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Written by Staff | 24 August 2010

2 hungry snook locked jaws
(Click Image To Enlarge) Anglers may be as likely to agree as these two unfortunate snook that locked jaws while chasing bait. photo: Bebo SmithWill Anglers Agree on Snook Management?

Maybe not.  It appears that anglers on both Florida Coasts have divergent opinions on how snook should be managed.  Among the many options FWC Commissioners will consider when they meet in early September to discuss reopening snook season is a different East and West Coast Management Plan. 

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Your Opinions

As of August 24, at 10am,  997 Anglers had voted in the Snook Foundation online Poll, on whether to open the Snook Season, in 2010:

41.7% said no,
9.8% voted for a shortened fall season, and
48.5% voted to open the fall season.

Some of you wrote that the season should remain closed through 2010, and for several years to come.  Others could see no justification for restricting snook harvest.  Here is a sampling:

  • I've seen snook so thick coming out of  Terracia Bay south of the Skyway in Manatee county that one could very nearly catch one every three minutes (if you had two rods and someone was baiting your hook ;-) Thanks, Ralph

 

  • Our snook population was so devastated here in Everglades National Park this past winter,we should NOT open it up in the park for years.  Then when it does open, many,many of us feel it should be catch and release only. Capt. Bert Barkus,  www.ChokoloskeeIslandCharters.com

 

  • Either way, my clients will not be allowed to harvest them.   I know this varies area to area but the numbers are way down up here.   I discouraged harvest back when populations were good, but with this I'm foregoing pictures of most of the snook and getting them on their way immediately. Neil Taylor,  www.strikethreekayakfishing.com

 

  • I live on the river and have a snook light under my dock and have see many large snook at night all over 36 inches in length, Lately I have noticed a increase in smaller 12-25 inch snook.  Hopefully they are on an incline in population.  I have been to the Key's recently and spotted a 36 inch or better snook all the way down at Looe Key.    Kim Stancel

 

  • I fish down off Little Gasparilla Island close to Boca Grade, and the snook are everywhere. I mean come on, the last year or two you could only keep one snook per person and slots were smaller than before. The snook are everywhere. I don’t think the cold really hurt them at all. I have lights in the water and there are always juvenile snook around the light and twelve to fifteen 30lb. or 35lb. breeders on the bottom.  Mike Walker

 

  • I fish the Bull/Turtle Bay areas in Boca Grande often & totally support the snook closure.  It should last through next year because there is a OBVIOUS drop in there numbers since the winter kill.  Before the kill we would average 8-12 snook per man per trip.  Now we are lucky to get 1 or 2 per man.  Keep up the good work.  Charles Madden
  • Some input from the SW coast-   For the last few years I've caught at least 2-3 snook over 40" a week in the same area. This year I haven't caught or even seen one. On the outer beaches of Sanibel I did see several schools of small fish last week, but not the big slobs that we usually see this time of year.  I hate to say it, but it seems that they are simply gone. Our paper normally gets 10-20 nice big snook pictures during the summer months from readers, but we have not gotten one yet this year.  Jim Griffiths, www.nauticalmileenterprises.com
  • I  have been getting a lot of snook near Cayo Costa on the outside, 20-29 inches.  The problem was the dolphins.wanting a nice easy meal. Did not happen; they tried hard but I left the scene; they followed but I kept moving!   CAPTAIN RICHIE .  www.adrenalinefishing.com
  • FWRI Options/Staff Recommendation  - click here to read

Besides Snook, another near shore favorite, Permit, will be on the Agenda for FWC Commissioners to consider in early September.  Our friends at Tarpon/Bonefish Trust provide the following discussion of proposed regulations

About Permit