Red Snapper

Red snapper are deep rose-red above fading to pink and white below, with red eyes, a pointed anal fin and a long, sloping head profile. Juveniles under about 10 inches show a dark spot below the rear dorsal fin that fades with age. They are often confused with vermilion snapper (smaller, more slender, forked tail) and with the deeper-water blackfin and silk snappers, but a big red snapper with its humped shoulders and bulldog head is unmistakable.

The species lives in the western Atlantic from North Carolina through the Gulf of Mexico to the Yucatan, with the heart of the US fishery off Texas, Louisiana, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle. Adults hold on natural reef, ledges, artificial reefs, wrecks and the legs of oil and gas platforms in 60 to 300 feet of water. Alabama alone has deployed thousands of artificial reefs, and its red snapper fishing has become the most productive in the country. Preferred bottom temperatures run 64 to 79 F (18 to 26 C).

Red snapper are structure-oriented predators that feed on small fish, squid, crabs and shrimp, rising well off the bottom to intercept bait and competing aggressively, which is why a hooked fish often comes up with a dozen others chasing it. Big "sow" snapper over 20 pounds are 20 to 40 years old and tend to sit slightly off the main structure or on smaller, less-fished spots. They spawn offshore through the summer.

After decades of overfishing, Gulf red snapper rebounded under strict quotas, and today the fish are bigger and more abundant than any living angler has seen. Recreational seasons are set by the federal government in federal waters and by the Gulf states in theirs, and they are short, so trips are planned around the opener. The reward is a cooler of one of the finest-eating fish in the sea.