Gulf States Unite in Bid to Take Over Red Snapper Management from Feds

[Dominick]

Dwight photos 12 and 13 show pretty big Snappers.  Just like Giants baseball wait til next year.  Dominick

Those are babies. You need to drag a 30 pounder off the reef with the tank. That will draw some sweat out of you if it does not cut you off first.  I got a 45 pounder a few months ago that Captain Al said was the largest that he had seen on the Pastime. They do get bigger. 

Is that an invitation?  Dominick

[Wally15]

Another problem with red snapper is the high mortality rate of released fish. Just last week I was fishing with fellow forum member JoePlo out of Mexico Beach. We must have caught 50 ARS that particular day. Joe caught two very large ones (20+) and both died despite our best efforts to revive them, including venting their bladders.
Barotrauma seems to affect ARS more than any other reef fish that I'm aware of. The smaller reds seem to have a higher survival rate, but even 5-6 of those died. It's frustrating watching good fish get turned into shark food.
Speaking of shark food, Joe caught a very nice gag grouper and a shark helped himself to the back half of the fish. Pic attached. Wonder if the FWC would have ticketed him for having a "short" fish? In case anyone is wondering, that's a legal mangrove snapper on the cleaning table.

Mike Pate

[Steve-O]

Batotrauma is very common with many deep water species.

Alaska has instituted a practice into law requiring all charter boats and others to have a deep descender release device on board.

Many kinds of such devices are out there including the DIY kind - a heavy lead head jig with no barb and extra weight added. The line is then attached to the bend in the hook. The point pierces the lower lip of the fish and it's released to the depth caught, then lifted smartly to release the fish at depth.


For ex.
http://www.sheltonproducts.com/SFD.html

[Newell Nut]

Dwight photos 12 and 13 show pretty big Snappers.  Just like Giants baseball wait til next year.  Dominick

Those are babies. You need to drag a 30 pounder off the reef with the tank. That will draw some sweat out of you if it does not cut you off first.  I got a 45 pounder a few months ago that Captain Al said was the largest that he had seen on the Pastime. They do get bigger. 

Is that an invitation?  Dominick

Certainly, come on over. John will be here around Christmas. Sal may show up when he retires. Fishing is slow right now but Oct thru June should be good times. The biggest red snappers are really chewing in the spring months along with cobia and mangos.

[Wally15]

Batotrauma is very common with many deep water species.

Alaska has instituted a practice into law requiring all charter boats and others to have a deep descender release device on board.

Many kinds of such devices are out there including the DIY kind - a heavy lead head jig with no barb and extra weight added. The line is then attached to the bend in the hook. The point pierces the lower lip of the fish and it's released to the depth caught, then lifted smartly to release the fish at depth.


For ex.
http://www.sheltonproducts.com/SFD.html

Yeah, I've had two of the darn things, both DIY's, and lost both on the reefs releasing ARS. I'm thinking the fish head back into their holes as they near the bottom and before I can release them. Anybody got one they particularly like and is effective. Store bought or DIY, doesn't matter.
Mike

[humboldtdan]

Not trying to be critical, but if you are venting by poking a hole in the fish they may have a very high mortality rate.  Most people don't know how to correctly vent and there is always a risk of infection.  In my opinion, the only effective way to release fish suffering from barotrauma is to get the fish back down to recompression depth as quickly as possible.  I know some of the southern states recommend venting, but studies have shown that survival may be low for fish that are vented prior to release.  Survival is reasonably good for fish that are descended immediately without venting.

https://sites.google.com/site/barotraumainfish/

https://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?DocumentID=36345&inline=true

[day0ne]

Problem is, since 2008 anglers have been mandated by the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council
and NOAA Fisheries to carry and utilize dehooking devices and venting tools on reef fish caught
in the Gulf of Mexico.

Note the carry and utilize.

[Newell Nut]

I stayed home worked on rods but the link is today's catch on the Pastime and again the primary fish caught is the red snapper.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/deepseafishingdaytona/albums/72157658117863149

[Tightlines667]

Looks like alot of young, healthy Reds.  That last one looks a little bigger.  Most are likely less then 5 years old (TL<450cm).  Certainly not many fish in the 15-30 year old range (TL> 950cm).  Obviously you guys continue to see great numbers of Red Snapper.  That is a pretty nice Cuda there too.  What have the surface water Temps been like this past month?  Over the 84 degree long term ave. for Aug? 

Looks like you had another good day on the water.  Keep living the dream.

BTW how did that reel you were going to test out work?

[Newell Nut]

If you are referring to the 200-400 SS gear sleeve then it is working fine and Tom told me not to use it because it had not been hardened yet. The only issue was the first day with the old AR dog. No issue since I changed the dog.

We have had water temps between 80 and 84. The biggest red snappers will show up soon and hang around until July. 15 to 40 lb range. If we had an extra 30 minutes to travel out each day we would get the big ones now.

[Tightlines667]

If you are referring to the 200-400 SS gear sleeve then it is working fine and Tom told me not to use it because it had not been hardened yet. The only issue was the first day with the old AR dog. No issue since I changed the dog.

Glad to hear the sleeve fits well, and is working good, despite not being hardened.  I will definitely need one once they go into production for my current build. 

[broschro]

Don't get me started. The red Snapper stocks are so healthy even someone who doesn't ever fish can tell you that. once you get out to 130 feet or more it's the majority of the fish we catch.  We have to stop going out that far and wait for the other fish to come in.That's why Dewight  talks about it getting better soon. The cooler the water gets the bigger fish will move in there are plenty 20 to 30 pound fish out there all day long,and when you fish in the hundred and thirty foot Depth you rarely catch  fish under 20 pounds it is ridiculous. But the scientists know Lol. Look up salty kayak on YouTube. He is in New Symerna fishes in a 17 foot Key West and rarely fishes in anything over 80 feet and the majority of the fish he catches are red snapper. google it and look at his videos from last week fat fat red snappers in 60 feet. Oh yeah and i almost  forgot. The majority of the fish that have been killed  have been killed" have been killed by our lovely government. THEY  blow up the oil rigs in the Gulf instead of taking them apart?they blow them up along with thousands and thousands of red snapper and other fish! Google it I love this website and the people on it. I'm  not trying to start a fight.  I just know from experience that the red snapper population is substantial enough to let recreational fishermen start keeping a few. It's the greedy government that keeps us from having these.

[otownjoe]

I saw a show on tv the other day about commercial fishing. They were catching red snapper on hydraulic reels that had 20 hook leaders. The leaders were coming up with a red snapper on every hook. What I found most disturbing about the show was that it was sponsored by the Fresh From Florida campaign .It was basically a state funded infomercial that made no reference to the recreational angler.Its bad enough we have the Feds unwilling to do anything about the imbalance in the system, and now the state is using my tax dollars to bolster sentiment for the commercial fisherman.  Joe