On Show Me The Fish Charters we are experiencing mangrove snapper madness. Catching lots of monster mangrove snapper up to 6 lbs, plus tasty yellowtail snapper, lane snapper, vermillion snappers, super bad amberjacks, porgys, sea bass, and triggerfish to fill our coolers. On the same wrecks, reefs, and rock piles,without even trying we are catching and releasing over-limit catches of gag grouper up to 20 lbs, fishing way off the bottom targeting amberjacks. There is also an over-abundance of American red snapper hitting the bait before the other fish. I never thought I would see the day when two of my favorite species became a nuisance while targeting other fish. All is not lost we can still fill the ice box up with all those other tasty snapper, reef fish and AJ's for the meat hunters and still punish the guys that want to fight big fish and get it on with a big Amberjack. Always keep a flatline out this time of year for a blackfin tuna and cobia. I forecast if there are no more freezes and the rest of the winter is warm we could have some crazy kingfish action early. Best action is finding an area that has not been hammered by a bunch of boats and you will have that trip of a life time. I recommend wrecks and springs in 150 ft plus using very large live baits and smaller live baits and cut sardines for the snappers.

My parties are all jacked up! Catching big amberjack, lots of mangrove snapper, some yellowtail, lane and vemillion snappers. Plus lots of delicious reef fish like porgys, sea bass, and triggerfish. We are fishing areas that don’t usually have as many grouper and American red snapper, but they are very plentiful everywhere we fish and we are catching and releasing them very carefully. I still take some quick photos of the trophies for a life-long memory for my parties. One of my favorite sayings is “If you don’t have a photo of your catch it may be just a fish story.” Look for the snappers and AJs starting out at 100 ft., and for the biggest and the baddest amberjacks go out to the springs and wrecks out 155 ft. plus. Large live baits are working best along with butterfly jigs. Sardines are working great for the snapper and reef fish. Fishing’s great and life is good.

On a conservation note, if everyone is unhappy about the new fishery regulations banning the catch of gag grouper for possibly a year, and closing the season for two months on the other species of grouper. Not to mention the two-month only season for red snapper and moratorium on possessing goliath grouper (jewfish) that are out of control, eating all our permit (a world-class game fish) and every other fish that fits in their mouths. These rules were established by the NOAA Gulf fisheries council members which themselves are never on the water and are using flawed catch data.

The scientific data that I have collected, and many other fisherman show, is that there is an over-abundance of these species. The answer to this ridiculous problem is to contact, email, call, mail, and harass the governor’s office. The governor of each Gulf state appoints 3 Gulf of Mexico council members, and they make the rules. These bogus laws hinder the economy big time, cutting jobs and our food and fun. Don’t mess with a man’s fishing! Maybe his truck, maybe his woman, but not his fishing. That is a serious situation that cannot be tolerated and needs to be dealt with.

The solution to the problem is for millions of Americans to contact these governors and put pressure on the NOAA agency to do their job or appoint someone who can. As Donald Trump says if you’re using inaccurate data and not performing “You’re fired! You’re outta here.” If the governors are not addressing this horrific problem, then we can vote them out of office, regardless of political party affiliation. Then he or she is fired. That’s what I am talking about. We can do it with today’s media, especially the Internet. And that’s how I see it.