Creel and Size Limits Recreational Size and Creel Limits for Alabama State Waters
(Includes inshore waters and Gulf Waters out to 3 miles offshore)
Updated September 29, 2009
|
SPECIES
|
SIZE LIMIT
|
DAILY CREEL LIMIT
|
|
Spotted Seatrout*
|
14" min. TL
|
10 per person
|
| Red Drum** |
16" min. - 26" max |
3 per person - 1 oversized fish allowed in the 3 fish creel limit
|
| Cobia (Ling) |
33" min. FL |
2 per person |
| King Mackerel |
24" min. FL |
2 per person |
| Spanish Mackerel |
no size limit |
15 per person |
| Florida Pompano |
12" min. TL |
3 per person |
| Gag Grouper*** (#) |
22" min TL |
2 per person***
|
| Red Grouper*** (#) |
20" min TL |
2 per person ***
|
Black Grouper*** (#)
|
22" min TL |
4 per person ***
|
Yellowfin Grouper*** (#)
|
20" min TL |
4 per person ***
|
Scamp*** (#)
|
16" min TL |
4 per person ***
|
Greater Amberjack (#)
|
30" min FL |
1 per person |
| Striped Bass**** |
16" min TL |
2 per person |
| Gray Triggerfish |
14" min FL |
Reef fish aggregate*** |
| Flounder |
12" min TL |
10 per person
|
| Tripletail (Blackfish) |
16" min TL |
3 per person |
| Lesser Amberjack |
14" - 22" FL |
No Creel Limit |
| Banded Rudderfish |
14" - 22" FL |
No Creel Limit |
| Yellowfin Tuna |
27" min CFL |
No Creel Limit |
| Bigeye Tuna |
27" min CFL |
No Creel Limit |
|
(#) Alabama state waters open and close along with federal regulations.
Click here for the NOAA Fisheries Bulletin detailing new openings and closures
* Spotted Seatrout (speckled trout) - no undersized fish allowed.** Red Drum (redfish) - 1 fish may exceed maximum size.
*** Mixed species grouper aggregate creel limit : 4 per person (only 2 red and 2 gag grouper may be included in grouper aggregate.
**** Only two Striped Bass are allowed within MRD Jurisdiction.
***** There is a twenty (20) fish aggregate creel limit for reef fish species for which there is no other bag limit. (for example, grunts, porgies, gray triggerfish, vermilion snapper (only 10 allowed vermilion snapper allowed in the 20-fish aggregate), Lane snapper, etc.
|
NOAA Fisheries Service announces the recreational fishing season for red snapper in federal waters of the Gulf of Mexico. The recreational fishery will open June 1, 2009, and will close 12:01 a.m. local time August 15, 2009. The fishery will remain closed until June 1, 2010, the beginning of the 2010 federal recreational fishing season.
Click here for the NOAA Fisheries Bulletin detailing the 2009 red snapper season.
|
Red Snapper (#)
|
16" TL |
2 per person in state and federal waters
|
| Vermillon Snapper (beeliner) |
10" TL |
10 per person in Reef fish aggregate***** |
| Lane |
8" TL |
Reef Fish aggregate***** |
| Gray (mangrove, black) |
12" TL |
10 per person |
|
Tarpon
|
60" TL
|
$50.00 tag required to possess, kill or harvest each tarpon.
|
|
Sharks
|
| Atlantic Sharpnose,Bonnethead |
none |
1 per person per day |
| All Other Shark Species |
54" min FL |
1 per person per day |
|
Alabama has instituted new regulations pertaining to the harvest of shark species for commercial and recreational purposes. Click here for info provided to aid anglers in the identification of common species of sharks which may occur in Alabama's coastal waters.
|
| Prohibited Species: Goliath grouper (jewfish) (Click Here to learn more about Goliath grouper and to report sightings in Alabama waters), Nassau grouper, Atlantic angel shark, bigeye thresher, dusky, longfin mako, sand tiger, basking, whale, white, nurse, smalltail, smalltooth sawfish, largetooth sawfish, spotted eagle ray, Atlantic manta. |
|
