All About Florida Keys Fishing & Key West Fishing
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Red drum, Sciaenops ocellatus

Red drum are found throughout Florida’s nearshore waters. Gold and Richardson (1991)
identified weakly differentiated subpopulations occurring in the northeast Gulf of Mexico, Mosquito
Lagoon, and along the coasts of North and South Carolina. Seyoum et al. (2000) also found
genetic evidence for separate populations on Florida’s gulf and Atlantic coasts but found no
evidence of a separate population in Mosquito Lagoon. Red drum along the Gulf of Mexico side of
the Florida peninsula may be somewhat isolated from red drum in the northern and western gulf.
Newly hatched red drum spend about 20 days in the water column before becoming demersal
(Rooker et al. 1999). Small juvenile red drum seek out and inhabit rivers, bays, canals, tidal
creeks, boat basins, and passes within estuaries (Peters and McMichael 1987). Subadults are
found in these habitats and in large aggregations on seagrass beds and over oyster bars, mud
flats, or sand bottoms. Adult red drum are found mostly in nearshore shelf waters, except where
they occur within the Mosquito-Indian River Lagoon complex on Florida’s Atlantic coast. Growth is
very rapid through ages 4–5 (Table 1). Maximum age is about 40 years in Florida (Murphy and
Taylor 1990), but there are reports of red drum as old as 60 years in North Carolina waters (Ross
et al. 1995). Males mature when 1–3 years old, and females mature when 3–6 years old. Red
drum spawn during the late summer and early fall in inlets, within estuaries, or in nearshore shelf
waters.

Juvenile red drum feed primarily on copepods, mysid shrimp, and amphipods (Peters and
McMichael 1987). Menhaden and anchovies were the most important prey for adult red drum in the
winter and spring; crabs and shrimp were the most important prey in the summer and fall (Boothby
and Avault 1971).

The sale of red drum in Florida is prohibited (Florida Administrative Code, chapter 68B-22.005(2))
precluding any commercial harvest. In 2006, recreational red drum landings totaled 2,172,726
pounds. Landings were greater on the gulf coast, where about 70% of the statewidelandings were
made. The 2006 recreational landings of red drum were greater than 100,000 fish in each of the
five subregions except for Monroe County and Southeast Florida (Miami-Dade through St Lucie
Counties) (Fig. 1). Since 1989, when current regulations were enacted, landings slowly increased
on the Atlantic through about 2000 and 2001 before dropping to slightly lower levels during 2002-
2006. Since 1989, gulf landings have increased slowly from a 1989-2003 five-year average of 1.1
million pounds to a 2002-2006 average of 1.5 million pounds (Fig. 2). The 2006 total landings of
red drum were equal to the average landings in the previous five years (2001-2005) and were only
1% higher than the average historical landings (1982–2006).

During the mid-1980s, high total-catch rates occurred when the red drum standing stock
increased subsequent to several moratoria prohibiting red drum harvest. On the Atlantic coast
catch rates declined from 1995 through 2000 before holding steady through 2003 then increasing
in 2004 and 2005 (Fig. 3). Gulf coast total-catch rates showed a slower decline from 1991 through
2002 before rebounding in 2003, 2004, and 2005 (Fig. 4).

Young-of-the-year (YOY) abundance indices of red drum on the Atlantic coast had increased
markedly during 2001-2005 before dropping to near the 1996-2001 average in 2006. On the gulf
coast, young-of-the-year abundance indices increase from 2001-2004 but drop significantly in
2005, possibly due to red tide, and remained low in 2006 (Figs. 5, 6). Abundances of post-YOY red
drum were highest from 2000 to 2002 on the Atlantic coast and have fluctuated at more moderate
levels during the period 2003-2006. Abundances on the gulf coast has remained fairly high since
2003 (Figs. 7, 8). Few red drum were colleted exhibiting gross external abnormalities on the
Atlantic coast, while the proportion of effected red drum on the gulf coast varied without trend (Figs.
9, 10). Tumors/cysts were the dominant gross abnormalities encountered on the Atlantic coast,
while red/bloody areas and parasites were the two most common afflictions in red drum on the
gulf coast (Figs. 11, 12).

Escapement rates and direct evidence from the age composition of adults in the gulf off Tampa
Bay indicate that the adult stocks of red drum are rebuilding after the years of overfishing that
occurred prior to the mid-1980s. Studies by FWC-FMRI appear to indicate that the offshore stock of
red drum (mostly fish older than age 5) is increasing in abundance as new recruits move into the
population (Murphy and Crabtree 2001).

Coastwide assessments suggest that the Atlantic and gulf red drum stocks are still overfished but
that both are recovering (Goodyear 1996, Vaughan 1996, Vaughan and Carmichael 2000). Porch
(2000), however, suggests that red drum stocks are not recovering. His gulfwide assessment
showed that fishing mortality rates on subadults, particularly age-2 fish, were still high enough in
1998 that the spawning potential ratio of the stock was not likely to achieve 20% (Porch 2000).
Murphy (2002) indicated that the average instantaneous fishing mortalities on both coasts of
Florida peaked during the mid 1980s, declined during the late 1980s, and increased to relatively
stable levels by the mid-1990s. Because there was no information at that time on the sizes of red
drum that died subsequent to being released alive, a large portion of the harvest, the condition of
the red drum stocks in Florida could not be precisely determined. Murphy (2005) incorporated
some information on the sizes of released fish into an updated assessment of red drum in
Florida. Findings from these analyses indicated that year-class specific escapement rates were
34% on the Atlantic coast and 32% on the gulf coast in 2003.
Download complete report
(including figures)
Status and Trends 2007 Report
Florida’s Inshore and Nearshore Species
by Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute