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Snook at a Glance

Common Snook, Average Size: 3 to 15 pounds, with 16- to 30-pounders common. Usual maximum is 30 to 40 pounds. State Record: 44 pounds, 3 ounces. World Record: 53 pounds, 10 ounces. Range: A tropical species found on the larger islands of the Caribbean, including Cuba, Puerto Rico and Hispaniola. In Florida, their largest numbers are found in the southern half of the state, but individuals may range as far as Jacksonville on the Atlantic side, and the Panhandle on the Gulf side. Angling Methods: Casting with artificial lures or flies, trolling artificials or live bait and drifting or still fishing with live or dead natural baits.

Late spring and early summer produce many inlet fish over the legal size limit.

    The magic combination of totally berserk behavior on the hook, tasty demeanor on the table and a love of snaggly, snarly inshore habitat that causes bass anglers to think they've gone to Heaven makes snook Florida's inshore favorite. But they're also the most frustrating of inshore fish. Often seen but not that often caught, they can be maddeningly moody when it comes to feeding. The moodiness is actually simple efficiency designed in by nature; they eat when eating is easy--often at night, or on bold tide flows--and the rest of the time they conserve their energy.

    The most prominent physical characteristic of this fish is the lateral line, a sharply drawn black strip running from head to tail and earning the nickname "linesider." Coloration ranges from bright silver with a gray-green back along the coast to gold flanks and a nearly black back far up the tannin-stained creeks of the Everglades. During the spawn, the fins take on a bright yellow color. Snook have rough jaws, but no teeth. They are equipped with razor-edged gill plates, however, and these quickly bring to an end any battle not begun with a heavy shock leader as protection.

    Snook spawning is one of the marvels of the natural world; on the new and full moons from May through September, the fish congregate at the passes and major sloughs where high current flow will carry their eggs. Near sundown, the males surround the females and bump them until they release their eggs, which are then fertilized. The free-floating eggs go seaward with the falling tide, come back through the pass and then go seaward again. Finally, they hatch as they return back to the inside waters on the incoming tide phase, about 18 hours after spawning.

    Those lucky enough to avoid being eaten as they float over the grassflats (not many escape) work their way to the nearest brackish water creeks, marshes and ditches; tiny flows only a few feet wide provide critical habitat.

    Snook start their lives in these tidal creeks narrow enough to step across, where they evade all saltwater predators; water birds are their only natural enemies here. They grow at about .7mm per day during their first eight months, faster in warm months and slower in cold months. Baby snook can survive remarkably warm weather; scientists have observed 2-inchers happily feeding in water over 95 degrees.

    As the fish grow, they move out to the grassflats in summer, back to the creeks and also offshore in winter. Cold is the greatest enemy of snook. Water temperature lower than 45 degrees kills any fish it catches in the shallows. Snook can survive, barely, at water temperatures in the low 50's; they become dormant and may float to the surface, but most will recover. There has not been a major cold kill in Florida since 1989, as this is written in January of 2000.

    Protection of estuaries, particularly the brackish creeks and ditches where the juveniles settle, can be critical to snook populations. Development that siphons off fresh water can be disastrous, changing the salinity level. Survival of bait species in this habitat is also important, which means more work needs to be done on mosquito control methods. Some scientists believe that large numbers of baby snook are killed each year along the ICW by aerial mosquito spraying, which could in fact be the bottleneck in modest reproductive success.

    Fish smaller than 45 mm eat mostly larval shrimp and other zooplankton. Over 45 mm, they eat mostly minnows including gambusia or mosquitofish. They prefer shrimp and small anchovies after they move out to the grassflats at lengths around eight inches. Adult snook eat mostly baitfish and shrimp, but they also eat large numbers of blue crabs, a bait most anglers overlook.

    Snook mature at about age 4 to 5 and lengths of 24 to 26 inches. The females all start life as males, with many converting at 20 inches and above.
East coast snook are a slightly different strain from west coast fish, growing faster and heavier.

    Common snook live about 15 years on the east coast and about 12 years on the west coast. They reach a maximum size of at least 53 pounds, 10 ounces, the current IGFA world record, caught in Costa Rica. Fifty-pound fish have been reported in Florida, though none has been officially weighed or photographed; the official state record is 44 pounds, 3 ounces.

    The Florida range is mostly from Daytona Beach and Holmes Beach southward, though a decade of warm winters has allowed them to push northward through the 90s. They're also found throughout the Caribbean coast of Central America and the northeast coast of South America. They're part of a family that includes at least 12 closely related species, including three others here in Florida, the fat, tarpon and swordspine. The black snook, found only on the Pacific Coast of Central America, is thought to be the largest of the American snook family, with the IGFA record at 57 pounds, 12 ounces, and credible reports of fish over 70 pounds.

    Scientists think all American snooks evolved from a common ancestor with the Nile perch of Africa and the barramundi of Australia.

Know the Limits

    All four species of snook fall under the same size and bag limits and closed seasons. Anglers are limited to two snook per person per day, with a 26- to 34-inch slot limit. All fish above or below the slot limit must be released unharmed. Snook season is closed Dec. 15 to Jan. 31, and June, July and August. A $2 snook permit is required when a saltwater fishing license is required. It is illegal to buy or sell snook. For a current listing of saltwater recreational fishing regulations, contact the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Division of Marine Fisheries, 620 South Meridian Street, Tallahassee, FL 32399-1600; (850) 488-0331; www.state.fl.us/fwc/marine.

Key Snook Locations to Know

    There are places that produce snook, and there are traditional snook haunts that hold quality fish or in quantity year-round. The list of consistent snook fisheries is far too long to completely cover, but there are some areas that have become so well known they've attained legendary status among the Linesider Culture Club. Many draw serious crowds, while others are remote enough that at times, it's just you and the fish.    
Inlets

    At the East Coast Big Five (Sebastian, Fort Pierce, St. Lucie, Jupiter and Palm Beach inlets), spring through fall are the top times, but you can catch fish all year. Anything live is a premier bait, but redtail hawk jigs and swimming plugs catch their share of fish. Also, you won't want to pass up the snook populations in Miami's Government Cut during the winter shrimp runs. Live shrimp freelined or on a Troll Rite jig catch some of the largest fish in the county.

    On the Gulf Coast, you'll want to be fishing Wiggins Pass in the spring, when the big fish come out of the Cocohatchee River for the spawn. Live whitebait or sand perch drifted through the pass, or shrimp and jigs cast from shore produce the best results. Captiva Pass is another from a long list of Gulf Coast passes where each spring the snook gather before working their way into the Gulf. They're suckers for a live sardine drifted along the dropoff on the south side. Live shrimp, jigs and diving plugs are also good. Stump Pass and Passage Key Inlet are other notables.

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