Mangrove snapper fishing in The Florida Keys

In The Florida Keys, mangrove snapper peak May–September and are around year-round, spawning in June–August, according to Fish Scouter's month-by-month season calendar. June: Fish pulling off the backcountry and bridges to the reef.

1. JanuaryAroundBonefish on the warm afternoons; the bridges and patches are the sure thing. Big bonefish on the oceanside flats when the water is over 70; otherwise patch-reef snapper and the bridge channels. Kings and cobia on the wrecks.
2. FebruaryAroundSailfish weather outside; bones and permit between fronts. Between fronts the flats fish well on the afternoon tide; after one, the patches and the bridge channels. The reef edge is the winter fishery.
3. MarchAroundThe flats come alive: bonefish, permit and the first tarpon. Tarpon show in the channels and at the bridges; permit and bonefish tail on the oceanside flats as the water warms past 74.
4. AprilAroundTarpon month begins — bridges, channels and the oceanside. Tarpon at Bahia Honda, Seven Mile and every channel bridge on the tide change; permit on the flats and the wrecks. Yellowtail on the reef at night.
5. MayPeakPeak tarpon; the permit spawn on the wrecks. The whole Keys tarpon migration is on. Permit stack on the nearshore wrecks to spawn — live crabs. Yellowtail steady on the reef.
6. JuneSpawningFish pulling off the backcountry and bridges to the reef.
7. JulySpawningBetween the July and August full moons the mangroves leave the backcountry and the bridges for the oceanside reef to spawn — hundreds to thousands on one reef near Key West. Night, moving tide, full moon.
8. AugustSpawningStill spawning on the reef around the August moon.
9. SeptemberPeakPeak permit and bonefish continue; the first fall bait. Permit on the flats and wrecks, bonefish on the oceanside, baby tarpon in the backcountry basins. Snook opens the 1st in the backcountry? — no: October 1 here.
10. OctoberAroundSnook opens in the backcountry; bones, permit and the return of the kings. Snook on the backcountry bridges and creeks; bonefish on the higher fall tides; kings and Spanish return to the reef edge and the wrecks.
11. NovemberAroundFall bonefish; sailfish season begins; kings on the wrecks. The best bonefish tides of the year on the oceanside; kings and cobia on the wrecks and the reef edge as the water cools.
12. DecemberAroundWinter pattern: bones on warm days, patches and bridges otherwise. Watch the water temperature: over 70 the flats fish, under it the patch reefs, the bridge channels and the wrecks.

Oceanside flats and patch reefs inside the reef line, the reef itself, then the Gulf-side banks and basins of Florida Bay and the backcountry. Bridges and channels connect the two. The clearest, warmest water in the state.

Fish Scouter charts 1,715 ledge / hard bottom, 871 mangrove shoreline, 695 artificial reef, 340 wreck, 339 dock / pilings, 88 bridge spots in the The Florida Keys map area — the kinds mangrove snapper hold on.

• Live shrimpUnder a popping cork or free-lined, hooked under the horn on a #1 to 2/0 circle hook; on a jig head for the bottom. The universal inshore bait.
• Pilchards (whitebait)Free-lined or under a cork, hooked through the nose on a #1 to 2/0 circle hook. The one bait that catches everything inshore.
• PinfishHooked through the back ahead of the dorsal on a 2/0 to 4/0 circle hook; the small ones free-lined, the big ones on a fish-finder rig.
• SquidStrips on a bottom rig for snapper, grunts and porgies; whole on a deep-drop rig.

• Leader15–30 lb fluorocarbon
• Hook#1–2/0
• Jig head1/8–1/4 oz
• Braid10–20 lb

Feeds in 68–90°F water, best at 74–86°F.

All about mangrove snapper · The Florida Keys, the whole year