Red snapper are 'fun to catch and great to eat' - and they're big for Pensacola's economy

It’s that time of year again — time to jump in a boat, rev up that outboard motor and catch some red snapper.

The Florida Gulf Recreational red snapper season opens Friday and runs through the end of July, with periodic weekend reopenings in October and November. It's the longest season since the state assumed management of red snapper, and it couldn’t have come soon enough for the people who rely on it financially .

Many charter boat captains and other maritime recreational service providers who live and work around Pensacola wouldn’t be able to make ends meet, if not for the red snappers swimming in the Gulf Coast waters off Pensacola Beach.

Not only is it the busiest time of year for Pensacola charter boats but also for industry specialists who cater to tourists and fishing captains’ vessels.

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Marina owners love the business too.

Jake Adams, one of the co-owners of the family-owned Day Break Marina, expects Saturday morning to be a possible record breaking day for the number of boats launched from his docks on Pensacola Beach.

Adams estimated that around 80 to 90 boats would be put into the water at his marina Friday morning. However, it will be a lot busier on Saturday.

For the past two years, approximately 140 boats have been launched from the Day Break Marina on the first weekend morning of snapper season.

“During COVID when nobody was working and everything with the weather was beautiful every day, everybody was boating every day,” he said.

This year, Adams added, he expects to see more boats go into water Saturday morning at the marina.

“Generally snapper season opens earlier, but with an opening that is coinciding with Father's Day on Sunday and you’ve got perfect forecast with sunny skies, I mean it's just that everything's perfect,” Adams said. “We've already got a board full of scheduled launches.”

For those who like to fish in Pensacola, there’s no fish like red fish. The popularity of red snapper is vast.

“It's a big part of my annual revenue for sure,” said Alex Renn, a boat mechanic and owner of Renn Marine. “It keeps it keeps me in business. People are using their boats. They love the red snapper.”

At any other time of the year, Renn can expect to walk into work and receive two to three quick calls from customers requesting boat repairs. But, this is snapper season.

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“Next week, on Monday morning by lunchtime, I'll have 20 phone calls,” Renn said, noting that he makes around a quarter of his yearly income in snapper season.

“I mean, it's huge,” he added.

Gone fishing

Every summer, a general fervor surrounds the prospect of pulling in and keeping a couple in-season red snapper instead of having to throw them back.

“Red snappers are the staple of our fishery here in the Panhandle. It’s just as good as it is anywhere in the world,” Adams explained. “You don't have to go super far to catch them. So I mean, just with all that said, it's just the premier, most sought after fish on the coast.”

Capt. Chris Phillips, owner of Hot Spots Charters, said the popularity of red snapper fishing is easy to explain.

“They're fun to catch and great to eat," he said.

“Plus, they're a pretty easy target,” Phillips continued, noting the high success rate anglers have when targeting the species.

“I like to explain it like this. You take a guy on Pensacola Beach. He bought his family a boat. They just got it. They can go down to the tackle store and get some cigar minnows. They can get online and get some GPS numbers, and they can go out there and catch something to bring home to eat,” Phillips said. “Most fish are not like that. Most fish take more knowledge. But I mean, red snapper, that's our thing. I mean, here, that’s our fish.”

Hot Spots Charters is one of the biggest charter boat companies in Pensacola.

The company operates multiple boats. Two of the boats are permitted to fish in federal waters — about nine miles out, off the shore of Pensacola Beach — and were able to begin catching and keeping red snapper in those waters on June 1.

Federal reef fish permits are a valuable commodity to charter boat captains because the federal red snapper season begins before state season. However, there are a limited number of federal permits for the whole of the Gulf of Mexico, Phillips said.

“The value of the permit is up to about $40,000. There are no more permits being issued,” he said, before quickly adding, “There are only 1,200 in the Gulf of Mexico.”

That two of Hot Spots' boats have the federal permits has boosted his profits this year, but Phillips is still banking on a big state season as, in general, the charter fishing industry has been down in 2022.

“When I say we’re down, maybe we're down 15% or something like that,” Phillips said. “We're a big company. So 15% is a lot of charters. We ran 1,400 charters last year. So 15%, that’s a big amount for us. Obviously, (the high price of) gas is going to have some effect.”

During the height of the pandemic Capt. Bryant Fields, owner of All Caught Up Fishing Charters, said that he had requests to go red snapper fishing from people as far away as California and Seattle, Washington.

“I have people that fish with me from Missouri, Kentucky, Arkansas and Tennessee. We get some people from up on the East Coast,” Fields said. “But most of the travel I see is from the middle part of the country, and I occasionally get people out from Arizona.”

Fields had a federal permit but sold it several years ago. Now, he relies on the state season and is often frustrated the state periodically changes the dates of season from year-to-year.

Last year, the Gulf recreational snapper season in Florida started on June 4, and this year, Fields had to cancel over a dozen pre-scheduled charters upon learning the season start date had been moved back to June 17.

“When you start talking about the economics of it right now with the inflation, the price at the pump, the cost of our hard goods that we use every day — like our tackle — it’s all getting up there,” Fields said. “If it keeps climbing at the rate that it's climbing, we're either going to run out of enough money to replace our boats, our equipment in four or five years, or we're going to price ourselves out of the market of what most people are willing to pay to go.

“Because fishing is not a necessity,” he continued. “You might still want that vacation. You might still have enough money in your bank account to take that vacation with your family. But do you throw a $900 fishing trip on top of it?”

Still, Fields said that things are looking up for this season. His June and July schedules are still filling up, and it’s time to go fishing.

Season dates, 2022

The 45-day summer season will begin June 17 and continue through July 31.

The 12-day fall season is the longest fall season since the beginning of state management and spans the following dates:

• Oct. 8-9

• Oct. 15-16

• Oct. 22-23

• Nov. 11-13 (Veterans Day weekend)

• Nov. 25-27 (Weekend after Thanksgiving)

Colin Warren-Hicks can be reached at colinwarrenhicks@pnj.com or 850-435-8680.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Florida red snapper season: Pensacola fishing charters hope for big season