One of the things Tommy Pellegrin likes about fishing for his Cocodrie exotics, besides the variety, are the relatively liberal bag limits for the fish he catches.
To begin with, any of the several varieties of porgies have neither a bag limit nor a minimum size limit. The same goes for sand tilefish, although its bigger relatives — (golden) tilefish, goldface tilefish and blueline tilefish — fall within the 20-reef fish aggregate limit.
Blackfin snapper and silk snapper, neither of which have a minimum size limit, are included within the 10-snapper aggregate bag limit. This limit includes all snappers combined, except for red, vermilion (b-liner) and lane snappers.
Vermilion (10-inch minimum) and lane (8-inch minimum) snapper are included in the 20-reef fish aggregate limit, as are almaco jacks (no minimum size). Also included in this combined limit are the three species of tilefish mentioned above and gray triggerfish, none of which are common on top of Ewing Bank.
Queen triggerfish, if you are lucky enough to catch one of these stunningly beautiful fish, have no minimum size limit or bag limit.
Red snapper (16-inch minimum) can be iced to the tune of two per person if you happen to be fishing in what passes for a federal fishing season.
Anglers fishing on banks like Ewing Bank are also extremely likely to encounter amberjacks, as well. Except during the June 1 to July 31 annual closed season, each angler may also keep one greater amberjack per person, with a minimum size of 30 inches fork length.
Groupers, always a welcome addition to anyone’s catch, are part of Pellegrin’s Cocodrie exotics. Their limit per person is four for all species combined, except for gag (two per person within the four-fish limit), and speckled hind and Warsaw groupers, which are limited to one of each per boat.
Gag grouper (22-inch minimum) may only be taken during their open season of July 1 through Oct. 31.
Scamp (16-inch minimum) are a common catch.
Less common members of the grouper clan include the yellowmouth (no miminum size) and yellowfin (20-inch minimum) and the marbled grouper, which isn’t even listed in the regulations.
With the 10-snapper aggregate bag limit and the 20-reef fish aggregate bag limit, combined with the unregulated species like porgies and sand tilefish and a few jacks and groupers thrown in, anglers who venture out to fish deepwater banks can return with hefty catches.