2019 Red Snapper Season

Recreational offshore fishing enthusiasts will get a chance to bump baits on the bottom in search of red snapper to harvest this weekend. on July 19 and 20. These fish can be caught at other times of the year, but scientists have determined that the species is currently overfished, and they enacted a mandatory catch and release practice until the red snapper fishery become sustainable. The exception being a few days in July when anglers can target these fish and score some supper back home too. 

The weekend of July 12, 13 and 14 saw the first legal to keep fishing days for red snapper and the hot July weather cooperated with anglers by keeping sea conditions calm enough to fish. Lots of success in landing red snapper is being reported this year, and depending on what happens during the second weekend of the abbreviated red snapper season, there will be more debate about lessoning the restrictions on harvesting red snapper in the future. The recreational bag limit is one red snapper per person per day, with no minimum size limit. 

The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources has freezers at select docks and marinas for recreational anglers to participate in the red snapper carcass drop off program. State biologists will collect data from the frozen carcasses such as length of the fish, and they remove the otolith, or ear bone, which can be measured to gauge the age of the fish. Each carcass will have a catch card filled out by the angler to supply additional information about the date of the fishing trip, and descriptions of any other bottom fish encountered.

To view the entire feature article in the newspaper click on Colletonian.