Red snapper are a hot commodity this summer.
 
By Chester Moore, Jr.

In fact, these year-round residents of Texas Gulf waters are receiving as much attention this summer as warm water-only visitors like king mackerel and ling.

That's because the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) voted in April to reduce the recreational bag limit from five fish to four per angler. And they set the precedent to shut down the recreational season as early as Sept. 1 if the newly implemented bycatch reducing devices (BRDS) don't reduce the Gulf shrimp fleet's incidental catch of juvenile snapper by at least 60 percent.

This controversy has created a real sense of urgency among both charter boat captains and private boat skippers who know that the window of opportunity could be quickly closing on this year's chances of catching a big snapper.

Capt. Marci Davis of Davis Charters in Freeport (409- 233-5027) is one of many captains who is already preparing for the potential mad rush of anglers to the offshore platforms.

"Everyone is going to be in a hurry to catch their snapper if and when the ruling comes down," Davis says. "You can bet your bottom dollar that all of the platforms and popular wrecks are going to be stacked with small boats on our end of the coast. If an angler want to catch good fish, he'll have to be more flexible with his game plan and search out the more subtle structure."

Davis works the small reefs and rocks that can be found from 25 to 50 miles off of the Freeport/Galveston area. These "hard spots" may require a little extra effort to find, but more often than not they produce big snapper.

"Snapper are not drawn to big structure only," Davis continues. "Some of the smaller well heads, rocks and tiny reefs hold good numbers of fish, too. And since these areas are not pressured as much as the rigs in this area, you tend to find more big fish there."