Black Drum

Pogonias cromis

1 min read Late spring

The black drum is the largest of the drum family and can exceed a hundred pounds. In late spring the big ones move onto the lower Bay shoals in numbers, and for a few weeks it is possible to hook a fish that simply will not be hurried.

They are named for the sound they make. Drum have a muscle that vibrates against the swim bladder to produce a deep resonant thumping, and on a quiet night over a school of them you can hear it through the hull of the boat. The chin barbels are sensory equipment for finding shellfish on the bottom, which they crush with powerful throat teeth.

Small black drum are good eating. The giants are not — the flesh coarsens with age, and those fish are decades old and reproductively valuable. Photograph them and put them back.

Gear for this fish

Plano EDGE 3700 Terminal

The hardware the rig is built from.

$74.99

Eagle Claw Cat Claw Bait Holder Circle Hook Size 4/0 15ct

Finds the jaw, not the gut — required with bait for stripers.

$7.99

Eagle Claw Circle Hook Black Nickle 50ct Size 9/0

Finds the jaw, not the gut — required with bait for stripers.

$38.27

Eagle Claw Circle Hook Black Nickle 5ct Size 7/0

Finds the jaw, not the gut — required with bait for stripers.

$8.10

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Striped Bass

Morone saxatilis

2 min read Spring and fall

Channel edges, rips, and the Susquehanna Flats

White Perch

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1 min read Spring run, then all summer

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Sciaenops ocellatus

1 min read Summer into fall

Lower Bay shoals, sand bars, and the inlets

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Cynoscion nebulosus

1 min read Late summer and fall

Grass beds, marsh drains, and the lower Bay

Tautog

Tautoga onitis

1 min read Spring and late fall

Wrecks, rock piles, and bridge rubble

Largemouth Bass

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1 min read Spring through fall

Tidal-fresh rivers, pads, docks, and grass

Bluefish

Pomatomus saltatrix

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Open Bay, inlets, and the surf

Summer Flounder

Paralichthys dentatus

1 min read Late spring through summer

Sandy bottom near inlets and channel edges

Black Drum

Pogonias cromis

1 min read Late spring

Lower Bay shoals and shell bottom

Cobia

Rachycentron canadum

1 min read Summer

Lower Bay, around buoys and structure

Spanish Mackerel

Scomberomorus maculatus

1 min read Mid to late summer

Open Bay, warm clear water

Yellow Perch

Perca flavescens

1 min read Late winter into early spring

Upper tidal rivers and creeks

American Shad

Alosa sapidissima

1 min read Spring

Susquehanna and major tributaries

Blue Crab

Callinectes sapidus

2 min read Late spring through fall

Grass beds, shallows, and piers Bay-wide

Oyster Toadfish

Opsanus tau

1 min read Year-round

Oyster bottom, pilings, and rubble

Atlantic Menhaden

Brevoortia tyrannus

1 min read Spring through fall

Open Bay, in vast schools