During mild winters, red drum may overwinter in the Bay, but they usually migrate seasonally, moving in schools offshore and southward in the winter and inshore to the north in the spring. Juvenile red drum also move from bays and estuaries to deeper waters of the ocean in response to dropping water temperatures in the fall and winter. Life Cycle Male red drum begin maturing at age 1, while females mature at ages 4 to 5 in North Carolina and 2 to 3 farther south. Eggs spawned in the ocean are carried by currents into estuaries where they hatch. Juvenile drum in these areas feed on zooplankton and invertebrates such as small crabs and shrimp.
Adults primarily feed on fish, crabs and shrimp.
The commercial red drum fishery is not an important one in the Chesapeake Bay area. Virginia's commercial catch, once as high as 180,000 pounds per year, has been insignificant since 1965. Maryland's annual catch has not exceeded 2,000 pounds since 1954. Commercial landings of red drum Baywide have been reported since the 1880s. The landings have varied widely, ranging from 4,400 pounds in 1973 to 1.7 million pounds in 1945.