March starts the season for me, as Redfish are schooling around the mangrove islands, and Snook start their migration into the mouth of rivers and creeks. Trout move into deeper water flats and the large yellow mouth critters from the gulf are eager to bite.

For me March means the start of the spawning season for (Pogonias Cromis) Black Drum, and these big brutes will be around all summer long, hanging around bridges and artificial reefs eager to be caught on Grouper tackle.

March brings hundreds of the big spawners into the shallow flats of Tampa Bay to do their thing, and the schools are so large the sandy bottom turns brown.

The secret is to find them first and keep the location to yourself. However, eventually the word gets out and the crowds will start to show up. Last year the Black Drum moved in along a sand bar just inside the Skyway Bridge and hung around until they got tired of getting hammered and run over by inexperienced anglers.

If you want to catch the big ones, use some small blue crabs, cut large crabs, or live large shrimp. Since Drum are bottom feeders, I have found more action by suspending the bait just off the bottom and letting the bait drift into the school rather than throwing on top of them. Remember, they have other ideas in March so you need to entice them into biting.

I do use a jig sometimes when they start to move into deeper waters trying to get away from the engine noise and boat traffic. I like to tip my jig with a large live shrimp or cut blue crab and slowly retrieve it across the bottom to find the school in deeper water. Once I find them I jug the spot and free line live shrimp or crabs.

I have seen too many anglers switch to large jig heads and try to snatch them when they can't entice them to bite, and to me that is not the sporting thing to do. When the word gets out where the school is I have seen 30 to 40 anglers trying to catch them. Eventually the poor fish can take only so much and they move into deeper waters trying to get away.

Shallow water Drum can range from 20 to 60 pounds. Last year before the crowds moved in we averaged 4 to 6 drum on a half day charter, and most of them were in the 50 to 60 pound range. Remember it takes about 30 minutes to bring one the big bruisers to the boat with spinning tackle.

You need to have enough sun light to see school so I suggest start you quest around 9 a.m. keep an open eye for other boats if you see them grouping up they found the school for you.

My favorite tackles for Black Drum on the flats:
7.5 Ohero medium action rod
4500 Daiwa Saltist 4500 spinning reel
30-pound test Ohero braided line
40-pound test fluorocarbon leader
254 N 3/0 Eagle Claw Oshaugnessy J hook
Blue Water Thunder Float by Precision Tackle

My favorite baits:
Small live blue crabs
Cut large blue crabs
Large live shrimp

Good fishing and tight lines