Innovative Captains Figured Out a New Way to Target Mutton Snapper in the Bahamas

If you’ve spent much time fishing in the Bahamas, you’ve probably learned that mutton snapper can be found all over the place. You’ll find them on the numerous shallow banks and hard-bottom reefs on those banks, around the innumerable coral heads, as well as on sand banks and grass flats. Just about everywhere. Then in the early summer, they drop off the edge of certain reefs to spawn in staggering numbers in deeper water, and this is when many people target them. They are at their most vulnerable, aggregated together by the hundreds if not thousands, and they can make easy pickings. The two most well-known spots are probably Chub Cay and Bimini (right out front) although many others exist.

But just because you know they’re there doesn’t mean you can catch them. Muttons can be extremely picky at times, frustrating even those with a solid game plan. Most fishermen figure out a set plan of attack that tends to work and they stay with it, usually with substantial success. And that’s one of the things that makes the Bahamas so cool in my book, because the mutton snapper is an awesome fish and the Bahamas offer world-class access to them, along with many other species too, of course. In addition to the awesome offshore species found in the islands, I became a devoted mutton fan not long after I got hooked on the Bahamas in general.

New and Improved

So, I found it fascinating when I learned of a relatively new way to target them, one I probably never would have tried on my own had I not hear of it from a third party. A few years ago, I was talking with a small group of private boat captains and mates at a bar in the Abacos. The conversation turned to muttons, and everyone agreed they were cool fish, but one captain turned to me and asked, “Have you ever caught them trolling?”

At first, I thought he meant accidentally caught them while trolling for something else, but he assured me he meant specifically targeting them. I had to admit I had not. This unleashed a barrage of confirmations and testimonials from the rest of the crew. They all agreed that trolling for muttons was, A) quite effective, and B) a lot of fun. Well, that settled it, I knew then and there my crew and I were going mutton trolling the next chance we got.

The guys at the bar explained to me how it works, although their opinions on how the tactic first began varied somewhat. The fishing itself is astoundingly simple, which is probably why it works so well. At some point, someone decided to troll a rigged ballyhoo in shallow water around rock outcroppings and along the inside edges of the various Abaco passes, over rocky bottom typically, but sometimes along the edges of sand and grass banks. Ten to 20 feet of water seemed like the ideal depth range, so the cruising muttons below would look up and spot what looked to them like an easy meal.

Possible Origins

The story regarding how the fishery got started gets a little murky as I’ve heard several versions. One states that, when the boss was out of town, bored crews at Boat Harbour Marina in Marsh Harbour started trolling their ballyhoo hook baits around Point Set Rock between Matt Lowes Cay and Man-O-War Cay and began catching fish. Another theory says that crews coming in from offshore after a day chasing billfish would throttle back when they got inside whatever pass they entered through and throw out a couple of ballyhoo to see what would happen. They got the bites too.

Once they discovered that the fish were there and would bite, they further refined the technique through trial-and-error to the point it became quite deadly. Different crews do it their own way, but most simply deploy the same swimming ballyhoo rigs they keep in the bait box for sailfish or white marlin. Over time, they learned that they consistently got bites by using light fluorocarbon leaders and fishing the baits slowly, far behind the boat.

Giving it a Try

We began trying this technique the same summer and were pleasantly surprised at the number of bites we got. I rig for the muttons using a relatively long piece of 30-pound fluorocarbon leader (some people use 20-pound) tied to a 5/0 Owner circle hook. I rig a small ballyhoo just like I would for sailfish, with a ¼-ounce lead weight beneath the chin to help them swim, wrapped onto a length of copper rigging wire attached to a small ringer swivel with a rubber O-ring on top of the bait’s head. Slide the circle hook through the O-ring and you’re ready to rock.

The part about fishing them way back and slow shouldn’t be taken lightly. I tell my anglers, “Drop it way back there and when you think it’s too far back, drop it back another 50 or 60 feet.” Muttons can be wary, and the theory goes that having the baits far behind the boat helps disassociate the boat from the bait. I’m well aware that trying to psychoanalyze a fish is a fool’s errand, but dragging the baits far behind the boat works, so I’m sticking with it no matter why it’s effective.

Trolling speed matters too. I’ve heard divergent opinion here too, but most savvy mutton trollers go slow, between two and three knots. Depending on what boat you’re on, it can be difficult to go that slow. It often requites trolling on one engine or using the slow-troll feature if you have electronic controls. Today’s high-powered boats don’t like to go slow, but having the bait swimming along that slowly draws the muttons to the surface to strike, as the baits, when rigged properly, swim with a languid, enticing motion. At least the muttons seem to think so.

Location, Location, Location

Once you’ve rigged your tackle and your baits and put them out at the proper distance and speed, you must decide where to pull them. Once again, trial-and-error can be your friend, but any of the numerous passes from the open ocean to either the Sea of Abaco or the Little Bahama Bank can hold the fish. Many captains think the best bottom coverage consists of the hard rock covered with numerous sea fans and rocky outcroppings dotting the bottom, prime mutton habitat.

The correct depth is important too. Get much over 20 feet deep and they have a harder time spotting the bait as it swims overhead. That’s the theory anyway, and although I’ve gotten bites in deeper water, the majority of them have come in 20 feet or less. In the years since we began doing the mutton trolling, we’ve tried lots of different areas and found that by sticking with the basic premise outlined above, you’ll probably get bites anywhere you try it as long as you’re in the right depth range.

To date, we’ve caught muttons from Big Walkers Cut on the north side of Walkers Cay, to North Man-O-War Pass, and just about everywhere in between. Troll the edges, between the deeper part of the channel and where the reef rises toward the surface. But passes aren’t the only place you’ll find them. Trolling along the inner or outer shorelines of the numerous smaller rock islands that line the inside of the reef all along the Abaco chain can produce as well. Anywhere you find the right depth and the right type of bottom structure, you’ll probably find the muttons as well.

The few times we haven’t found them consistently coincided with the mutton spawn, and I figured the fish had all joined in the fun off the edge of the reef with the rest of the fish for a few weeks, but they always come back.

Go Light

One of the best parts of mutton fishing involves the tackle used. Because you’re in shallow water, you can go quite light on your gear. We typically fish 12 pound-test spinning gear, sometimes lighter, since the fish can’t take you deep and rarely find a rock they can hide under. Fishing light tackle makes it that much more fun, and the bites can be truly epic. Muttons aren’t what I would call subtle when they bite, quite the opposite in fact: They usually come up and hammer the ballyhoo.

We fish two lines and fish the baits right off the rod tip. The anglers hold the rods in their hands and leave the spinning reel bails open, holding the line with their index finger. When a mutton attacks the bait, they can instantly free-spool the line. A brief drop-back almost always leads to a hooked fish and an exciting fight on the lighter rods. A mutton that weighs 10 pounds-plus is a lot of fun on a light spinning rod, and fish that size aren’t uncommon in the Bahamas.

I should point out that you’ll get quite a few bites from fish other than muttons as well. As you would expect, we’ve had lots of barracuda bites (and even caught a few on the light leader), and also from species including amberjack, grouper, horse-eye jacks, and a few nice yellowtail snapper. And on a recent trip this past April, we were fishing near North Man-O War and got a larger-than-average fish on, obvious since it took a lot of line out fast.

When we got the fish close to the boat, we all saw a long, thin, blue flash down deep as the fish made one last run and bit through the leader as it did so. My buddy who was serving as the mate yelled out, “Man, that was a wahoo!” We all looked at one another, not knowing quite what to think. A wahoo, inshore, in 15 feet of water? Unlikely, yet possible. There aren’t any fences out there, after all. No one will ever know for sure, and my friend who had been on the rod will go to his grave, telling everyone who’ll listen about the wahoo he lost in the Bahamas while trolling for mutton snapper in 15 feet of water. You must admit, it’s a great story.

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Originally featured in InTheBite Magazine July/August 2025 Issue.

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• Bahamas Fishing
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• Epic Bahamas Boating Journeys

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