As red snapper season drew to a close, the fish made their best showing of the summer

With Friday’s passing, red snapper season for the summer of 2018 has closed. This past week was a rain and wind out, canceling many trips, including my own last attempt to get offshore during the 40-day season.

Instead, my last time offshore this season was the best red snapper bite I experienced all summer, and once again showed why red snapper are one of the most populated game fish offshore in the Gulf of Mexico.

I arrived at the Kingfish boat ramp around 6:45 a.m. last Saturday with much anticipation. I would be joining the Grimes family and friends aboard their brand-new 32ST Contender from Erickson Marine. Their previous boat, the 29-foot Legal Limit, essentially broke me into fishing deeper in the Gulf of Mexico on my own over the past 13 years. My first trip aboard the new boat would test that knowledge with eight people joining, meaning 16-red snapper would be needed to reach the ultimate goal; a limit.

After spending a bit of time baiting up in the morning we were soon cruising at 45 mph with a destination some 60 miles away in 180 feet. It was a beautiful day in the Gulf allowing the new Contender to get us out in a hurry.

My main goal was to get on a spot that has produced many red snapper over 20 pounds in the past few years. When we arrived it was apparent fish were home, as the first drop produced hook-ups on two red snapper and a huge triggerfish. The bite was good, and after getting a reading on the strong current we were anchored on the biomass of fish and baits were fired down.

Eva Preston hooked into a big fish to start after dropping a cigar minnow. She lost the early battle as it pulled her into structure but after a little help, I was able to coax the fish out. “It’s a big red snapper,” I grunted. Looking down into the beautiful blue water my suspicions were confirmed as a 15-pound red snapper made it’s way to the surface and into the fish box.

For the next hour, nearly every bait that was dropped down turned into a red snapper. It didn’t matter if it was a frozen squid or cigar minnow, or a live pinfish or shiner, they were eaten by mainly 6- to 8-pound red snapper with the exceptional huge 8-pound mangrove snapper coming for Danielle Ellis. Our limit of red snapper was boxed quickly even after we released smaller fish in hopes of a 20-pounder showing up to maximize the size in the box.

Normally I like to leave fish on a spot and not fish it out, but knowing this was the last chance for red snapper this summer and seeing the amount of fish that were still feeding it made the decision to get a limit “one-stop shopping” easy.

With the red snapper limit, I thought of what we could target nearby that might not have red snapper. There was a place about 2 miles away where I’ve seen more gag grouper and mangrove snapper than red snapper in years past.

But, we never made it that far. After pulling anchor and slowly idling to the next spot, it was a mere tenth of a mile when the new Garmin unit showed a stack of fish below. We circled around and Kyle Grimes dropped a big pinfish, resulting in a gag grouper from below — now I was excited.

We dropped all the big baits we had, and unfortunately, it resulted in much heartbreak. No less than six times we had big fish on that, resulting in broken leaders and broken dreams.

Even my own chance at a bottom monster resulted in broken 100-pound leader after dropping a monster pinfish. This would be a spot to come back in the future when we would hope to tangle with monsters once again, as we move on from red snapper and into other targets for the next trips out.

The bad part is the wait until red snapper once again opens up for recreational anglers.