Red snapper season opens

Mississippi anglers began their first day of the 2018 recreational red snapper season today.

The season will be open seven days a week and is scheduled to run from May 25^th through September 3^rd with a possible closure from July 9^th to the 22^nd.

This closure is to help ensure the state’s annual quota is not met before Labor Day and it will all depend on the number of pounds caught before July 4^th.

Long time red snapper fisherman Johnny Marquez tells News 25 there are multiple reasons why he is excited to drop his line in the water this year. “Well, it is different than normal this year because we have a season that is going to last almost the whole summer, almost 102 days we hope. In past years, the season has dwindled down into ten days and then three days so we are really looking forward to having a full summer of fishing. It’s a really fun fishery. We’ve got kids and families coming down today. Snapper are readily available. You can drop down. They bite, they fight hard, and it’s a great table fair.”

All anglers who plan to head out on the water must register their trips through the MDMR’s Tails N Scales program which is available through a smartphone app, a website, and a call center.