'If it red it’s dead'
Last day to land a red snapper is July 21
With a week left to get in on the red snapper action, captains and anglers alike are taking advantage and pulling in some mighty big ones.
Liz King of Alabama, on her first-ever deep sea fishing trip, hauled in a 25-plus pound red snapper while fishing aboard the Bow’d Up with Capt. Brady Bowman.
“I had a great time. It pulled good,” King said, noting it put up quite the fight.
After posing for a few photos, King said she couldn't wait to eat the huge snapper.
But her snapper wasn’t the only red on the racks behind the Bow’d Up. They had plenty more snapper and a few mingo.
Capt. Tommy Carter and his group of anglers on the Blue Runner II had a good catch of red snapper and one that would have been a prize catch. Instead it was half eaten by a shark.
“The sharks are getting bad,” Carter said, noting they tend to snap off fish all the time.
As for the snapper that suffered at the jaws of a shark, captain said it would have easily been a 25 pounder or more.
The Fish-N-Fool with Capt. Casey Weldon and his group from Ohio came in with red snapper, black snapper and mingo on Thursday.
The Huntress with Capt. Mike Graef and his anglers pulled in mingo, red snapper and a couple of Almaco Jack.
Capt. Kyle Lowe and his fishermen on the Special K pulled in red snapper and mingo on what deckhand Danny Brennan called their first six-hour of the day. Brennan and Lowe were headed back out for another six hour.
On Wednesday, Capt. Lowe had a 12-hour trip and his anglers hauled in a 67-pound grouper. Now that’s a lot of grouper sandwiches.
This time of year most of the charter boats are booked solid with one and two trips a day.
Texas anglers on the Inshore Fishing with Capt. Taylor Bankston came in from a morning trip with some king mackerel.
Arkansas anglers on the Suzie Q with Capt. Casey Godwin loaded up on the red snapper and mingo along, with a few black snapper on Thursday.
New York and Ocala anglers on the Mighty Fine filled the nails Thursday with scamp, red snapper and mingo.
Huntsville, Alabama, anglers on the Rewind with Capt. Reid Phillips got their share of red snapper, a big black snapper, mingo and a couple of king mackerel.
Capt. Kirk Reynolds running the Vengeance and his group of anglers backed in Thursday with king mackerel, red snapper, black snapper and mingo.
Mississippi anglers on the Shamrock II with Capt. Eddie Dykes brought in a mixed bag on Thursday. They had grouper, red snapper, black snapper and mingo. Word is they also did battle with about a 5-foot dusky shark.
Utah anglers on the Sea Fix with Capt. Ronnie Youman filled the boards with red. They had a limit of red snapper and several mingo along with one king mackerel.
“If it was red it’s dead,” said deckhand Aaron Smith as he unloaded the Sea Fix catch.
Dallas anglers on the Backcountry Outfitters with Capt. Jeremy Ruskowski pulled in some big red and big black snapper on Thursday.
“They’re a little higher up in the water,” Ruskowski said of the black snapper.
He said you fish for the black snapper the same as red, just fish a little higher in the water column.
Texas and Arkansas anglers on the Sure Thing with Capt. Jason Klosterman pulled in mingo, white snapper, red snapper and king mackerel.
Capt. Paul Cox on the Fish-N-Teem and his group came in with red snapper, mingo, white snapper and a red grouper.
Anglers on the 5th Day with Capt. Brady Miles-Kitchens pulled in with a rack full of red snapper, king mackerel, mingo and white snapper, while Capt. Rusty Gilbert on the Mary Lou filled the nails with red snapper and mingo.
Louisiana folks on the Just-B-Cause came in Thursday with some big red snapper and several mingo.
Capt. Steve Regan on the Wahoo came in with a pair of cobia, several red snapper, mingo, white snapper, black snapper and a scamp.
“Those were the last two of the day,” Regan said of the cobia they caught while bottom fishing.
Capt. Jason Rogers and his group from Illinois on the Great Escape got in on some of the cobia action on Wednesday. Hank Bellina pulled in a 50-plus pounder. Captain said they had just pulled in a ruby lip (bait fish) when they spotted the cobia. So they just tossed the ruby lip back out and the cobia snatched it up and the rest is history.
Capt. Nick “Slay Daddy” Price on the Swoop came in Wednesday with two tubs full of red snapper and mingo.
“We had a full load and a full pull today,” Price said.
As a matter of fact there has been a lot of that going around. Boats full and racks full of dead red fish.
See you at the docks.
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