BigBendFishing.Net

Was interested in catching some mangrove snapper offshore and was wondering if any of the GURU's on here could give some insite as to how to do so! any help would be appreciated, Thanks!

Don't know much about offshore... However, I caught them all winter long in the St. Marks River. The majority were small juveniles, but there were many over 15 inches that made for a great dinner.

Good luck. 3-5 days before and after full moon in May-Sept is always best. They will often be much higher in the water column than other bottom fish. They are easily spooked, wise to fishing line. The lighter the line, the more you will hook. Daytime fishing, flouro carbon will bring more bites. They bite very well after dark...... again near the full moon. Inside of 40 ft, they are hard to find in the big bend & pan handle. They love structure with 5+ ft of relief. Wrecks will always have some. Seems a nice piece of bottom or wreck/artificial reef in 70-100 ft will usually have plenty....... unless the divers have wiped them out.

To summarize: if you fish: 1) at night, 2) near the full moon, 3) in the top half of the water column, 4) using light line 5) on/around a wreck, tower, or 5+ ledge, & 6) in water deeper than 40 ft......... you are fishing for Mangos (aka mangrove, Black Snapper). In the past forty years, I've literally caught tons on Florida's east coast and in the GOM.

All the above are also true when fishing inshore, too. Bridges hold plenty of them. Deep water is better for bigger fish.

thanks for the information guys i will surly give these tips a try! I have been watching folks catch them on fishing shows latley and thought it would be fun to try!

go to S-Tower and catch all you want
Chum them on the shade side of the tower
free line cut bait on light tackle
pull'em up quick before the sharks eat them

to the above post

roadtrip wrote:go to S-Tower and catch all you want
Chum them on the shade side of the tower
free line cut bait on light tackle
pull'em up quick before the sharks eat them

Try the same thing at night with a green glow light... So much fun!

Those fish are the most tuned in fish with the moon's cycle. in 40 yrs of fishing, much of it offshore, from the gulf's oil rigs to the Florida's east coast, the time near the full moon in May-Sept makes them "Most Accommodating". However, the weather may say something different!

Old thread-

Talked to a guy today that speared 2 mangroves on the east flats in about 6' of water.

Any new tips on line fishing for them besides flourocarbon and smaller hooks? I've got some Hawaiian slings, so I might try that too this weekend if I can't get 'em on a hook.