🌊 Best on the ebb💨 Likes calm wind📅 Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug
- Water temp
- 72–86°F
- Depth
- 7–49 ft
- Max weight
- 15.4lb
- Day vs night
- ☀️ 🌙
Mutton snapper are the heavyweight of the shore snappers, with an olive-green back, reddish fins and a black spot below the dorsal. From land they are mostly a south Florida fish: the Keys bridges and channels, the inlets and jetties from Palm Beach to Miami, and occasionally the flats and beach troughs of the Keys. They feed well on a moving tide, particularly the outgoing through bridge channels, and around the full moons of late spring and early summer when they gather to spawn. Fish a live pilchard, pinfish or a fresh strip of ballyhoo on a knocker rig or long Carolina leader, 30–40 lb fluorocarbon and a 4/0–6/0 circle hook, with 2–4 oz of lead depending on current. A stout 7–8 ft rod and 30 lb braid are needed to turn them away from bridge pilings on the first run. Muttons are prized table fish; check current FWC rules before keeping one.
Best bait for mutton snapper
- 1 Pilchards (Scaled Sardines)
- 2 Live Pinfish
- 3 Squid Strips
- 4 Cut Mullet
- 5 Scented Bait Strips
Rigs that work
- 1 Knocker Rig
- 2 Carolina Rig
- 3 Freeline Live Bait
