Side by Side

Black Drum Pogonias cromis

Typical: 14–30 in, 2–15 lb

Key field mark: Chin barbels under the lower jaw are present on black drum and absent on both redfish and sheepshead; black drum also lacks the redfish tail spot and the sheepshead's incisor teeth.

• High-backed gray to silvery body, brassy sheen
• Several chin barbels under the lower jaw
• Young show 4-5 dark vertical bars (fade with age)
• Cobblestone-like crushing pharyngeal teeth, no canines
• Subterminal mouth
• No black spot on the tail

Full Black Drum guide — season, gear and rules →

Whiting (Kingfish) Menticirrhus americanus

Typical: 10–14 in, 0.5–1.5 lb

Quickest tell: One short barbel under the tip of the lower jaw on a long, round-bodied silver fish is a whiting — a young black drum carries several barbels under a much deeper, high-backed body.

• Long, round-bodied silver fish with a flat belly and a small underslung mouth
• ONE short stiff barbel under the tip of the lower jaw
• Grayish-brown to bronze back fading to silvery sides and a white belly
• Southern kingfish: 7–8 soft-edged dark diagonal blotches along the side, parallel — never meeting in a V
• Gulf kingfish: plain silver with no bars and a blackish tip on the tail
• Northern kingfish: bold oblique bars, two of them forming a V behind the head, and a long trailing spine on the first dorsal fin

Full Whiting (Kingfish) guide — season, gear and rules →

When Each Is Running September — current month highlighted

Where Black Drum and Whiting (Kingfish) Overlap

Both run in Gulf of Mexico, Southeast Atlantic — that is where telling them apart actually matters.

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