Yellow Eyed Red Snapper

April 13
Outside the reef: I saw several sailfish jumping last week. I heard the “The Rock” caught a real big black fin tuna, among other tunas while trolling. Wahoo can also be caught trolling this time of the year. Bottom fishing with sardines and Continued on Page 7 mullet has been productive all week for yellow eyed red snapper, grouper, schoolmaster horse eyed jacks and amberjacks.
Inside the Reef: Barracuda yellow tail and mutton snapper are biting on sardines.
Flats: Bonefish, Tarpon and Permit are all being caught in abundance on the flats this time of year. Go deep for yellow eyed red snapper


When fishing yellow eyed red snapper it’s not uncommon to catch other species including, king snapper, black snapper, amberjack and snowy grouper.
Want to catch LOTS of fish … go deep for yellow eyed red snapper. Off the ledge in depths of 250’ to 350’ it’s possible to fill your coolers full of these great eating cousins of the red snapper. In near complete darkness of these great depths and beyond the pressures of most sports fishermen, commercial fisherman and divers yellow eyed red snapper live breed and feed in huge schools. An angler with a little local knowledge and enough endurance to reel these fish in from off the bottom … fish after fish … can quickly fill a fish well.


To fish this species Dilzon attaches an eight ounce weight to a four foot leader with two hooks, either #7 or #8 placed two feet apart.
Yellow eyed red snapper are a beautiful pinkish red with white below. They are identifiable from its close relative the red snapper by its yellow iris. Red snapper have a red iris. Another difference between the two species is that the yellow eyed red snapper grow to around 30 inches where as red snapper grow to around 36 inches.

Yellow eyed red snapper occur throughout the Western Atlantic from northern South America to North Carolina. The species spawns from spring to late summer and feed on crabs, shrimp and fish.

I catch yellow eyed red snapper by holding stationary in about 300 feet of water, stern into the sea, bumping an engine in reverse every once in awhile to counter the effects of the current. This both holds my position and serves to keep the line strait down and not carried out with the current. Keeping your line straight down is crucial for two reasons, first of all, it eliminates a large catenary or bow in the line enabling you to better feel the fish bite. I find that a lot of my quests have problems feeling the fish bite because of the amount of line that’s out. And it lessens the time and amount of line it takes to get your bait to the bottom. Usually when you got one on it will feel like a small added weight to the line until he gets closer to the surface when you will feel him fight like a cornered pit bull gator in a tiger cage if he has any size. I, on the other hand, can feel when a fish glances in the direction my bait from a distance of up to a half mile away. I’d teach you that technique but I can’t give away all my secrets … now can I? To fish this species I attach an eight ounce weight to a four foot leader with two hooks, either #7 or #8 placed two feet apart. I’ve always baited with sardines but stomach contents of a large majority of the yellow eyed red snapper I’ve caught indicate their food is shrimp. Next time, I go after this species I’ll probably bait with shrimp on multiple #4 hooks to see if that’s more successful. (I’ll let you know how it works in next week’s column.)

Just remember once you’ve caught one you’re on the spot and its time to start loading the cooler. In short order, your arms may feel like spaghetti noodles though. It does take some sweat and strain to reel these monsters up from 300’.

When fishing yellow eyed red snapper it’s not uncommon to catch other species including, king snapper, black snapper amberjack and snowy grouper. Using the methods described here I am able to feed my charter quests the delectable yellow eyed red snapper year round. The last three I caught were salted and dried, to make what is known locally as corned fish. I plan on cooking this corned yellow eyed red snapper in a soup, for a traditional San Pedro Easter meal to enjoy with my family this Easter Sunday. Captain Dilzon Murcia is the project manager for Island Ferry and owner operator of Dilzon Charters, a sport fishing charter business. To catch the fish featured this week, and other large fish, call Dilzon at 620-6118 or drop by the Island Ferry office and schedule your next fishing adventure.

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