The legal size for redfish by state is set through a slot limit, meaning you can only keep a red drum whose total length falls between a stated minimum and maximum. Florida, Louisiana, and North Carolina all use an 18-to-27-inch window. Texas runs 20 to 28 inches. Mississippi stretches to 18 to 30 inches. Alabama sits at 16 to 26. South Carolina uses the tightest range at 15 to 23 inches, and Georgia opens at 14 to 23. Anything shorter or longer than your state’s slot has to go back in the water.
Slot Limits in Each Gulf and South Atlantic State
A slot protects fish on both ends. Below the minimum are juveniles that haven’t spawned. Above the maximum are breeders carrying the next generation. Keep what falls in between, release the rest.
Florida
Florida’s slot is 18 to 27 inches total length, applied statewide.1Legal Information Institute. Florida Administrative Code 68B-22.003 – Size Limits Nothing over 27 inches may be kept. The Indian River Lagoon region is catch-and-release only, with no harvest allowed at all.2Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Red Drum (Redfish)
Texas
Texas sets a slot of 20 to 28 inches total length.3Texas Administrative Code. 31 Texas Administrative Code 57.981 – Bag, Possession, and Length Limits The higher 20-inch minimum means more small fish get released than in neighboring states. Texas is also the only state that lets you keep an oversized red drum, under a tag system covered further down.
Louisiana
Louisiana’s slot is 18 to 27 inches total length. The state changed the rule in mid-2024, raising the minimum from 16 to 18 inches and eliminating the previous allowance for keeping oversized bull reds.4Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. New Red Drum Regulations Go into Effect June 20 Regulations printed before June 2024 are out of date.
Mississippi
Mississippi uses 18 to 30 inches total length, with one allowance: of your daily bag, one fish may exceed 30 inches.5Mississippi Department of Marine Resources. Recreational Catch Limits That makes Mississippi one of the few places where keeping a trophy-sized bull red is still legal.
Alabama
Alabama’s slot is 16 to 26 inches total length.6Alabama Administrative Code. Alabama Administrative Code 220-3-.30 – Saltwater Fish Creel, Bag, Possession and Size Limits As of mid-2025, the state eliminated the ability to keep any oversized red drum. Nothing above 26 inches may be possessed in Alabama waters.7Outdoor Alabama. Saltwater Bag and Creel Limits Updated for 2025
South Carolina
South Carolina has the tightest slot on the coast: 15 to 23 inches total length.8South Carolina Department of Natural Resources. Saltwater Recreational Fishing License Program The low minimum lets you keep smaller fish, but the 23-inch ceiling means anything approaching breeding size has to go back.
Georgia
Georgia sets a slot of 14 to 23 inches total length.9Georgia Department of Natural Resources. Recreational Finfish Season, Limits, and Sizes The 14-inch minimum is the lowest on the coast.
North Carolina
North Carolina uses 18 to 27 inches total length, paired with a strict one-fish daily bag.10North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality. Recreational Size and Bag Limits Keeping any red drum over 27 inches is prohibited.
Daily Bag Limits by State
The slot tells you what size. The bag tells you how many. The two numbers travel together, and they vary enough that an angler who crosses state lines has to re-check both.
- Texas: 3 per person per day11Texas Parks & Wildlife Department. Drum Bag and Length Limits
- Louisiana: 4 per person per day4Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. New Red Drum Regulations Go into Effect June 20
- Florida: 1 per person per day in most regions, with vessel limits of 2 to 4 depending on the management region2Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Red Drum (Redfish)
- Mississippi: 3 per person per day, one of which may exceed 30 inches5Mississippi Department of Marine Resources. Recreational Catch Limits
- Alabama: 3 per person per day6Alabama Administrative Code. Alabama Administrative Code 220-3-.30 – Saltwater Fish Creel, Bag, Possession and Size Limits
- South Carolina: 2 per person per day, not to exceed 6 per boat
- Georgia: 5 per person per day9Georgia Department of Natural Resources. Recreational Finfish Season, Limits, and Sizes
- North Carolina: 1 per person per day10North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality. Recreational Size and Bag Limits
Possession limits generally equal the daily bag, so you can’t stockpile fish from multiple days in a cooler. Florida’s vessel limits are the tightest on the coast, capping an entire boat at two to four fish regardless of how many anglers are aboard.2Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Red Drum (Redfish)
Keeping an Oversized Red Drum
In most states, any red drum longer than the slot maximum has to be released. Two states break that pattern.
Texas includes a Red Drum Tag with every saltwater fishing endorsement. The tag lets you keep one red drum over 28 inches per license year.12Texas Parks & Wildlife Department. Fishing Endorsements, Tags and Permits A Bonus Red Drum Tag can be purchased for $3, allowing one additional oversized fish per year. Only one bonus tag is allowed per angler per license year. The tagged fish does not count against the daily bag of three.11Texas Parks & Wildlife Department. Drum Bag and Length Limits The tag must be filled out with the date and location and physically attached to the fish before transport. Attaching it after the fact can convert a legal fish into an illegal-possession citation.
Mississippi allows one oversized red drum (over 30 inches) per day within the regular bag, with no separate tag required.5Mississippi Department of Marine Resources. Recreational Catch Limits Florida, Louisiana, Alabama, South Carolina, Georgia, and North Carolina all prohibit keeping oversized red drum.
Red Drum Are Off-Limits in Federal Waters
None of these state slot limits apply once you leave state waters. You cannot harvest or possess red drum in the federal Exclusive Economic Zone, period. In the Gulf, 50 CFR 622.92 prohibits harvest or possession of red drum anywhere in the Gulf EEZ.13eCFR. 50 CFR Part 622 – Fisheries of the Caribbean, Gulf of America, and South Atlantic A parallel ban covers the Atlantic EEZ under 50 CFR 697.7.14GovInfo. Federal Register Vol. 73 No. 194 – Atlantic Red Drum Fishery
State waters generally reach three nautical miles from shore. Texas and the Gulf coast of Florida are the exceptions, extending nine nautical miles.15U.S. Office of Coast Survey. U.S. Maritime Limits and Boundaries If you hook a red drum while bottom fishing beyond those lines, release it immediately regardless of size.
Measuring Total Length Correctly
Every state regulation above uses total length: the measurement from the tip of the snout to the farthest tip of the tail. An inch off is treated the same as keeping an obvious short fish.
Use a flat, rigid measuring board rather than a flexible tape. Lay the fish on its side with the mouth closed and the snout pressed firmly against the vertical headboard at zero. Straighten the body along the center line, then pinch the tail lobes together so the longest point of the tail reaches its maximum extension along the ruler.16Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Manual of Fisheries Science Part 2 – Methods of Resource Investigation and Their Application Read the measurement at the farthest point of the pinched tail.
Wildlife officers use this same technique during dock checks and on-water inspections. A fish that measures exactly at the boundary is legal in most states, but a bent tape or a sagging fish leaves no margin. Measure before the fish goes in the cooler, not after.