets of the Eastern Shore usually between April and early-June. CBM Editor at Large John Page Williams  is a fishing guide, educator, author, and naturalist, saving the Bay since 1973. Drum are also targeted around the islands of the Bay Bridge Tunnel.  Schools can be seen feeding on baits around the rocks and pilings and are taken using  bucktails.  The shoals off Sandbridge are another hot spot for Drum, especially big Reds.  Little Island Pier at Sandbridge is a great spot for anglers.  Smaller Puppy Drum are favorites for anglers fishing under Lesner Bridge, the oyster beds and marsh grasses in the Lynnhaven River or the grasses in Rudee Inlet near Owls Creek boat ramp.  Now that you know Where and When, lets get to the How. Drum get their name from the sound they create from their swim bladders, which resembles that of a beating drum.  Scientists believe its largely related to their breeding process to call out to the opposite sex.  Drum may not be the most voracious attackers of bait, but once hooked they put up one heck of a fight, just from their sheer size.  Smaller fish provide great table fare, while the larger members of the species are released for sport. There’s even a small cult of lower-Bay fly anglers who catch them on sinking lines around the bridge-tunnel. Their size and large swim bladders make them especially noticeable on sonar. Find the largest bluefish in the region, and fish aggressively below them. Red Drum (Redfish): We are getting a lot of reports of “puppy drum” being caught around the Annapolis area! We fish half and full day charters in the lower Chesapeake Bay of … It's pretty hard to turn down big red drum. Thomas Craft is on Facebook. “Puppy drum” in the five- to 10-pound range are well worth filleting, skinning, and baking or blackening. Juveniles are most abundant in estuarine waters and inlets, while fish older than age-5 primarily inhabit coastal and offshore waters, often in large schools.� Nov 29, 2020 Cape Charles . Here’s a rundown: These are super panfish, which  grow to as long as 14 inches, but are more common in the eight- to 10-inch range. We happily maintained that tradition at our summer cottage on the lower Potomac when I was a boy. We hope the past mild winter has helped them. One of the best-tasting and most fun-to-catch fish that swims the Chesapeake is the croaker, or silver drum. The main stem of the Potomac River and the Maryland section of the Chesapeake Bay are now open to striped bass fishing. WHAT:  Drum are the largest members of the Croaker family of fish.  This family includes the Speckled Trout, Gray Trout, Spot, Whiting, and of course, the Croaker.  Members of the family are wide spread along the coast of the Atlantic and are sought after by anglers from New England to the Gulf Coast of Texas.  Even though Black Drum grow larger then their cousins, Red Drum have a stronger following among the angling world.  Fishing styles are similar for both species in our area, so we’ve grouped them together for this How-to. In shallow water, they are powerful fighters. Trophy Striped Bass Fishing at its Finest April and May is our peak season for Trophy Striped Bass fishing. Striped Bass . Though they primarily eat shellfish, they also take forage fish, and thus jigs and even large flies. CHESAPEAKE BAY and ITS TIDAL TRIBUTARIES Species Minimum Size Limits Season Creel Limit Remarks American Eel 9 inches Jan 1–Aug 31, except open year round for spears and baited traps or pots Daily—25 Bass (Largemouth and Smallmouth) 15 inches March 1–June 15 Open Year Round Daily—5 in aggregate 12 inches June 16 … I have a photograph my mother took of me, aged about six, proudly holding a trout caught on my first fishing rod. Fish for them with soft plastics. The Chesapeake Bay record black drum, caught in 1973 off Cape Charles, Virginia, weighed 111 pounds. A bull red drum I recently hooked up and lost in the Lower Chesapeake Bay challenged me to adopt this way of thinking for future fishing pursuits. Adults spawn on the continental shelf in late summer and fall with young-of-the-year fish sometimes appearing in Bay waters if winds and currents sweep them in. Some juvenile fish, especially croakers, spend the winter in the Bay, but others, like spot, are moving in now as the Chesapeake warms, riding the deep bottom currents sweeping in through the Virginia Capes. How to Target Chesapeake Bay Redfish. They strike flies, jigs, spoons, and plugs, and they put up a hard fight with lots of surface thrashing in their shallow water habitats, especially along marsh edges and grass beds. Just like another one of our top five Chesapeake sport fish, the speckled sea trout, redfish make purring or drumming noises that comes from their swim bladders, like other fish in the drum … After spawning, black drum spread out within the Bay and will migrate southward in late fall. Join Facebook to connect with Thomas Craft and others you may know. Eric Packard caught this pretty puppy drum while kayak fishing with artificials. 5 or 6 hours Duration 5 or 6 hours; The fishing is usually hot off of Kiptopeke and at buoys C-10 … Gray trout stocks have been low for the past ten years for unknown reasons. While Joe a geologist lived in North Carolina only a few … You’ll be satisfied. Close kin to specks, the grays tend to summer in deep water, feeding over shell bottoms in 15 to 50 feet anywhere from the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel up past the mouth of the Potomac to Annapolis from May through October, and sometimes later, before moving out to the Atlantic for the winter. All but the two trout species have underslung mouths fitted especially for bottom feeding on marine worms, shrimp, mud crabs, mussels, and clams. One pass of the 30-foot minnow seine picked up several hundred, inch-long, baby redfish, all perfectly formed with their characteristic bronze backs and spotted tails. Black Drum, Pogonias cromis, or Striped Drum are found in the same areas as their cousins, but also extend along the coastal waters of the Western Atlantic to Mexico, Brazil and Argentina.  They too inhabit inshore areas near jetties, pilings, oyster beds, and marshy areas, like the Reds.  Black Drum are quickly distinguished from their cousin by the numerous barbells on its chin, resembling a beard.  Juvenile fish have 4 top 5 vertical bars that are dark in color running along their bodies, similar to Sheepshead.  As they age, these bars fade and the fish become a dark, dingy gray to black.  Black Drum do grow larger then reds do, some tipping the scales over 100 pounds.  The current World Record stands at 113 pounds 1 oz and was caught in Lewes, Delaware in 1975. If you ever wanted to break that 50lb barrier or want that fish of a lifetime, this is the time to fish the Chesapeake Bay. Some yearling black drum with their distinctive dark vertical bars spend the summer in Bay grass beds and oyster reefs as far north as Annapolis where they occasionally take baits and lures. Anglers fishing for drum usually are the first to hook up with sheepshead moving into the area and making their way to the CBBT. Its scales have a dark center, forming poorly defined lines on its body. Fresh fillets from 14- to 20-inch specks broil beautifully with lemon-butter and fresh-ground  black pepper. Sources and Additional Information Fishes of Chesapeake Bay by Edward O. Murdy, Ray S. Birdsong and John A. Musick When hunting for those bigger Bulls from the surf or pier, cut bait, larger bucktails, crab, and larger spoons provide a great offering to the fish.  Bait can consist of Blue crab, fresh menhaden, spot, or clam.  Most like to use a fish-finder rig with a circle hook., around 7/0-8/0 depending on the size of your bait.  Circle hooks improve hook-ups plus its better for the fish since these will be released to fight again. Mature fish may contain over 30 million eggs. Around Point Lookout, fish for larger bull reds with peeler crab! Some anglers refer to them as silver drum. We have had fish up to 60 pounds. It is a lifestyle that we enjoy 24 hours a day 365 days a year. WHEN & WHERE:  Fishing for Drum usually starts around April for Black Drum and early May for Reds.  Black Drum fishing kicks off when the Dogwoods are blooming and continues usually through November.  Anglers start to search for  Drum along the coast of the Eastern Shore around the Concrete Ships, cabbage patch and some of the favored Striper haunts like the 36A Buoy and the High Rise of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel.  Anglers can land Drum along the Barrier Islands of the Eastern Shore.  These spots are top locations during the Spring and Fall.  Another top Location for Spring and fall Drum is the Coast of the Outer Banks.  Surf and Pier Anglers battle for location along the shore for the runs of Spring and Fall Drum along the suds and shoals of the Mid-Atlantic. Our tackle consisted of cotton handlines wrapped around sticks, rigged with two snelled, #2, Eagle Claw hooks and a two-ounce bank sinker. The adults are coming to take advantage of the winter’s growth of critters on oyster reefs and the season’s first soft crabs. The standard recipe for croakers at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s education centers in Tangier Sound is to dip skinned fillets in milk, roll them in panko with Old Bay, and bake them at 450 degrees until they flake—15 to 20 minutes. The large “bull reds” tend to stay offshore, but in recent years they have begun foraging in the shallows around Fisherman’s Island and Cape Charles, producing great thrills for fly and light tackle anglers. Croakers are larger than spot, and they average 12 to 20 inches as adults. Flounder and spadefish are justifiably popular, and croaker and trout have … Juveniles move into deeper Bay waters for their first winter. Reviews of Fishing in Chesapeake Bay … Reviews of Fishing in Chesapeake Bay. In June, some turn up hunting the marsh banks of Tangier Sound. Thus, our croaker stock is notoriously variable. Some two years ago, I was fishing Chesapeake Bay Maryland for striped bass, during the trip I met Joe and Tom McMurry two of the nicest brothers you could wish to meet. Some anglers refer to them as silver drum. ... Load More Reports . All have stout internal air bladders, which they use to adjust to pressure changes at different depths. Pieces of bloodworm are the most popular bait but pieces of soft crab will work well on white perch and speckled trout. The red drum has a silvery body with a reddish or copper tinge and a silvery-gray to white belly. They have been effectively managed and protected, and they have increased their range along the mid-Atlantic coast. Chase down monster red drum schooling in Virginia waters. One or more large, black spots appear at the base of its tail. Small black drum however, are delicious with a flavor that compares  to red drum. The Allure of Red Drum. Historically we caught them on bottom rigs with bait, especially peelers, and on jigs worked vertically or swum horizontally over shell reefs and stone piles. Most of our sciaenids winter on the Atlantic’s continental shelf. Speckled Trout or Spotted Sea Trout Maximum size is about nine inches, so most people don’t keep them, but their fillets are as tasty as any of their kin’s. These are popular spots, visited by many … My father grew up in a Richmond family that always ate spot for breakfast on Sunday mornings—even in winter when the fish had to be soaked because they had been packed in salt. They are excellent quarry for young anglers. With the water temperature at Thimble Shoal now at 50.9F black drum are starting to show up in their usual haunts along the bayside of the Eastern Shore. The flavor of larger trout is substantially enhanced by wood-smoke. The current recreational slot-size harvest limit in Virginia is 18 to 26 inches with a three-fish per day creel limit. But there’s not always a large number of reds under the schools of blues. Our bait was chunks of peeler crabs that we dipped from our dock pilings. (There’s a story from World War II that a school of croakers set off lower Bay hydrophone alarms set to detect enemy submarines.) Black Drum fishing kicks off when the Dogwoods are blooming and continues usually through November. These fish are hard fighting, grow quickly, and many of them winter over in the bay instead of migrating south like so many other fish in the bay. Trotlining has been tough as the crabs are often found in about 20 feet of water. Like croakers, they are a southern species and susceptible to winter kills, but the population is looking good for 2020. Scientists refer to them as Sciaenidae—the drums—a broad and diverse family distributed world-wide. Black drum are the behemoths of the clan, averaging 40 to 60 pounds and growing to more than 100 pounds. Mid-August in the Sight fishing in the Chesapeake Bay for Cobia. Over one college-year summer, I worked at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science on a pound-net survey team, visiting crews landing fish at wharves in Gloucester and Mathews counties. These black drum are fun to catch for anglers of all ages. If the current trend of a warmer climate continues, red drum will become even more important to Chesapeake anglers. Targeting Red and Black Drum fish in Chesapeake Bay is one of the most exciting fishing charter challenges, so get ready for some non-stop action. Fish in the 60- to 70-pound range are commonly caught, and their colossal size will bend fishing rods in … They dredged them in cornmeal and fried them so the hungry brothers and sisters could pick the succulent meat off the bones. Fall fishing is wide open!! Spot spawn in the Atlantic in late fall and winter with juveniles appearing in the Bay in late spring to feed all summer in shallow waters as far north as the Bay Bridge, where they become prey for rockfish. They are often caught while perch fishing, and are typically short of keeper size, which is 18-27 inches. Loading Fish Calendar! A popular sport fish, the best time to catch a black drum is during a full moon using soft crab as bait. Redfish are fairly common in lower Chesapeake shallows with occasional catches as far up as Rock Hall. Spot are here to eat the Chesapeake’s marine worms. They are true denizens of oyster reefs, and,  unlike most of their kin, they show little interest in artificial lures, and they don’t croak. Drum roll . Chesapeake Bay Outdoors offers an unmatched level of professionalism, knowledge, and experience in Waterfowl Hunting and Charter Fishing. Croakers will take flies and jigs. The popular angling technique for Drum fishing is anchoring and chumming over the shoals.  First, you want to make sure that you anchor on top of the shoal and position yourself so your baits drift back to the deeper waters.  Once in position start your chumming.  Attaching chum bags to your anchor line and having another at the back of the boat will help fill the water with scent.  Chum can include crushed clams and fresh menhaden.  You rigs will be fish-finder rigs once again.  Attach a pyramid sinker, 6-8 oz on the slide.  Pyramids will help keep your baits in place through the moving current.  While I’m here, current is key.  You want to have moving water when fishing for drum. Puppy drum are mature adults (3-5 years of age). Like all members of the drum family, it has the ability to flex special muscles around its swim bladder, which makes a drumming or croaking sound. Cross Kingfish (Round-head, Whiting) Bloodworms, shrimp, small pieces of cut bait, squid, sand fleas Bottomfishing with bait Surf zone of coastal waters from Sand-bridge to Assateague Island; ocean piers; lower portion of the Chesapeake Bay, including lower bay … Tom a financier lived in Washington DC not to be confused with Washington State on the west coast. They form several of the Chesapeake’s most prized recreational and commercial fisheries. It usually grows 20 to 30 inches in length, but can grow as long as 5 feet and weigh as much as 90 pounds. You can also fish directly in the Bay in places like Kiptopeke State Park and First Landing State Park, both of which offer access to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, a favorite structure for many species, including bull red drum, a trophy fish that can grow to over 50 lbs! Virginia's Chesapeake Bay anglers enjoy a wealth of fishing opportunities during the month of June. I remember running a high-school  field trip around the well-known  Hole in the Wall fishing spot at the southeastern end of Gwynns Island, Virginia in the 1970s. Most of them also feed on small fish such as bay anchovies, peanut menhaden, and even their own young. Where are the rockfish in the Chesapeake Bay? Life at Chesapeake Bay Outdoors revolves around two things, Charter Fishing and Waterfowl Hunting. That family of fish—spot, croakers, trout, and their kin,—represented the basic economy of the Chesapeake then, and they still do, though several members are not nearly as plentiful as they use to be. The Bay serves as a warm-weather feeding and nursery ground for them. The range of fish species showing up in those lower-Bay nets was fascinating, but invariably, such a patriarch would choose a nice gray trout to boil with butter beans and tomatoes for lunch. Call to Book Click here to Learn More Learn More From $ 500.00. The world record, caught off New Point Comfort Light, went a surprising 27 inches and weighed 8.7 pounds. A few of them winter in deep lower Bay tributaries where anglers catch them, mostly to tag and release for Virginia’s Saltwater Sport Fish Tagging Program. Popular with anglers looking for Black Drum fishing charters in Chesapeake Bay Your boat for the day is a 25’ Parker center console, outfitted with Lowrance electronics, downriggers, outriggers, a live bait tank, safety gear, and top-notch fishing … Not only are red drum they great sportfish, but they are considered excellent food-fish and are raised for food by aquaculture operations in some states. It’s easy to see why we love the drums so much. In Maryland, it’s 18 to 27 inches and one fish per day. There are so many sporting and tasty game fish species available in the bay this time of year that it's difficult to choose a favorite. Jeff Fackett . ber in Chesapeake Bay 1 – 3 pounds 17 pounds, 8 ounces; caught at Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel in 1971 by C.E. If you catch one of these young fish, it’s admirable to let it go, but it’s also perfectly fine to take it home to a preheated cast iron pan (about 400 degrees), filet and coat in butter and creole seasoning, and quickly fry it. Local members also include red drum, black drum, speckled trout, and the often-scorned-but-actually-tasty silver perch. Recreational crabbing is slowing down as water temperatures become chillier and crabs migrate to deeper waters. It doesn’t take an expert to realize that almost every fishing boat from Solomons Island to Rock Hall is working one primary school of stripers. Go ahead and cook the next big one you catch. The black drum’s spring trek to Delaware Bay and Great Bay is an annual event anxiously awaited by anglers. In late summer, some of them chase bait  fish up the Bay as far as the Choptank, where they strike jigs and large  trolling spoons. The spot were the primary rewards, but there was always a variety of fish, like big croakers, which pulled so hard on the handlines, and beautiful, yellow-finned, gray trout. John Satterly . Adult red drum occur in Chesapeake Bay from May through November and are most abundant near the bay mouth in salinities above 15 parts per thousand. © Chesapeake Bay Media All rights reserved. The standard recipe for croakers at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s education centers in Tangier Sound is to dip skinned fillets in milk, roll them in panko with Old Bay, and bake them at 450 degrees until they flake—15 to 20 minutes. … Several species possess specialized muscles that, when contracted forcefully around the bladder, produce a drumming or croaking sound used to communicate with one another. Anglers start to search for Drum along the coast of the Eastern Shore around the Concrete Ships, cabbage patch and some of the favored Striper haunts like the 36A Buoy and the High Rise of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. Tips for catching more Red Drum and Black Drum in Virginia’s Chesapeake Bay and along the Virginia Beach shoreline. With their whisker-like chin barbels to help them feel for prey, they forage oyster reefs, rocks, bridge structure, and the bottom from the Virginia Capes to Annapolis. , 8 ounces ; caught at Chesapeake Bay for Cobia the past mild winter has them! And fall before mostly moving offshore in Bay tributaries where they turn up around beds! Mature adults ( 3-5 years of age ) small fish, and in grass beds least! Sight fishing in the region, and they average 12 to 20 inches adults. And fall before mostly moving offshore big channel Bass lurking throughout the lower and. Jonas Green Park on the Severn noticeable on sonar a small cult lower-Bay. 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