Red Snapper: season, lures and limits

We picked these fish for Virginia Beach and the Chesapeake Bay mouth, VA, the region closest to Columbus, Ohio, based on the approximate location of your internet connection (IP geolocation, looked up on our own server). It is about 436 miles away; FishOS covers the coast from Maine to Florida and the Gulf of America, and adds regions as they are checked. Pick another region if that is not where you fish.

Fishing region

FishOS has not charted red snapper in Virginia Beach and the Chesapeake Bay mouth, VA. The regions where it is charted are below.

Season by region

Panhandle	JFMAMJJASOND
Alabama	JFMAMJJASOND

Where to find them

Artificial reefs, wrecks and hard bottom. In the Florida Panhandle and Alabama, reefs a few miles off the beach are within small-boat and kayak range (Hobie; University of South Alabama). Not a surf or pier target.

On or near the bottom over reefs, wrecks, rigs and hard bottom; some fish suspend higher over the structure.

What to look for

Rosy red fish with a red eye and a pointed rear anal fin; no dark side spot on fish over about 10 in. Lane snapper has a rounded anal fin and yellow stripes (FWC, LSU, TPWD).

What to throw

Bucktail or jighead with a 4 to 5 in paddle tail1/2 to 1 oz, 4 to 5 in tail. Slow hops along the bottom: lift, drop, let it touch, repeat.

Bait

Live cigar minnows, threadfin, croakers or pinfish, Cut bonito, mackerel or menhaden, Fresh squid. Carolina rig (3 to 5 oz egg sinker, about 3 ft of 40 to 60 lb fluorocarbon, 5/0 to 7/0 circle hook), or a knocker rig in strong current.

Leader

40 to 60 lb fluorocarbon on 50 lb braid.

Common mistakes

Letting a hooked fish turn back into the structure (Hobie)
Puncturing the swollen stomach of a fish brought up from depth: LSU says that kills every one, while 70 to 80 percent recover otherwise
Dropping the bait before you are ready to fight the fish (Hobie)

Landing

Pull it away from the structure quickly, then net it.

Handling

Barotrauma: the stomach may push out of the mouth when the fish is brought up from depth

Never stab the stomach. Return released fish to depth with a descending device or use a venting tool, which NOAA encourages.

Keep or release

Excellent eating (LSU, TPWD). Harvest is open only in short summer seasons that the states set every year; outside them every fish goes back, ideally with a descending device.

Recipes for red snapper

Typical: 1.5 to 10 lb (LSU); adults average 2 to 4 lb (TPWD). Large: Fish in the low 30 lb range are not rare (LSU); may reach 40 in and 50 lb (NOAA). Florida record 46 lb 8 oz, caught near Destin (FWC).

Limits

FishOS has not checked the VA limits yet. Check the size, bag and season rules with the Virginia Marine Resources Commission before you keep a fish.

Sources

NOAA Fisheries: red snapper (Official source)
LSU AgCenter / Louisiana Sea Grant, Louisiana Fisheries: red snapper (Official source)
Florida FWC species profile: red snapper (Official source)
Hobie blog, Matthew Vann, April 18, 2016: battling red snapper to the kayak (Panama City Beach to Pensacola Beach) (Angler knowledge)
TPWD species profile: red snapper (Official source)

All the fish of Virginia Beach

Red Snapper