Florida · Sheepshead
Can you keep a sheepshead in Florida?
Yes, with limits
Statewide
Open year-roundSize
12 inches and up
total length
Daily bag
8
per person per day
A separate vessel limit of 50 per trip applies during March and April, on top of the 8 per person. Hook and line, cast net, seine, spear or gig. Multiple hooks with natural bait, and snatching, are prohibited.
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.