UTER
Photo: Fred Hsu, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Ocyurus chrysurus
How to catch Yellowtail snapper in Florida
Yellowtail snapper feed in 70–88°F water and bite best at 74–84°F. Fish Scouter's season calendar follows them in 3 waters; in October they are at their peak in The Florida Keys.
20 pts · trophy at 20"Feeds 70–88°FBest 74–84°FIn season nowArtificial reefLedge / hard bottomWreck
About
The yellowtail snapper: a yellow stripe and a forked yellow tail, on the reef and the patches from Biscayne down, best at night in a chum slick.
How to fish it
Anchor on the reef edge, put out a chum bag, and free-line a small bait back in the slick on light line — the one that drifts like the chum gets eaten.
What it eats
chum and small pieces of bait in the slicksilversidesshrimp
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.
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.
SquidStrips on a bottom rig for snapper, grunts and porgies; whole on a deep-drop rig.
Glass minnows (bay anchovies)Thrown by the handful as chum for Spanish, trout and ladyfish, or several on a tiny hook.What to fish it with
the sizes that fish itLeader10–20 lb fluorocarbon
Hook#4–#1
Braid10–15 lb
The rule
not confirmed hereMinimum size and bag limit within the snapper aggregate; confirm at MyFWC.
The current rule at MyFWC →Where it is, month by month
PPeakSSpawningAArriving·AroundLLeaving
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