How Bradenton-area anglers take advantage of longer red snapper season

With the “longest ever” American red snapper season kicking off last weekend, anglers rejoiced when weather allowed deep runs to their Gulf homes.

After a brief closure during the week, the season reopens Sunday and will run continuously until the end of July. After that, it will open various days and select three-day weekends in September and beyond.

Good weather and a break from my children’s weekend soccer schedule gave me the perfect opportunity to join a group of friends on a deep run on opening day. We met Saturday at the Bradenton Yacht Club and pushed off around 7 a.m. aboard Tom Howard’s 32-foot Andros.

On our way out of the Manatee River, we didn’t wait in the line of boats for buying bait and instead chose to catch our own. In little time, we had a good assortment of pilchards, threadfin and pinfish.

The next stop was nearly 75 miles later. The calm seas made the run easy, and a big show of fish below welcomed us. The current was strong but fishable.

Geoff Szymanski dropped a vertical jig first and came tight a second later. His fish, a beautiful and rarely caught mutton snapper, was a good sign of things to come.

For the next two hours or so, we did not move. The only thing that kept a fish from being tight on a rod was time rerigging or moving fish up into the fish box.

Every bait, from squid and sardines to live pilchards and pinfish, was eaten almost immediately. The catches were quality. American red snapper, mangrove snapper, beautiful scamp grouper and four large gag grouper, the biggest at 31 pounds. All but the gag grouper went into the fish box. The fishing was on fire, and the box was filling up with quality.

When it eventually slowed, we ventured a few miles further west. The next spot was uneventful, and we didn’t stick around long. A few miles north was another area we wanted to try.

As we approached, I noticed a show of fish on the Garmin and put a mark on it. When the originally planned spot showed no life, we moved back to the fish show. That proved fruitful, and another crazy bite awaited.

On this spot, we found more of the same from our first area but bigger. The red snapper were bigger, with one at 17 pounds. The scamp grouper were bigger, with one at 11 pounds. There were red grouper, which are currently in season but most likely not for long, adding more variety to the box. Over the next hour or so, we kept stuffing the box.

By the end of the second amazing bite, we had our five-person limit of red snapper done. We also had eight big scamp grouper and eight red grouper. Needing only two more red grouper, we stopped once on the way east to finish off that limit.

“What’s next?” we debated. It was just after noon, and we had a day’s worth of fish. Being so far offshore, we decided to make one stop on the way home for yellowtail snapper or African pompano on a wreck or spring. When the first four spots I wanted to hit had boats, we adjusted once more, and the fifth was free of boats.

We decided to chum heavy and empty the livewell, not needing to bring anything home. We put a few flatlines out, and surface activity followed. One of the lines was eaten and Howard grabbed it.

We were hoping for a tuna, but it didn’t fight like that. It didn’t quite dive like an amberjack either. As it came closer, Howard commented on how shiny it looked. He worked it to the surface, where our hopes were confirmed. A big African pompano to add to the box and cap an amazing day.

After hoping for a second, we spent a little more time trying without luck. We pointed east, getting in at an earlier time than usual, thanks to the amazing fishing we experienced.

With such a good bite, we didn’t have to work hard to get multiple limits of fish. We left them biting and moved on to see how other spots were. I anticipated and wanted to hit probably 10 to 12 spots. Instead, we really only needed to hit two with one of those being found.

The best time to red snapper fish will be early in their season. With red grouper open, they will be a common bycatch when snapper fishing. Look for closures to come soon, and great fishing to await those who head west.