Try These Snapper Alternatives

The 2021 red snapper season in federal waters of the Gulf of Mexico came and went.

Although the best eating and most abundant offshore fish is no longer available to us here other than in state waters. Most of the good state water snapper fishing is on the Middle and Lower coast.

But there are great offshore alternatives

Let’s start with ling.

Although not nearly as abundant as red snapper, ling (cobra, lemonfish) are available for local anglers to catch and are fairly common around weedines, rigs and buoys.

Ling are one of the hardest fighting and best tasting fish in the Gulf. Looking like some sort of misshapen shark they can grow to huge sizes and in our area catches of 50 plus pounders are not uncommon.

Another good option is sharks.

Sharks, especially blacktips, spinners and Atlantic sharpness are abundant around the jetties, surf, rigs, wrecks and behind culling shrimp boats. Sharks are excellent on the grill or in the frying pan and are superior fighters.

Speaking of tarpon, one of the best places on the Texas coast to find them is between High Island and Galveston. In fact this area may house the largest tarpon on the Texas coastline.

Officials with the state’s Tarpon Observation Network (TON) note that anglers annually target Texas tarpon nearshore with some degree of success.

“While current populations are not what they once were, a major effort to conserve the species has led to more opportunities for Texas anglers. Each year, typically in the late summer and early fall, anglers target tarpon with some degree of success.”

That means now is the time tarpon start schooling in areas like the stretch between High Island and Galveston, around Port O’Connor. On the Lower Coast Capt. Brian Barrera is reporting catching big tarpon around the Port Isabel jetties and throughout the Lower Coast nearshore region.

TON advises that most tarpon are often hooked incidentally while fishing for other species, however the tarpon’s habit of supplementing oxygen intake by gulping air (often referred to as “rolling”) can alert anglers to their presence.

“Tarpon are opportunistic carnivores, feeding on a variety of prey. Anglers typically use dead or live fish for bait, such as menhaden or mullet, but live crab, live shrimp and artificial baits (including flies) that resemble baitfish or shrimp can tempt a hungry tarpon as well.”

“Hard bony plates in the mouth make tarpon difficult to hook, but circle hooks have been found to provide the best hookup ratios. Due to the presence of sharp gill plates, anglers typically use long 80# test or heavier leaders as insurance against cut offs. Nevertheless, hooking a tarpon and bringing it to the hand is easier said than done, with most hookups resulting in the tarpon winning the battle.”

An easier target and one that is excellent in the frying pan are Atlantic spadefish.

Sometimes called “angel fish” they are common around rigs and are fairly easy to catch with small, stout hooks baited with chunks of shrimp.

Spadefish is one of my favorite fish to catch and on the east coast they are considered a delicacy where large numbers of them are not only found along beaches but in bay systems.

They swirl around like a tornado when hooked and put up an impressive fight on trout tackle. Few anglers fish for them here but they are definitely worthy of pursuit.

Sight casting to them with small treble hooks rigged with shrimp is a great way to score. I recommend using a fluorocarbon leader because the bigger fish can be line shy, plus flourocarbon has better abrasion resistance than monofilament. These fish will often take you right in the rig or pier piling.

Offshore fishing without snapper in the gameplan can be frustrating, unless you know about these other exciting alternatives.

Chester Moore