Mangrove Snapper
Mangrove snapper are among popular species you can catch on your offshore fishing trips in Port Aransas TX. Its highly prized light and flaky meat is one of the main reasons anglers love catching them. Apart from their great taste, Port Aransas deep sea fishing guides often target mangrove mackerel because they can be found year-round in Port Aransas. Beginners can hire a Corpus Christi fishing charter to help them catch this tasty fish.
How Port Aransas Deep Fishing Guides Identify Mangrove Snapper
When you catch one during your offshore fishing trips in Port Aransas, you will notice that the mangrove snapper species are reddish bronze to grey in color instead of the pink/red color of their cousin, the red snapper. If you ignore the color difference, they generally look similar in appearance to red snapper but mangrove snappers do not get extremely big like their cousins.
You can identify mangrove snapper by their slender body and pointed mouth. But these features can also be observed on the juvenile cubera snapper and the dog snapper. However, the mangrove snapper’s tooth patch at the top of the palate is anchor shaped while that of the juvenile cubera is triangular. An easily noticeable difference between the mangrove snapper and the dog snapper is that the dog snapper’s teeth are relatively bigger than those of the mangrove snapper. A typical mangrove snapper is 14 inches in length but some reach over 20 inches in length, and some have been caught measuring 35 inches in length. The current world record is 44lbs.
Where Can You Catch a Mangrove Snapper?
Corpus Christi fishing charters’ favorite areas to catch mangrove mackerel are in offshore reefs from June to September. They can also be found living near-shore around and in mangroves because they use mangroves for protection. Other areas mangrove mackerel prefer include structures such as docks, bridges, piers and even jetties. These opportunistic predators feed on shrimps, small fish, cephalopods and gastropods. But young mangrove mackerel run in seagrass beds searching for crustaceans, mollusks and worms.
Techniques For Catching Mangrove Snapper
You can use live or frozen sardines as bait to catch mangrove snapper. But Port Aransas offshore guides don’t just rely on bait to catch these beauties, because mangrove snapper are wary of baits and have great eyesight. To get more strikes, you need to use smaller hooks that are harder to see and avoid heavy leaders. Other live bait you can use include mud minnows, small crabs, pinfish, and shrimp. Artificial bait such as white or red nylon jig is also great for catching mangrove snapper. Charters for offshore fishing trips in Port Aransas can provide tackle for hire in case you do not have your own arsenal.