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Black Drum
OpenPogonias cromis
The NC rulebook, translated for the Banks.
The Short Version
North Carolina manages Black Drum on a slot: keep fish between 14" and 25" total length and release everything else. The daily creel is 1 per person per day, and the fishery is open through the whole calendar year.
Keep Size
14" to 25"
Slot window, total length
Run the tape from the snout to the far edge of the tail pressed flat together — a pinched tail adds the half inch that decides a citation.
Daily Creel
1 per person per day
What one angler may take per day
Counts are per person unless the rule says "per boat," and they aggregate across everywhere you fished that day — sound, surf, and ocean all land in the same tally.
Season Window
Year-round
When harvest is legal
Open through the year unless an emergency closure posts.
Where It Stands
Open
Harvest is legal; emergency in-season shutdowns are rare but do happen — glance at the DMF proclamations page anyway.
Drum on the Bridge Pilings
The big spring black drum root along the pilings of the Washington Baum and Basnight bridges over Roanoke and Croatan sound water, where the structure holds them and a fish-finder rig with a chunk of crab or clam gets bit. They are a different fish from the red drum that make Cape Point famous: slower, heavier, and more tied to hard structure.
The 14"–25" slot is what keeps the brood stock in the water, so the fish of a lifetime goes back. Small black drum are good table fare; the big ones are full of worms and better photographed than eaten.
The Fine Print
- •Slot limit: keep fish from 14" to 25" total length only.
- •1 per person per day, inside the slot.
- •Bridge pilings and channel structure in the Roanoke and Croatan sounds hold them, especially in spring.
- •Fish a fish-finder rig on the bottom with crab, clam, or shrimp. Big fish are protected by the slot and release well.
Updated Oct 30, 2026