Fishing News
Powerful Gamefish Becoming Threatened in Florida Waters
By Del Milligan
Wintering in backwater bays, creeks, canals and rivers along Florida's Gulf coast, snook swim free from pursuit by hordes of fishermen. But come the warming days of spring, when snook return to the shallow grass flats in Tampa Bay, Sarasota Bay, Charlotte Harbor and the Everglades, they will be hounded by an ever-increasing number of fishermen who crave the powerful gamefish not only for sport but for its white, flaky fillets.
The common snook (Centropomus undecimalis) will have no safe haven, chased by flats boats and anglers armed with improved fishing tackle and techniques, including the use of live bait on light spinning tackle that has proven so effective.
Numbers of keeper-size snook, from 26-34 inches, have become so threatened in our state's Gulf coast waters that effective Tuesday, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission will further tighten already stringent regulations.
The new rules apply only on the Gulf coast, where effort and harvest are more than double that on the Atlantic coast. The daily per-person limit will be halved to one fish, which Gulf coast captains have long favored, and May will be added to the current 4 1/2-month closure.
"They've been talking about doing something for years, but this is the first time in my memory that they haven't waited for the decimation of a species before they said, 'We've got to do something about it,' " said Brad Rutherford, an avid snook fisherman from Winter Haven. "The new commissioners have said, 'We need to listen to people who are on the water everyday and put that information together with the biologists' numbers.' "
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