The black drum run is probably one of the most niche fisheries we have in the Northeast. For a few weeks from late April to June schools of big drumfish pile into Delaware Bay (and more recently Barnegat Bay) and fishermen target them with clams. The drum run, once a staple among the Cape May charter fleet, has waned in popularity, but several captains, like the legendary Bob Cope, still book up fully during the run.
After the drum spawn, and vacate the bays, they pretty much vanish from fishing reports. Where they go, after they leave the bays, is largely unknown. Few, if any, fishermen even wonder. A scientific paper on drumfish published by NOAA in 1979 said, “adults retreat inconspicuously southward and offshore by late fall.” And our knowledge of where the drum go after that has increased little since then.
So, anytime a drum shows up outside the spring run in the bays, it’s a bit of a novelty. Usually, it’s a surfcaster or a fluke fisherman who catches a stray drumfish, a fish of 60 or more pounds that provides a thrilling battle. However, the advent of drone photography has offered us many insights into what’s happening off our coasts, including what the drum do after they spawn.
Over the past week, two New Jersey drone photographers captured stunning footage of a massive school of black drum moving off the beaches. The fish, which Joe Malley estimated to be in the thousands, formed a tight school just under the surface. Joe, who you can follow on Instagram at @joe_malley, said it was maybe the largest school of any type of fish he’d ever seen.
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Christor Lukasiewicz also spotted a school of drum on June 30, captioning his footage, “Plenty of drum out there this morning.”
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Christor has captured many amazing scenes off the Jersey Coast in recent years, including a humpback whale regurgitating a striped bass, and you can view them on his Instagram Account: @christorluke. He also captured footage of black drum around this time last year, though in much smaller schools.
Christor said the drum appeared to be moving north, northeast, and when asked if any boats appeared to in pursuit of the school, he said while he saw them, they had avoided detection by any anglers in the area.
Featured Image by Christor Lukasiewicz