Can you keep a red grouper in Florida?

Also needed: State Reef Fish Angler designation, free, for private vessels

Counts inside a four-grouper Gulf aggregate. Charter captain and crew keep none. Federal Gulf waters beyond 20 fathoms close February 1 to March 31.

FWC source page

Closes each year January 1 to April 30

Also needed: State Reef Fish Angler designation, free, for private vessels

Counts inside a three-grouper Atlantic aggregate.

FWC source page

Closes each year January 1 to April 30

Also needed: State Reef Fish Angler designation, free, for private vessels

FWC applies the Atlantic closure to all state waters off Monroe County, on both the Atlantic and Gulf sides.

FWC source page

What we left out on purpose

• Atlantic red snapper is deliberately left unstated. FWC's dedicated season page and its general snapper table give different size and bag figures, and a federal court ruling on May 21, 2026 postponed the state management season. Publishing either number would be a guess.
• Gag grouper is in flux on both coasts: the Gulf is closed through August 31, 2026 after a quota overage, and the Atlantic and Monroe closed by executive order effective August 2, 2026 with no stated reopening. The dates here are what FWC published; the daily rebuild re-evaluates them.
• The Gulf red snapper weekend and holiday schedule was read from a summarised page fetch rather than a raw table. The dates are reproduced as published, but this is the entry most worth re-reading at the agency before a trip.
• Several species carry separate rules inside Biscayne National Park. Those figures are not captured here.
• Mutton snapper spawning-area closures around the Dry Tortugas are referenced in angling literature but did not appear on the FWC page read, so none is listed.