And sometimes no action at all, on some of today's prime rocks offshore-where the big ones bite while the jig still sinks, and your reel suddenly speeds up under a panicky thumb. Perhaps we should now use no bait at all? Big snapper, after all, will attack a plain white jig if you give it a little action. In the 1990s this was fine for catching five-fish limits of 12-pounders, and may not necessarily be sporting today, with shorter bag limits. Pin a cigar minnow or something similar (even a mullet) to a 2-ounce bucktail jig, and drop it deep. Up-current of a platform is also good, where only stronger fish prowl unless the current is very weak. Over the years since then, a favorite trick has been to drift-fish 50 to 100 yards past the platforms, beyond the (bait-stealing) triggerfish zone, after marking fish at mid-depth. We had lots of fun with snapper last summer, using methods from decades ago, when we jigged up big fish, even from the stern of partyboats. Permitted annual landings are calculated in pounds, not fish. Angler preference for big snapper somehow mystified fishery biologists, whose early calculations about population recovery never took this into account when allowing annual catch quotas. That's why every angler today prefers a couple of bigger snapper, say a minimum 12 pounds or so. Unlike redfish, "sow" snapper (as we called them many years ago) are almost as good to eat as the smaller ones. Everyone knows you should aim for bigger fish keeping a couple of 17-inchers, after banging your way out past nine miles into federal waters, doesn't make much sense. #Red snapper season texas fullEven a short bus full of kids can catch limits of 10-pounders these days, but somehow that plentitude is never enough to satisfy federal fish managers.Īnyway, some pointers below on instilling sport into the current two-fish snapper limit held mostly during the windy month of June. #Red snapper season texas how toWhile some boat crews openly mutter about hiding extra snapper in their boats, in defiance of federal law, others are pondering how to make their meager catch more sporting. Today, saddled with the shortest snapper season in history, at 40 days, and with the average size of Gulf snapper now exceeding six pounds, the entire issue of bag limits and season has turned thorny indeed. Snapper season starts June 1 and as everyone knows, it's now easier to catch big red snapper than at any time in our lives.
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