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Red drumRetention openCape · Florida
Range Point
30.35°N · 87.08°W · Cape · Pensacola Bay Area including Santa Rosa Sound
Species here · tap to switch
Best score today · 6 AM · Florida pompano
- Now
- 6212 PM CST
- Best window
- 5 PM-12 AMFlood tide
- Tide now
- Ebbing0.6 ft ▼
Data from: NOAA CO-OPS + NDBC + ECMWF + Open-Meteo Marine · Waterlands engine
Notify me when Range Point 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
Monday, Nov 9 · 3 PM
Tide & current
NOAA CO-OPS + Open-Meteo Marine
78Tide: FloodingCurrent: 0.2 knWind & pressure
ECMWF
93Wind: 7 kt NNWPressure: RisingWater temp & sky
NDBC + Open-Meteo Marine
89Water temp: 74°F, primeLight: DuskSolunar: Between periodsSeas: 0.9 ftSeason & habitat · Spanish mackerel
Species seasonality
75Season: PeakHabitat: Poor fitDepth: In range
Current regulations
What you can keep here today
Gulf state waters (Escambia through Collier counties)
Red drum
Retention open- Daily limit
- 1 per day
- Possession
- Not published
- Size
- Slot 18 to 27 in, total length
- Season
- No closed season on file
- Annual quota
- Not published
- Other
- Must stay whole until landed ashore. For-hire captain and crew may not keep a bag limit. Hook and line or cast net only. No spearing, gigging, bowfishing, snatch hooking, or multiple hooks with natural bait. Open year-round.
From FWC Recreational Regulations: Red Drum (Redfish), read Sep 13
Other species here
- Atlantic croaker Retention open
- Black drum Retention open (5 per day)
- Bluefish Retention open (10 per day)
- Bonefish Catch & release (No retention)
- Cobia Retention open (1 per day)
- Crevalle jack Retention open
- Florida pompano Retention open (6 per day)
- Gag grouper Closed (No retention)
- Gray snapper Retention open (5 per day (10 snapper combined))
- Gray triggerfish Retention open (1 per day)
- Greater amberjack Closed (No retention)
- King mackerel Retention open (3 per day)
- Mahi-mahi Retention open (10 per day)
- Permit Retention open (2 per day)
- Red grouper Retention open (2 per day (4 Gulf grouper combined))
- Red snapper Closed (No retention)
- Sailfish Retention open (1 per day (1 billfish combined))
- Sheepshead Retention open (8 per day)
- Snook Retention open (1 per day)
- Southern flounder Closed (No retention)
- Spanish mackerel Retention open (15 per day)
- Spot Retention open
- Spotted seatrout Retention open (3 per day)
- Summer flounder Closed (No retention)
- Tarpon Catch & release (No retention)
- Wahoo Retention open (2 per day)
Source: FWC · synced yesterday
Seasonality · 52-week view · this week ringed
When Red drum is best here
Peak season for Red drum · 4 more weeks at peak
- Peak
- Shoulder
- Off
- This week
Spot profile
Range Point
- Depth
- 2-15 ftFlat bottom
- Structure
- Point · Inner · Semi-exposedPoint · flat bottom
- Season
- Peak seasonRed drum
NOAA NCEI DEM, sampled Sep 13 on a 3.4 m grid. Depths are feet below NAVD 88, not chart datum (MLLW), so they can differ from a chart by a few feet. Not for navigation.
About this spot
Fishing Range Point
Range Point is a cape in Pensacola Bay Area including Santa Rosa Sound, Florida. Depth is 2-15 ft, with a flat bottom. Its profile reads point, inner water and semi-exposed.
Waterlands scores 19 species here; the best right now are red drum, Spanish mackerel and king mackerel. It is peak season now for red drum, Spanish mackerel, Florida pompano and spotted seatrout, and shoulder season for king mackerel, gray triggerfish, red grouper and sheepshead. Red drum peak from September through November. Spanish mackerel peak from April through May and from October through November. King mackerel peak in May and in October.
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.
- Spanish mackerel
- Spanish mackerel school along beaches and around inlets, jetties, piers and bridge-tunnel structures, and along tide rips in 5 to 40 feet of water once the water climbs above about 68 degrees F. Troll small spoons or cast metal jigs and retrieve fast, or look for birds diving on bait and cast into the school. FWC calls for a 30 to 60 pound monofilament leader because their teeth cut light line.
- King mackerel
- Kings roam from beaches and pier ends out to reefs, wrecks and ledges in 40 to 200 feet, usually feeding in the upper half of the water column. Slow-troll live menhaden, blue runners or cigar minnows on a light wire stinger rig, or pull spoons and ribbonfish past bait schools. Look for clean green water above 68 F with bait and birds on it.
Nearby spots
Other spots within an easy run
- Butcherpen Point70
Cape · 3.9 mi
Top: Red drumPeak season- Red drum 70
- Spanish mackerel 61
- Black drum 58
8 kt ESEL 3:30 PM · 0.3 ftH 6:21 AM · 1.3 ft
- Fishing Bend66
Bay · 3.7 mi
Top: Red drumPeak season- Red drum 66
- Spanish mackerel 64
- King mackerel 58
8 kt ESEL 3:30 PM · 0.3 ftH 6:21 AM · 1.3 ft
- Redfish Cove66
Bay · 3.8 mi
Top: Red drumPeak season- Red drum 66
- Spanish mackerel 66
- Sheepshead 61
8 kt EL 3:39 PM · 0.2 ftH 4:37 AM · 1.3 ft
- Big Sabine Point62
Cape · 2.0 mi
Top: Red drumPeak season- Red drum 62
- Spanish mackerel 61
- King mackerel 58
8 kt EL 3:39 PM · 0.2 ftH 4:37 AM · 1.3 ft
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.