# stumped...help



## photofishin (Jun 26, 2009)

So I fished 3 of the 4 days I was in Florida. One with a friend in Pensacola and twice on my bay boat. The first day was later in the morning, until about 3:00pm out of Destin and the last day was Thursday out of Pensacola from 7:00am until about 2:00pm. For the life of me, I couldn't get the red snapper to eat anything. The day I fished private spots with my buddy, we got a limit, but had to cull through several 4-5 pounders to get a couple of 10 pounders in the boat. (unlike previous years). Thursday I caught one keeper lane snapper and released a ~65lb AJ but couldn't get red snapper to cooperate. Caught two that were maybe 8 inches in size. I fished 15-20 public spots inside of 15 miles and here's an example of what I was marking on most spots. I tried live bait, squid and even chummed to no avail. Any suggestion on something else I could have tried? Another frustration was trying to find someone who wanted to go fishing.


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## cuzmondo (Oct 1, 2007)

Can't help you specifically, but I too had a difficult time catching my two fish limit. Several factors I believe are in play here.
1. Opening the charter for hire fishing two weeks before the regular rec. season sucks for the average boat owner. These guys put a lot of pressure on the public and in shore spots early in the season, as evidenced by the number of smaller fish (just under 16") caught.
2. Lots of rec. guys now have gps enabled trolling motors to keep them right on the spot and eliminates the skill needed to mark and anchor properly. More pressure on the fish.
3. Triggerfish and shark populations, combined with the scare effect of flipper keep the snapper bite timid.
This is what I perceive from my experience this year combined with more than 30 years fishing and diving the Gulf. I did a couple dives in late may on some near shore wrecks before the season opened and saw plenty of big snapper. I'm sure they were all gone by the time the rec season opened on the 11th.
My next trip out I will go very long and deep, if I go at all.


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## Murphy's Law (Sep 27, 2007)

I don't see any structure on the screen. Did you ever mark the reef and fish over it ?

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## cuzmondo (Oct 1, 2007)

Murphy's Law said:


> I don't see any structure on the screen. Did you ever mark the reef and fish over it ?
> 
> Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk


Yep, not much there, hope the other spots marked up better. Were there many boats on the other locations you fished? If not, you may not have been close enough to the reef. We went late on Tue. waiting on the wind to lay down. Thur. I went by myself, which also made it difficult, but fun nonetheless. Glad I was able to land this bad boy in addition to some mingos to go along with the snapper.


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## MaxxT (May 9, 2015)

they are endangered for a reason and the commercial guys wipe them out


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## Boat-Dude (Sep 24, 2011)

Seagar, 3+ft long.
Smallest hook you can get away with.
Big live baits.
Grow a big beard.


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## MaxP (Jan 31, 2008)

Here is a commercial boat fishing the trolling corridor. Talk about pressure


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## photofishin (Jun 26, 2009)

Murphy's Law said:


> I don't see any structure on the screen. Did you ever mark the reef and fish over it ?
> 
> Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk


Yes, I fished several known public spots which included bridge rubble, car bodies, a few wrecks, some natural reefs. Some structure showed better than others...and my graph lit up with fish...they just had lockjaw.

To clarify for anyone else who asks...when I wrote that I had to "cull" through several 4-5 lb fish for larger snapper on Wednesday, I meant catch and release. They didn't sit in a livewell or anything.


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## photofishin (Jun 26, 2009)

Boat-Dude said:


> Seagar, 3+ft long.
> Smallest hook you can get away with.
> Big live baits.
> Grow a big beard.


Minus the beard...I did all that. Used 60lb fluorocarbon and a small circle (the size I use for beeliners here in TX, dropped to the bottom and left it slack so something wouldn't feel the weight.


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## Boat-Dude (Sep 24, 2011)

I use 15# Seagar and a number 1 circle with 2.5" Ly's.


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## photofishin (Jun 26, 2009)

Boat-Dude said:


> I use 15# Seagar and a number 1 circle with 2.5" Ly's.


I did also try a trout jig with some squid using 15lb flouro on my trout/sibiki rod...caught a couple of undersize (10 inch) snapper and a single small trigger on that


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## photofishin (Jun 26, 2009)

By the way, none of the boats I was near were catching either


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## boomshakalaka (Dec 4, 2012)

Get off the public spots.


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## photofishin (Jun 26, 2009)

boomshakalaka said:


> Get off the public spots.


I live in Texas...only down your way a couple of times a year...definitely not enough time to spend on the water locating private spots. I also am not about to shell out $6-800 to go on a charter to catch two fish. This year just seemed weird...even had trouble getting bait at the Mass. Usually we load the livewell in 15 minutes....I had to cast sabikis to catch them.


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## Boat-Dude (Sep 24, 2011)

photofishin said:


> I did also try a trout jig with some squid using 15lb flouro on my trout/sibiki rod...caught a couple of undersize (10 inch) snapper and a single small trigger on that





I meant to say that is just my mingo rig. I don't go fishing with out live bait.


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## Murphy's Law (Sep 27, 2007)

photofishin said:


> had trouble getting bait at the Mass. .


Wait, you found the mass that has floated away but couldn't find any snapper holes ? 



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## iJabo (Jul 6, 2013)

Caught a 7 man limit on 80lbs mono leader and a mix of cut bait and live bait today. 
You just need to find unpressured fish. That usually means getting further away from the Pass. 

If that's not an option for you, then you can certainly catch bigger fish on the closer public numbers, but its going to require a lot of patience!


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## kanaka (Oct 3, 2007)

Those of you having a hard catching snapper are using the wrong bait.
There are folks on this forum who say they can catch em with turds.


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## OutsmartedAgain (Oct 12, 2018)

I talked to a couple boats that had a rough time targeting reds yesterday. We had to settle for football sized mingos ourselves. Live bait with 6' flouro leaders on spots marking a lot of fish and nothing was interested. Full moons definitely make the fish more finicky.


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## photofishin (Jun 26, 2009)

kanaka said:


> Those of you having a hard catching snapper are using the wrong bait.
> There are folks on this forum who say they can catch em with turds.


Minus dynamite...you tell me what bait would have worked. Sorry to be a smart-a$$ but I used large live baits, small live baits, cigar minnows, piggies, cut bait and squid....they turned their noses up at it all. I'm also not a googan...I've fished offshore for years. As others have mentioned, maybe it was the moon phase, the increased heat/pressure or the fact I was inside 15 miles fishing public spots. They simply were finicky this week.


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## kylo1597 (Oct 17, 2013)

photofishin said:


> Minus dynamite...you tell me what bait would have worked. Sorry to be a smart-a$$ but I used large live baits, small live baits, cigar minnows, piggies, cut bait and squid....they turned their noses up at it all. I'm also not a googan...I've fished offshore for years. As others have mentioned, maybe it was the moon phase, the increased heat/pressure or the fact I was inside 15 miles fishing public spots. They simply were finicky this week.




They were finicky for me as well, never had an issue catching before. We used live pinfish, ruby red lips, squid, Bonita, jigs.. they seemed to like cut up grunt the most. We were fishing private coops and pyramids in 100’+ and live bottom. Ended up with 3 red snapper, 2 lanes, a few beeliner and 2 tripletail from a floating log



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## Cold Mil Tom (May 10, 2015)

kylo1597 said:


> They were finicky for me as well, never had an issue catching before. We used live pinfish, ruby red lips, squid, Bonita, jigs.. they seemed to like cut up grunt the most. We were fishing private coops and pyramids in 100’+ and live bottom. Ended up with 3 red snapper, 2 lanes, a few beeliner and 2 tripletail from a floating log
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Live LYs or cigs, or bury the hook in a big unweighted chunk like you are tuna fishing:thumbsup:

If you are fishing public stuff it helps tremendously to be there before the crowd. Be finishing up when everyone else is starting.


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## Cooler full (Aug 12, 2018)

I’ve been victim of this in AL waters but this year I’m fishing the stuff that is not targeted as often, which is a bunch of spots, over 1400 man made reefs out there and most of the boats are sitting on the same 15 or so spots (ships, pipes, rubble, platforms) the other 1300 spots are not pressured as much. I just sd carded all of them and fish at random and never see another boat. Works mostly for me but there are certain times of the day that the bite shuts down, usually late am thru the noon hour when it’s hot af.


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## snake 166 (Oct 2, 2007)

If you follow the outdoors "on the docks" in the Destin Log you can get a pretty good idea of what the best of Destin's charter fishing fleet are doing. Not too impressive---average fish looks to be 18 inches and not all trips are getting limit. So I would say the snapper fishery may be in a downward trend. As far as a strategy for the times---build an inventory of spots---artificial and natural---both are readily available. Develop several routes for various sea states ahead of time. Try to get live cigar minnows catch or buy. Run the route and be ready to move frequently. If you don't have spot lock, learn to hold the boat up. Keep records and manage your trips to save spots for the bad times. Use every opportunity to add to your inventory.


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## Mark W (May 4, 2017)

IMHO, the Red Snapper do not bite well during the day if the moon is full at night. Last year during the full moon a conservation agent said that we were the only boat that had caught a ARS so far that day. He said to fish at night during the full moon.


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## bmoorediver (Jun 28, 2019)

*Beard????*



photofishin said:


> Minus the beard...I did all that. Used 60lb fluorocarbon and a small circle (the size I use for beeliners here in TX, dropped to the bottom and left it slack so something wouldn't feel the weight.


Really a beard is the secret!!???
If so Im on it starting right now!


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## bmoorediver (Jun 28, 2019)

*Full Moon*

It is believed if there is a full moon the night before they can see better and feed during the night....



Mark W said:


> IMHO, the Red Snapper do not bite well during the day if the moon is full at night. Last year during the full moon a conservation agent said that we were the only boat that had caught a ARS so far that day. He said to fish at night during the full moon.


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## SurfRidr (Apr 24, 2012)

cuzmondo said:


> 1. Opening the charter for hire fishing two weeks before the regular rec. season sucks for the average boat owner. These guys put a lot of pressure on the public and in shore spots early in the season, as evidenced by the number of smaller fish (just under 16") caught.
> 2. Lots of rec. guys now have gps enabled trolling motors to keep them right on the spot and eliminates the skill needed to mark and anchor properly. More pressure on the fish.
> 3. Triggerfish and shark populations, combined with the scare effect of flipper keep the snapper bite timid.


I am pretty new to this whole scene, but this sounds like a pretty good summary for what I tend to think. We were fortunate that my wife has a life-long friend who used to run charters and now runs big ships for the oil rigs, so he doesn't use his numbers any more. He offered to share some spots with us that are between 8 and 15 miles off the beach. I did a LOT of scout work on those numbers pre-season and got a feel for which ones were holding snapper - many of them didn't have anything on them, but some did - so we had a game plan when the season opened. I very seldom saw boats on the spots I was fishing (some I never saw a single boat for the first two weeks) which I think probably mattered the most. The first half of the season we were limiting every trip with 3 to 5 people with mostly 18 to 22 inch fish, and a few 22-25, one 26 and one 29; I fished probably 3 days per week on average. The second half of the season slowed down a lot but I was also battling some equipment issues and bad luck with the weather on my days off - Minn Kota failed on me (steering motor starting getting hung up and would fail to hold the spot) so had to start anchoring which really slowed down the ability to move from spot to spot - I am not experienced at anchoring and the spots were small, so being off by 30 feet mattered and it took several tries to get it right. And I think the pressure on the fish started to mount as noted above.

I don't know what the secret was for the experts, but for us we did better using bigger baits and not having the bait go all the way to the bottom - putting bigger baits higher in the water column, making sure the bait didn't 'spin' or helicopter in the current seemed to really make a difference; I look at like what I know and that's bass fishing -if the presentation looks un-natural you won't fool those bigger pressured fish. Live and frozen cigars, and sometimes frozen spanish sardines, and squid were what we used mostly.

Oh and good Lord the trigger fish - so glad they are SO endangered


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## gator75 (Aug 11, 2016)

Why would anyone cull a (legit) 5lb snapper? That's the best eating.


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## Sea-r-cy (Oct 3, 2007)

It does seem to be a bit harder this year, we've limited out nearly every trip. I fish a party boat nearly every week, snapper bite hasn't been nearly as good as past years.


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## WeathermanTN (Oct 3, 2014)

I am far from an expert, but the biggest thing I have found is to mark the fish, and then fish that depth. We have had by far the best luck on snapper suspended above and around structure. In 90 foot water, we catch more and bigger fish somewhere between 45 and 75 feet. Dropping to the bottom is not nearly as effective. We use rods with a compromise between “feel” and backbone (Trevala, Ugly Stick, and Star, and a custom rig for the Rod Room), braid, fluoro leaders, and a stinger hook that I snell. Figuring out the depth is a challenge, but we solved that with Shimano Tekota with Line counter reels, and then upgraded the drags. My son and I both have been whipped when we could not stop a snapper, but have caught a lot of decent fish, up to a 37 1/2” one on the outfits. Decent bait on a fairly sensitive outfit, dropped to suspended fish seems to be the best pattern. Sometimes they will hit anything, but if they get picky, especially after a full moon period, paying closer attention to the details pays off.


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## Geno (Mar 23, 2017)

I haven't been out this year. Not by choice of course but it may have been a good choice.


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## photofishin (Jun 26, 2009)

gator75 said:


> Why would anyone cull a (legit) 5lb snapper? That's the best eating.


When I drive all the way from Texas for red snapper season, keeping two 5lb fish isn't on my agenda. By the way, I've been catching them here 30 miles out in 100feet of water on everything from live bait, to squid, to jigs etc. It must have just been an off week when we were there as they wouldn't eat anything...and yes, I always mark where fish are and fish IN the fish...typically bigger snapper are suspended.


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## photofishin (Jun 26, 2009)

June 29th my wife and I got a 20 minute limit at a place called the 32's 30 miles from Freeport TX.








July 7th- another limit with this 31 inch pig. 








July 23rd, same spot on a charter...14 of us fishing, a 14 man limit and a limit of kings
(I caught my limit plus two other's limits due to some of the folks couldn't get the hang of catching bigger snapper)


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## hjorgan (Sep 30, 2007)

Been a slow year for a bunch of folks. I usually don't pull back on the throttle until we hit 20 miles. Spots that have been sure things in the past years are dead this year.

But, we have caught good snapper fishing for grouper (and scamp) in 300ft. Maybe they are deeper this year. I'll let ya'll know after the weekend. If the weather allows.


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## kylo1597 (Oct 17, 2013)

hjorgan said:


> Been a slow year for a bunch of folks. I usually don't pull back on the throttle until we hit 20 miles. Spots that have been sure things in the past years are dead this year.
> 
> But, we have caught good snapper fishing for grouper (and scamp) in 300ft. Maybe they are deeper this year. I'll let ya'll know after the weekend. If the weather allows.



I cant stop catching snapper in 250-300' even on the bottom.. hell, last weekend we caught a 15lb red snapper on the bottom in 600'. Between them and the triggerfish, its hard to get bait to the grouper


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