Our red snapper season has now officially closed for now, however, if we did not reach the full quota there’s a slight possibility of a later season perhaps that may open. If we get any wind of this information, we will for sure keep you informed via this newsletter and also our Facebook page as well. The chances of this happening are pretty low, but we are pushing for this since we had so many bad days of weather this season the assumption is there’s a big possibility there’s still quota left on the table for us to go catch later in the year. Same applies to the private recreational red snapper season that the FWC controls. The FWC already plans on an October opening if they have any private recreational quota left on the table, however, any FWC season openings will not apply to our boats since we are federally managed and under federal jurisdiction as far as our fishing seasons and quota goes.
Besides the red snapper, our Amberjack season just opened yesterday August first and that season will be open until the end of October. At least that is the plan, were hoping and praying they will not close the season early but time will tell on that because they do have the option and ability to close down the amberjack based on the quota.
The big amberjack love some big live baits like the porgies, mullet, spadefish, blue runners, or whatever else you can find that’s big and lively and ready to get eaten in depths greater than 120-130ft of water. We start to see the jacks around that depth but the best area to target them is around 150-200ft or deeper up to around 300ft. We are seeing some BIG amberjack in the 40-70lb range out deep right now but the big mass of fish haven’t shown up in our area yet. They definitely get more consistent later in the year when the water cools off, so later in the season closer to the end of October is when the bite will be at its best, but then again you run the risk of the season perhaps and possibly closing early so it could be a gamble waiting for the end of the season when the bite should be better.
Our mangrove snapper bite has been going well out there around 130-150ft of water on the double snell rigged threadfin plugs with 50-60lb floro and double snelled 6ot hooks. Gag grouper have been a little hit and miss with some trips catching good numbers while other trips struggle more to find high numbers, but we are catching them in decent numbers for how hot the water is. The reason we are is due to fishing deep, you MUST go deep where the waters are cooler to find the gags this time of year!
