mutton snapper fishing

Offshore Tips

There is really no casting for muttons offshore – you will be strictly bottom fishing or deep jigging. The trick for being successful here is to have a clean “junk free” terminal tackle set up. By junk free, I mean no snap swivels, no wire leaders, and as light a line and weight as possible.

Tackle

• Medium weight bottom fishing rig
  • A nice stiff bottom rod.
  • 30 to 50 pound test monofilament line
  • Fluorocarbon leaders
  • Only enough weight to get you to the bottom – as dictated by the current.

Bait

• Live Bait
  • Live cigar minnows
  • Live pilchards
  • Live pinfish
  • Live ballyhoo
• Dead BaitAny of the live baits mentioned will work as dead bait as long as it is fresh. Good cut chunks of mullet, whole pinfish and fresh ballyhoo are the preferred dead baits for muttons.
• ArtificialsDeep jigging can be particularly deadly for mutton snapper. A red and white, 8 ounce nylon jig with a good strip bait jigged off the edge of the reef in water from 150 to 180 feet deep can produce some really big mutton snapper.

  Mutton snapper can be enticed by a good chum slick when fishing over the reef. The chum draws literally all fish, and there will be some mutton snapper in the mix. Look for ballyhoo in the chum line and use small hooks and very tiny pieces of bait to catch some fresh live bait!

Location

• Most of the reefs off of south Florida hold mutton snapper. They do move, so finding them on one reef this trip does not mean finding them next trip. You need to have several locations (GPS coordinates) to try. You may have to hit several locations before you find fish.Of course, at night you can anchor up along the edge of a flat and free line some fresh dead or live bait over the grass. You may not catch a lot of mutton snapper, but the ones you do encounter will be big ones.