Louisiana Red Snapper Season Finally Closed
Louisiana Red Snapper Season Now Closed — What Happened and What Comes Next
Louisiana’s 2025 private recreational red snapper season is now closed. The season opened on May 1 in both state and federal waters off Louisiana and ran seven days a week with a four-fish daily limit per angler and a 16-inch minimum total length. After a long run of steady catches, LDWF announced that the season would end at 11:59 p.m. on November 16 once landings data showed the state had essentially reached its annual allocation.
By late October, LA Creel — Louisiana’s near real-time landings survey — estimated that anglers had landed roughly 98% of the state’s 2025 private recreational allocation. With fall weather often boosting catch rates, LDWF chose a mid-November closure to keep the state as close to its quota as possible and avoid larger paybacks in future years.
What LDWF Has Done the Last Few Years
Red snapper in Louisiana isn’t just a “federal season” anymore. Over the past decade, LDWF has pushed hard to bring management closer to home, and a lot of the reason we even have a long May–November season is because of that work.
A few of the big pieces:
- LA Creel program – LDWF’s dockside and angler-interview system that provides weekly estimates of red snapper harvest, effort, and discards instead of waiting months for federal survey results.
- State management authority – Since 2020, the Gulf states have managed the private recreational fishery in both state and federal waters using state-specific allocations, with Louisiana getting its own share of the Gulf-wide quota.
- Great Red Snapper Count & abundance work – Louisiana researchers helped prove the Gulf snapper population was much larger than old models showed, which supported higher catch limits and more flexible seasons.
- Artificial reef projects – LDWF continues to turn retired oil and gas structures and other materials into reef habitat, helping support the offshore reef-fish community that snapper depend on.
Why the Season Had to Close
Even under state management, Louisiana still has to stay inside a fixed annual allocation measured in pounds, not days. When LA Creel numbers show that landings are bumping against that limit, LDWF has two options: close the season or risk overshooting and paying back overages in future years.
By pulling the plug on November 16 — after more than six months of open fishing — LDWF gave anglers a long run of opportunity while trying to keep any overage as small as possible. That helps protect the 2026 season from being cut too hard.
How the 2025 Season Stacks Up
From most anglers’ point of view, 2025 felt like one of the better red snapper seasons we’ve had:
- Opened early on May 1
- Open seven days a week the entire time
- Steady catches all summer with decent size structure fish
- Bonus opportunity in the fall as long as the weather cooperated
That combination — long duration, daily access, and good size fish — is exactly what LDWF has been working toward ever since the ultra-short “three-day federal seasons” a decade ago.
Outlook for Red Snapper Moving Forward
The bigger picture for Gulf red snapper is still positive. Stock assessments and independent studies continue to show a strong population, and Louisiana’s allocation gives the state room to keep building similar or even better seasons, as long as we stay on top of the data.
Looking ahead, a few things will shape future seasons:
- Annual allocation and any paybacks – If Louisiana slightly overshoots its 2025 quota, a small payback could trim the 2026 quota, but strong data and good compliance help keep those impacts small.
- Weather and effort – Busy summers and calm stretches in the fall can burn through quota faster; ugly weather does the opposite.
- Continuing reef and research projects – More habitat and better science help keep the stock healthy and justify stable or higher catch limits over time.
For now, red snapper is in much better shape than it was 10–15 years ago, and Louisiana anglers are seeing the benefit in longer, more predictable seasons. The 2025 closure on November 16 is less a bad sign and more a signal that LDWF is watching the numbers closely enough to keep us in the game for years to come.
Prepared by OutFishEm Fishing Reports & News — Updated after the 2025 season closure
