SARASOTA – Snook season will not open this year, and some Suncoast anglers and guides are happy about it.
Snook season is starting in many areas of the gulf, but in Southwest Florida, catch and release measures are still in effect for Snook.
“This is due to red tide that impacted that area actually a few years ago,” said Florida Fish and Wildlife PIO, Amanda Nalley.
The catch and release measures are in effect from Pinellas to Collier County.
“You can still go out and fish for snook, it just means that you can’t keep them and take them home, Snook is a species that is loved across the state, people love fishing for snook, people love eating snook, unfortunately we are doing this in an abundance of caution and we want to make sure that snook populations are good into the future and beyond these red tides,” said Nalley.
General Manager of Harts Landing says he appreciates the added precautions.
“If you track snook you know they were devastated during the 2018 red tide, so a lot of anglers, and in this business are happy about the moratorium continuing until at least may of next year,” said General Manager of Harts Landing, Sherman Baldwin.
Baldwin says healthy snook help serve as an environmental indicator
“If the snook are strong, generally that means that the environment is strong and we are seeing snook come back to Harts landing, in the morning we have over 40 of them that come hang out and that is kind of new, so we are happy to see them back I think the species is recovering, but giving them a little more time I think is worthwhile,” said Baldwin.
When in season, snook caught on the West Coast of Florida must be between 28 and 33 inches long to be legally harvested.
The ban also includes redfish, which are typically harvestable for permitted anglers year-round if they measure between 18 and 27 inches.
