Open Season! - Red Snapper

Red snapper- The Northern Gulf’s most prized possession.
Where is this fishery today and where will it be tomorrow?

When I think back to some of the most exciting trips I have taken, immediately, one in particular comes to mind. It was a trip back at the end of April 2004 with my wife and son.

I had persuaded them to head offshore with me with the promise of beautiful weather and the hopes of bringing home fresh fish for dinner. What I didn’t tell them is that I was chomping at the bit to do a little sinker-bouncing, and that red snapper season had just opened two weeks earlier.

With the plans laid, the following morning I was quickly reminded that Gina and Nick aren’t exactly early birds who enjoy leaving the house before the crack of dawn, so right from the start, I kept my expectations realistic.

With the boat loaded with most of my offshore gear- mostly 30lb. class outfits and a larger 6/0 spooled with 50lb., we finally fired up the MegaBite at around 8:00 a.m., really much later than I prefer. But we had a date to enjoy the day together and not let time or our angling success interfere, so off we went.

We cruised across the calm waters of Pensacola Bay in the pleasant 70-something degree weather. As we neared the mouth of the pass, pelicans working bait pods caught our attention. Like any good angler, I decided to stop and throw the net a couple of times in the hopes of scoring a few live baits. Fortunately, it didn’t take long before a decent mix of cigar minnows and hard-tails were occupying the well.

At just under six miles, it was a short ride out into the vast Northern Gulf of Mexico to my first set of numbers. Many anglers visiting this region are still under the misconception that you have to travel many miles from shore to reach big bottom fish. One trick small boaters use is to fish shallower spots that see very little pressure. I have been fortunate enough to gather a few of these “secret spots” that I’m convinced only I and a few close friends know of. Believe me; there is a point to all of this.

On this particular morning, the bottom machine was glowing with blobs and scratches, revealing what lurked below. Anxious, I repositioned, deployed the ground tackle and anchored just up-wind of the relatively shallow wreck. Since we only had a few hours, I was hoping a fresh chum bag would ignite a quick bite- and boy did it!

Before my own sinker landed gently below, Gina was already bowed up to her first keeper red. We were actually taken a bit by surprise by just how quickly the action had begun, but we had little time to talk about it as the steady bottom bite kept us busy for the remainder of the morning. When everything was said and done, we had not only landed eight beautiful reds, but also landed the largest red snapper ever caught on my boat. We went home happy, hungry and eager to head out on another exciting snapper adventure.

I hope that you, too, enjoyed reliving that special day with me. It is only one of a countless number of success stories reiterating the importance of red snapper for the recreational angling community. Hopefully, fishery managers will take this into consideration when determining this precious specie’s ultimate plight.

“Red snapper can live to 50 years,
and surprisingly, are sometimes caught in water as shallow as 20 feet.”

All around the state of Florida red snapper are a prized catch sought by countless anglers. The northern Gulf of Mexico just happens to have the largest concentration of red snapper, and plenty of anglers trying to catch them, too.

A true American red snapper, Lutjanus campechanus, is a beautifully colored rosy fish that is usually found in deeper waters, and at maturity, can weigh as much as 35 pounds. Red snapper can live to 50 years and surprisingly, are sometimes caught in water as shallow as 20 feet.

Red snapper grow relatively fast, reaching eight inches in their first year of life and gaining three to four inches each year thereafter until they reach full maturity. Their annual spawning ritual occurs from June through September when adults are about two or three years old. Dreadfully, each year, millions of juvenile red snapper lose their lives in the upper Gulf. Not because of red tide or improper release tactics- it’s commercial fishermen who inflict the damage. Scientific studies have proven that despite closed seasons and stringent regulations implemented to protect and preserve this important recreational food fish, more than 80 percent of every year class are wastefully discarded as by-catch by shrimp trawlers. Something seriously needs to be done about this!

Although as juveniles, red snapper may be found roaming open muddy bottoms where they make easy targets by leaving themselves exposed at the wrong place at the wrong time, adults are much wiser and never roam too far from structure with a preference for artificial wreckage. In the relative safety of deep water, big, adult red snapper feed on crabs, squid, shrimp and small fish which wander too close to reefs, oil rigs and other such habitats.

Every April 15, in state waters, northern Gulf coast anglers make a B-line to countless private and public reefs to target this famous fish. A week later, on April 21, an even greater number of sinker-bouncers head farther out to federal waters in the hopes of connecting with larger members of the same species. The red snapper fishery ends October 31, which is no trick or treat for the hardcore angler, but the closure gives the red snapper population six months of sanctuary to replenish their reserves for the following season.

Worthy of mention, during open season, the same artificial wrecks house not only large populations of red snapper, but other members in the same complex. These include mingo (vermillion) snapper, lane snapper and gray (mangrove) snapper. Any of which can show up to spice up your catch at any time

Just about everyone knows what fine table fare red snapper make. However, we can’t lose sight of the fact that these fish are brutally strong and are just plain fun to catch. To land your limit- two fish of 16 inches or longer in federal waters and four fish of the same minimum size in state waters- a very effective and sporting snapper rig consists of a medium-heavy rod paired with a quality 30lb. class conventional or spinning reel. This set-up provides the angler with enough backbone to horse a determined fish from deep, but it doesn’t totally dominate the battle so that there’s no sport to the fight.

Effective bait for red snapper is fairly simple considering they eat just about anything. Freshness is the most important factor with cut menhaden, frozen or live cigar minnows, pinfish, big butterflied grunts and ruby lips all on the red snapper’s preferred breakfast menu.