HOOK SOME SNOOK
The recreational harvest season for Florida’s leading game fish, snook, has opened as of September 1, statewide Florida anglers are getting prepared to hook some snook. The snook season opened on Labor Day and will last until December 14th on the Atlantic coast and this year is predicted to be better than they have been in a long time.
Most years in the past, it seemed as though the snook can sense when the season opens and closes. However, this year the weather has confused them a bit as the abundance of rain fell later in the summer rather than in the early part, so they may be off track by a few weeks. The local fisherman are predicting the odds of actually catching a keeper will be up to the 15th or 20th of September.
In addition, I received some great advice over the weekend, “find the bait and you will find the snook.” There has been an increasing number of baitfish, such as pilchards, glass minnows, finger mullet, live shrimp, sand perch, pinfish and greenies. Where you find the bait, either it be by the oceans surf, near shallow estuaries, or under mangroves and the spillways, that is where the snook will be hiding too.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) encourages fisherman to continue to use moderation when determining whether or not to take the fish home and to release a snook with proper handling approaches which in turn can help safeguard the species’ quantity for anglers today and for many generations to come. Size limits help protect the young and older breeding fish within the population. On the Atlantic coast, snook fish should be 28 inches and not more than 32 inches in total length. A snook permit as well as a recreational saltwater license is required and a hook/line gear is the only legal way to capture the fish.
Snook, are the many reasons Florida is the Fishing Capital of the World!
Hook some Snook this season!
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