Guide
Fishing: what is open, and the limits
Checked October 4, 2026 against the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s red drum, spotted seatrout and snook pages, and for the Atlantic coast and the Keys against every FWC page the tile reads; the rest October 2, 2026, against FWC and NOAA Fisheries.
The Fishing tile says, for Florida’s Gulf waters from Perdido Key to Collier County, and for the Atlantic coast and the Keys from Fernandina Beach to Key West, whether each fish people go out for is open today and what may be kept. When it cannot be sure, it says Check and links the rule.
What the tile covers
Red drum, spotted seatrout, flounder, sheepshead, cobia and king mackerel, with FWC’s daily limits; snook, from the Big Bend south; red snapper, on FWC’s own Gulf schedule; and gag, greater amberjack, gray triggerfish and red grouper, whose seasons FWC sets for state waters, most years to match federal waters.
- Red drum, spotted seatrout and snook have regions in Florida, set in rule. The towns on these boards are in six of them, named in the table below.
- Red drum is open all year in every one: one a day, 18 to 27 inches, with four a boat in the Panhandle and Big Bend regions and two a boat from Tampa Bay south.
- Spotted seatrout is 15 to 19 inches everywhere, with one over 19 allowed inside the bag. It is three a day and closed every February in the Panhandle region; five a day and open all year in the Big Bend region; three a day and open all year from Tampa Bay south.
- Snook is one a day, 28 to 33 inches, and needs a snook permit with the saltwater license. In the Big Bend, Tampa Bay and Sarasota Bay regions it is closed December 1 through the end of February and May 1 through August 31; in the Charlotte Harbor and Southwest regions, December 1 through the end of February and May 1 through September 30. The Panhandle boards carry no snook.
- Red snapper runs on a published calendar: in 2026, May 22 to July 31, then daily September 1 to October 4 and October 9 to 22, then set weekends and holidays to January 4, 2027. It is for anglers fishing from a private boat.
- Flounder is closed every year October 15 through November 30.
- Gag and greater amberjack open only for the season FWC sets by executive order each year.
- Fishing for reef fish from a private boat needs the free State Reef Fish Angler designation, renewed every year.
The Atlantic coast and the Keys
The Atlantic boards read FWC’s Atlantic rules, and some of them are nothing like the Gulf’s. Atlantic state waters run out 3 nautical miles, not 9.
- Red drum is catch and release only in the Indian River Lagoon region, from Lytle Avenue in New Smyrna Beach to the Martin–Palm Beach line: none may be kept there. In the Northeast region it is one a day, 18 to 27 inches, four a boat; in the Southeast region one a day and two a boat.
- Spotted seatrout in the Indian River Lagoon region is two a day, 15 to 19 inches, none over 19, and closed November 1 through December 31. In the Northeast and Southeast regions it is three a day and open all year.
- Snook on the Atlantic is one a day, 28 to 32 inches, closed December 15 through January 31 and June 1 through August 31. The Keys run the Gulf’s snook calendar (FWC’s Southwest region reaches through them): 28 to 33 inches, closed December 1 through the end of February and May 1 through September 30.
- Red snapper on the Atlantic is not the Gulf’s calendar. In 2026 it is a short season, October 9 to 22, under FWC’s permit, with a federal three-day season inside it; anglers 16 and older must declare each trip before leaving the dock. Nothing after October 22 is set.
- Spiny lobster: the regular season is August 6 through March 31, six a day, carapace over 3 inches measured in the water, with a lobster permit. The two-day sport season in late July is twelve a day except in Monroe County and Biscayne National Park, where it is six, and there is no night diving in Monroe County those two days.
- Stone crab is open October 15 through May 1, claws only, and closed May 2 through October 14.
- Red grouper and gag are closed January 1 through April 30 in all Atlantic waters, Monroe County included on both sides of the Keys. Atlantic gag closed again from August 2, 2026, by FWC’s order.
- Greater amberjack on the Atlantic is one a day, 28 inches, closed every April.
- In the Keys the Gulf and the Atlantic meet at US 1. Where FWC’s two rules for a fish disagree there, the tile says Check and gives both, rather than picking one.
Which water your town reads
FWC’s regions, by the lines in its own rules. Each Gulf region takes in the bays and rivers and the state’s Gulf waters out to 9 nautical miles; each Atlantic one its lagoons and rivers and the Atlantic out to 3.
| Water | Runs | Towns |
|---|---|---|
| The bays and the Gulf | The Panhandle region: the state line to 84°20.8′ W near Alligator Point | Perdido Key, Pensacola, Pensacola Beach, Gulf Breeze, Navarre, Okaloosa Island, Fort Walton Beach, Destin, Niceville, Freeport, Santa Rosa Beach, Grayton Beach, Rosemary Beach, Panama City Beach, Panama City, Lynn Haven, Mexico Beach, Port St. Joe, Cape San Blas, Apalachicola, Eastpoint, St. George Island, Carrabelle, Alligator Point |
| Big Bend region | East of that line, with Ochlockonee Bay and all of Wakulla County, to Fred Howard Park | St. Marks, Shell Point, Panacea, Keaton Beach, Steinhatchee, Horseshoe Beach, Suwannee, Cedar Key, Yankeetown, Crystal River, Homosassa, Hernando Beach, Hudson, Port Richey, New Port Richey, Tarpon Springs |
| Tampa Bay region | Fred Howard Park to State Road 64 in Manatee County | Dunedin, Clearwater Beach, Clearwater, Indian Rocks Beach, Madeira Beach, Treasure Island, St. Pete Beach, Gulfport, St. Petersburg, Tampa, Apollo Beach, Ruskin, Palmetto, Bradenton, Anna Maria, Holmes Beach |
| Sarasota Bay region | State Road 64, with Palma Sola Bay, to just north of the Venice fishing pier | Longboat Key, Sarasota, Siesta Key, Venice |
| Charlotte Harbor region | The Venice pier to Vanderbilt Beach Road in Collier County | Englewood, Port Charlotte, Punta Gorda, Placida, Boca Grande, Bokeelia, Matlacha, Cape Coral, Fort Myers, Captiva, Sanibel, Fort Myers Beach, Bonita Springs |
| Southwest region | South of Vanderbilt Beach Road | Naples, Marco Island, Goodland, Everglades City, Chokoloskee |
| Northeast region | The Atlantic: the Georgia line to Lytle Avenue in New Smyrna Beach, out to 3 nautical miles | Fernandina Beach, Mayport, Jacksonville, Atlantic Beach, Neptune Beach, Jacksonville Beach, Ponte Vedra Beach, Vilano Beach, St. Augustine, St. Augustine Beach, Crescent Beach, Palm Coast, Flagler Beach, Ormond Beach, Daytona Beach, Daytona Beach Shores, Port Orange, Ponce Inlet, New Smyrna Beach |
| Indian River Lagoon region | Lytle Avenue in New Smyrna Beach to the Martin–Palm Beach county line, the lagoons and the Atlantic out to 3 nautical miles. Redfish here are catch and release only | Edgewater, Oak Hill, Titusville, Merritt Island, Cape Canaveral, Cocoa, Rockledge, Cocoa Beach, Satellite Beach, Indian Harbour Beach, Indialantic, Melbourne, Melbourne Beach, Palm Bay, Sebastian, Vero Beach, Fort Pierce, Port St. Lucie, Jensen Beach, Stuart, Port Salerno, Hobe Sound |
| Southeast region | The Martin–Palm Beach county line to the Monroe County line, with Biscayne Bay | Jupiter, Juno Beach, North Palm Beach, Riviera Beach, West Palm Beach, Palm Beach, Lake Worth Beach, Boynton Beach, Delray Beach, Boca Raton, Deerfield Beach, Pompano Beach, Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, Fort Lauderdale, Dania Beach, Hollywood, Hallandale Beach, Sunny Isles Beach, Miami Beach, Miami, Key Biscayne, Cutler Bay |
| The Keys | All of Monroe County, Key Largo to Key West: Florida Bay on one side of US 1 and Hawk Channel on the other. The Keys follow the Gulf’s rules for some fish and the Atlantic’s for others, as FWC’s pages say for each | Key Largo, Tavernier, Islamorada, Marathon, Big Pine Key, Key West |
Three towns sit on a line and read both regions, and the tile says why. Tarpon Springs: the Anclote River and the water north of Fred Howard Park are the Big Bend region, the Gulf and the sound south of it Tampa Bay. Holmes Beach: the line at State Road 64 crosses the island, Tampa Bay to the north and Sarasota Bay, with Palma Sola Bay, to the south. Venice: the line just north of the fishing pier puts the inlet and the town’s north end in Sarasota Bay and the pier and the beaches south of it in Charlotte Harbor. Each is listed above under its first region.
Every other fish on the tile is one rule for all of Florida’s Gulf waters. A season that ends at midnight ends at the town’s own midnight: Central from Perdido Key to Mexico Beach, Eastern from Port St. Joe south.
How the words are earned
- Open, Closed or Check. Each fish’s word comes from the season and limits we read off FWC’s own pages and orders, written down with the date we read them.
- An order or a notice turns a fish to Check. When FWC issues an executive order about one of these fish in the Gulf, or NOAA Fisheries posts a Gulf bulletin about one, after we read the rules, that fish says Check, with a link to it, until someone has read it and brought the words up to date. A wrong “Open” is a ticket; Check is a minute reading the rule.
- A page that changes turns its fish to Check. FWC keeps each fish on its own page and edits seasons into them. Each page’s Gulf rules are compared, word for word, every time the board refreshes. An edit we have not read yet is Check.
- The limits here are the state’s, for its own waters out to 9 nautical miles. Federal waters beyond that have their own rules, which FWC’s pages note where they differ.
Who to call
- Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Tallahassee 850-488-4676.