All About Snook

The Common Snook

Centropomus undecimalis

Adorned with a distinct lateral line; high, divided dorsal fin; sloping forehead; large mouth, protruding lower jaw, there is nothing "common" about her. Pelvic and tail fins often turn bright yellow especially during spawn. Their larger size distinguishes Common Snook from others in the Centropomus and barramundi families.

Geographic range of Common Snook in Florida

Where found:

From central Florida and off Galveston,Texas south to Rio DeJaniero, Brazil. Snook cannot tolerate water temperatures below 60 degrees F for long. Usually inshore in coastal and brackish or fresh waters, along mangrove shorelines, seawalls, and bridges; also on reefs and pilings nearshore. As juveniles, they prefer brackish water or freshwater habitats, but they must spawn in seawater (common snook eggs are not viable in salinities below ~ 28 parts per thousand, ppt). Although billions of eggs are currently released each year by spawning females, the loss of juvenile nursery habitat imperils future snook generations.

photo: Merry Beth Ryan

Prey Species and Bait Selection

Voracious ambush hunters, snook feed on small fish and crustaceans. Cannibalistic as juveniles, they have been observed eating pleicostomaus (asian catfish), a non native species that has invaded FL freshwater streams and lakes. Successful live baits include mullet, pinfish and sand brim. Snook foundation recommends use of circle hooks with a target bead for live bait. Strong enough line and leader to prevent break offs and reel in fish quickly will increase release survival. A number of live and artifical baits and approaches are successful. Read more about snook fishing in specific venues.

Snook Species

Snook, robalo, soap fish, linesider, saltwater pike, are all names used to refer to what we know as the Common Snook. There are actually 12 species of the genus Centropomus that live in this hemisphere, with five of these occurring in Florida. The Common Snook is by far the most often encountered. But the fat snook, tarpon snook , and the sword-spined snook are also found in FL and TX, though they seldom grow large enough to be legally kept by fishermen. The Large Scaled Fat Snook is another species that has recently been found in Florida waters. Read more about different Snook Species

Spawning snook are found in swift flowing passes in summer months.

Sexy Snook Facts

Snook are catadroumous (must move from fresh to saltwater to spawn). Snook are protandric hermaphrodites which means males can become females; larger fish are more likely to be females. This ability seems designed to maintain a strong breeding population.

Since snook live a long time (20 years) we may not see the decline of juveniles reflected in the total population until its too late.

Juvenile Habitat

Many saltwater fish species have high juvenile survival only every few years. These occasional good years serve to maintain the adult population. You may have noticed this when fishing – your catch is dominated by a particular size (age) of fish, with only occasional smaller (younger) or larger (older) fish caught. For fish that live a long time, high juvenile survival in one year can maintain a high adult population size for many years. However, this means we won’t see the decline in population until older fish begin to die off without being replaced - by then we may be decades too late. This is one of the reasons Snook Foundation places Juvenile Habitat Research and Protection as a top priority.