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Red drumRetention openSpecies here · tap to switch
Best score today · 7 PM · Red drum
- Now
- 486 PM EDT
- Best window
- 6 PM-12 AMNight bite
Data from: ECMWF + Open-Meteo Marine · Waterlands engine
Notify me when Straits of Florida scores 75+
Checked every morning against the 14-day forecast. Free by push and email.
14-day forecast
Best days to fish
24-hour conditions · rolling from now
Conditions · 6 PM · now
Tide & current
Open-Meteo Marine
89Current: 2.2 knWind & pressure
ECMWF
59Wind: 6 kt SPressure: SteadyWater temp & sky
Open-Meteo Marine
79Water temp: 87°F, warmLight: DuskSolunar: Between periodsSeas: 1.2 ftSeason & habitat · Red drum
Species seasonality
49Season: ShoulderHabitat: Usable structureDepth: Out of rangeRegulations: Retention open
Current regulations
What you can keep here today
Special Permit Zone (SPZ)
No rule for Red drum is on file here yet, so its status is unknown, not closed. Confirm limits with FWC before you keep a fish.
Species rules here
- Black drum Retention open (5 per day)
- Bonefish Catch & release (No retention)
- Cobia Retention open (1 per day)
- Crevalle jack Retention open
- Florida pompano Retention open (6 per day)
- Gray snapper Retention open (5 per day (10 snapper combined))
- Permit Retention open (1 per day)
- Sailfish Retention open (1 per day (1 billfish combined))
- Sheepshead Retention open (8 per day)
- Southern flounder Retention open (5 per day)
- Spanish mackerel Retention open (15 per day)
- Summer flounder Retention open (5 per day)
- Tarpon Catch & release (No retention)
- Wahoo Retention open (2 per day)
Source: FWC · synced today
Seasonality · 52-week view · this week ringed
When Red drum is best here
Shoulder season for Red drum · 1 more week at shoulder
- Peak
- Shoulder
- Off
- This week
Spot profile
Straits of Florida
- Depth
- 2,700-2,800 ft
- Structure
- Channel · Outer · Exposed
- Season
- Shoulder seasonRed drum
NOAA NCEI DEM, sampled Sep 13 on a 464 m grid. Depths are feet below mean sea level, not chart datum (MLLW), so they can differ from a chart by a few feet. Not for navigation.
About this spot
Fishing Straits of Florida
Straits of Florida is a channel in Biscayne Bay, Florida. Depth is 2,700-2,800 ft. Its profile reads channel, outer water and exposed.
Waterlands scores 18 species here; the best right now are common snook, crevalle jack and Atlantic tarpon. It is peak season now for common snook and crevalle jack, and shoulder season for Atlantic tarpon, gray snapper, red drum and permit. Common snook peak from April through May and from September through November. Crevalle jack peak from April through May and from September through November. Atlantic tarpon peak from March through June.
Tackle & technique
- Red drum
- Redfish feed on shallow grass flats, oyster bars and marsh edges, often in 1 to 4 feet of water, and drop into channels, deep holes and tidal creeks when the water turns very hot or cold. Work a live shrimp under a popping cork or a soft plastic along the grass line on a rising tide, then fish creek mouths and drains as the tide falls. Bull reds over 30 inches school in the surf, passes and jetties in late summer and fall, where cut mullet or a live crab on the bottom is the standard approach.
- Common snook
- Snook ambush bait around mangrove shorelines, bridge and dock lights, jetties and the mouths of passes and inlets, generally in 2 to 15 feet of water. Fish moving water, especially the outgoing tide, with a live pilchard, pinfish or shrimp, or a jerkbait or soft plastic swum past the structure. In summer they spawn along beaches and inlets, and in winter they crowd into rivers, canals and deep backcountry creeks where the water stays warmer.
- Crevalle jack
- Jacks roam in schools through inlets, passes, bays, river mouths and along beaches, pushing bait to the surface, and big fish also hold on nearshore reefs and wrecks. Watch for birds and surface blowups, then cast a popper, a spoon or a bucktail into the school and retrieve fast. Bring heavy spinning tackle, because a jack over 15 pounds runs hard and fights for a long time.
Scores and forecasts are for planning only and can be wrong. Conditions on the water change fast; check the marine forecast before you go. Regulations change during the season, so confirm limits and closures with FWC before you keep a fish.