It has been a good year so far for redfish and black drum action here in the Carolina’s. The black drum bite this year so far has been off the chain. There are lots of black drum around with some nice ones as big as five pounds in the mix. We have been finding them in deep holes up in the creeks, using Carolina rigs with fresh shrimp.
Large schools of redfish are roaming the backwaters looking for food and warmer water. Feeding on fiddler crabs, mud minnows and small blue crabs that live in the shallow waters where there is black mud. They also seek the shallows for protection against preying dolphins that rank redfish among their number one food choices in the winter. Anglers target them in very shallow areas of black mud that heat up more quickly as the sun rises during the day. The best bait is just a hook with no weight and Berkley Gulp two-inch crab or white three-inch shrimp, moved very slowly on the bottom.
Red drum fishing in cold water means fishing slow. So, whether you are using imitation shrimp soft baits or minnows, the key is going to be to fish very slowly. You should cast your soft bait out on a jig head and allow it to sit on the bottom for a while before you begin slowly working it back to you.
If you would like to book a backwater, inshore, offshore or Gulf Stream trip, there
are still some days available. Don’t miss out on this experience of a lifetime.