courtesy of LDWF
The Recreational red snapper season will be weekends-only through Labor Day weekend after a brief close to the season from July 7th to the 12th. Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Director of Marine Fisheries Chris Schieble says these changes are an attempt to slow an above-average catching season.
“We’re trying to make sure there’s enough allocation left to have a full year of fishing season through at least Labor Day Weekend,” he explains.
55% of allocated red snapper have been caught since the season opened on April 15th. Schieble says LDWF is empowered to close the red snapper season mid-season like this, but they only do it to make sure anglers have enough to catch.
“That’s the whole point of this,” he says, “is to be able to have that fishery over the course of the entire summer season because we have the ability to make decisions on the fly like this.”
The current bag limit of four per person and size limit of 16 inches minimum won’t change.
Schieble says LDWF has had similar pauses in the red snapper season over the past couple of years and urges anglers to remember this is nothing new or drastic.
“Seasons in the past, we’ve had mid-season closures for a couple of weeks at a time with no fishing at all, and then reopen with different bag and season structure adjustments,” he says.
Red snapper season runs until Labor Day, which is Monday, September 2nd.
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