Yellowtail Snapper Fishing in Florida

The Yellowtail Snapper is a member of snapper family Ocyurns Chrysurus and are very pretty fish so it is commonly spotted. They will get to 10 lbs. with Florida record being 8.9 lbs. caught in Ft. Myers FL on 9-13-96. We fish with bottom rigs with live and cut bait, a light line 15-20 lb. fluorocarbon leader. We catch them mostly in the rear of the boat with a large mesh bag of chum as an attractor. You can add other things to the chum to sweeten the deal like rolled oats and stone bits.

Yellowtails are caught year round but are better eating when caught in the winter when water is colder. They enjoy being near a reef and feed more on the bottom of the Gulf. We will catch them on a full day since they like to stay about 30 miles out.

We fish with bottom rigs with live and cut bait, a light line 15-20 lb. fluorocarbon leader. We catch them mostly in the rear of the boat with a large mesh bag of chum as an attractor. You can add other things to the chum to sweeten the deal like rolled oats and stone bits. The key is to keep a slack in the line and point the trod tip in the direction of the drift and when it’s windy keep the tip close to the water so your slackened line doesn’t get windblown.

They are very good eating white flaky fish and be cooked to perfection with some recipe hints that we can give you. Their meat is not as firm as the mangrove snapper but they are my 2nd favorite snapper to eat.

Can catch 10 per day per angler with 12” min

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