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Best score today · 7 AM · Black drum

73/100Great

Now: 455 AM EDT
Best window: 5-11 AMEbb tide
Tide now: Flooding4.7 ft ▲

Data from: NOAA CO-OPS + NDBC + ECMWF + Open-Meteo Marine · Waterlands engine

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14-day forecast

Best days to fish

Best: Sun · 80

24-hour conditions · rolling from now

Conditions · 5 AM · now

DRAG OR TAP AN HOUR

Time5ANOW

Score45Good

Tide4.7 ft ▲Flooding

Current0.2 knmodeled · toward SSW

Wind8 kn Ngusts 16 · steady

Sea stateModerate2.6 ft · 4 s

Air temp71°Warm

WeatherOvercast100% cloud

Water83°FObserved

WED · SEP 23

THU · SEP 24

2A

3A

4A

NOW

6A

7A

8A

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10A

11A

12P

1P

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52

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45

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51

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49

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37

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51

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38

43

0.1

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147

157

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168

188

209

2110

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209

199

189

188

189

2.4

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3.0

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34%

41%

40%

35%

83°

82°

Hour

Current regulations

What you can keep here today

IN EFFECT NOW

No rule for Black drum is on file here yet, so its status is unknown, not closed. Confirm limits with SCDNR before you keep a fish.

Always check with SCDNR ↗Fishing license ↗

Source: SCDNR · synced yesterday

Seasonality · 52-week view · this week ringed

When Black drum is best here

Shoulder season for Black drum · 18 more weeks at shoulder

Peak
Shoulder
Off
This week

Black drum in South Carolina →

Spot profile

Long Bay

Depth: 25-30 ftFlat bottom
Structure: Bay · Outer · ExposedBay · flat bottom
Season: Shoulder seasonBlack 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 Long Bay

Long Bay is a bay in Coastal waters from Little River Inlet to Murrells Inlet SC out 20 NM, South Carolina. Depth is 25-30 ft, with a flat bottom. Its profile reads bay, outer water and exposed.

Waterlands scores 28 species here; the best right now are Atlantic croaker, spot and Atlantic tarpon. It is peak season now for Atlantic croaker, spot, Atlantic tarpon and king mackerel, and shoulder season for Florida pompano, Spanish mackerel, red snapper and mahi-mahi. Atlantic croaker peak from August through October. Spot peak from September through October. Atlantic tarpon peak from July through September.

Tackle & technique

Black drum: Black drum root along the bottom around oyster reefs, bridge and pier pilings, channel edges and shallow mud flats. TPWD notes they rarely take artificials, so fish peeled shrimp, crab, clams or sand fleas on a bottom rig and let the fish load the rod before setting the hook. Big spawning schools gather near passes and bay mouths in late winter and spring, and in the Chesapeake and Delaware Bay the large fish show up on the shoals from April into June.
Atlantic croaker: Croaker feed on mud and sand bottom along channel edges, oyster bars, piers and deeper holes in bays and sounds, mostly in 5 to 30 feet of water. A two-hook bottom rig with small hooks and shrimp, bloodworm or squid catches them from piers, the surf and small boats. Fish the hours around high tide and into the evening.
Spot: Spot school over mud and sand in bays, tidal creeks and channels and around piers and bridges, generally in less than 25 feet of water. Fish a two-hook bottom rig with small hooks and bits of bloodworm or shrimp, and move until you find a school. In fall the biggest fish run out of the sounds past piers and inlets, and the bite can go all day.