How to catch Mutton snapper in Florida

Mutton snapper feed in 70–88°F water and bite best at 74–84°F. Fish Scouter's season calendar follows them in 3 waters.

50 pts · trophy at 30"Feeds 70–88°FBest 74–84°FIn season nowArtificial reefWreckLedge / hard bottomChannel edge

About

The smartest snapper on the reef: olive and salmon with a black spot, spooky in clear water, and the best-eating fish in the Keys by many votes. Spawns on the reef edge around the full moons of spring.

How to fish it

Long fluorocarbon leader, a live bait on the bottom on the down-current side of the wreck or the patch, and patience. They eat when nobody's watching.

What it eats

live pilchards and pinfishballyhoo plugslive crabscut bait on the bottom

Live bait for it

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.

BallyhooRigged on a wire or mono trolling rig, skipping or swimming, behind a skirt or naked.

Blue crabsWhole and small for permit and tarpon; halved or quartered on the bottom for black drum, redfish and cobia.

What to fish it with

the sizes that fish it

Leader30–60 lb fluorocarbon

Hook2/0–7/0

Braid30–65 lb

The rule

not confirmed here

Minimum 18" total length within the snapper aggregate; seasonal rules in the Keys — confirm at MyFWC.

The current rule at MyFWC →

Where it is, month by month

PPeakSSpawningAArriving·AroundLLeaving

Florida

The Florida Keys

Miami & Biscayne Bay

Palm Beach & the Treasure Coast

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