Key Largo's Best 3-Hour Wreck Fishing Adventure

Goliath Grouper

Goliath groupers live up to their name - these massive fish can grow up to 8 feet long and weigh 800 pounds. You'll find them in Key Largo's shallow waters, often around wrecks and reefs. They're solitary creatures, preferring to stick to their home turf. Goliaths are catch-and-release only due to past overfishing, but they're still a thrill to target. They're most active in warmer months, especially during spawning season. Anglers love the challenge of hooking these giants - it's like trying to stop a truck. Use heavy gear - we're talking 50-80 wide reels and 600-pound test line. Bounce large baits like ladyfish or jacks off the bottom to get their attention. Here's a pro tip: anchor just far enough from the structure to pull them away before they can break you off. Remember, these fish are protected, so handle with care and release quickly. The fight might be short, but it's one you won't forget.

Grey Snapper

Grey Snapper (Lutjanus Griseus) Description

Also known as the Mangrove Snapper, the Grey Snappers are known for their greyish red color that changes from copper-red to bright red. From a dorsal view (top view), one can see a dark stripe that runs across its eye while it's swimming. Grey Snappers also have a pointed snout and thin lips with small teeth.

However, the Grey Snapper can be confused with other fish such as the Cubera Snapper and the Black Snapper. And the best way to tell apart a Grey Snapper from the Cubera Snapper is by opening its mouth. Unlike the Cubera Snapper, the Grey Snapper has a triangular-shaped tooth patch whereas the former has an arrow-shaped tooth patch. However, the Grey Snapper’s tooth patch doesn’t have an extension unlike that of the Cubera Snapper. 
 

Grey Snapper Diet

Grey Snappers are known for being opportunistic hunters. They sometimes feed on zooplankton. Young Grey Snappers usually feast near seagrass beds where they can eat a variety of crustaceans and smaller fish. Grey Snappers are carnivorous for a more piscine diet.
 

Grey Snapper Size

The Grey Snapper can measure between 10-14 inches, weighing between 1-2 lbs. However, if found in open water, Grey Snappers can weigh as heavy as 20 lbs! However, fishing inshore usually yields lower numbers rarely exceeding 3-4 lbs.
 

Interesting Facts about the Grey Snapper

• Grey Snapper are usually prized for their white, flaky, soft meat.
• During full moons, Grey Snappers spawn millions of eggs.
  • They are considered the most abundant among their species.
• Interestingly, Juvenile Gray Snappers have darker colors than their adults.
• Grey Snappers are nocturnal animals.
  • They usually feed and are more active at night.
  • They’re not aggressive towards humans.
• Grey Snappers are known to be swift swimmers.
   

Grey Snapper – Fishing Techniques: How to Fish for a Grey Snapper

When fishing for a Grey Snapper, many anglers would recommend using a 4J hook as it’ll easily get them hooked. Once you have your hook, anglers would recommend using live bait. One of the most common recommendations was using a live shrimp. Instead of sticking the hook through its head, keep it stuck in its tail. This will allow your shrimp to live for quite a long time. However, other people would recommend using mud minnows. Once you have chosen your bait, thread your line through your bobber and knot it to your hook. Make sure your line is something that can handle a lot of abrasions since you’ll be letting your bait sink down.

Next, let your bait sink to the bottom. No need to do any fancy casting or reeling. Grey Snappers seek opportunities so having too much movement might throw them off. Once you feel your bait is all the way at the bottom, reel it up a little so your hook doesn’t get snagged anywhere.

Next, pick your spot. One of the more recommended spots is at a beach pier or at docks. Normally, those structures are built near water columns where the Grey Snapper like to be in.

Since they are opportunistic, Grey Snappers like to ambush their prey. Bobbing it too many times might drive them off so let it dangle and float until they feel that they can seize the opportunity. Once you feel a tug, don’t jerk it up. Reel it in to make sure the hook gets through before slowly bringing the Grey Snapper to the surface.
 

Grey Snapper Habitat and Distribution

Grey Snappers stay among canals or grass flats or any place with warm to temperate waters. These fish love structures as it serves as their cover as opportunistic predators. They like rocks, mangrove forests, shipwrecks, and debris. If you’re fishing in open water, let your bait sink down into the reefs to draw them out.

Mutton Snapper

Mutton Snapper (Lutjanus analis) Fish Description

Mutton snappers have an olive color that progresses from a dark to light tone from top to bottom. Its distinguishing features are the blue lines below and behind their eyes with the presence of a small black spot on both sides. The anal fin and dorsal fin’s rear edge are pointed, while the tail fin is rounded. This type of fish can most often be confused with the lane snapper. The tips to distinguish mutton snappers from lane snappers are the small blue streaks on the face and the anal and dorsal fins pointedness.

Mutton Snapper Diet

The diet of the mutton snapper changes throughout its lifespan. As larvae, the mutton snapper feeds on plankton near the surface of the water. As it matures and grows, it moves onto the shallow grass beds and takes in larger plankton to small animals. Once the mutton snapper is an adult, it will consume fish, shrimp, crabs, octopus, squid, and snails. It has no specific time for feeding, as it nourishes itself both day and night picking food items throughout the entire day.

Mutton Snapper Size

Adult mutton snappers can become quite a large fish, that can reach up to the length of 37 inches, however, most don’t go beyond 20 inches. The weight best recognized and recorded for this species is 34 pounds.

Interesting Facts About the Mutton Snapper

• Mutton snappers are an extremely prized fish, especially game fish by saltwater anglers. Nice fighters, as they are often called, relative to the different snappers, so they are more durable to land on a lighter deal.
• The mutton snapper is recognized more for its love for swimming in sandy areas. If the snapper stays within the more sandy areas, their colors will change from their pinkish color to a more greyish tone on their bodies. 
• Mutton snappers, particularly adult muttons, are usually solitary so they are most often seen in smaller groups.

Mutton Snapper - Fishing Techniques

Mutton snappers are easy to catch, but some skill is still required. And that the presentation of the bait is of great importance! Only use the freshest bait and a light sinker to keep it still down there. The rough state of the water and slow bobbing movements will be necessary to compensate for the movements of the waters. A knocker rig or a jig to let the bait float in the current is also a good alternative to try. 

When fishing for mutton snappers in shallow waters, a good tip would be to let the bait drift in the chum slick on weight or a very low weight on a knocker rig, because those mutton snappers would love this! And chumming is also very good to get them to the surface, where you can try for flies or jigs. 

Once the mutton realizes it has been fooled, it will try and run along the ocean floor or get back into the structure. The best confidence booster to know when you’ve caught a mutton snapper is the moment you’re looking down and through the clear blue water and see pink. When that tinge of pink grows bigger as it nears the surface, that is when you need to bring it in and then lead the fish smoothly into your fish box. 

Mutton Snapper Habitat & Distribution

They are particularly widespread within the Caribbean, inhabiting reef environments. The mutton snapper is a common snapper species from Florida to South America. Occasionally, it can reach as far north as Massachusetts and south as southeastern Brazil, though these are rare occurrences. Mutton snappers can often be discovered from depths going from 82 to 295 ft, but most frequently in between 130 to 230 ft.

Muttons can be found inshore near reefs and along mangroves. Often, they are prevalent along inlets, where there is a good amount of tidal flow. But the fish can also be found along nearshore reef areas, where they tend to congregate just outside of extreme rock/reef formations in the sand. 

The adult mutton snappers tend to be more present in areas with rock or coral, whereas the younger adolescent fish happen to be in sandy habitats with weed progressive in the area.