On the Outdoors: Snapper restrictions have anglers seeing red

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Texas' state record for red snapper caught on rod-and-reel stands at 38.13 pounds, and it has since that super-size specimen of Texas offshore anglers' most popular target was landed in 1998.

If not for the vagaries of federal red snapper management, that record just might have fallen a couple of weeks ago. Certainly, it would have been pushed hard Jan. 19 when Tracy and Travis Allred of Woodville took their 31-foot Fountain, Weight N Sea, about 80 miles off Sabine Pass.

During winter, such water can yield amberjack and the occasional ling or, maybe, a wahoo or two. And, along the upper coast, winter is the best season of the year for encountering grouper - ponderous warsaw grouper and maybe a few scamp and those smallish but wonderfully tasty "strawberry" hinds.

Fishing around structure in about 150 feet of water, the Allreds that day tangled with some serious fish.

Tracy wrestled for more than an hour with a behemoth that Travis appropriately termed "a UFO" that sucked in a live blue runner and grumped and held its ground, deep, until the line parted. They never saw the fish. Had to be a monster grouper, Travis figures.

Tracy Allred holds a 38.25-inch red snapper she caught about 80 miles off Sabine Pass in January. The fish, which may have topped the Texas red snapper record of 38.13 pounds, was released because red snapper season is closed in Gulf water under federal control. less Tracy Allred holds a 38.25-inch red snapper she caught about 80 miles off Sabine Pass in January. The fish, which may have topped the Texas red snapper record of 38.13 pounds, was released because red snapper ... more Photo: Picasa Photo: Picasa Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close On the Outdoors: Snapper restrictions have anglers seeing red 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

Travis hooked and battled another huge fish that gobbled a live blue runner fished on bottom. An hour into the fight, he could see the fish way down in the cobalt water. Looked to be "5 feet long and 3 feet wide," he said. Had to be a big warsaw. They'll never know; the 400-pound-test leader broke.

Fish to avoid

Not all of their luck was bad. They caught fish, some of which they tried not to target.

Sharks were one. Red snapper were other.

Sharks can be a pain when fishing offshore, grabbing baits meant for more desired species, burning up valuable fishing time and almost inevitably resulting in losing terminal tackle to their teeth. And while sharks can be great eating, they require a lot of work to keep them edible. Most anglers try to avoid them as more trouble than they are worth.

Red snapper are another matter. It's not that Texas anglers don't love red snapper. They do; red snapper long have been the most popular target species of the state's offshore fishers.

But since 1997, recreational anglers fishing in federally controlled water of the Gulf of Mexico have been allowed to retain red snapper only during an open season designated by federal fisheries officials.

The limited open season has been used to restrict snapper harvest as part of a Congress-mandated rebuilding of the Gulf's red snapper fishery - a fishery that had been severely reduced by a combination of factors including over-fishing and loss of juvenile snapper to shrimp trawls.

The snapper population responded to the management efforts - by-catch reduction devices mandated for shrimp trawls, conservative fishing regulations for commercial and recreational anglers - and is no longer considered "over-fished." But snapper, according to the best-available science, still are far from their Congressionally mandated population level goals. So recreational anglers continue operating under restrictive - OK, draconian - regulations governing harvest of red snapper.

Length of the recreational fishing season for red snapper has been persistently - some might say perniciously - shortened over the past 15 years as a way to restrict anglers' harvest of red snapper to an annual Gulf-wide quota. And regulations limit anglers to no more than two red snapper per day.

Since 1997, length of the open season for recreational snapper harvest has steadily and significantly shrivelled, from 330 days in 1997 to just 45 days in 2012.

And the open season, which earlier opened Jan. 1, then moved to April 21, has since 2008 started on June 1.

So until June 1, keeping a red snapper caught from federally controlled water of the Gulf of Mexico (off Texas, that's Gulf water from nine nautical miles off the coast to the federal 200-mile jurisdictional boundary) is illegal.

Frustrating dilemma

And that prohibition on recreational anglers retaining red snapper is the reason offshore anglers mostly try to avoid hooking the fish during the closed season. It can be teeth-grindingly frustrating to be on the water during the red snapper closure and be unable to catch any other "legal" species because snapper after snapper after snapper grabs the bait.

It forces anglers to either quit fishing a spot or spend time venting the potentially fatal buildup of expanded gases that occur when a fish is brought to the surface from deep water, then releasing the fish back into the Gulf where its chance of surviving the experience often is only fair at best.

Which brings us back to the Allreds.

One of the many wonderful things about offshore fishing is not knowing what's going to grab a bait lowered into the depths. So when Tracy Allred dropped a baited 16/0 hook about 60 feet below the surface, drew a sharp strike and set the hook into something solid, she may have thought it was nice grouper.

It wasn't. Turned out to be a red snapper. A big one. A 30-incher, the biggest she'd ever caught.

They photographed and released the fish, and Tracy made another drop. Another hard strike and hook-up on a solid fish. Maybe this was a good grouper.

Nope. It was a monster red snapper, bigger than the first.

The Allreds landed the huge snapper, took photos, quickly measured the fish's length and girth, then, as the law requires, released the immense fish.

"It was the biggest red snapper I'd ever seen," Travis Allred said. And he's seen some big snapper; he has a 37.5-incher on his wall.

Tracy's snapper measured 38.25 inches long with a girth of 28.5 inches.

Back on land, they checked the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department's fish records and found the 38.13-pound state-record red snapper measured "only" 37.5 inches. Tracy's fish was almost an inch longer.

Using the accepted and surprisingly accurate formula for estimating a fish's weight using its body measurements (length in inches multiplied by the square of the girth and divided by 800), Tracy's snapper likely weighed 38.84 pounds. That's more than a half-pound heavier than the Texas record for this most sought-after reef fish.

Record stands

Of course, without putting the fish on certified scales, it's impossible to know if Tracy's giant red snapper would have bested the record. After all, a 38.62-inch red snapper caught on a handline in 1992 holds Texas' record as the heaviest of the species taken by legal methods other than rod-and-reel, and that fish weighed "only" 37 pounds.

Because they had photos and measurements of the fish, Tracy qualified for and has received Outstanding Angler and Big Fish awards from TPWD.

But it's obvious the fish would have threatened and perhaps bested the state record. Except they couldn't bring it in and put it on certified scales,

"I wanted to cry," said Travis Allred, recalling watching the huge snapper swim away.

On a positive note, the fish seemed to have survived being caught, handled, measured and released in good shape.

"She swam away just fine," Travis said.

So the good news is, odds are decent there's a potential state-record snapper hanging in the Gulf 80 miles or so off Sabine Pass.

The bad news is, it's four months until someone can try to catch it.

And anyone wanting to target that fish or any other red snapper in federal water may have to work fast.

Early word is that the 2013 recreational red snapper season, which will be officially set in the coming month, could be as brief as 27 days.

With anglers operating under such restrictive regulations, it's a good bet Texas' current state-record snapper will hold that title for a good while.

Heavier fish may be landed - and Tracy Allred may have landed one Jan. 19. But catching one when it's legal to keep it is going to be a real challenge.