Expanded 2026 red snapper seasons approved for Floridaoutdoors5-11-26
After years of severely restrictive seasons, President Trump announced that Florida’s Exempted Fishing Permit (EFP) proposals for managing Atlantic red snapper have been approved.
The South Atlantic red snapper population is booming, and recreational anglers will finally have expanded access to reflect the status of the stock.
For 2026, Sunshine State anglers, along with anglers in Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina, will enjoy expanded seasons for the highly coveted fish as the states collect critical baseline data and evaluate their management of the recreational fishery.
Florida will have a 39-day season this year. The other three states will have a 62-day season. The Florida season will run from May 22 to June 20 and the weekends of October 2-4, 9-11 and 16-18 in state and federal waters, which begin three miles offshore.
The EFPs will give the states a chance to test state-led recreational data collection programs designed specifically for red snapper and the snapper-grouper complex rather than NOAA’s flawed catch estimate system.
Last week’s announcement comes after years of frustration for anglers and the sportfishing industry over incredibly short recreational harvest seasons for Atlantic red snapper despite the significant improvements in stock health.
The species’ abundance is now at a record high, and the fishery is no longer considered to be overfished or undergoing overfishing. However, federal fisheries managers allowed only a two-day season in 2025 and just a single day in 2024, based on questionable federal recreational catch estimates.
“The American Sportfishing Association and our partners have been advocating for meaningful data collection and management improvements for South Atlantic red snapper for a long time,” said Martha Guyas, the Southeast Fisheries Policy Director for ASA. “These EFPs are a transformational step in which rebuilding success finally allows for reasonable recreational harvest opportunities and key data will be collected to inform future management strategies.
“We are grateful to the Trump administration and members of the Congressional South Atlantic Red Snapper Task Force for their support of these EFPs, as well as the governors, attorneys general, state legislators and marine fisheries management agencies of the four South Atlantic states for their leadership in developing these pilot programs.”
During the open seasons, each state will use bag limits, aggregate limits and size limits for all recreational anglers in state and federal waters.
In addition, the states will collect catch information from anglers and for-hire captains to monitor catches and gain insight into changes in angler behavior under pilot program requirements. In 2018 and 2019, Gulf states were issued similar EFPs to test state-led management of Gulf red snapper before being delegated authority to manage the fishery long-term starting in 2020.
In the years since, recreational data collection improvements undertaken by the Gulf states have allowed for expanded recreational harvest opportunities that meet local needs and satisfy conservation objectives set by federal fisheries managers. After review of the 2026 results, the South Atlantic state pilot programs may be modified and renewed. Meanwhile, long-term plans for state management and other management improvements would be developed through the federal South Atlantic Fishery Management Council.
Fishing for red snapper off the Atlantic coast is popular in central and northern Florida, but not as many of the fish are caught in South Florida. But every now and then, an angler lucks into a red snapper.
I recall a fishing trip on Bouncer’s Dusky 33 out of Miami Beach Marina with captain Bouncer Smith when brothers Matthew and Sean Van Bibber combined to catch a red snapper off Miami Beach. Smith had put out live herring on the surface and dropped one to the bottom in 275 feet in a spot where he’d caught red snapper before. When the bottom rod got hit, Sean Van Bibber grabbed it out of the rod-holder and set the hook, then handed the rod to his older brother, who landed the snapper.
When captain Casey Hunt targets red snapper out of Key West, he loads up on live bait and fishes ledges, shipwrecks, big coral heads and rockpiles in 200 to 300 feet.
“Generally, a live bait produces the bigger red snapper,” said Hunt, whose favorite baits are threadfin herring, goggle-eyes, and blue runners — a 7-inch bait is ideal — fished on 8/0 circle hooks. “A dead bait will catch a 5-pound snapper.”
Hunt catches trophy snapper using 50-pound braided line with an 8-ounce weight above a swivel that’s connected to a 15-foot leader of 60-pound Momoi fluorocarbon. He modifies the baits by clipping the ends of their tails so they’re easier for a snapper to eat.
“They don’t want the bait going ballistic. That slows down the bait so they can’t get away, but they’ll still stay lively,” Hunt said. “A lot of times the big ones will eat the bait on the way down.”
