Fort Lauderdale Snapper Spawn

mangrove snapper

These girls caught a nice mangrove snapper in Ft Lauderdale

Snappers are snapping fishing the reefs of Ft Lauderdale.  June is an excellent month for snapper fishing in Ft Lauderdale.  This week, we’re coming up onto the full moon.  Every year, the few nights surrounding the June full moon is the snapper spawn.  This is when snappers congregate and undergo their spawning habits.  When this is going on, the bite is fierce.  The fish throw caution to the wind and bite everything you throw at them.

mutton snapper

Nice mutton snapper caught fishing on the Catch My Drift

Mutton snappers are the main spawning snapper of June.  The gather in 40-100ft of water, in the sandy areas outside and inside the reef.  These few nights, the mutton snappers bite better than the entire rest of the year.  Mainly they will weigh 4-10 pounds, but a few will get into the teens and could even reach 20.  Ballyhoo plugs, whole sardines, cigar minnows, and strip baits work very well for muttons.  Live pinfish, although a favorite of mine for fishing the keys, doesn’t work as well as other baits for Ft Lauderdale muttons.

gag grouper

25 pound Gag grouper caught bottom fishing in Ft Lauderdale

Mangrove snappers also bite exceptionally well in June during the mutton spawn.  The full moon in general is a good time for mangroves, but there must be something in water in June because the snapper go crazy!  3-5 pound mangroves have been biting during the afternoon trips and on the night trips the past few days.  We should have some excellent snapper fishing on our night anchor trips for the next week during the June full moon.  Good luck fishing everyone, I’ll sea ya on the water.

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