Normally, harvesting 108 red snapper from the South Atlantic might be enough to earn you some jail time. Not if you have Florida Exempted Fishing Permits (EFPs).

Studies being conducted on Florida’s east coast right now are allowing recreational anglers to catch and keep red snapper, and there’s still plenty of opportunity to put your name in the hat for a chance at an EFP.

Team Buck Rogers Charters out of Jacksonville got their hands on four of these golden tickets known as EFPs, and they are busily cashing them in. With an allowance of 36 red snapper per trip, six lucky anglers likely have sore arms from pumping and reeling.

“We’re piling them up. We’ve got four permits and 36 snapper per trip, and we’re 100 percent so far,” said Capt. Chad Starling. “It’s not hard. We did it in 45 minutes. That’s what happens when it’s been shut down for 14 years.”

Fishing with an Exempted Fishing Permit

EFPs allow the take of out-of-season fish for scientific research. Team Buck Rogers is participating in one of three red snapper and grouper studies being conducted right now by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC). With a captain, a mate, six anglers and an FWC representative onboard, they have fished three of these fast-paced meat runs on September 18, 19, 20. Starling is confident they’ll boat their 36 snapper a fourth time on Oct. 1.

“Every fish gets harvested,” Starling said. “I mean, you go out and fish for 45 minutes, keep everything you catch and then come back.”

In a social media post on Sept. 23, Team Buck Rogers said their captains have carpal tunnel syndrome from filleting fish and that they’re running through their Ziplock bags. The anglers get to keep the meat and FWC keeps the carcasses for study.

In a press release, FWC indicated these studies are intended to collaborate with anglers to collect data on red snapper and test ways to reduce red snapper discards. Starling said he hopes they’re looking at the fish from his boats and seeing all sizes and ages of red snapper, which would be evidence of a population that’s healthy enough to allow more regular harvest opportunities.

Since 2011, NOAA has managed South Atlantic red snapper under an intense rebuilding plan with extremely limited federal seasons and bag limits. It has worked well, according to the many captains and recreational anglers who say they are seeing more snapper than ever. Continued strict regulations are a source of building frustration. This summer in the Atlantic from North Carolina through Florida, NOAA—through the South Atlantic Marine Fishery Council—allowed recreational anglers just a single day to harvest one snapper per person.

“Like you, FWC is frustrated with the current state of Atlantic red snapper management,” said Jessica McCawley, director of FWC’s Division of Marine Fisheries Management. “We recognize that people are seeing more red snapper than ever on the water. These particular EFPs try to turn discarded fish into landed catch and improve angler satisfaction by testing different management measures.”

How to Get an Exempted Fishing Permit

The trips Team Buck Rogers Charters takes with its clients are part of a program called FWC Study Fleet. FWC selects five charter captains every three months to participate by fishing Atlantic waters off northern Florida. To get in on one of these trips, private recreational anglers must likely be preferred clients of one of the captains selected.

For private recreational charter captains who want to get involved, eligibility details and enrollment information are available at myfwc.com. For instructions on how to apply watch this video.

There are also two programs that allow private recreational anglers to keep a few red snapper. The FWC Hot Spot Fleet program is for private Florida anglers who fish north of the NASA Vehicle Assembly Building at Cape Canaveral. The SE FL Snapper Grouper Fleet program is for private anglers who fish south of that point.

“For years, FWC has heard that anglers want to directly provide data to improve the management of Atlantic red snapper,” said FWC chairman Rodney Barreto. “This is your opportunity to do so. Your participation is not just desired; it’s essential for these studies to be a success and improve management.”

Up to 200 private anglers will be selected for each fleet every three months by lottery. Each selected angler will be randomly assigned to a group, either experimental or control. There are different requirements for anglers fishing the two groups, and experimental group anglers will be allowed to harvest three snapper per day during official fleet trips.

All three fleet programs have three remaining application periods: Oct. 4-14, Jan. 3-13 and April 4-14.To learn more about these programs go to myfwc.com. For instructions on how to apply watch this video.

The post Harvest South Atlantic Red Snapper Now appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Since the term paradox defines a statement or condition likely self-contradictory and contrary to any logic or reason, labeling red snapper management in the South Atlantic as a paradox is on the money. The South Atlantic federal red snapper season this year is one day — July 12, 2024. Clearly, any reasonable person would assume, red snapper are an endangered species to engender such draconian regulations.

Matter of fact, both scientifically via stock assessment data and empirically via captains on the water almost daily, there’s widespread agreement that there are more red snapper in the Atlantic from Florida to the Carolinas than at any time in recent memory.

“They’re everywhere! You can hardly catch anything else!” says longtime sportfishing-industry veteran Dave Workman at Strike-Zone Fishing in Jacksonville, Florida. And they’re spreading. Historically, to catch red snapper, anglers fished roughly 100 to 300 feet of water. Now, as their populations snowball, reds have also moved into shallows, often caught in just 50 feet, and much deeper, even in 600 feet.

Why the Short Red Snapper Season?

So why in the world would the feds have a 1-day season for 2024? Warning: Trying to understand any explanation is not unlike trying to make sense of one’s situation when lost in a house of mirrors.

But, at least as best I can figure it, NOAA Fisheries insists red snapper are “overfished and experiencing overfishing.” Never mind that no one is actually harvesting them. According to fishery managers, the primary culprit is discard mortality from red snapper caught during the year as bycatch by anglers after other species.

That’s hardly unlikely given that red snapper are decidedly aggressive and can show up anywhere in the water column at any time. Since snapper are so widespread, only by closing the ocean to all reef/coastal fishing could they be protected. (Shh! Don’t even say it!) There’s a tendency of snappers brought to the boat to experience barotrauma. And that can make their successful release difficult, although the odds go up considerably for anglers using required descending devices.

Of course, that takes us back to another paradox: If release mortality accounts for decimating the species, how can the South Atlantic be so full of red snapper? Chris Horton, senior director of fisheries policy for the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation, says if the government’s “stock/recruitment model is correct, this fishery should be collapsing. The numbers just don’t add up.”

Similarly, the numbers for red snapper in the Gulf of Mexico were “not adding up” only a few years ago, such as in 2017 when NOAA Fisheries offered red snapper anglers a three-day season for the year. Here, too, the uproar was mighty since the Gulf was absolutely teeming with red snapper.

But the past few years have seen seasons for Gulf snapper get longer and longer. This year, while South Atlantic anglers get one day to catch the super-abundant red snapper, their Gulf of Mexico counterparts will likely enjoy fishing for red snapper for more than 100 days, stretching selectively from June through November.

The difference has little to do with abundance of the fish. Quite simply, a few years back, the feds allowed Gulf states to begin managing the recreational red snapper quota off their shores on their own. In essence, Gulf-state fishery managers, politicians, and anglers had no trouble proving to the feds that its numbers were totally out of whack, and that state management could and would do a much better job of accurately estimating how many red snapper were being landed by anglers, and managing accordingly.

Finally, NOAA Fisheries said in effect, okay, if you can do it better, go ahead. State fish managers did go ahead with their own, more robust yet more nimble systems to collect recreational-landings data. The result showed that anglers could be fishing more days while not exceeding red snapper quotas. At about the same time, an unrelated but independent Great Red Snapper Count showed — guess what? — at least three times the number of snapper swimming in the Gulf versus federal estimates.

Fixing the Red Snapper Season

So therein lies the primary reason for 100-plus days of snapper fishing for Gulf Coast states and a single day of snapper fishing in the South Atlantic. Put simply, it’s state management of federal quotas versus federal management of federal quotas. As you might guess, there’s increasing pressure on Georgia and the Carolinas to take over management. Florida has a head start for its Atlantic coast fishery thanks to its experience managing the state’s Gulf-side snapper.

But, Horton points out, all four South Atlantic coastal states will have to develop their own recreational data collection programs and divide up quotas equitably as was done by Gulf states. And there’s still pushback, with some at the state level citing the cost of taking over management of snapper. But it’s worth it, in the opinion of Horton (and many others): “It’s a great thing to get out from under the constraints of poor federal catch data in favor of more accurate and timely state data-collection programs,” he says.

The post The Great Red Snapper Paradox appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Recreational anglers are applauding progress by the Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission (GSMFC) to improve the quality and timeliness of recreational fishery dependent data gathered by the Gulf states. With the ongoing turmoil in federal recreational data collection efforts, anglers are optimistic that the states will be in position to break from the federal data system, as other regions have done, and assume management of red snapper and other species in the Gulf of Mexico in the near future.

David Donaldson, executive director of the commission, recently reported to the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council that more than $6.6 million in Inflation Reduction Act funding is being applied to:

• Improve state and commission data management systems;
• Develop better methods of quality control;
• Establish GSMFC as centralized warehouse for state fishery dependent data;
• Evaluate ways to validate state-based recreational fishing effort estimates;
• Evaluate ways to improve recreational discard data

Progress at the commission can’t come too soon as it is becoming apparent that the federal management system is struggling to function due to uncertainty in the federal recreational data. Continued cooperation by the Commission and the Gulf states is critical to provide a viable alternative to the current federal system, which is anchored in decades of questionable data, uncertain conversions and outdated management models. It has become almost impossible for fishery management councils to make timely decisions.

In just the last few months, the following developments have highlighted deep-rooted problems in the federal management system bringing trust in that system to the lowest level possible:

Fishing Effort Survey Errors

Last August, NOAA Fisheries announced that errors in its recreational data program — the Marine Recreational Information Program-Fishing Effort Survey (MRIP-FES) — is causing the over-estimation of recreational harvest by up to 40 percent for some species. This error was believed to be caused by the order of questions in the survey; moving them around yielded more accurate results.  Despite that rather small change that led to exceptionally spurious findings, managers will be forced to use the flawed data for management for several years as the system is analyzed. The recreational data program will once again go back to the drawing board — now looking at the third major change since the last reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Act. This certainly does not instill in recreational anglers any trust in NOAA management.

Red Snapper Numbers Remain Unclear

In January 2024, it was announced that SEDAR 74 — the current Gulf of Mexico Red Snapper Stock Assessment — was unable to produce a viable stock assessment for the most studied species in the Gulf reef fish complex. The stock assessment model contains more than a jaw-dropping 2,900 parameters, each with its own level of uncertainty and bias. Even a casual observer would not expect robust management advice to be produced by such a convoluted process. A new assessment is not expected for at least two years. Moreover, due to the model’s instability, reviewers recommended not including findings from the Great Red Snapper Count (GRSC), a $12 million independent stock assessment of the Gulf red snapper population funded by Congress and conducted by 12 leading marine science institutes and more than 100 of the top scientists around the Gulf and beyond. The GRSC was finalized in 2021 and found a red snapper population at least three times larger than NOAA’s estimates. As it stands, that $12 million effort has been largely ignored by NOAA Fisheries.

Conflicting Gag Grouper Numbers

NOAA Fisheries recently released its initial recreational harvest numbers for Gulf of Mexico gag grouper, which were seven times higher than results generated by the State of Florida Reef Fish Survey (SRFS). The findings included 106,000 pounds of gag grouper harvested from shore based on a single intercept on a bridge. Taken as presented, those findings would indicate the recreational sector is more than four times over its annual catch limit and would necessitate severe management actions, including possible bottom closures. NOAA officials have laid out a plan to go back and determine where these incredible numbers came from and how to deal with them.

What’s the Next Step?

These are just a few of many findings and outcomes of what continually appears to be a flawed system of exceptional reactive vs proactive resource management. These events are part of a crisis management pattern that has undermined the effectiveness of NOAA Fisheries as a viable management entity. Constantly unwinding errors from the past and eliminating unexplainable outliers leaves no room for forward-thinking — only reacting. The fishery management councils and staff are doing the best they can, but the federal agency has painted itself into a corner and the system is staggering under its own weight. Trust is so low that there are reports of private marinas beginning to block NMFS access to their docks. This crisis of confidence in MRIP needs to be addressed by turning the data collection over to the states.

Comparing West Coast to Southeast States

The Gulf Coast states are following a path taken by the West Coast states, which opted out of the federal data system in 2002. This follows a long-held management paradigm that fisheries management is most successfully accomplished at the most local level reasonable. For example, Oregon, Washington and California reached an agreement in which NOAA takes the funding it was using to collect recreational data and gives it to the states, and those states collect their own data and supply it to NOAA Fisheries for management purposes. No calibration, no trying to tie it back to NOAA’s inexplicable MRIP numbers — a clean cut. The West Coast states broke with NOAA due to frustration with the same problems that are plaguing the Southeast. States in the South Atlantic are also currently exploring options after ongoing data debacles in the red snapper, reef fish and Spanish mackerel fisheries, among others.

Recreational data problems in the federal system aren’t going away — they’re getting worse. Fortunately, there is a path forward in the Gulf, and we believe it is time to embrace a cohesive state-based management program that utilizes timely, current data and produces information managers can use today. We must get down to the business of properly managing our fisheries rather than wasting time explaining the mistakes of the past.

About the Author: Ted Venker is the Vice President and Conservation Director of the Coastal Conservation Association.

The post Give Power to the States appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

The Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (ADCNR) reports that a federal NOAA decree made on Dec. 1 will reduce Alabama’s recreational angler allotment for 2023 by 51 percent.

The federal quota reduction will drop Alabama’s red snapper recreational angler harvest from the 1,122,662 pounds allowed in 2022, to 558,200 pounds in 2023.

Scott Bannon, Director of Alabama’s Marine Resources Division, says the quota reduction by NOAA stems from the differences in red snapper harvest estimates between the federal government and Alabama’s red snapper data compilation.

The NOAA quota was calculated using the federal survey estimates.

However, Alabama’s quota has been monitored since 2018 using the state’s popular and effective data collection program called “Snapper Check.”

“Each Gulf state is accounting for their recreational harvests using different data programs from what the federal government is using,” says Bannon. “Under the rule that created state management of red snapper in 2018, there was a requirement to align the landings into the same calibration method. Alabama and Mississippi have very accurate reporting systems, and we feel the harvest estimates from NOAA are inflated and unreasonable.

“Since before state management of red snapper was initiated, we pushed the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council (Gulf Council) that we should manage the amount of fish (taken) off each state. From Alabama’s perspective, this is in part due to the investments made by the state and private individuals in artificial reef building from which a significant number of red snapper and other reef species are produced in Alabama’s reef zones.”

Alabama has the largest artificial reef zone in America with about 1,100 square miles designated for habitat enhancement.

Since 2012, the population of red snapper and other popular reef fish have been monitored through research from the University of South Alabama’s School of Marine and Environmental Sciences.

“Utilizing the abundance estimates we receive from the University of South Alabama each year, nearly 25 percent of the red snapper off Alabama live among artificial reefs, and we think our red snapper stock is continuing to replenish itself at a sustainable rate.” Says Bannon. “We feel very strongly that in the Alabama reef zone the stock is very stable. Recruitment is good as there are enough young fish moving up through the reef system.”

“I’m disappointed with the (federal) allowable catch limit (ACL) set so far below the overfishing limit,” Bannon said. “I think the ACL could have been set a little higher, which would have given opportunities to all three sectors – commercial, for-hire (charter boats) and private recreational anglers.

“Fortunately, with the state system, people understand they can wait for a better (weather) day and fish when it works well for them. They are not pressured to go the way they did when the seasons were very short.”

Read Next: Stop The Madness: Federal Regulations May Increase Red Snapper Limits for Some Gulf State Fishermen

Alabama anglers still have the opportunity to catch red snapper for Christmas because the season of Friday-Monday weekend openings will continue until midnight on Saturday, December 31.

“Now that the football regular season is over and the deer aren’t moving, you can go fishing,” he said. “The rut won’t happen until January or February, so go fish a few days.”

The post Alabama Red Snapper Allocation May Be Cut by Half appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Florida Gulf Coast spear fishermen are used to running far offshore to get into the best waters for taking big hauls of bottomfish. So, when carpenter Jacob Felts, 30, and his dive buddies headed out for a long-range overnight bottomfishing trip using hook and lines some 150 miles offshore, it was no big deal.

They were aboard Brian Stone’s 42-foot Freeman catamaran named the “Big Nasty” powered by quad 400-horsepower outboards. And they were up and gone zipping across 1-foot flat seas on Oct. 7 staring at 4 a.m.

They started catching grouper at dawn, boating a big mixed bag of Warsaw, snowies, gags, and other bottomfish, plus a few vermilion snapper or “beeliners” as they’re called by many anglers.

“We fished 10 or 12 different spots, mostly natural bottoms and some spring holes, then moved inshore to about 125 feet of water where ‘beeliners’ are more common,” said Felts, of Adel, Ga. “That’s still 100 miles offshore, a place not many other recreational fishing boats work.

“I really wanted to catch a big beeliner because they’re so darn good to eat, almost like a hog snapper or hogfish.”

Felts hid a 10/0 circle hook in a big squid bait and sent it down about mid-day. Using a Shimano Torium-20 reel spooled with 60-pound monofilament line and an 80-pound fluorocarbon leader, he hooked another good fish that he thought was just a nice grouper – until he got it topside.

“I’d caught some beeliners before at that spot and wasn’t surprised to see the fish, but I couldn’t believe the size,” said Felts. “’Holy cow,’ I told the rest of the crew, ‘this is a heck of a snapper’.”

The anglers took a photo of the fish, put it on ice in a fish box, and kept on catching fish.

“We talked about how big that beeliner was that night, and none of us knew they even grew nearly that big,” Felts recalls.

The following day at the end of the fishing trip, the anglers loaded up their gear and headed to Sea Hag Marina in the nearby coastal town of Steinhatchee. Certified scales were there to officially weigh and measure Felts’ vermilion snapper.

Fortunately for Felts there was an official notary from IGFA who knew exactly what to do with the possible record vermilion snapper. They made plenty of photos and videos of the fish, with proper weighing and measuring.

Felts’ snapper officially weighed 9.26-pounds, with a 28 1/8-inch length and 17 ¾-inch girth.

The current IGFA All-Tackle world record is 7-pounds, 3-ounces, caught in 1987, off Mobile, Ala. by John Doss. Felts’ fish is nearly two pounds heavier.

“If it wasn’t for Kristin Skipper at Sea Hag helping us fill out paperwork and do the right things in weighing, measuring and preserving the fish, this never would have happened,” said Felts. “I’m really grateful to her.”

Felts is submitting all necessary documentation to IGFA, including leader, line and hook, and has talked with the record-keeping agency to make sure everything goes smoothly.

‘I even froze the fish whole, just in case something else is needed to document the catch,” he says. “I’d like to get a reproduction mount, because when everything is accepted by IGFA we’ll thaw it, fillet and eat it.

“My buddies are excited about eating a world record fish.”

The post Likely IGFA All-Tackle World Record Vermilion Snapper Is About to get Eaten appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

The regular red snapper recreational fishing season ended in Louisiana in mid-September. But state officials say more snapper can be taken by the state’s anglers to meet the snapper quota set by fisheries authorities earlier in the year.

This time the Louisiana red snapper limit is increased to four fish per person, per day. Angling for them lasts for eight days, running from 12:01 a.m. Friday, October 7 through 11:59 p.m. Friday, October 14.

Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) Secretary Jack Montoucet signed a declaration of emergency to reopen the Gulf Coast State’s recreational red snapper season for the eight extra days.

According to LDWF, the agency closed the season on Sept. 19 to allow staff an opportunity to analyze harvest limits. State red snapper reel data indicate that 39,216 pounds of the 809,315-pound quota allowed at the start of the season is still for harvest to Cajun anglers.

Recent effort and landings have been low enough to allow for state emergency declaration for an eight-day extension with a higher bag limit.

Louisiana recreational angling interests and federal NOAA Fisheries have a long history of crossed swords over regulations governing red snapper harvest in the Gulf of Mexico.

It boils down to state agencies managing fisheries within their controlling waters, and the federal government (NOAA) commanding control.

Coastal Conservation Association Conservation Director Ted Venken said earlier this year that that NOAA believes its data is the only right data for red snapper.

“Rather than continue to insist it is always the smartest entity in the room, NOAA Fisheries should work on being a better partner to the Gulf states as well as the angling public, and commit to getting to the bottom of wild data discrepancies [of red snapper catches] before cramming down damaging, punitive measure[s].”

Venker is upset about NOAA discounting recent snapper data meticulously collected by Gulf States like Louisiana that shows recreational angler catches have implemented detailed mandatory catch reporting.

This is the basis for Louisiana reopening its snapper season for an additional week to sport anglers. Careful monitoring of their catches showed the state allocation quota for red snapper was not yet met when the season closed in mid-September. So anglers can reap an additional snapper harvest in October without impacting red snapper numbers in Louisiana.

The post Louisiana Declares Emergency Reopening of Red Snapper Season appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Federal proposed regulations governing the take of Gulf of Mexico red snapper are again a hot potato issue in marine fisheries management. This time, almost 40 Southern state Congressmen have joined together to protest new federal snapper limits that may be imposed on various states, according to a report by The Center Square.

The new federal guidelines proposal could increase the take of snapper in some states like Louisiana and Florida, while reducing snapper limits on other states like Alabama and Mississippi, according to the report.

Dozens of southern Congressmen signed a letter to U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo in late July asking her to have the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) update the science used to set Gulf red snapper harvest. The Congressmen believe NOAA’s proposed rules decreases red snapper harvest by their state anglers that otherwise could be taken, while still maintaining a sustainable red snapper population.

This point made by the congressional letter to Raimondo is based on a Gulf States snapper harvest study called “The Great Red Snapper Count.” This independent study (required by Congress) proposed an increase to the federal redfish limits as it showed more snapper were available than believed by NMFS. Yet the proposed federal catch quotas on red snapper increased minimally.

Lawmakers contend NMFS ignored new data in the Great Red Snapper Count by reducing catch limits from 97 percent of the sustainable limit to roughly 60 percent, reports The Center Square. The Great Red Snapper Count showed three times as many fish as NMFS previously recognized.

The Congressmen’s letter stated: “By requiring the States to calibrate their more accurate and NMFS certified (red snapper) catch data to an outdated and fundamentally flawed MRIP (Marine Recreational Information Program), NMFS has failed to find an effective solution and is not making decisions based on the best available science while refusing to appropriately integrate the new data.”

In late August, the federal Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council took action to modify red snapper catch limits. The Council chose to decrease the overfishing limit and increase the acceptable biological catch, annual catch limits, and annual catch targets. All of this was done based on snapper population data from the Great Red Snapper Count.

The Gulf Council’s input for catch limits on red snapper have been transmitted to the Secretary of Commerce for approval and implementation.

What this will all do as a practical matter to Gulf anglers targeting red snapper is not yet known, regarding season dates, catch, and size limits.

Stay tuned.

The post Stop The Madness: Federal Regulations May Increase Red Snapper Limits for Some Gulf State Fishermen appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Catching red snapper is easy. In fact, some grouper fishermen will tell you that it’s too easy because the aggressive snapper will get to their baits before a grouper can even think about eating them. Catching trophy red snapper is another story. Yes, anglers can and sometimes do luck into a 20-plus-pounder or even a 30-pounder, but to consistently catch the big girls, success typically depends on three factors: Fishing the right spot with the right tackle and optimal bait, says Capt. Judy Helmey of Savannah, Georgia.

Top Places to Catch Big Red Snapper

When Helmey guides anglers for big red snapper fishing, she typically fishes what are known as the snapper banks, located 28 to 35 miles offshore. When she gets there, Helmey looks for a very specific type of bottom in 90 to 115 feet.

“I fish isolated areas that I call ‘cities,'” says Helmey, who first fished many of the areas with her father, Moose, who was a charter captain. As she got into the business, she discovered additional cities, which describe areas of natural bottom rising 5 to 6 feet above the surrounding sand. These red snapper fishing locations almost always hold big red snapper, along with cubera snapper, groupers, amberjack, and cobia.

“Cities have the highest population of fish” compared with lower-profile areas on the snapper banks. Helmey has about 40 years’ worth of detailed fishing records, which helps her decide which cities to visit.

A little farther up the coast, Capt. Mark Brown fishes a variety of spots for red snapper out of Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. A former member of the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council — which regulates red snapper and other species in federal waters — Brown says the red snapper population has increased since he moved to the Charleston area from Daytona Beach, Florida, in 1986.

“When they closed the season in 2010 and fish weren’t being kept or targeted, the population expanded. Next thing you know, we were seeing them scattered in places we’d never seen them,” Brown says. “Now there are spots where you catch one, and other snapper follow it to the surface. The bulk of the big red snapper are 20 to 30 miles offshore, but I’ve caught them as close as 10 miles offshore. They never ever used to be in that close.”

When fishing for big red snapper, Brown anchors over natural bottom, artificial reefs and wrecks — any structure that holds baitfish — on his boat. Most of the trophy snapper his anglers catch come in 90 to 200 feet, but he has caught them as shallow as 50 feet.

“To target trophies, I’d be looking at my historical fishing areas that I’ve gone to before, and probably take you to an area where I’ve caught a good number of big ones,” he says. “With red snapper, you’re going to see a variety of sizes. You’ll still see the smaller fish mixed in, but as a general rule of thumb, in 50 to 90 feet, the fish are smaller, anywhere from 1 to 4 pounds. In deeper water, they’re 5 to 10 pounds, but also 20 to 30 pounds.”

Gulf of Mexico Red Snapper Fishing

The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council allows the five Gulf states to set recreational red snapper seasons in state waters, which extend 9 miles from shore, and federal waters, which extend out 200 miles. Capt. Chad Kinney, of Bamm Bamm Fishing Charters, runs 25 miles north or south from Port Mansfield, Texas, to fish state waters when the federal season is closed.

Kinney, who works with fisheries scientists at Texas A&M University, says a 20-pound-class red snapper runs 30 to 34 inches. His biggest red snapper measured 44 inches; the state-record 38.75-pounder went 40 inches.

“It takes them a long time age-wise to get to that size, so you need to find a location that hasn’t been fished for a long time. You can fish out a spot really quickly,” Kinney says. “A common-knowledge spot, you might get a 5-pounder. Oil rigs still have big fish around them, but nothing like there used to be because so many people are fishing them.”

Kinney has caught big snapper around artificial and natural reefs in 30 to 95 feet in state waters, especially during winter, when he says the fish move into shallower water. But he generally fishes 350 to 400 feet in federal waters, which can be a 50-mile run from his marina.

Many of his best trophy-snapper spots feature hard bottom with some coral that he discovered by trial and error. Kinney says anglers should look for small rises and contours on their bottom machines, and adds that a hard bottom will usually show up as orange or yellow on the screen. Mark the areas you find, then fish those areas to determine which ones hold big snapper.

“It takes a lot of hours and trials to find out what is and isn’t productive [for real sows],” he says.“ With big fish, structure size doesn’t seem to matter as much. Smaller structure holds bigger fish; a lot of boaters run over it without noticing. I’ve got plenty of spots like that.”

Capt. Tommy Pellegrin, of Houma, Louisiana, who fishes state and federal waters in the Gulf for red snapper, has guided anglers to numerous IGFA fly-rod world records. “Experience helped a lot because I knew where the bigger ones were,” he says.

“Rule No. 1, no matter what kind of fish you’re after, fish where the fish are. If you want to catch a big red snapper, don’t go fishing the schools of little ones. Size classes all school together, so don’t fish in a spot dominated by a three-year-old size class if you want to catch a 20-year-old fish.”

He relies on his depth finder to search for big snapper, noting that the larger fish will be oriented well above an area of bottom relief that might be only 2 feet high.

Relatively speaking, explains Pellegrin, a big snapper shows up on his Lowrance sounder as a 1-inch line that arcs slightly compared with a straight quarter-inch line for a smaller snapper. He adds that most of the time, his depth finder marks only a couple of big fish.

“The key to finding the bigger fish is looking not for a school of fish, but for individual fish,” Pellegrin says. “The big ones don’t school tight; they’re big and bold. The bigger fish don’t need as much protection, so you might have them 10 to 20 feet apart. There might be 50 of them, 10- to 25-pound fish, but they’re not snuggled up against each other, so you’re looking for one or two fish.”

Like Mark Brown in South Carolina, Capt. Johnny Greene, of Intimidator Charters in Orange Beach, Alabama, has seen a dramatic improvement in Gulf snapper stocks. “Twenty years ago, there weren’t any snapper,” says Greene, whose biggest customer-caught snapper was a 38-pounder. “Now it’s a great fishery for a beginner.”

Greene advises anglers to target trophy snapper around the state’s abundant artificial reefs. He’d also fish several of them instead of hammering the big fish on one reef. Greene says that on an 80-foot reef, the big snapper will be suspended at 30 or 40 feet. “The smaller guys stay close to the wreck for protection. The bigger guys aren’t worried.”

Kinney notes that big snapper might not be right above the bottom structure, so he’ll drift past an area until he stops catching fish, then he goes “a little farther in case they’re off the reef.”

Red Snapper Baits

Red snapper feed aggressively, so how to catch red snapper might be as easy as dropping bait to the bottom. But when smaller snapper are grabbing everything first, Greene switches to whole Boston mackerel as red snapper bait, which are sold at area tackle stores. For a red snapper fishing rig, he puts an 11/0 Mustad 39960 circle hook through the bottom of the bait’s mouth and out the top so the hook point is even with the eye sockets, which hides the hook and helps keep the bait on the hook when a snapper bites. Greene also cuts off the mackerel’s tail so it doesn’t act like a rudder.

“Typically, a dead bait will work fine,” says Greene, who also uses a whole northern mackerel or squid as a best bait for red snapper. “Big snapper aren’t picky — they’re like a fat boy at a buffet. We also use herring and cigar minnows or a butterflied blue runner.”

Pellegrin uses live pogies for bait, which he catches in the passes between the barrier islands with a cast net. He’ll also trade sodas with the crews of shrimp trawlers in exchange for their bycatch. The best bait for red snapper might be anything found locally.

“One of the best baits for big snapper is a big ribbonfish, 1½ to 2 feet long. Hook it through the eyes because a snapper’s going to eat it head-first. But a 6-inch live pogy is just as good as anything,” says Pellegrin, who fishes both baits on a 7/0 Mustad circle hook. That’s his best hook for red snapper.

When she targets trophy red snapper out of Key West, Florida, Capt. Natalie Rarick loads up on live bait, then runs 30 to 50 miles west to fish ledges, shipwrecks, big coral heads, and rockpiles in 200 to 300 feet.

“Generally, a live bait produces the bigger red snapper,” says Rarick, whose favorite red snapper baits are threadfin herring, goggle-eyes and blue runners. She says a 7-inch bait is ideal, fished on an 8/0 circle hook. “Dead bait will catch 5-pound snapper,” Rarick adds.

She modifies her live baits by clipping the ends of their tails so they’re easier for a big snapper to eat. “If the bait makes it to the bottom, we lock up the reel so we can see if the snappers are on the bottom. As the boat drifts, the bait will come up in the water column.”

When he’s trophy hunting, Brown uses a variety of dead baits off Charleston, South Carolina, which he says are always available, and occasionally a diamond jig. “Anything from squid to cigar minnows, menhaden, mullet, pinfish and even cut mackerel.”

Helmey prefers to go after big snapper with live bait: cigar minnows and sardines that her customers and crew catch on Sabiki rigs, and sand perch, rock bass, and tomtates, which are known locally as ruby red lips, that her customers catch on two-hook rigs. She notes that those baits will also catch small snapper, which is why she focuses on fishing the “cities” where the big girls hang out.

Helmey hooks one, two or three baits through both lips on a thin-wire 12/0 to 14/0 circle hook. If the bite is slow, Helmey might butterfly a tomtate or a 12-inch vermilion snapper (legal size) and fish it on a circle hook or a 3-ounce hair jig, which the trophy fish find appealing when they don’t want to chase a live bait.

How to Release Red Snapper

Red snapper reeled to the boat in deep water need care to be safely released. When brought up quickly from the depths, the fish can’t release gases from its air bladder, and the reduced atmospheric pressure as it’s reeled to the surface causes the bladder to expand, a condition known as barotrauma. If simply put back into the water, it likely won’t make it back to the bottom.

Many captains vent fish suffering from barotrauma by using a needle to pop the air bladder so the fish can descend on its return to the water. Other captains use a descending device to slowly lower a fish back to where it came from, which allows the air bladder to gradually decompress.

The SeaQualizer attaches to the fish’s lip and a fishing line. As the fish is lowered in the water, the increased atmospheric pressure allows its bladder to return to normal size. Each of the three SeaQualizer models — 30 to 70, 50 to 150, and 100 to 300 feet — can be programmed to open at three specific depths so the rejuvenated fish can swim away.

One drawback is that sharks will sometimes eat the fish, resulting in the loss of the $59.99 device. A cheaper option is a homemade release aid consisting of a conventional fishing rod and reel, a barbless hook tied to the line, and a 3- or 4-pound weight at the bottom. As the fish is lowered and recovers as its air bladder reduces in size, it can unhook itself.

Read Next: How to Release Bottomfish Right

Capt. Mark Brown of Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, has been placing state tags in red snapper that he releases and noting how they were released: Some are vented, some are sent down on a descending device, and some are let go at the surface. “We keep records so we can kind of get an idea on the recapture rate,” Brown says.

When the red snapper season is closed, responsible anglers try to avoid catching the fish, which isn’t always easy. “If I get out deep for grouper fishing and the snapper move in,” says Capt. Chad Kinney of Port Mansfield, Texas, “I won’t release 20, 30 snapper to get a shot at a grouper. I’ll move.”

The post Fishing for Red Snapper appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Recreational anglers can once again fish for and keep red snapper in 2017.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced in its South Atlantic Fishery Bulletin newsletter that harvesting will reopen to recreational anglers for three days, December 8-10, because preliminary estimates indicate anglers have not reached the 29,656-fish catch limit set for 2017.

The recreational and commercial harvest of red snapper was allowed for six days in November — the first time anglers were allowed to fish for red snapper in this area since 2014 — and projections estimate an additional three days will not surpass the catch limit.

Red snapper restrictions in federal waters has been a hotly contested topic among recreational anglers in many fisheries, notably the Gulf of Mexico. Three extra days certainly will make many South Atlantic anglers happy.

The bag limit for this three-day opening is one fish per person per day with no minimum size restrictions.

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For more information, read the full regulations for red snapper fishing in South Atlantic federal waters.

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A bipartisan, cross-chamber bill, the Red Snapper Act, was introduced to the United States Congress earlier this week and would improve access to the species for recreational anglers in the Gulf of Mexico.

The act continues recent efforts to increase the role of states by extending offshore state boundaries. A press release from the American Sportfishing Association states, “State managers are better equipped to manage recreational fishing and have a proven track record of finding a balance between conservation of marine resources and reasonable public access.” The bill also includes conservation measures to maintain and improve the Gulf of Mexico’s red snapper stock.

Jeff Angers, president of the Center for Sportfishing Policy, said in the press release from the ASA that state governments have excelled in managing and providing access, while the federal government has failed.

“The Gulf states are among the nation’s leaders in marine fisheries management, have better scientific data, and are more in touch with recreational anglers and the businesses we support,” he continued.

The bill would expand the private recreational fishing regulation zones for the five Gulf states — Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas — from the existing nine-mile state territory to 25 miles or 25 fathoms, whichever is farther from shore. Fishing beyond nine miles would have to be managed in accordance with the national standards and a Gulf-wide catch limit. The bill also gives more weight to state harvest data to help provide more timely information about catch rates and effort. It also requires the inclusion of non-federal data in determining the acceptable biological catch of red snapper.

Commercial and charter fishing would be unchanged, remaining under the federal-regulation system with annual regulations developed by the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council.

Access to red snapper in the Gulf of Mexico has decreased for the last decade under the jurisdiction of the Gulf Council and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service. A six-month red snapper season with a four-fish bag limit for recreational anglers has been gradually reduced to 2017’s regulations, a historically low three-day season with a two-fish bag limit. The Department of Commerce and the five Gulf of Mexico states negotiated a compromise, fewer state-water days for more federal-water days.

Recreational fishing organizations have long criticized the federal management of the fishery.

“For years, the recreational saltwater fishing community has been asking for a management approach designed to manage recreational fishing and not just commercial fishing,” Thom Dammrich, president of National Marine Manufacturers Association, stated in the ASA’s release. “This is a great first step in achieving that goal. Most importantly, it ensures conservation of the fishery, something anglers have always championed.”

“This is an extremely complex and highly politicized fishery that has been manipulated by the federal management system into an unworkable condition for recreational anglers. We believe the only real solution is to give the states full management authority,” said Patrick Murray, president of Coastal Conservation Association. “This legislation initiates the process of moving the fishery away from a broken federal management system. We commend Rep. Graves and Sen. Cassidy for keeping the focus on fixing the red snapper problem and look forward to working with them to ensure the states are allowed to do what they do best – manage for the health of the resource and maximize the public’s access to it.”

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