Sailors Choice
Haemulon parra
How to tell it
Silvery-gray grunt with dark scale rows forming broken oblique stripes; mouth lining red-orange like all grunts.
Often mistaken for
Two fish that get called sailors choice, and what gives each one away.
- White margate: Cleaner silver, deeper body. Tell them apart
- Tomtate: Smaller with a single side stripe. Tell them apart
Rules for
Every state
| State | Size | Bag | Season | Today |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Florida (Atlantic)Federal rule (South Atlantic federal waters) | No size limit | 10 per person per day within 20-fish snapper-grouper aggregate | Open year-roundSAFMC / NOAA SERO 2026 · checked | Open |
| GeorgiaFederal rule (South Atlantic federal waters) | No size limit | 10 per person per day within 20-fish snapper-grouper aggregate | Open year-roundSAFMC / NOAA SERO 2026 · checked | Open |
| North CarolinaFederal rule (South Atlantic federal waters) | No size limit | 10 per person per day within 20-fish snapper-grouper aggregate | Open year-roundSAFMC / NOAA SERO 2026 · checked | Open |
| South Carolina | No size limit | 20/day aggregate, max 10 of any one species | Open year-roundSC DNR 2026 · checked | Open |
Not specifically regulated in Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida (Gulf), Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Texas, Virginia: each state’s rule for unlisted species applies there (on its page).
On the table
Good panfish.
In the app
Point the camera at a sailors choice and the name appears before you take the picture, with these rules for the water you’re standing in. No signal needed, and every catch goes in the log.
Get the appQuestions anglers ask about sailors choice
How many sailors choice can you keep?
Florida (Atlantic): 10 per person per day within 20-fish snapper-grouper aggregate; Georgia: 10 per person per day within 20-fish snapper-grouper aggregate; North Carolina: 10 per person per day within 20-fish snapper-grouper aggregate; South Carolina: 20/day aggregate, max 10 of any one species.
How do you tell sailors choice from white margate?
Sailors Choice: Silvery-gray grunt with dark scale rows forming broken oblique stripes; mouth lining red-orange like all grunts. White margate: cleaner silver, deeper body.