The Friday Report: Florida snapper reopens Tuesday, a billfish weigh-in tonight at Zeke's, and the Gulf stays small through Monday

The Friday Report is our standing weekly look at what’s actually happening on the water — bay to bottom, both sides of the line. Not a tackle-shop press release, not a list of fish that bite “year-round.” Where things are this week, what the calendar says, and what we’d do with a free morning. The live numbers live on Beach Today and update all day; this is the human read on top of them.

The gist

The calendar finally does something for the Florida-side private boats: red snapper reopens Tuesday, September 1, daily through October 4, then weekends. Greater amberjack reopens Gulf-wide the same morning. Alabama’s private snapper season is still running seven days a week with no closure posted as of this morning — but that one ends on a quota, not a date, so refresh the page before you launch. The Gulf is cooperating: National Weather Service Mobile has the coastal waters at a foot or less today and around two feet Saturday through Monday, with the showers leaning toward the mornings this weekend. No tropical trouble in the Gulf. And if you want to see what a real offshore day looks like without leaving the dock, the Charter Boat Billfish Tournament weighs in tonight at Zeke’s Landing in Orange Beach.

Conditions this week

Beach Today had Gulf water at 87 before dawn — still bathwater, still high 80s, and the feed was flagging itself as possibly stale, so check the sign at your access. Rip-current risk was listed low on both sides overnight with the flag showing yellow. The marine forecast (issued 3:02 a.m. today) reads: today northeast wind turning southeast around 5 knots, seas a foot or less, showers and storms likely this afternoon. Saturday east 5–10, seas around 2 feet, a chance of storms. Sunday southeast 10–15 knots early, easing to 5–10, seas around 2 feet, showers likely mainly in the morning. Monday southeast 5–10, seas 2 feet dropping to a foot or less, showers mainly in the morning. No small-craft advisory on the books. The twist from the usual August script is that Sunday and Monday put the wet stuff in the morning, which is when you’d normally be out — so read the radar before you leave the ramp, not after. National Hurricane Center has Tropical Storm Dolly out in the central Atlantic and says no new formation is expected in the next seven days; nothing in the Gulf. Current flag, wind, and water temp stay on Beach Today.

Inshore — bay, Pass, and back water

Same hot-water rules as the rest of the month, with the first hint of a turn on the calendar. Speckled trout and slot reds work the grass and dock shade at first light and slide deep once the sun’s up; topwater early, plastics or live bait under a cork after, be thinking about the ramp before mid-morning. Flounder are holding the Pass edges, and this is the stretch of the year where they start using those edges more as the fall push builds. The other thing the calendar starts whispering about in early September is bull reds at the Pass — the big oversized fish start staging around the jetties and the channel as the water eventually cools. That’s a September-into-October story, not an August one, and with the Gulf still at 87 it hasn’t started in earnest; file it under “coming.” Tarpon are still along the beach on the back end of their run — the pods thin out from here, so if you’ve been meaning to stand on the sand at sunrise and watch for a roll, you’re running out of weeks. As always: this is what the season says, not a box count off a dock.

Surf and pier

Spanish and kings are still the pier’s job, and the light east wind today should keep the water clean enough at the rail to see what you’re throwing at. Whiting in the wash for the bottom-rig crowd, and the standard late-summer shark for anyone soaking a big bait. Sunday’s 10–15 southeast will put some chop on the surf and stir it up — Saturday morning looks like the cleaner walk with light tackle. Labor Day weekend is next weekend, not this one, but the rail still fills early on any Saturday in summer. Rundown on the piers page.

Offshore and bottom

Two dates to circle. September 1: Florida private snapper reopens and greater amberjack reopens in Gulf federal and state waters (one fish, 34-inch fork length, through October 13). If you’re a Florida-side private boat, that’s your first legal snapper since July 31 — and the calendar has it landing on a Tuesday with seas forecast small, which is about as kind as the Gulf gets. Vermilion (mingo) remain the half-day company; gray triggerfish are open while federal waters are open. Kings are still the run when the window’s real. Tonight: the Charter Boat Billfish Tournament, which shotgun-started out of Perdido Pass Wednesday, weighs in 5–10 p.m. at Mo Fishin Bar at Zeke’s Landing — worth a walk over if you want to see what the blue-water fleet has been into. Next week: the MBGFC Labor Day Invitational runs September 3–6 out of Orange Beach Marina, so expect the docks there busy and the Pass loud Thursday through Sunday. Booking a boat for the reopening? How to book a charter and the Pass marinas.

The one regs reminder that matters

Four days before a season change is exactly when people start guessing. Don’t.

• Florida private recreational: CLOSED through Monday, August 31. Reopens Tuesday, September 1 through October 4 daily, then weekends only (Fri–Sun) through year-end. Source: FWC red snapper. This weekend, a private boat launched from the Florida side still cannot keep a red snapper.
• Florida for-hire: federally permitted charter season runs through October 26. Not a private-boat loophole — confirm with the captain and FWC before you book “for snapper.”
• Alabama private: still open seven days a week until the quota (664,552 pounds this year) is met or December 31, whichever comes first. No closure was posted as of this morning. Outdoor Alabama is the page to refresh the morning you go — a quota closure is announced when landings say so, not when the calendar does.
• Alabama’s Snapper Check is mandatory on the AL side. App exists. Glossary if that’s new.
• Two reds, 16-inch minimum, both states, whenever a season is actually open.
• Greater amberjack: closed through Monday, reopens September 1 through October 13 in Gulf federal and state waters — one per person, 34-inch fork length. Don’t ice one this weekend.
• Tarpon are catch-and-release in both states. Not set up to revive a big fish boatside? Watch it roll and leave it. Full side-by-side on the regulations cheat sheet.

The honest take

This weekend is the last one before the Florida-side rules loosen up, and the Gulf is small enough to use it. Saturday morning is the window I’d take — a foot or two, east wind, and a storm chance instead of a storm certainty. Sunday and Monday flip the usual script by putting the rain in the morning, so those aren’t automatic dawn trips; look at the radar at 5 a.m. and be honest with yourself. If you’re a Florida private boat and the whole point is a red snapper, don’t spend Saturday burning fuel to look at fish you can’t keep — spend it at the weigh-in tonight, get the boat ready, and go Tuesday. Alabama boats: keep fishing, keep reporting on Snapper Check, and read the closures page every morning, because when that quota hits, it hits without a warm-up. The heat hasn’t broken and the 2 p.m. bay trip is still a bad idea. Walk the docks at the Pass marinas the evening before if you’re spending money on a boat — a captain with tomorrow’s window on the radar beats this page.

Tell us what you saw

This report’s only as good as what’s coming off the boats. Caught something, blanked somewhere, watched a tarpon roll, saw what came across the scale tonight? Send it in — photos welcome, names changed if you want them changed. Next report drops Friday.

— Chris

P.S. Captains, marinas, bait and tackle shops on either side of the line: your listing here is free and always will be — claim it at /submit/claim/, or add one that’s missing at /submit/.