Thread: Red drum

Has anybody had any luck fishing for drum in fish river/weeks bay/magnolia river in the winter time. I was wondering if the drum went up to the river systems in the winter or did they swim back out to the gulf. If anybody has any suggestions about where to fish for BIG drum I'm the winter, let me know.

Thanks

You'll probably find more 'bull' drum in the Gulf in winter.
Try 1/2 blue crab, a 3"-4" Speckled crab, or a rage dead shrimp to target large drum.
Most likely at Perdido Pass, or Fort Morgan or even Ft Gaines (maybe Cedar point pier).

Hope this helps!

I met a fellow on the Head boat that lived on the Fish River and he said the the fish haven't been doing much on the Fish the the last couple of weeks.

Im glad you asked this question Nathan. I can tell you the answer is no! I fish either Fish or Magnolia river once a week and I can tell you that the slot reds have vanished! Once in a while you will catch babies that are about 10 to 12 inches long. However, the flounder and specks are in the rivers. Ill be casting my first line in the Magnolia come daybreak in the morning and I'll post a report. Hoping to get into some nice specks.

What do you use to catch the flounder/specs in fish river. Also, do you have any luck with catfish in fish river and what do you use to catch them.

Well, let me start off by saying I am no expert. I have not often targeted flounder specifically, but I have caught a good bit by fishing under docks and working a live shrimp along the bottom. Speck fishing, on the other hand, is a new challenge to me that I'm starting to find very enjoyable. Since I am still in the learning process, I haven't selected my "favorite" lure or bait yet. Tomorrow my fishing buddy and I will be throwing a few different soft plastics with some decently weighted jig heads to get the lure to the bottom of the deeper holes. I even have one pole rigged with a popping cork, and a D.O.A. shrimp to work up towards the surface to see if I can get them to come up and grab it. So basically, my plan tomorrow is to throw a darker or rust colored soft plastic to the bottom of some deep holes, with a slow to medium retrieve, and also work the popping cork on topwater just to see what happens. Either way, it will be a fun learning process.

Oh, and Nathan, to answer your question about the catfish. I have no use for them!

Any lure hard or soft, use a very slow twitch retrieve in the colder months. This goes for Reds and Specks.
I love Ft. Morgan for winter Reds/Blacks, kill them on shrimp, crab and cut mullet on large double drop rigs, and big Bull Reds on my casted shark rigs.

Ft. Pickens has been on fire with Reds all last week.