![]() For years, Mexican fishermen based several miles south of the Rio Grande have motored into U.S. Snapper is so lucrative that it has given rise to an extensive poaching industry in the lower Texas Gulf. At Central Markets across Texas, fresh American red snapper fillets sell for $27.99 per pound-topping the price of choice Angus ribeye. Just how prized is red snapper? The Gulf snapper with jumbo lump crab at Vic & Anthony’s Steakhouse in Houston goes for $45. ![]() Our trip was a glimpse into the world of Lutjanus campechanus-the most profitable, most regulated, most fought-over fish in the Gulf of Mexico. Texas has some of the best bottom-fishing in the world.” And you don’t have to go very far to catch ’em. “Everybody loves snapper,” he said, his shades reflecting the pinkening dusk. Our charter captain, Michael Walker, smiled from his perch on the flybridge. The plump, rose-colored fish struck our menhaden bait again and again, and fought all the way to the surface, making us feel like stars on a TV fishing show. Most of us didn’t know much about fishing. Our party of six started reeling in eight-pounders one after the other. The author, John Burnett, lives in Austin and works as NPR’s Southwest correspondent.Īfter motoring around the Gulf all afternoon, we finally found them-a big column of red snapper feeding at a reef about twenty miles northeast of South Padre Island. This is an expanded version of a radio and online report published in August by NPR.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |