Well the site is still being slowly pieced together but I thought our first post would break news that the Florida Fish & Wildlife Commission ruled this week that the snook season will remain closed on Florida’s west coast rather than opening the season Sept 1, 2012.
The 2010 cold snap really took a toll on the snook population, killing thousands of snook along the coast. Snook are a fairly hardy fish, tolerating a large range of temperature and salinity levels but when there is a sudden drop in mercury (below 60 degrees), the fish can no longer metabolize and slowly perish.
I have seen a great increase in snook populations around the Southshore area and in the Tampa Bay but It doesn’t merit re-opening the season; therefore I 100% support the extended closure. We need to give them a little more time to spawn; I can’t wait until the day that the fishery recovers to what it was before the 2010 massacre.
So when targeting the vigorous snook, be sure to use stout tackle for quick release, circle hooks to prevent gut hooking and make sure to handle with extreme care. In the meantime, the redfish have been feeding well and once the water clears from tropical storm Betty they should ravage the flats. Get out and bend a rod!
