Black drum — Sebastian, Florida

Black drum are caught at Sebastian Inlet mainly from November through April, with the biggest fish at the north jetty tip from December through February and a fade in May.

Black drum at Sebastian Inlet follow the water temperature. The Sebastian Inlet District weekly fishing report, posted on Mondays and archived on the District site with each week and year, shows the bigger fish arriving in November, the best bite from December through February, and a fade in May once the inlet water warms. The District's index lists reports from the week of December 30, 2024 forward, which gives two full winter seasons of dated observations at the jetties of Sebastian Inlet State Park on the Brevard and Indian River County line.

The arrival is easy to date. In the report for the week of November 17, 2025, a few decent snook were caught on live shrimp, along with some pretty nice black drum, and the District's fishing guide wrote that it was time for the 'big uglies' to show up. A week later, on November 24, 2025, redfish, black drum and pompano were caught in good numbers at the Sebastian Inlet jetties, with dead cut shrimp for the drum and pompano.

The departure is just as clear. On May 11, 2026, the Sebastian Inlet report said anglers had caught only a couple of decent black drum on dead shrimp because the water was warm enough that they will leave until the fall when it cools back down again. Smaller drum do linger: the July 14, 2025 report still listed whiting, croakers and black drum for surf anglers fishing shrimp and sandfleas in the high tide phases.

The winter peak at the Sebastian Inlet north jetty comes in January, when large black drum take clams and shrimp at the tip on early morning high tides.

January is the center of the season at the Sebastian Inlet north jetty. The January 5, 2026 report said the black drum were starting to bite and named live clams as one of their favorite baits. The action at the north jetty had largely occurred during the early morning high tide phase, with black drum, which the guide again called 'big uglies', biting at the tip on clams and dead and live shrimp.

Size peaked later that month. In the January 26, 2026 report, the guide described really nice black drum caught over the weekend, most in the 24 to 28-inch range, and noted that the south jetty also gave up some pretty big black drum on dead shrimp and sandfleas during the incoming tide. Those fish straddle the top of the FWC slot, which is why the District's reports often separate keepers from fish that had to be released.

Black drum keep feeding when other species shut down. The week of February 2, 2026 carried the headline that it was too cold for fishing, yet the only fish seen at the north jetty were small bluefish and a couple of big black drum on clams, with one more taken on a jig. Boats work the same water: on February 24, 2025, boats fishing the northeast tip on the outgoing tide and the southeast tip on the incoming tide did well on black drum, redfish and undersized snook once the water at Sebastian Inlet calmed and cleaned up.

Black drum at Sebastian Inlet State Park feed in three zones: the rock pile at the jetty tips, the inside shoreline back to the T-dock, and the surf on both sides of the inlet.

Bottom structure holds the fish. On May 4, 2026, most of the fish at the north jetty, including the drum, were caught over the rock pile at the tip. Inside the inlet, the December 30, 2024 report said the incoming tide had been producing sheepshead and black drum along the shoreline from the jetty back to the T-dock, on shrimp and sand fleas. The T-dock and cleaning table on the south side of Sebastian Inlet turn up drum in most winter reports, usually smaller fish taken on live or dead shrimp.

The surf is the third zone. The north side beach of Sebastian Inlet State Park produced whiting, small puppy drum and pompano in the December 29, 2025 report, and the same beach gave up whiting, pompano and drum on shrimp, sandfleas and fish bites on March 9, 2026. Those beaches sit inside the 20.5 miles of shoreline between Melbourne Beach and Wabasso Beach that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service describes as Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge, across Brevard and Indian River Counties.

Tide timing comes up in almost every Sebastian Inlet report: early morning high tides at the north jetty tip in January, the incoming tide along the rocks and the south shoreline, and the outgoing tide at the tip for boats. NOAA publishes the tide predictions for station 8722004, Sebastian Inlet bridge, a subordinate prediction station; NOAA also lists prediction stations at Micco and Wabasso inside the Indian River Lagoon.

Most black drum caught at Sebastian Inlet are juveniles raised in the Indian River Lagoon, the fish District reports call puppy drum.

Most black drum caught at Sebastian Inlet are juveniles. The District's reports call them puppy drum: fish under 10 inches at the T-dock on March 9, 2026, and mostly small puppy drum of about 10 to 12 inches on April 20, 2026, when black drum, sheepshead and redfish were taken on live and dead shrimp and sand fleas.

The reason lies in the Indian River Lagoon. In Part 4 of its fish biology series, the Sebastian Inlet District classifies the black drum (Pogonias cromis) as an estuarine-ocean fishery migrator, a group that also includes snook, red drum, menhaden and striped mullet. The District's source, biologist Dr. Grant Gilmore, explained that the red drum, black drum, whiting and menhaden all spawn in the Indian River Lagoon, miles from the inlet, and that the cut at Sebastian opened a route for ocean migration as well. Juveniles grow up in the lagoon and pass the jetties, which is where anglers meet them.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission adds the long view: black drum can reach over 46 inches, 120 pounds and 60 years of age, grow rapidly until about age 15, and spawn in winter and early spring, from November to April in the southern part of the range, which includes the east coast of Florida. That spawning window lines up with the months when the Sebastian Inlet reports show the largest fish at the jetty tips.

Black drum at Sebastian are managed by FWC with a 14 to 24-inch slot, one fish over 24 inches allowed, and a daily bag of 5.

Black drum in Sebastian Inlet and the Indian River Lagoon fall under the statewide rules of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. As listed by FWC in October 2026, Gulf and Atlantic state waters carry a slot limit of 14 to 24 inches with one fish over 24 inches allowed, a daily bag limit of 5 per harvester per day (which can include that one larger fish), and a season open year-round. Legal gear is hook and line, cast net, seine, spear or gig. FWC prohibits harvest with any multiple hook used with live or dead natural bait, and snatching is not allowed.

The slot matters at Sebastian Inlet because the winter fish run large. The 24 to 28-inch drum described in the January 26, 2026 report sit mostly above the slot, so only one such fish per person may be kept, while the 10 to 12-inch puppy drum of April 2026 fall below the 14-inch minimum. Black drum are also absent from the sportfish list on the Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge fishing page, which names redfish, snook, sea trout, flounder, mangrove snapper and jack crevalle for the open water areas of the refuge north of Sebastian.